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

[AKWILKS]

Wavy hair glasses suspect in the murder of Betsy Aardsma and pictures of Ted Kaczynski.

COLLEGE LIBRARY MURDERS 1966 - 1969: CASES THAT MAY BE RELATED - BATES & AARDSMA



Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably mailed on 11/28/66

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student, father ex-CIA/VP at IT&T, killed, 11/28/81

PICTURES
Left: Cheri Jo Bates
Right: Betsy Aardsma

THE VICTIMS

We know that it is most likely around late August/early September of 1966 when Kaczynski states he was "born again" and decided to "really kill everyone I hate." He states he was suffering from "acute sexual starvation" and that some of the people he wants to kill are love making couples, "college students" and "promiscuous" young men and women. Looking at these cases we see possible links between them.

Note also that the Zodiac Killer is a prime suspect in the death of Ms. Bates, and that the interest in Kaczynski as a suspect for the Zodiac has been renewed and is ongoing. Kaczynski was in the SF Bay area at the time of the Zodiac murders, and like the Zodiac, wrote to newspapers demanding his words on the front page and was an expert in codes and bombs.

The Zodiac was known to do mailings and crimes on the anniversary dates of other crimes. Looking here, we see that the confession letter in the Bates case was mailed November 28, 1966. Betsy Aardsma was killed exactly three years later, on November 28, 1969. (12 years later, Joan Webster was murdered in Boston, a possible Zodiac crime, on November 28, 1981).

Looking at the pictures of Cheri Jo Bates and Betsy Aardsma, there are clear similarities - the girls are beautiful, with fresh faces and mid length hair. If perhaps not looking quite like sisters, they certainly look like they could be cousins, from the same family.

Both these women were in the same age range and all were college students. They were intelligent, charming, independent and assertive. They were "good girls" to use the language of the times - they lead clean lives with no clear suspects in their murders.

Before enrolling at the University of Michigan, Aardsma visited and spent extensive time in Ann Arbor in 1966-1967, Ted's last year there, they both shared an interest Native American Indian cultures and in politics, Aardsma was researching a mathematician when killed and most importantly a witness has placed Ted at the murder scene, in the Penn State library the day before the murder.

Bates was killed in Riverside, California during the time that evidence shows Ted went out there in the late Fall/early Winter of 1966 to interview with the University of California, Berkeley, which also has campuses in LA and Riverside.

Bates was stabbed multiple times and kicked in the head; Aardsma was killed by a single brutal knife thrust to the heart.

MO MATCHES AND OTHER SIMILARITIES IN THE MURDERS

There are very notable similarities between the murder of Ms. Bates in California on October 30, 1966 (when evidence shows Kaczynski was in that state), and the murder of Ms. Aardsma on November 28, 1969 at the Penn State library (when evidence shows Kaczynski was there, at that library). University of Michigan graduate Betsy Aardsma, attending Penn State graduate school, was brutally murdered. Like the murder of Ms. Bates:

* The murder took place within one day of a major Fall Holiday (Bates Halloween, Aardsma Thanksgiving).

* The murder took place at or in a campus library (Bates at the library, Aardsma actually in the library).

* The weapon in each case was a short knife, approximately 1 inch wide and 3 1/2 to 4 inches long.

* The attack was brutal and the victims led clean lives with no obvious suspects.

* In both cases taunting letters were sent after the crime.

* A CRYPTIC MORBID POEM MENTIONING DEATH WAS ETCHED ONTO A WOOD DESK and found at the Riverside college, and talked about killing a girl in a red dress, and Aardsma was wearing a red dress when killed. The Riverside poem had the initials "RH". REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME HERE, THERE WAS ALSO A CRYPTIC MORBID SAYING MENTIONING DEATH ETCHED INTO A WOOD CHAIR ARM and found at Penn State and associated by police to be probably linked to the murder of Aardsma. The Aardsma saying had the initials "RSK". (Interestingly, to throw police off track, Kaczynski later put a message in a bomb signed "RV")

After the Zodiac murder of cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969, and the release of the Zodiac composite sketch in early November 1969, the SF area would have been very hot for the Zodiac. It would be prudent for him to leave, and in fact, Ted's brother David says Ted did leave California at that time and came home to Illinois. That puts him in the eastern half of the US and a days drive from PA when Aardsma is killed. Ted's father was from PA, and Ted later sent a bomb to a professor at Penn State University. Prior to the murder of Aardsma, Zodiac claimed 7 victims - but in his Christmas letter to Melvin Belli he says he may take a ninth and tenth victim. Who was number 8? Could it have been Aardsma?

Most importantly, a witness picked out a picture of Ted Kaczynski as being present in the Penn State library the day before Aardsma was killed, acting strangely and perhaps wearing an afro wig.

Above is a map of the Aardsma murder scene, at the Penn State library.

If a spot of blood was found where the man walked by - far away from the murder scene - either he was a good samaritan (highly unlikely and not seen by anyone) or he was almost certainly the killer.

Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - mailed on 11/28/66

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student, father CIA/VP IT&T, killed, 11/28/81


I am struck by the similarities between Penn State grad student Betsy Aardsma, murdered 11/28/69, and Harvard grad student Joan Webster, murdered 11/28/81. 12 years later, to the day. There was a writing on the arm of a dorm room chair in the Aardmsa case, and writing on a Harvard bathroom wall in the Webster case, a message and code from the Zodiac.

The look between these two intelligent and beautiful East Coast graduate students is strikingly similar.

This is a reward poster in the Webster case.

 

[Walker]

Compare to sketch:

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

...
Is Betsy in this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co93JSvDdxU
​

 

[Walker]

...
Is Betsy in this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co93JSvDdxU​

Please describe the section in which you believe that Betsy appears.

 

[Walker]

She went to Joukovsky's office. Joukovsky wanted her to bring him a book, G. A. Aiken's "The Life and Works of John Arbuthnot," which she had used for another assignment.
"I was evaluating that previous project and I wanted to see that key book," Joukovsky said. "I asked her if she still had it out of the library. She said, 'No, I've taken it back, but I'm going up there right after I'm done here and I'll bring it back to you.' "

and bodily fluids were later found in the same area of the stacks where she was found, but police don't believe that had anything to do with the incident.

Doesn't state whether this area was the correct place to find the book. Could someone have lured her to an area with to harass her in some way?

But the silence in the stacks was interrupted by the sound of falling books, as Betsy clutched the shelf in the final seconds of her life. Five minutes later, Betsy was dead.

Maybe they used chloroform or some drug to prevent her from screaming?


Source:
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/11/20/betsy_ruth_aardsma_40_years_la.aspx

 

[Walker]

http://www.pennlive.com/specialprojects/index.ssf/2008/12/they_are_old_men_now.html

At some point in late high school or early college, Betsy Aardsma spent a week on a mission program run by the Reformed Church on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico and taught art to what were then called "ghetto" children in nearby Grand Rapids.
That is known from published reports after her death and confirmed by her former brother-in-law Dennis Wegner.

A naive idealist, maybe Betsy somehow fell into the SDS through this missionary and outreach work.

None of her immediate family would agree to interviews for this story. Her sister Carole, now a Reformed Church minister, commented only that, "I've said all I'm going to say." Her younger sister could not be reached.

The family might feel embarrassed by this possibility.

When she arrived at Michigan in the fall of 1967, the campus was engulfed in the fervor of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
The school had been known for its liberal politics through much of the decade. Students for a Democratic Society was organized there in 1960, and Michigan student Bill Ayers, who became a household name during the 2008 presidential campaign, was a leader of the group that fall.

Aardsma graduated from Michigan with "distinction and honors" in English. But as much as she cared for Wright, she still wanted to join the Peace Corps and go to Africa for a year. She applied and was accepted, according to Wright and Brandt ... That was before Wright decided he wasn't crazy about the idea of his girlfriend going away for a year.

SDS has been described as a cult which tried to control its members' lives, and even whom they dated.

The young medical student probably felt that such an adventure would be too dangerous. His caution reveals that he was no political fanatic. Maybe the SDS was not pleased that Betsy was dating a man who didn't share their fervent radicalism?

Penn State's main campus in State College was not entirely tranquil in the fall of 1969.

Aardsma made new friends at Penn State, among them Linda Marsa, another English graduate student.

She always seemed like a young Katharine Hepburn," Marsa said of Aardsma. "You know, with those kind of angular features and this curly, reddish hair that she pinned up. Lean and lanky with that same kind of sarcastic, funny, witty attitude."

She may have come across as someone with leadership potential?

Marsa, who called herself a political radical, said she and Aardsma were as one in their opposition to the Vietnam War.

Wegner said in a 1972 news article that Aardsma led a campus discussion group against the war on national Vietnam Moratorium Day, which was Oct. 15, 1969.

And, just 5 weeks later, she was murdered.

Aardsma saw her boyfriend on weekends, taking the bus from State College to Harrisburg and back if he didn't drive up. Wright recalled that about midway through the semester, or about the end of October, she seemed troubled.

After leading the discussion group?

That seems odd, because after speaking in front of the group regarding such a popular cause, ending the war, one might expect that people were being supportive.

The SDS was rife with in-group fighting. Perhaps Betsy's views were more moderate than their own Maoist bent, and therefore she posed a threat to the group?

OTOH maybe her views were in agreement with the SDS, but she had more charisma as a speaker and leader, and therefore she posed a threat to someone with ego problems inside the group?

Aardsma told him she wanted to move to Harrisburg and enroll in courses there, probably at Penn State Harrisburg.
"In retrospect, when I thought about that, I wondered if she was worried about something up there," Wright said …
Around that time, he said, she told her mother, "I don't know why I'm here. I have this weird feeling about being here."

 

[AKWILKS]

What evidence suggests Betsy belonged to a radical group like SDS?

She was against the war, yes, but so were a lot of students. And she may have spoken at a campus discussion group about the war. OK. But that does not imply membership in SDS. And SDS was not really violently radical, and they did not go around stabbing people. But there was a violent faction in the SDS that did break away and become the Weatherman. The Weatherman or Weather Underground were violent, did bombings and one leader even endorsed the Manson murders.

Betsy Aardsma was the very first person listed in the student directory.

A poem written on a wood desk at the campus of murdered stsudent Cheri Jo Bates mentioned stabbing a girl in a red dress. Aardsma was wearing a red dress when stabbed. The poem was identified as having been written by the Zodiac.

A Zodiac suspect, Ted Kaczynski, may have been at the Penn State library the day before the murder. In 1966 and later, he wrote in his journals of his desire to kill businessmen, scientists and police. He also wrote about wanting to kill "rowdy college students" and his anger at 'noisy love making couples'. After decsribing his desire to kill businessmen, police and scientists, he stated "I would also like to kill a communist." In his radical primitivist anarchist and individualist views, he might well have regarded a left leaner like Aardsma as a "communist". Aardsma also spent time at the University of Michigan just as Ted was graduating from that school. Though I think it far more likely she was targeted at random.

At Penn State, police found a cryptic statement about death written on the wood arm of a chair, thought to perhaps be written by the man who killed Betsy Aardsma. The statement was signed "RSK".

Kaczynski did put a note in a bomb reading "Wu --- It works! I told you it would. --- RV", and there was a Prof Wu and a Prof with initials RV in the Berkeley math department. Then we have the "RH" at the end of the desktop Riverside poem, identified by police as having been written by the Zodiac, the lead suspect in the death of Riverside student Cheri Jo Bates.

Another suspect in the Aardsma case, Richard Haefner, does have the initials "RH".

 

[AKWILKS]

Wavy hair glasses suspect in the murder of Betsy Aardsma and pictures of Ted Kaczynski.

COLLEGE LIBRARY MURDERS 1966 - 1969: CASES THAT MAY BE RELATED - BATES & AARDSMA



Cheri Jo Bates, Riverside, CA - Murdered at campus library by knife, 10/30/66

Confession letter in Cheri Jo Bates murder, Riverside, CA - probably mailed on 11/28/66

Betsy Aardsma, State College, PA - Murdered in campus library by knife, 11/28/69

Joan Webster, Boston, MA - Harvard grad student, father ex-CIA/VP at IT&T, killed, 11/28/81

PICTURES
Left: Cheri Jo Bates
Right: Betsy Aardsma

THE VICTIMS

We know that it is most likely around late August/early September of 1966 when Kaczynski states he was "born again" and decided to "really kill everyone I hate." He states he was suffering from "acute sexual starvation" and that some of the people he wants to kill are love making couples, "rowdy college students" and "promiscuous" young men and women. Looking at these cases we see possible links between them.

Note also that the Zodiac Killer is a prime suspect in the death of Ms. Bates, and that the interest in Kaczynski as a suspect for the Zodiac has been renewed and is ongoing. Kaczynski was in the SF Bay area at the time of the Zodiac murders, and like the Zodiac, wrote to newspapers demanding his words on the front page and was an expert in codes and bombs.

The Zodiac was known to do mailings and crimes on the anniversary dates of other crimes. Looking here, we see that the confession letter in the Bates case was mailed November 28, 1966. Betsy Aardsma was killed exactly three years later, on November 28, 1969. (12 years later, Joan Webster was murdered in Boston, a possible Zodiac crime, on November 28, 1981).

Looking at the pictures of Cheri Jo Bates and Betsy Aardsma, there are clear similarities - the girls are beautiful, with fresh faces and mid length hair. If perhaps not looking quite like sisters, they certainly look like they could be cousins, from the same family.

Both these women were in the same age range and all were college students. They were intelligent, charming, independent and assertive. They were "good girls" to use the language of the times - they lead clean lives with no clear suspects in their murders.

Before enrolling at the University of Michigan, Aardsma visited and spent extensive time in Ann Arbor in 1966-1967, Ted's last year there, they both shared an interest Native American Indian cultures and in politics, Aardsma was researching a mathematician when killed and most importantly a witness has placed Ted at the murder scene, in the Penn State library the day before the murder.

Bates was killed in Riverside, California during the time that evidence shows Ted went out there in the late Fall/early Winter of 1966 to interview with the University of California, Berkeley, which also has campuses in LA and Riverside.

Bates was stabbed multiple times and kicked in the head; Aardsma was killed by a single brutal knife thrust to the heart.

MO MATCHES AND OTHER SIMILARITIES IN THE MURDERS

There are very notable similarities between the murder of Ms. Bates in California on October 30, 1966 (when evidence shows Kaczynski was in that state), and the murder of Ms. Aardsma on November 28, 1969 at the Penn State library (when evidence shows Kaczynski was there, at that library). University of Michigan graduate Betsy Aardsma, attending Penn State graduate school, was brutally murdered. Like the murder of Ms. Bates:

* The murder took place within one day of a major Fall Holiday (Bates Halloween, Aardsma Thanksgiving).

* The murder took place at or in a campus library (Bates at the library, Aardsma actually in the library).

* The weapon in each case was a short knife, approximately 1 inch wide and 3 1/2 to 4 inches long.

* The attack was brutal and the victims led clean lives with no obvious suspects.

* In both cases cruel taunting letters were sent after the crime.

* A CRYPTIC MORBID POEM MENTIONING DEATH WAS ETCHED ONTO A WOOD DESK and found at the Riverside college, and talked about killing a girl in a red dress, and Aardsma was wearing a red dress when killed. The Riverside poem had the initials "RH". REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME HERE, THERE WAS ALSO A CRYPTIC MORBID SAYING MENTIONING DEATH ETCHED INTO A WOOD CHAIR ARM and found at Penn State and associated by police to be probably linked to the murder of Aardsma. The Aardsma saying had the initials "RSK". (Interestingly, to throw police off track, Kaczynski later put a message in a bomb signed "RV")

The statement etched onto a wood chair arm at Penn State and thought by police to perhaps be linked to the murder of Betsy Aardsma said the following:


HERE SAT DEATH IN THE GUISE OF A MAN RSK


After the Zodiac murder of cab driver Paul Stine in October 1969, and the release of the Zodiac composite sketch in early November 1969, the SF area would have been very hot for the Zodiac. It would be prudent for him to leave, and in fact, Ted's brother David says Ted did leave California at that time and came home to Illinois. That puts him in the eastern half of the US and a days drive from PA when Aardsma is killed. Ted's father was from PA, and Ted later sent a bomb to a professor at Penn State University. Prior to the murder of Aardsma, Zodiac claimed 7 victims - but in his Christmas letter to Melvin Belli he says he may take a ninth and tenth victim. Who was number 8? Could it have been Aardsma?

Most importantly, a witness picked out a picture of Ted Kaczynski as being present in the Penn State library the day before Aardsma was killed, acting strangely and perhaps wearing a wig.



PICTURES
Left: Valerie Percy
L. Middle: Cheri Jo Bates
R. Middle: Betsy Aardsma
Right: ONS Victim Janelle Cruz

Graphic by TheForeigner: Betsy Aardsma and Known and Possible Zodiac Victims

Another picture of Penn State grad student Betsy Aardsma, killed 11/28/69 and picture of Harvard grad student Joan Webster, killed 11/28/81

Look also at the picture of Valerie Percy at the top left, she was killed by knife in her home a few miles from the Kaczynski home in Illinois on September 19, 1966. I think she looks similar to Bates and Aardsma. Though as TheForeigner points out, Aardsma may look more like Jensen, Edwards and Ferrin.

***** ***** *****

Above is a map of the Aardsma murder scene, at the Penn State library.

If a spot of blood was found where the man walked by - far away from the murder scene - either he was a good samaritan (highly unlikely and not seen by anyone) or he was almost certainly the killer.

Thus we have a witness picking out a picture of Ted Kaczynski as being at the Penn State library the day before the murder, and a suspect sketch that looks like Ted Kaczynski, with that suspect apparently trailing blood.

Kaczynski looks like both the brush cut Aardsma suspect and the wavy hair glasses Aardsma suspect, seen below, who police thought might even be the same suspect, just with glasses and changing his hair or wearing a wig.

Then we the similarities between the Aardsma college library murder and the first probable Zodiac crime, the Bates college library murder - which happens when evidence shows Ted Kaczynski is in California.

***** ***** *****

Zodiac detectives have commented that in the late 60's it was a very common look for men to have short hair/brush cut with those type of glasses. They say "that everybody went to high school with someone who looks like Zodiac".

Here the main thing is the similarity in the MO's of the Bates and Aardsma murders - college libraries, within a day of Fall holiday, 3 1/2 inch knife, taunting letters sent, poem about red dress/wearing a red dress and most of all, the new evidence, both cases had cryptic statements about death written/carved onto wood surfaces with initials RH and RSK.

Also, a witness has picked out a picture of Ted Kaczynski from a photo line up as being AT THE MURDER SCENE THE DAY BEFORE.

But look at TK and the brush cut no glasses Aardsma suspect:

Yes the brush cuts and general face structure match but of course thousands, tens of thousands, of men might match that.

Look at odd specifics -

* Both have a prominent jaw and jutting chin

* Both have distinct redness, puffiness and lines under the eye

* Both have a brush cut, hair stacked, a slight widows peak and generally the same hair line

* Looking at the picture and sketch on the right hand side, they each have stray hairs shooting up in the air

* Nose, lips, ears and hair match

It is also very interesting that Ted Kaczynski had a look that matched the "wavy hair glasses" suspect as well. Police thought the "wavy hair glasses" and "brush cut no glasses" MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE SAME MAN, just with adjustments to hair and/or wig + glasses.

Wavy hair glasses suspect in the murder of Betsy Aardsma and pictures of Ted Kaczynski.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

...
Interesting Article

http://www.pennlive.com/specialprojects/index.ssf/2008/12/they_are_old_men_now.html

Including interview with Boyfriend.

One of them was David L. Wright, a son of a psychiatrist from Elmhurst, Ill. Wright, a senior, was pre-med. They had met as juniors, but now their friends pushed the relationship...

​

​

 

[Walker]

What evidence suggests Betsy belonged to a radical group like SDS?

She was against the war, yes, but so were a lot of students. And she may have spoken at a campus discussion group about the war. OK. But that does not imply membership in SDS.

Close friendship with the self-described "radical." Wanting to join the Peace Corps (typical for SDS to do missionary work in places like Cuba)? Leading the discussion group, not just attending. All of these things point to the possibility that she was a member; but she could also have gotten the attention of this group even if she did not actually join. SDS was a big organization at UMich in those days.

And SDS was not really violently radical, and they did not go around stabbing people.

SDS could be violent. For example, one NYC member threw bricks at police officers inside Grand Central Station. My uncle was in Chicago during the time of the 1968 convention. He said he witnessed paramilitary groups jogging through the streets in formation.

But there was a violent faction in the SDS that did break away and become the Weatherman. The Weatherman or Weather Underground were violent, did bombings and one leader even endorsed the Manson murders.

Bernadine Dohrn. She was just as crazy as the "Manson family" members. Some of these SDS personalities just might get very jealous of someone like Betsy Aardsma.

A poem written on a wood desk at the campus of murdered stsudent Cheri Jo Bates mentioned stabbing a girl in a red dress. Aardsma was wearing a red dress when stabbed. The poem was identified as having been written by the Zodiac.

A Zodiac suspect, Ted Kaczynski, may have been at the Penn State library the day before the murder.

Is there any official record? There is a resemblance, but neither the sketch nor Kaczynski have unusual features, and there were hundreds of people in that library.

In 1966 and later, he wrote in his journals of his desire to kill businessmen, scientists and police. He also wrote about wanting to kill "rowdy college students" and his anger at 'noisy love making couples'. After decsribing his desire to kill businessmen, police and scientists, he stated "I would also like to kill a communist." In his radical primitivist anarchist and individualist views, he might well have regarded a left leaner like Aardsma as a "communist". Aardsma also spent time at the University of Michigan just as Ted was graduating from that school. Though I think it far more likely she was targeted at random.

TK never targeted a woman, though. And, he never confronted any of his intended victims, face-to-face.

The comment to "Wu" sounds as if TK wanted to see the bomb as a science experiment; as if it were an intellectual game or contest between men. Certainly he seemed to derive satisfaction from eluding police and detectives on the case.

At Penn State, police found a cryptic statement about death written on the wood arm of a chair, thought to perhaps be written by the man who killed Betsy Aardsma. The statement was signed "RSK".

Or it could have been written by someone who was disturbed about the incident. "HERE SAT DEATH IN THE GUISE OF A MAN RSK"

He is saying that the act was so inhuman that only Death itself disguised as a man could have committed the crime; therefore, the killer wasn't a man. Could have been the murderer himself, but not necessarily.

 

[believe09]

I love the energy here! Would you mind watching the font sizes? The margins are being blown with some of the longer posts. Thank you!!

 

[AKWILKS]

Sorry. I will watch that in future, only use the larger fonts sparingly if at all.

 

[Walker]

This method of stabbing someone in such a manner as they do not bleed very much except internally, and cannot scream, seems unique. Did the perp have combat training, and military experience, and therefore knew exactly how to kill someone this way?

Has the same method been used in any other murder? Could this technique have been used in some foreign country?

The crime almost seems like a professional assassination. Consider that this method is designed specifically to kill someone located in a very cramped area, where there may be many other people around to hear a scream, and from which the killer had to escape quickly before people would notice that the victim is mortally injured. Wouldn't this method be perfectly suited to urban guerrilla warfare, esp. in a very densely populated city? Certainly skill in this method of killing would have useful to the Maoists in China.

The fact that Ms. Aardsma was wearing red certainly helped the killer out. People, including the medical examiner, have commented that the dress seemed inappropriate. Unsuitable for the very cold weather, and also too dressy for doing library work, perhaps she had some reason to be wearing this particular dress. Someone may have contacted her and asked her to wear a red shirt or dress either to be recognized by someone she did not know, or to symbolize some political cause, or some other excuse. The real purpose was to help buy the killer time to make his escape.

Maybe Ms. Aardsma was murdered by the Weather Underground?

 

[MaryLiz]

All the info posted by AKWILKS about TK is well researched and very interesting. I think he is a credible suspect in some of the cases he mentions, including Valerie Percy and the Bricca family (I still don't now how I feel about TK as the Zodiac). However, I'm not totally convinced of him as the perp in the Betsy Aardsma case. Sascha Skucek has done a considerable amount of research on the Aardsma murder. So has Derek Sherwood. Derek used to post on WS as littlehorn, but has been inactive for months. Last November, Mr. Skucek wrote a very good article for the State College Magazine entitled "Case Closed?" Both he and Sherwood believe that another man, Richard Haefner, is a strong suspect in the Aardsma case. I think they make a great argument for Haefner as the perp in Betsy's murder.

http://www.statecollegemagazine.com...ws]=351&tx_ttnews[backPid]=2&cHash=2dd074a930

 

[Kimster]

Betsy is our Featured Cold Case from 5/8 - 5/15/2011

:rose:

 

[strawberry]

Found this and thought I should re-post it. The State College Magazine site has taken this down.

Centre1969 Betsy Aardsma Unsolved

That drawing became the official composite of the only suspect in the murder in newspaper articles for years afterwards. On Nov. 28, 1989, Ted Anthony at the Daily Collegian attempted to make an interesting connection between Aardsma's killer and Ted Bundy; however, Aardsma's murder was before Bundy's killing spree and didn't have the characteristics of Bundy's trademark bludgeoning style.

Snipped for space.

This is interesting to me; something I read recently made me think of Ted Bundy as well (maybe it was the article referenced here). He was from Philly and may have been in the area at this time. It could have been an early murder before he developed his MO.

Being a Penn Stater, the Patee Stacks murderer is a longtime legend. I didn't even know her name until recently. Of course she seems a lot younger to me now than she did 25 years ago when I was 18. So sad.

 

[Walker]

Betsy is our Featured Cold Case from 5/8 - 5/15/2011

:rose:

Glad that the case is getting attention, but what is a "Featured Case"?

 

[Trino]

DNA testing, using today's technology, was done around 2009. It must not have yielded anything, or we wouldn't be having a discussion. Really cold case.

 

[Walker]

The Real Story of the Weathermen

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI_hPDpOVTE&feature=related

Interesting clip from a 1982 documentary.

Larry Grathwohl, who infilitrated the Weather Underground, states that an organization known as the Venceremos Brigade was a cover for the Weather Underground. The Venceremos Brigade was ostensively an organization to promote friendly relations between the US and Cuba. Young Americans volunteered to supposedly to help Cuba harvest sugar cane, but their real purpose was to receive training and advice from the DGI (Cuban intelligence) and North Vietnamese operatives.

In the summer of 1969, the DGI advised the Weather Underground that they must confront the system violently. In response, the WU then planned and orchestrated the "Days of Rage," which were a series of riots in Chicago in October 1969.

 

[Walker]

From the wikipedia article on Bernardine Dohrn:

Dohrn was criticized for comments she made about the murders of actress Sharon Tate and retail store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca by the Charles Manson clan. In a speech during the December 1969 "War Council" meeting organized by the Weathermen, attended by about 400 people in Flint, Michigan, Dohrn said, "First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach! Wild!" In greeting each other, delegates to the war council often spread their fingers to signify the fork.

In 2008, Dohrn's husband Bill Ayers wrote that Dohrn was being ironic when she made the statement about the Manson murders. Ayers wrote that he always thought Dohrn's statement was intended to make a political point, "agitated and inflamed and full of rhetorical overkill, and partly as a joke, stupid perhaps, tasteless, but a joke nonetheless", and similar (he said) to jokes about Charles Manson that were being made by Hunter S Thompson and Richard Pryor. Ayers said he had been present at interviews with reporters in which Dohrn had tried to put her statement in context but the reporters had dismissed her explanation. However, in a 2001 Salon article, David Horowitz wrote: "In 1980, I taped interviews with 30 members of the Weather Underground who were present at the Flint War Council, including most of its leadership. Not one of them thought Dohrn was anything but deadly serious. Outrageous nihilism was the Weatherman political style."

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardine_Dohrn"