title: Delaware's first serial killer.
abstract: The violent murder of Shirley Ellis on November 29, 1987, marked the beginning of the strange and terrible tale of Steven Bryan Pennell's reign as the state of Delaware's first convicted serial killer. Three more bodies followed the first victim, and all had been brutally beaten and sadistically tortured. The body of a fifth woman has never been found. State and county police collaborated with the FBI to identify and hunt down their suspect, forming a task force of over 100 officers and spending about one million dollars. Through their knowledge and experience with other serial killers, the FBI was able to make an amazingly accurate psychological profile of Delaware's serial killer. After months of around-the-clock surveillance, Steven Pennell was arrested on November 29, 1988, one year to the day after the first victim was found. Pennell was found guilty in the deaths of the first two victims on November 29, 1989, and plead no contest to the murder of two others on October 30, 1991. Still maintaining his innocence, he asked for the death penalty so that he could spare his family further agony. Steven Pennell was executed by lethal injection on March 15, 1992.
authors: G B
authors: GB
authors: Inguito
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Sekula-Perlman
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Lynch
authors: R T
authors: RT
authors: Callery
mesh_terms: D003691:Delaware; D005197:Famous Persons; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006708:Homicide / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012448:Sadism / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology; D014104:Torture / Q000266:history / Q000523:psychology