Town file
Kenton, Delaware
Kenton, Delaware (Kent County, Delaware) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 44, "A Morning Time Slaughter" (15 November 2017). Small Town Murder visits Kenton, Delaware, a tiny crossroads town in Kent County where Route 42 meets Route 300, about 20 minutes from Dover and 15 minutes from Marydel, Maryland.
- Town
- Kenton
- County
- Kent County
- State
- Delaware
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 44
- Approximate location
- 39.227, -75.665
Episode 44 / 15 November 2017 / 116 min / full
A Morning Time Slaughter
"James says they are going to Kenton, Delaware, in Kent County, in the northwest part of the state, about 20 minutes outside Dover and 15 minutes from Marydel, Maryland" about 0:06:37
The case: Murder of Madeline Kisner (December 1, 1986). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2017
- Population
- 265
- Median age
- 24.5
- Median household income
- almost $40,000
- Median home value
- $129,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $960
- Cost of living
- 95
- Religious
- 33.56%
- Property crime
- ▲ about 25% above average
- Violent crime
- ▲ 25% above average
History, in brief
- Kenton sits where Route 42 and Route 300 cross, and the town website says it grew up at the crossroads. about 0:13:15
- Kenton was first laid out in 1796 by Philip Lewis, who began acquiring property in the area around 1790. about 0:13:24
- The community was first known as Grogtown, then Lewis Crossroads, and in 1806 it was named Kenton. about 0:13:49
- There is an Amish community just west of Dover, about 1,200 to 1,500 people, and the Amish Country bike tour every September is one of the largest cycling events in Delaware. about 0:14:23
- Rose Foods, a company in the town, was shuttered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2014. about 0:16:05
- Richard T. Kepfer of Hartley got a ticket in Kenton on July 15th, 2017, declared the town a speed trap and filed information requests; he found more than $131,000 in traffic tickets were collected in 2016. about 0:15:36
- Delaware's method of execution was hanging until June 1986, when the General Assembly required lethal injection; executions must be carried out between 12.01 a.m. and 3 a.m. about 1:39:41
- Bill Bailey was the last inmate hanged in Delaware, in 1996, because he was convicted before 1986; the hanging before that was in 1946. about 1:39:06
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Cheswold, Delaware4.1 miles
- Dover, Delaware8.9 miles
- Marydel, Maryland9.1 miles
- Port Penn, Delaware20 miles
- Harrington, Delaware22 miles
- Houston, Delaware23 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.