Dolores Della Penna, age 17, murdered 12 July 1972
... On July 22, 1972, a Jersey City butcher discovered the torso and arms of a young woman in Jackson Township, New Jersey. The fingertips on the hands had been cut off presumably to prevent identification. On June 30, 1972, a man walking his dog in the neighboring town of Manchester Township, New Jersey found a pair of legs.
The remains were identified as Dolores Della Penna. Blood tests and an x-ray of the spine were used to help may the identification.
Sadly, Dolores Della Penna’s head was never found. A group of teenagers reported seeing a head matching Dolores’ description with long dark hair in nearby Dinosaur Lake. The teenagers attempted to remove the head from the lake, but were unable to do so. Police were not able to locate the head, but have reason the believe the report was accurate and that Dolores’ head is somewhere in Dinosaur Lake...
In the mid-1990s two incarcerated inmates came forward with details regarding the death of Dolores Della Penna. One inmate claimed that he saw Dolores being beaten and dragged into a car by members of a biker gang that dealt in drugs. The inmate felt that Dolores appeared to be unconscious. The other inmate claimed he witnessed Dolores being tortured inside of a car with a machete...
To date, police have interviewed five hundred people in Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and even Scotland. Police even dug up the floor of a garage fairly recently looking for solid evidence. Police believe they have a few suspects in eyesight, but they need more evidence. Police feel Dolores Della Penna was mistakenly murdered after the biker gang received false information. No one has been charged in Dolores’ case...
Dolores Della Penna’s parents, Ralph and Helen, have since passed away. They never gave up hope that their daughter’s murderer would be found. Ralph and Helen kept Dolores’ bedroom intact and memorialized her white christening dress in her honor until their dying day...
LINK:
The Unsolved Murder of Dolores Della Penna
medium.com