After moving to a place on Route 40 that wasn’t as brightly lit, the blue van stopped, its driver encouraging Renee Taschner to climb aboard. Pretending to have a headache, the undercover cop successfully refused. She did note that the inside of the van was covered in blue carpeting, and she even managed to swipe some samples of it before she walked away. Days later, on September 20, the body of Michelle Gordon was discovered in a canal (via Justia). Though her body had similar injuries as the ones found on Catherine DiMauro and Shirley Ellis, a cause of death couldn’t be determined as she was found submerged in the water. The medical examiner did, however, state that it was a homicide.
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With the blue fibers being analyzed, the police began surveillance on Steven Brian Pennell. He was observed frequently driving back and forth on the same stretch of Route 40 that Taschner had met him on. On September 30, 1988, police pulled Pennell over for a traffic offense. The officer noticed what appeared to be a blood stain on the van’s blue carpeting. A search warrant was issued, resulting in Pennell’s van, storage shed, and home being searched. Investigators found rolls of duct tape and a buck knife. But according to Delaware Today, their attention was captured by the discovery of what would later be referred to as a “torture kit,” containing “pliers, a whip, handcuffs, needles, knives and restraints.” Hair and blood from his victims were also recovered from his van.
