PA PA - Betsy Aardsma, 22, murdered in Pattee Library, Penn State, 29 Nov 1969

[littlehorn]

I've been to Amsterdam as well (not for the pot!) and seen Van Gogh and Rembrandt works in big old museums. I attended a showing of Dali's "Dante's Inferno" watercolors in a 600+ year old church over there. That was amazing.

P.S. Whokilledbetsy.com is down right now. I contacted the hosting people asking for a billing correction and instead they thought I wanted to cancel the account, and they refunded me entirely. The data is supposed to still be there so I'm waiting for the billing people to fix their mistake.

 

[kline]

I've been to Amsterdam as well (not for the pot!) and seen Van Gogh and Rembrandt works in big old museums. I attended a showing of Dali's "Dante's Inferno" watercolors in a 600+ year old church over there. That was amazing.

P.S. Whokilledbetsy.com is down right now. I contacted the hosting people asking for a billing correction and instead they thought I wanted to cancel the account, and they refunded me entirely. The data is supposed to still be there so I'm waiting for the billing people to fix their mistake.

To see a VanGogh or Rembrandt in person...to be in the same room would be the ultimate to me
It would be like touching History.
I love that stuff.

 

[shadowangel]

<snip> The two guys seen and described were never located.

I found an article in the Traverse City, MI Record Eagle (dated 12-9-69) which states

"From the start of their investigation, State Police sought two unidentified men who were seen near the prostrate Miss Aardsma shortly after she was stabbed.
One of the two men came forward Thursday night, Kimmel said, and provided state police with a description of the other man. "

 

[kline]

I found an article in the Traverse City, MI Record Eagle (dated 12-9-69) which states

"From the start of their investigation, State Police sought two unidentified men who were seen near the prostrate Miss Aardsma shortly after she was stabbed.
One of the two men came forward Thursday night, Kimmel said, and provided state police with a description of the other man. "

Wow! Really?So they did talk to one of them???
I suppose that interview is in the files as well.
I certainly would like to hear what he had to say.
Good find Shadowangel!

 

[Kiki]

I remember seeing a documentary once on Erotomania where a person can have a delusional belief that a particular person, even one they have never met, is secretly in love with them. Simple things like the way the person they're in love with picks up a book or tucks back a strand of hair as they are walk past is interpreted as a secret gesture by them of their undying love. Unless they are spoken to about the subject of their delusion some delusional people can appear and function normally. If her killer was an erotomanic, and I realise that's a very big if it could be a minor aquaintance of Betsy's or she may never have even met them. As someone else pointed out, (I am very sorry. I am tired and can't remember who) it could be someone who is jealous of her relationship with the fiance. If it is an erotomanic the killer's fixation could have been on Betsy's fiance and believed Betsy stood in the way of their 'love'. I realise an erotomanic killer is a long shot but I just find it so strange that if the killer had the typical motives of love, money or sex they were not caught by now or even suspected.

 

[littlehorn]

I found an article in the Traverse City, MI Record Eagle (dated 12-9-69) which states

"From the start of their investigation, State Police sought two unidentified men who were seen near the prostrate Miss Aardsma shortly after she was stabbed.
One of the two men came forward Thursday night, Kimmel said, and provided state police with a description of the other man. "

Do you have a copy of that article like from Newspaper Archives in PDF that you could send me?

These could be the guys who went to say "somebody better help that girl." The one who came forward I believe is the African (Portugese west africa) international student who was later hypnotized after reporting that he chased after the "somebody better help that girl" guy until he lost him outside the library.

 

[littlehorn]

Wow! Really?So they did talk to one of them???
I suppose that interview is in the files as well.
I certainly would like to hear what he had to say.
Good find Shadowangel!

I think that guy is the African student. He turned out to be very helpful and underwent hypnosis by the police in order to try to provide a description.

Wish I could read that interview from the police file...

We're working on tracking the African student down.

Derek

 

[littlehorn]

I remember seeing a documentary once on Erotomania where a person can have a delusional belief that a particular person, even one they have never met, is secretly in love with them. Simple things like the way the person they're in love with picks up a book or tucks back a strand of hair as they are walk past is interpreted as a secret gesture by them of their undying love. Unless they are spoken to about the subject of their delusion some delusional people can appear and function normally. If her killer was an erotomanic, and I realise that's a very big if it could be a minor aquaintance of Betsy's or she may never have even met them. As someone else pointed out, (I am very sorry. I am tired and can't remember who) it could be someone who is jealous of her relationship with the fiance. If it is an erotomanic the killer's fixation could have been on Betsy's fiance and believed Betsy stood in the way of their 'love'. I realise an erotomanic killer is a long shot but I just find it so strange that if the killer had the typical motives of love, money or sex they were not caught by now or even suspected.

Interesting thought. Not only that, most people who are willing to go so far as to kill someone else for whatever reason, are not going to turn around and lead spotless lives after doing so. I think it takes a certain moral disconnect to be able to murder (not talking self-defense killings) so it seems like someone with the usual motives would have done it again later on.

However, if the killer had something like erotomania perhaps they were able to get it under control or felt enough remorse that they changed their life.

The problem there is, typically killings like that make the killer feel he has been rebuffed -- leading to overkill. The lack of overkill here is conspicuous. If he had time to stab her once and the inclination to do so, and was someone who had a deeply personal connection to her (even a one-sided connection) you'd think there would be more stab wounds involved.

 

[MaryLiz]

Interesting thought. Not only that, most people who are willing to go so far as to kill someone else for whatever reason, are not going to turn around and lead spotless lives after doing so. I think it takes a certain moral disconnect to be able to murder (not talking self-defense killings) so it seems like someone with the usual motives would have done it again later on.

However, if the killer had something like erotomania perhaps they were able to get it under control or felt enough remorse that they changed their life.

The problem there is, typically killings like that make the killer feel he has been rebuffed -- leading to overkill. The lack of overkill here is conspicuous. If he had time to stab her once and the inclination to do so, and was someone who had a deeply personal connection to her (even a one-sided connection) you'd think there would be more stab wounds involved.

Erotomania is an interesting theory Kiki brought up. It could certainly be another thing pointing towards the female student who found Betsy as the possible perp.

I just can't get past the lack of overkill, either. I keep thinking with the lack of such, it points to just someone who wanted to thrill kill. But I feel there just has to be more to it than that. With overkill there is lots of pent-up anger. Maybe the killer was someone who thought they were in love with Betsy but possibly wasn't angry about it per se. The fact that it was just the one stab wound says to me that we're dealing with someone who is cold, cruel and calculating...someone very much in control of their emotions and feelings.

littlehorn, I do remember when I read the articles a couple months ago that the African student was very helpful at the time. I hope you can track him down again!

 

[shadowangel]

<snip> These could be the guys who went to say "somebody better help that girl." The one who came forward I believe is the African (Portugese west africa) international student who was later hypnotized after reporting that he chased after the "somebody better help that girl" guy until he lost him outside the library.

That's interesting, in and of itself...Several of the articles I read (and at least one of those on the website) mention that Betsy was "extremely interested in minority groups. She loved black literature".
Betsy had applied to join the Peace Corps and had been accepted (though most stories indicate she had decided to stay with her boyfriend).

Another scenario here...Could someone have taken her "interest in minority groups" as something more personal?

The single, fatal stab to the heart...There's something almost ritualistic, even practiced about it.

 

[littlehorn]

Erotomania is an interesting theory Kiki brought up. It could certainly be another thing pointing towards the female student who found Betsy as the possible perp.

I just can't get past the lack of overkill, either. I keep thinking with the lack of such, it points to just someone who wanted to thrill kill. But I feel there just has to be more to it than that. With overkill there is lots of pent-up anger. Maybe the killer was someone who thought they were in love with Betsy but possibly wasn't angry about it per se. The fact that it was just the one stab wound says to me that we're dealing with someone who is cold, cruel and calculating...someone very much in control of their emotions and feelings.

littlehorn, I do remember when I read the articles a couple months ago that the African student was very helpful at the time. I hope you can track him down again!

We're hoping he can be found. So far no luck but we've put a lot of work into it and hopefully can track him down.

The one stab wound blows my mind too. Seems like just a "let's try this and see how it works," or a silencing of some kind...But even then, if you follow the timelines printed in the newspapers, the killer DID NOT have time to sit around and wait to make sure she was dead -- meaning it's possible she may not have been able to ID him even if she had lived.

 

[littlehorn]

That's interesting, in and of itself...Several of the articles I read (and at least one of those on the website) mention that Betsy was "extremely interested in minority groups. She loved black literature".
Betsy had applied to join the Peace Corps and had been accepted (though most stories indicate she had decided to stay with her boyfriend).

Another scenario here...Could someone have taken her "interest in minority groups" as something more personal?

The single, fatal stab to the heart...There's something almost ritualistic, even practiced about it.

I know that she spent some time working at an Indian reservation in Arizona. The police travelled there to investigate this but apparently found nothing.

I've heard varying reports on what country she was intending to visit with the Peace Corps -- Zaire has popped up a couple of times, but again, it's hard to take anything from the newspaper articles as gospel, since there were so many wild stories flying around due to the lack of police released information.

I suppose there could be a racial motivation but then, we're back to the person having to KNOW Betsy and also KNOW about her Peace Corps intentions. Remember, she was only at PSU for about three months when she was murdered...And she spent most weekends with her fiancee, and evenings in her dorm room.

Not a lot of time to really get to know people that well.

Just a thought.

 

[shadowangel]

As stated in Kiki's post, it doesn't take much for some to fixate on another person. Maybe a simple comment or question, an inquiry about someone's well-being or aspect of their culture.

Everything written about this case can be used to back any number of diametrically opposed theories.

 

[littlehorn]

As stated in Kiki's post, it doesn't take much for some to fixate on another person. Maybe a simple comment or question, an inquiry about someone's well-being or aspect of their culture.

Everything written about this case can be used to back any number of diametrically opposed theories.

That's the maddening part about this case. You can take any theory, up to and including massive conspiracies rivalling the JFK assassination, and can pull enough information from published reports to make a case for them.

One thing I have thought about that hasn't been explored is professional jealousy. It was written in one article that Betsy was up for an assistant professorship.

I find that hard to believe based on that this was her first semester at PSU, and she wasn't doing particularly outstanding, and was actually considering dropping out and moving to Hershey to be with David.

However, PSU's English department underwent massive changes in the late 1960s and a lot of professors got canned due to downsizing and budget issues, but there was also a big push to hire more females, so it's possible.

Perhaps someone hanging about who was hoping for a job with PSU but who got turned down or had an offer rescinded during the whirlwind hire/downsize cycles had wind of Betsy being considered and took offense to this. Might even be a bit of misogyny involved in something like that...Enough motive for murder, as we've seen in many other cases.

 

[kline]

That's the maddening part about this case. You can take any theory, up to and including massive conspiracies rivalling the JFK assassination, and can pull enough information from published reports to make a case for them.

One thing I have thought about that hasn't been explored is professional jealousy. It was written in one article that Betsy was up for an assistant professorship.

I find that hard to believe based on that this was her first semester at PSU, and she wasn't doing particularly outstanding, and was actually considering dropping out and moving to Hershey to be with David.

However, PSU's English department underwent massive changes in the late 1960s and a lot of professors got canned due to downsizing and budget issues, but there was also a big push to hire more females, so it's possible.

Perhaps someone hanging about who was hoping for a job with PSU but who got turned down or had an offer rescinded during the whirlwind hire/downsize cycles had wind of Betsy being considered and took offense to this. Might even be a bit of misogyny involved in something like that...Enough motive for murder, as we've seen in many other cases.

That is a real interesting angle.
I wonder too how in such a short time she could be up for such a position of course like you say during the late 60's there was alot of this 'progressive at any cost ' thinking going on in education.
God,I remember some of the new 'Open Class Room' and ' Modular Learning Enviroment' circuses I saw first hand in junior high....
Needless to say they probably looked good on paper but were pretty short lived in practice.
It could have been "Weve got to get a Woman in there! ANY Womanl!"
In the highly competitive university enviroment that could very well have been a problem for somebody especiallv some tightly wound educational misogynist who perhaps was a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
Definately something to think about.
I too have pondered the disillusional nutjob with a fix on Betsy theory alot but I keep running into the notion that anyone that seriously mentally ill ...to the point of being assaultive... would have came to peoples attention during the aftermath of the murder.
But who knows?
Your right Littlehorn its hard to rule anything out as long as LE keeps so much info under wrap.

 

[littlehorn]

I too have pondered the disillusional nutjob with a fix on Betsy theory alot but I keep running into the notion that anyone that seriously mentally ill ...to the point of being assaultive... would have came to peoples attention during the aftermath of the murder.
But who knows?
Your right Littlehorn its hard to rule anything out as long as LE keeps so much info under wrap.

You're spot on with this...If the guy was "around" enough to get a fix on Betsy, he was probably in the dragnet at some point. You'd think if he was that out of it, he would have made some statement to someone that would have put him on the radar.

Aargh. So many confusing circles to go in.

 

[kline]

You're spot on with this...If the guy was "around" enough to get a fix on Betsy, he was probably in the dragnet at some point. You'd think if he was that out of it, he would have made some statement to someone that would have put him on the radar.

Aargh. So many confusing circles to go in.

Thats whats so bloody confusing ...
The argument could be made youd have to be nuts to attack someone in a library with a knife... an act which youd have every reason to think would be a kamikaze run stright to the electric chair do not pass go...yet someone that spun should have stood out like a sore thumb in the investigation.
'Aargh' is right.
Im going to go back and read everything on your site and every post here from square one and see if it brings clarity.
Of course youve probably done that six times already!

 

[littlehorn]

Thats whats so bloody confusing ...
The argument could be made youd have to be nuts to attack someone in a library with a knife... an act which youd have every reason to think would be a kamikaze run stright to the electric chair do not pass go...yet someone that spun should have stood out like a sore thumb in the investigation.
'Aargh' is right.
Im going to go back and read everything on your site and every post here from square one and see if it brings clarity.
Of course youve probably done that six times already!

Yeah, I keep doing it too. If you're going to do that, just remember to take all the newspaper stuff with a grain of salt -- I've found some of the articles contradict other articles, etc., and I'd hate to see you go insane, LOL.

 

[kline]

Too late...but thanks!

 

[littlehorn]

Found some interesting information including the name of a former suspect. Trying to track him down. Despite being ruled out by police he's an interesting character and seemed willing to talk back then about what happened and try to assist the investigation.