On February 27, 1990, the body of a Harrisburg woman, Kathy Novena Schenck, who also went by the name Phoenix Bell, was discovered at a roadside dump in Penn Township, Perry County. The tragic story of her death unfolded as the actions of a serial killer came to light.
Schenck had accepted a ride from Joseph Daniel Miller, a man who would later be identified as a serial killer from Steelton, Pennsylvania. In a desperate attempt to escape, she bolted from his vehicle.
Miller, however, relentlessly pursued her, running her down with his car and repeatedly rolling the vehicle over her body, which ultimately led to her death.
Years later, while being investigated for a string of other murders, Joseph Miller confessed to killing Kathy Schenck. He admitted to picking her up, driving her to Perry County, and then raping and strangling her. Although already on death row for the murders of other women, Miller was eventually convicted for Schenck's killing and received an additional life imprisonment sentence for his crime against her.
