At first glance, there was nothing that set Penny Bjorkland apart from her teenage peers. With blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, and a ponytail, she looked like an extra on Happy Days, a typical 1950s teenager. But that Ozzie and Harriet facade was hiding a monster with homicidal desires.
The Confession of a Cold-Blooded Teen
Penny later admitted, "For about a year or a year and a half I've had the urge to kill someone." She added, "I've felt better since I killed him. Like it was a great burden lifted off of me." The 17-year-old confessed to shooting Korean War veteran August Norry 18 times in February 1959.
A Normal Exterior, a Deadly Interior
Penny lived with her family in Daly City, California, just south of San Francisco. She described herself as a "normal, average girl," but inside she harbored dark fantasies. She stole a .38-caliber handgun from a friend's parents and began planning her murder.
On the day of the killing, Norry offered Penny a ride. "Suddenly, I had the overpowering urge to shoot him," she told police. She emptied her gun, reloaded, and kept shooting. Then she dumped his body and fled in his car.
The Investigation and Arrest
Police found Norry's body in the Daly City Hills on February 1, 1959. He was married and expecting his first child. Witnesses reported seeing a freckle-faced blond girl driving Norry's car. Detectives traced the bullets to a distinctive mold sold to Penny Bjorkland. She was arrested on April 15, 1959, and confessed the next morning.
Trial and Sentence
Throughout the trial, Penny showed little emotion, sitting stone-faced and giggling at times. She refused to cooperate with her lawyer or psychiatrists. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, eligible for parole after seven years. "I am unhappy," she said upon hearing the verdict.
Penny was released in the mid-1960s, having served only a few years. Her case remains a chilling example of a seemingly ordinary teen capable of extraordinary violence.
