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

[Richard]

Just over a year prior to Betsy's murder, there was another murder of a somewhat similar nature which occurred just west of Philadelphia.

A young man was stabbed in the chest by someone using a round spike type of weapon (something perhaps like a sharpened screwdriver). His body was left by a highway ramp near Downingtown, PA.

That young man remained an unknown John Doe from October 1968 until 2012 when he was finally identified as Robert Daniel Corriveau, a US Marine who had been a patient at the Naval Hospital Philadelphia. There is a thread on his case in Websleuths. Although he was finally identified, his murder remains unsolved.

One possible suspect is Haefner.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Just over a year prior to Betsy's murder, there was another murder of a somewhat similar nature which occurred just west of Philadelphia.

A young man was stabbed in the chest by someone using a round spike type of weapon (something perhaps like a sharpened screwdriver). His body was left by a highway ramp near Downingtown, PA.

That young man remained an unknown John Doe from October 1968 until 2012 when he was finally identified as Robert Daniel Corriveau, a US Marine who had been a patient at the Naval Hospital Philadelphia. There is a thread on his case in Websleuths. Although he was finally identified, his murder remains unsolved.

One possible suspect is Haefner.

The weapon is a heck of a lot different.

 

[Richard]

The weapon is a heck of a lot different.

In these two cases, yes there was a difference in weapon, but method was the same - a single stab to the heart.

Haefner was known to carry a sharpened screwdriver on his person at all times, supposedly "for protection". He used such an implement to puncture someone's tires on one occasion, and used it to threaten others.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

In these two cases, yes there was a difference in weapon, but method was the same - a single stab to the heart.

Haefner was known to carry a sharpened screwdriver on his person at all times, supposedly "for protection". He used such an implement to puncture someone's tires on one occasion, and used it to threaten others.

If Haefner killed Aardsma then it was not with the weapon he "normally," carried.

Assuming that Aardsma was murdered by Haefner, then there is a big difference beyond the weapon.

Haefner was close to Aardsma, physically, over a period of time and was around her for a while, at least. He didn't move the body, post mordem.

Corriveau was in Philadelphia and no connection to Haefner, at least before that weekend. His body was moved post mordem. Haefner would have to travel from PSU, randomly encounter Corriveau, kill him, and then move the body. Even in 1968, there were numerous places to dump a body, without driving it to Downingtown.

There was a VA Hospital in Coatsville at the time, which is close to Downingtown. I'm now wondering if there could be a connection with Corriveau.

 

[Richard]

Downingtown is due west of the old Philadelphia Naval Hospital, and about halfway to Haefner's home.

Corporal Corriveau was a patient at the Naval Hospital and had only been there for a month. He was on authorized liberty the weekend that he disappeared and failed to make Monday morning muster. As it turned out, his body was discovered about the same time that he was reported "UA". Unfortunately, Pennsylvania State Police did not find any identification on him and he remained unidentified for 44 years.

I do not know if there was any connection with Haefner, and if they did meet, it would probably have been a somewhat chance/random meeting.

Haefner could not have had a very long association with Betsy Aardsma, since she had only moved from Michigan to Pennsylvania at the start of fall term, 1968, and was murdered in November.

Haefner was mentally unbalanced to say the least. I don't think that he really had any feeling toward or real connection with anyone - regardless of whether he had known a person for a time or just met them. In one instance, he was accused of having sexual relations with young boys that he hired to help him with his rock collections, and on one occasion, he attacked a woman he had never met very violently in a parking lot. He used his sharpened screwdriver to puncture the tires of someone's car on another occasion.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Actually, Aardsma had started at PSU in 1969; her murder was on 11/28/69. I think that, in November 1968, Haefner was at PSU working on his masters. They were on a "term system" at the time, where you would have three quarters instead of two semesters. If would very close to, if not in, finals week. It would have been fairly unlikely Haefner would be away from campus.

Also, Haefner did know Aardsma, at least slightly. They lived in the same area, and Aardsma supposedly dated Haefner briefly.

There was no known connection between Corriveau and Haefner. Corriveau wasn't from PA and had spent the prior three years in Vietnam. Haefner was attending school in PA at that time.

While both were stabbings, the weapons don't appear to be the same: Mystery of 'murdered' Vietnam hero Robert Corriveau wrongly branded a deserter | Daily Mail Online

 

[Richard]

"Mystery of 'murdered' Vietnam hero Robert Corriveau wrongly branded a deserter | Daily Mail Online"

A very good write up, but a few somewhat misleading statements in it. Corporal Corriveau's funeral was not just a small private one, but rather one which included full military honors by a large unit of uniformed Marines.

The article seems to indicate that there was only a 4 hour gap between him leaving the hospital and being found dead some 38 miles away.

Although he was officially REPORTED as an Unauthorized Absence (UA) at around 07:50 Monday morning, 18 November 1968, he had been away from the Hospital for the whole weekend and was not back at the hospital and present for morning roll call. So it was not that he LEFT the hospital at 07:50 and turned up dead at 11:00 38 miles away, but rather that he was killed sometime earlier - either late the 17th or early morning the 18th November.

Another misleading statement in the article is that he was positively identified in 2009. This was not the case. He was not identified until 2012. It is possible that his body was disinterred in 2009 to obtain further information and DNA, but the match up with his family came later.

One clue which is mentioned in passing is that he was covered with a Navy type "Peacoat". This is somewhat odd, in that Marines did not have that type of coat, and probably would not wear one with their civilian clothes for two reasons: first it is against regulations to wear a uniform item with civilian clothes and second, it is an article of Navy clothing, not Marine Corps issue.

If it were a coat belonging to a sailor, it would/should have had the man's name stenciled inside, but this was not the case. It begs the question as to whose coat it was, and how Corporal Corriveau came to be covered with it. Something that I have never been able to find out was whether or not the murder weapon penetrated that coat, and if there was any of his blood on it.

 

[Richard]

"Actually, Aardsma had started at PSU in 1969; her murder was on 11/28/69. I think that, in November 1968, Haefner was at PSU working on his masters. They were on a "term system" at the time, where you would have three quarters instead of two semesters. If would very close to, if not in, finals week. It would have been fairly unlikely Haefner would be away from campus."

You are correct. I typo'ed the date. It was fall term 1969 when Betsy arrived at State College, PA to attend graduate school. She had graduated from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI the previous spring or summer and then moved.

And I have also seen somewhere that Haefner may have dated her. But my point was that he had not known her very long, and there were other instances where he was extremely violent with people regardless of whether he knew them long, or had just met them.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

The peacoat could have been surplus, and there was a Veteran near there.

Shouldn't we be taking this to the Corriveau thread?

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Respectfully snipped.

And I have also seen somewhere that Haefner may have dated her. But my point was that he had not known her very long, and there were other instances where he was extremely violent with people regardless of whether he knew them long, or had just met them.

It was in Who Killed Betsy, IIRC, that Haefner had dated Aardsma. They could have known each other for as long as three months.

 

[morf13]

Haefner was the main suspect, and has been all these years. However, I think it was interesting that years after the murder, an anonymous letter was mailed from the Atlanta area to the Penn State Police that read "You never did catch that guy that killed that c**t in the library, did you?" I don't know if Haefner was in that area to mail that letter

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Haefner was the main suspect, and has been all these years. However, I think it was interesting that years after the murder, an anonymous letter was mailed from the Atlanta area to the Penn State Police that read "You never did catch that guy that killed that c**t in the library, did you?" I don't know if Haefner was in that area to mail that letter

First, I disagree that Haefner was ever the main suspect. Even going into the 1990's, his name was never mentioned. The conventional wisdom was that it was a professor who died later that year. I think we owe Littlehorn, et al., a vote of thanks for not only bringing Haefner's name to the front, but clearly eliminating that professor.

Second, it may have been a prank. Staff have found taunting messages in the library well after the fact. In the 1990's, IIRC, they found a lit candle with some reference to Aardsma and the message, "I'm back." Obviously, there were no further killings.

 

[morf13]

First, I disagree that Haefner was ever the main suspect. Even going into the 1990's, his name was never mentioned. The conventional wisdom was that it was a professor who died later that year. I think we owe Littlehorn, et al., a vote of thanks for not only bringing Haefner's name to the front, but clearly eliminating that professor.

Second, it may have been a prank. Staff have found taunting messages in the library well after the fact. In the 1990's, IIRC, they found a lit candle with some reference to Aardsma and the message, "I'm back." Obviously, there were no further killings.

Sorry, by main suspect, I should have mentioned a named suspect as far as most recognized. The taunting letter, so many years after the murder from an area far away from the college feels like more than a prank to me. It's a long way to go for a prank, in my opinion

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Sorry, by main suspect, I should have mentioned a named suspect as far as most recognized. The taunting letter, so many years after the murder from an area far away from the college feels like more than a prank to me. It's a long way to go for a prank, in my opinion

The murder was almost an urban legend when I was there in the early 1980's. If you attended PSU, you probably heard of it. While PSU students and alumni primarily live in PA, there are a lot out of state, including GA. Also, Atlanta is a transportation hub and a fair number of people that knew about the case probably are in the area each day.

As I've indicated, there have been other "pranks."

 

[Richard]

Betsy was a student a Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan up through summer 1969. During her time there, there was an apparent series of murders of young women, sometimes referred to as the 'Michigan Murders".

Besides the 6 or 7 murders thought to be linked to a single killer, there were also several others in the state around the same time.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Betsy was a student a Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan up through summer 1969. During her time there, there was an apparent series of murders of young women, sometimes referred to as the 'Michigan Murders".

Besides the 6 or 7 murders thought to be linked to a single killer, there were also several others in the state around the same time.

The man convicted in those murders John Norman Collins (now Chapman) was arrested in the summer of 1969. He was in jail when Aardsma was murdered.

Michigan murders - Wikipedia

 

[Richard]

The man convicted in those murders John Norman Collins (now Chapman) was arrested in the summer of 1969. He was in jail when Aardsma was murdered.

Michigan murders - Wikipedia

That is correct. However, he was only convicted of one murder - that of Karen Sue Beineman age 17, an EMU freshman killed about 23 July 1969.

The other 6 Michigan murders and one California murder, believed by police to have been his work, remained officially unsolved. In 2005, another man was found guilty of murdering Jane Mixer, who had once been considered a Collins victim.

Also, U of M student Margaret Phillips and Toledo school girl Aileen Adams were murdered during the time frame of Collins' killing. Although some LE believed that they were connected to the series, They were eventually solved and other killers were convicted in those cases. There are also other unsolved killings from that time frame.

It is possible that Collins worked with another killer (or killers) who were free after he was arrested. And it is also possible that another killer or killers NOT connected him were active. If so, they might have actually committed some of murders generally believed to have been committed by Collins.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I could understand someone with a personal grudge follow Aardsma to PSU, but not a serial killer. There were some victims that Collins/Chapman didn't know, if not all of them.

 

[MRSU49]

That's a good thought. I haven't made any sense of the ages myself, despite looking at them in a cursory manner.

It's like, taken out of the killer's "context," they mean nothing at all.

That's why I've always come back to the "25-year anniversary," as opposed to some significance of the killer's age, because that's the only way I've been able to make heads or tails of it. I am sure it would make more sense if the guy was caught and we could look at the whole picture of his life and travels...

I just started reading this thread recently but I had a thought while reading the different theories. I was wondering if maybe the killer was a student who was unable to get into a class because it was full. If he felt she had taken his spot in the class, delaying his graduation, and then heard that she dropped that class it might have sent him over the edge momentarily. I don't know how graduate school classes worked in 1969, I'm basing this on my experience as an undergrad in the 1980s (at another school) when being unable to get into a class meant a delay in all classes after that one, some of which were only offered once a year. If the person was someone who never had consequences for their actions they might not feel they did anything wrong. Reading this I almost deleted without posting since I think it would have been looked at at the time and killing someone is not the same as stealing or slashing tires on someone's car which some peopel seem to be able to do and feel no remorse for.

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up. This month marks the 49 year anniversary of Betsy's murder.