The Girl Who Never Came Home: The Dolores Della Penna Story

In July of 1972, 17-year-old Dolores Della Penna stepped off a Philadelphia trolley just one mile from home—and vanished. Eleven days later, her dismembered body was found scattered across the remote pine forests of New Jersey. Her head was never recovered.

What followed was a decades-long investigation involving drug dealers, biker gangs, and secret informants. Witnesses claimed to know what happened—some even described the brutal killing in chilling detail. And yet, no one was ever charged.

In this episode of Stuttering in Silence, Matt and Gavin dive deep into one of Pennsylvania’s most haunting cold cases. Who really killed Dolores? Why was she targeted? And why, after more than 50 years, does justice still feel so far away?

We tell the story like a true-crime novel—layer by layer—with hard facts, disturbing details, and the devastating silence that still surrounds this case today.