Missing
Kathleen Anne Meyer
Meyer, approximately 1988
Date and time person was reported missing : 09/10/1988
Missing location (approx) :
New Castle, Delaware
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 03/24/1962 (59)
Age at the time of disappearance: 26 years old
Height / Weight : 5'3 - 5'6, 115 - 130 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A white top with three-quarter length sleeves, blue jeans, a silver necklace and bEthnicity : let, and no socks or shoes. Carrying a black purse.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Some Age at the time of disappearance: ncies give Meyer's last name as "Meyers."
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Meyer was last seen walking westbound on Route 40 in the area of the A-OK campground in New Castle, Delaware at 11:00 p.m. on September 10, 1988. She has never been heard from again. She lived in the 30 block of west Plover Drive in the Brookmont Farms area of Newark, Delaware at the time of her disappearance.
The serial killer Steven Brian Pennell, known as the Corridor Killer or the I-40 Killer, was already in prison for life after pleading guilty to the murders of two women when he was charged in Meyer's case and in the death of a third woman whose body was found ten days after Meyer's disappearance.
Pennell pleaded no contest to two counts of murder in October 1991 and was sentenced to death. He is also the prime suspect in a fifth woman's homicide, but when that victim's body was found it was too decomposed to yield any evidence.
All of the women were in their early- to mid-twenties and died between November 1987 and Pennell's arrest in November 1988. Authorities stated he would lure women into his van, bind them with tape, torture them and beat them to death. Their bodies were dumped near the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.
Pennell maintained his innocence, but when his death sentence was automatically reviewed before the Delaware Supreme Court as mandated by law, he acted as his own attorney and argued that he should be put to death. He stated he didn't want to spend a prolonged period in prison.
He refused further appeals and was executed by lethal injection in March 1992. His execution had been the first in Delaware since 1946.
Meyer's body has never been found.
Other information and links : ncy
New Castle County Police Department
302-395-8112
September 2021 updates and sources
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
The New York Times
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
