[11] In late-June, Della Penna learned her parents, older brother and other family members planned to visit Walt Disney World.

[9] This witness observed Della Penna being beaten, then swiftly dragged "kicking and screaming"[15] into a maroon 1965 or 1969 model Chevrolet parked close to her own home and hastily driven from the scene.

[16] The sole evidence recovered at the site of Della Penna's abduction was her maroon jacket, door key, a small cross and a crucifix which had been gifts given to her by friends at her high school graduation.

[6] Within the first week of investigative inquiries, over 150 individuals within both Philadelphia and New Jersey—in particular within and around the Jersey Shore district[23]—were questioned with regards to Della Penna's disappearance.

Several are known to have failed polygraph tests, and these individuals were typically involved in the usage or trafficking of narcotics, leading detectives to suspect a conspiracy of silence; however, investigators found no evidence Della Penna had herself used or sold drugs.

[34] The disappearance of Della Penna and the subsequent discovery of her dismembered body generated intense press and public interest.

According to the inmate's testimony, Della Penna had been falsely accused by two of her three Wildwood Crest roommates of stealing a caché of drugs worth $200 (the equivalent of about $1,510 as of 2025[update]) and that the motive for her murder had been revenge.

[40] By 1994, investigators had amassed sufficient information to determine both the identities of her murderers and the precise events to occur prior to, during, and after Della Penna's abduction and murder; however, although they had amassed ample circumstantial evidence and corroborating testimony, they lacked sufficient real evidence to charge the five known suspects who were still alive, with District Attorney Lynne Abraham stating her belief that securing a successful prosecution largely based upon inmates' testimony being unlikely.

[41] Three months prior to Kane's July 1996 announcement, at the insistence of Della Penna's parents, two homicide detectives visited their household to relay the full information pertaining to their daughter's abduction and murder to them without omitting any details: With possible assistance by their boyfriends and/or other acquaintances, at least two of Della Penna's three Wildwood Crest roommates had indeed stolen a caché of drugs from a local drug dealer sometime in early- or mid-June 1972.

All had denied any involvement and attempted to appease the dealers with promises of locating the missing drugs or paying the outstanding debt.

Della Penna was not present either at the time of the theft or initial confrontations, although she would have been aware of rising tensions within the bungalow and the reasons why.

Della Penna was bound to an old car seat and informed of the reason for her kidnap, with her abductors also threatening to kill her if she did not agree to engage in sex with them.

Della Penna's ordeal lasted for numerous hours, with the beatings and other forms of abuse rendering her unconscious on at least one occasion.

Despite the prolonged mental and physical torture she endured, Della Penna had repeatedly protested her innocence in relation to the theft of the drugs while continuously weeping and pleading for her life.

Her head had later been wrapped in a plastic car seat cover, bound with ignition wire and thrown into a lake close to Franklin Mills Mall.

[6] In 1973, the Eugene Alessandroni lodge of the Order Sons of Italy in America established an annual scholarship fee of $500 in memory of Dolores Della Penna.

This award is presented to an outstanding student at St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls, where Della Penna had graduated with honors one month prior to her murder.

[26] They also established a lifelong ritual of observing Mass on each anniversary of their daughter's murder and upon her birthday before visiting her grave, and maintained this solemn practice until their respective deaths in 2004 and 2015.