Suburbs

Last weekend, reporter Rob Moore shed some significant light on a case that had remained a mystery for 40 years.

And the information that emerged in the murder of Lori Ann Mealer Pennell also raised more questions about who was responsible for her death.

The basics were this – Pennell of Martin, Tennessee was last seen leaving a West Memphis truck stop in 1982. Three years later, a woman’s body was found on the side of U.S. 78 in Olive Branch. There was no identification and efforts to determine anything about the victim were fruitless.

For almost 40 years, she was known simply as DeSoto County Jane Doe.

Earlier this month, with the help of new DNA techniques, a company called Othram put together enough evidence to match the body with the identity of Pennell. The connection cleared up decades of the unknown.

And brought some closure to her brother, Darrell Mealer.

“It was terrible,” Mealer said of the impact on the family as they failed to get answers to how Lori Ann Mealer Pennell couldn’t be located.

But there was perhaps another tentacle to the mystery. A series of similar deaths of women across the middle part of the country in the South. Women whose bodies were found dumped on the side of the road. Some of the suspected victims were strangled. And the victims had some version of red hair.

Like Pennell.

The potential link gained momentum in 2018 when a high school sociology class in Elizabethton, Tennessee looked into the string of homicides and found connections between some of the cases. Enough to informally use the term Bible Belt Strangler for the killer.

Whether DeSoto County authorities think Lori Ann Mealer Pennell was part of the possible string is unclear. They will only say they have reopened the case.

All of this is intriguing. The length of time it took to determine Pennell’s identity. The potential that there was a serial killer targeting women throughout these parts. The mystery that surrounds such cases and the uncertainty of whether the theory of one person committing such a series of acts raises curiosity.

And while all of these details beg for answers, the questions may never be solved. - Suburbs editor Clay Bailey

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