The murder of Betsy Aardsma
State College, Centre County, Pennsylvania · November 28, 1969
A graduate student was stabbed once through the heart in the crowded stacks of a university library at dusk — and so little blood showed that people stepped past her before anyone realized a murder had happened.
Overview
On the afternoon of November 28, 1969, 22-year-old Penn State graduate student Betsy Aardsma was stabbed a single time in the chest while working in the core stacks of the Pattee Library at University Park. The wound severed a pulmonary artery and pierced her heart, killing her within minutes, yet it bled so little that bystanders did not immediately grasp what had happened; a man hurrying from the scene said only that someone should help the girl. Despite an intensive Pennsylvania State Police investigation and hundreds of interviews, no one has ever been charged. More than half a century later, the case remains open and her killer's identity is unknown.
Where it stands
The case is officially open and unsolved. Pennsylvania State Police interviewed hundreds of students in the weeks after the killing, but the trail went cold and no arrest was ever made. The murder has been re-examined repeatedly in the decades since — most prominently by journalist and author David DeKok, who argued in his reporting and 2014 book "Murder in the Stacks" that Penn State graduate student Richard Haefner was responsible. Haefner, however, was never named an official suspect by law enforcement, the evidence against him is circumstantial, and he died in 2002. No charges have been filed against anyone.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Richard HaefnerDeceased
Journalist and author David DeKok argued in his reporting and 2014 book "Murder in the Stacks" that Haefner, a Penn State graduate student whose friendship with Aardsma had ended shortly before her death, was responsible. The evidence is circumstantial; he was never named an official suspect by law enforcement and died in 2002.[3]
- Larry MaurerCleared
A classmate who initially drew investigators' attention but whose appearance differed markedly from eyewitness descriptions of the man seen leaving the stacks; he was cleared as a suspect.[1]
Sources
- Murder of Betsy Aardsma
“stabbed a single time through the left breast with a knife”
- Murder in the stacks: 50 years later, still no answers
“She was in the stacks of the Pattee Library when she was stabbed once in her heart”
- Echoes in Pattee Library
“Author and journalist David DeKok argued in his reporting and book that another Penn State graduate student, Richard Haefner, was responsible, though he was never named an official suspect by law enforcement and died in 2002.”