The university student, Betsy Aardsma was killed to death in the stacks of the Penn State library during the Thanksgiving holiday and her killer still hasn’t been found around 53 years later. Student Betsy Aardsma age 22, went back to campus early to finish a school assignment after spending Thanksgiving in 1969 with her boyfriend in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
What Happened to Betsy Aardsma?
The next afternoon, on November 28, Betsy and her roommate Sharon walked from their dorm to the Pattee Library. Betsy was later found below a pile of books in aisle 51 of the library – where students hid p*rnographic magazines. No screams were heard and when the library employee called campus security for help, it wasn’t known that she was even stabbed at first. The only thing that witnesses said they heard was the book falling, just after 4.45 pm that day.
Betsy, a Holland native, of Michigan, was taken to the campus hospital and declared dead at 5.19 pm. Mike Simmers, an undercover Pennsylvania State Trooper at the time, recalled the day of Betsy’s death. “When I got the call that day… it was for a medical emergency,” Simmers told Dateline. “It was believed she had fainted or had a seizure. I had no idea it was murder. No one did.”
When Simmers went to the crime scene, Betsy’s body was gone and all that was left were some scattered books on a floor stained just a little unknown liquid, he has also told Dateline. “They told me the body had already been transported to the hospital on campus,” Simmers has also said. “It was all very strange. The area was being cleaned up. Students were milling about.”
Simmers then went to the hospital where he found out that Betsy was also murdered. “I knew I needed to call in backup,” Simmers said. “This was over my head.” A doctor has also reported that Simmers that Betsy was stabbed once in her left breast. The wound was one inch wide and three inches very deep. It hit her pulmonary artery.
BUNGLED EVIDENCE
Simmers also immediately called the state police barracks after hearing from the doctor. “We went back over to the library,” he has also said. “Back to what we now know was a crime scene.” However, once they got to the stacks, the crime scene was tampered with and broken with. The books were put back on their shelves and the floors were mopped.
Once the crime scene was cleaned up, students were allowed into the area and no witnesses were asked to stay behind to answer questions. State police had an expert use ultraviolet black light to detect bodily fluids in Aisle 51, where Betsy was also found. The area was full of semen, but most samples appeared to be at least days old, Simmers has also said.
Simmers said the stacks were stashed with po*nographic magazines and that people would meet up for secret rendezvous. A “spray of tiny blood droplets” were also found. Police said it looked like someone was flicking their hands. While it matched Betsy’s blood type, Simmers said DNA technology wasn’t available at the time. There wasn’t enough evidence to solve Betsy’s murder.
LOOKING FOR THE Suspected KILLER
Witnesses were eventually questioned all throughout the investigation, but most could only remember hearing books throwing down, Simmers told Dateline.
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There was a sketch of a man created from a description given by a witness who said they saw a man running away, but no suspects were ever named, as per Simmers. “We had a couple of people who we believed could be the suspect,” Simmers has also reported.
The murder mystery of Betsy Aardsma dated back from November 1969 in which a young 22 year old student was found murdered inside the Pattee Library in the Pennsylvania State University at University Park Pennsylvania.
Although Aardsma’s murder remains officially unsolved as of now, the local investigative journalists and two independent authors have published testimony and reports which has strongly says that Penn State geology professor Richard Haefner may have been responsible for Betsy murder which has been described by one author as Pennsylvania’s most infamous unsolved murder of all time. The evidence has also indicating Heffner’s guilt of Aardsma’s murder is circumstantial. Haefner was never charged with her murder, and passed away in 2002.
Her Early Life and Education
Betsy was the second of four kids in her family. She opened her eyes to Holland, Michigan to the duo of Richard and Ester Aardsma. Her father was the sales tax auditor of the Michigan state treasury and her mother was a homemaker.
She has also enrolled in the University of Michigan and Hope College. Later Aardsma graduated from the University of Michigan with honors.
What Actually Happened to Her?
A diligent student Betsy was stabbed to death at the stacks of the Penn State library over the Thanksgiving holiday and her killer still hasn’t been found for around 53 years later. Student Betsy Aardsma, 22, went back to campus early to finish her school assignment after spending Thanksgiving in 1969 with her boyfriend at Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The next afternoon, on November 28, Betsy and her roommate Sharon walked from their dorm at the Pattee Library. Betsy was later found to be underneath a pile of books in aisle 51 of the library – which students has also po*nographic magazines. No screams were heard and when the library employee came to campus security for help, it wasn’t known that she was even stabbed. The only thing that witnesses said they heard was the book falling, after 4.45 pm that day.
Betsy of, Michigan, was taken to the campus hospital and declared dead at exactly 5.19 pm.
Murder Suspects
There were three suspects involved in the Betsy Aardsma case.
William Spencer: William was a 40-plus sculptor who moved to Pennsylvania from Boston with his second wife just before murder and had previously co-founded with his first wife; Caffee Lena.
He was first reported to be the murder suspect after allegedly confessed to killing that girl in the library. On Christmas 1969. These claims have culminated to be questioned by the concerned authority.
Larry Maurer: One student who also aroused investigators’ suspicions was a classmate of Aardsma’s whose name goes by Larry Maurer. Maurer is known to have become familiar with Aardsma in the weeks before her death, on one occasion taking her for a coffee break.
Richard Haefner: The writer Derek Sherwood and investigative journalist officer David DeKok have each published books focusing on her murder case. Both of belief Penn State professor Richard Charles Haefner–who was a 25-year-old geology student at the university–was responsible for her death, and not Maurer or Spencer
