The Unsolved Murder of Betsy Aardsma: Secrets, Suspects, and A Campus That Wants to Forget

The Unsolved Murder of Betsy Aardsma: Secrets, Suspects, and A Campus That Wants to Forget

Brought to you by The Sassy Gazette Dicking Around With Richie: A True Crime Feed

On November 28, 1969, Penn State University witnessed something it had never seen before murder. Betsy Aardsma, a 22-year-old graduate student, was brutally stabbed inside the supposedly safe walls of Pattee Library. More than fifty years later, her murder remains officially unsolved.

But should it be?

And is Penn State hiding something deeper than just an unsolved crime?

A Crime in the Stacks

Betsy Aardsma seemed like the last person in the world to meet a violent end. A serious student, modest and studious, she was engaged to her boyfriend, David Wright, and had transferred to Penn State from the University of Michigan.

Yet on the afternoon after Thanksgiving, Betsy walked into Pattee Library with plans to research for an English paper. She stored her things in a carrel, used the card catalog, and descended into the library’s dim Level 2 stacks.

Between 4:45 and 4:55 p.m., someone stabbed her once through her left breast with a knife, severing her pulmonary artery and piercing her heart. She collapsed, books toppling from the shelves. Death would have come within minutes. Due to the nature of the wound, Betsy was likely unable to scream effectively drowning in her own blood.

There was no evidence of sexual assault. Whoever did this knew precisely where to strike. Someone knew exactly how to kill her.

A Botched Crime Scene from the Start

The chaos began instantly.

Two students, Joao Uafinda and Marilee Erdley, encountered a man running from the scene. He was described as about 6 feet tall, 185 pounds, with neat brown hair, wearing khaki slacks, a tie, and possibly glasses. Clutching his right hand, he told them, “That girl needs help!” and pointed them toward Betsy’s body.

A call went out to Ritenour Health Center at 5:01 p.m., reporting merely that a “girl had fainted.” Because Betsy was wearing a thick red dress over a white turtleneck, hardly any blood was visible. Student paramedics arrived, assuming a seizure or fainting spell.

It wasn’t until 5:20 p.m. that a doctor at Ritenour realized Betsy had been stabbed. By then, critical time had been lost.

Penn State had just experienced its first murder and they were woefully unprepared.

Catastrophic Contamination

Because authorities didn’t initially realize a murder had occurred, the crime scene remained open for up to 90 minutes. Students reportedly signed into the library to gawk at the commotion.

And worse:

Library staff, unaware they were cleaning a murder scene, mopped the floors, reshelved books, and destroyed who-knows-how-much potential evidence.

The murder weapon was never found. Fingerprints, blood droplets, hair fibers any trace evidence that could have solved the case was likely wiped away.

This failure to secure the scene might be the single biggest reason Betsy’s killer walked free.

A Killer Betsy Might Have Known

Many believe Betsy must have felt safe that day, even in a deserted campus during Thanksgiving break. She was comfortable enough to go alone into the stacks.

I believe she went to meet someone she knew and trusted.

It’s crucial to remember that before her murder, Betsy felt uneasy about a man’s unwanted advances. She’d even misplaced her room key in October 1969, which deeply unsettled her.

She sometimes used a campus escort service for safety. But on the day of her murder, she reportedly declined, saying:

“The guy upstairs isn’t around.”

That single statement hints that Betsy had a specific person in mind someone whose presence would have changed her plans. Someone she feared…but also perhaps trusted enough to enter the library alone.

So who was she meeting that day?

Questions That Demand Answers

So many questions still swirl around this case and some are downright chilling:

• Should Penn State be held liable for Betsy’s death? After all, they ignored repeated warnings from Library Director W. Carl Jackson, who’d “pleaded” for more security in the stacks. He knew Pattee Library was a haven for flashers, gropers, and “seamy sexual acts.” University police at the time carried neither guns nor handcuffs and couldn’t even make arrests. Betsy’s murder exposed just how vulnerable the campus really was.
• Could the Michigan State coed killer have followed Betsy to Penn State? Speculation has existed for years about whether a serial predator might have been stalking campuses across state lines. While no firm evidence connects any known Michigan State killer to Betsy, the theory remains a tantalizing and terrifying possibility.
• Could Betsy have stumbled onto a secret sex ring in the stacks and been silenced? It sounds sensational, but some theorists point to the library’s notorious reputation for sexual activity and say Betsy might have witnessed something she wasn’t supposed to see. Could she have interrupted a tryst involving faculty or students powerful enough to keep the truth hidden?

The Suspects

Richard Haefner

No name has haunted this case more than Richard C. “Rick” Haefner, a geology grad student from Lancaster.

• Haefner took Betsy on several casual dates in October 1969. Betsy reportedly ended these outings after getting engaged though Haefner claimed he remained in touch with her into November.
• After the murder, Haefner allegedly appeared disheveled and anxious at his mentor Dr. Lauren Wright’s house, asking, “Have you seen the papers?” a suspicious question since the murder wasn’t public knowledge until the following day.
• In 1975, Haefner’s mother allegedly accused him during an argument of killing “that girl at Penn State,” yelling, “You might as well kill me, too, Rick.”

Haefner claimed he was home in Lancaster for Thanksgiving and didn’t return to State College until November 29 but it’s hardly impossible he could have made a quick round-trip drive.

Some argue Haefner’s physical appearance didn’t match eyewitness descriptions. But the composite sketch based on Marilee Erdley’s memory “matched him almost to a T.” State police dismissed it as too generic, but that’s hard to ignore.

To this day, police have never publicly named Haefner as the killer. No physical evidence ties him to the crime. Yet the circumstantial evidence is deeply compelling.

Haefner died of a heart attack in 2002. If he was guilty, he took the secret to his grave. And if he wasn’t then someone else has been hiding in plain sight for over half a century.

Other Suspects

Two other men entered the investigation:

• William Spencer, a 40-year-old sculptor, allegedly confessed at a faculty Christmas party that he’d “killed that girl in the library” and claimed Betsy posed nude for his classes. Police dismissed him quickly. Betsy was known to be modest, and Spencer had only recently moved to Pennsylvania. But did police dismiss him too fast given the case’s desperation for leads?
• Larry Maurer, a classmate who’d had coffee with Betsy, was briefly a suspect but later cleared. His physical description didn’t match that of the fleeing man.

Some even speculated about Ted Bundy but there’s no evidence connecting Bundy to Betsy’s case.

Secrets and Silence

One thing is certain: someone knows what happened to Betsy Aardsma.

The Pennsylvania State Police maintain an archive of documents about the case, yet they remain sealed under Pennsylvania’s “ironclad” exemptions. Even Penn State’s archives hold little more than press releases. The Daily Collegian removed related articles from public archives. Why?

Why has there been so much secrecy? Are authorities protecting someone? Was Betsy’s murder tied to something bigger than just a single killer?

Authors like David DeKok suspect a deliberate effort to keep details hidden, possibly to protect Penn State’s reputation. The community was “shocked and unprepared,” but the university’s persistent silence over decades raises troubling questions.

And what about that DNA testing from 2010? Police were reportedly analyzing Betsy’s red dress for genetic evidence. But no public results have ever been released. Why not?

We deserve to know what came of that testing.

The Aftermath

Betsy’s murder profoundly changed Penn State. The once-weak “Campus Patrol” ultimately evolved into a full-fledged police department with real authority. So at least one good thing came from her senseless death.

But the psychological toll has been deep. Witnesses like Marilee Erdley never recovered. Troopers who handled the case still carry memories of that bloody library aisle.

Meanwhile, ghost stories swirl about Betsy haunting the Pattee Library stacks. Lit candles and scrawled notes have been left in aisle 51, reading:

“R.I.P. Betsy Ruth Aardsma… P.S. I’m Back.”

Yet these ghost tales often obscure the stark truth:

A real woman was murdered. And her killer is still out there — or was never held accountable.

My Opinion

I believe Richard Haefner killed Betsy Aardsma. I think Betsy stumbled into something he was doing maybe sexual activity in the stacks, or maybe something even darker.

I believe Haefner returned from Lancaster, met Betsy in the library, and killed her with clinical precision. If he didn’t kill her himself, he knows who did.

But I’m also open to the possibility Betsy uncovered something scandalous possibly even a secret sex ring among faculty or staff and someone silenced her to keep it buried.

Betsy deserves justice.

And if anyone knows anything, it’s time to speak up.

Call to Action

If you have information no matter how small about Betsy Aardsma’s murder, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police. It’s been more than 50 years. Betsy’s family, friends, and the Penn State community deserve answers.

It’s time Betsy gets justice.

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