Betsy Aardsma cold case

Betsy Aardsma was a 22 year old English major from Michigan attending Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. On November 28, 1969, Betsy was in the library researching for a paper when she was stabbed once through the heart. It is believed that Betsy was stabbed sometime between 4:55 pm and 4:55pm. A minute after her stabbing Betsy fell to the floor and two men shouted to the desk clerk at the library that someone had better “help that girl” before running out of the library. The two men were never identified nor captured. First aid was administered to Betsy including mouth to mouth. By 5:19 pm Betsy had been taken to the Ritenour Health Center (the on campus hospital) where she was pronounced dead. At the time of her stabbing Betsy had been wearing a red dress and no one really knew how serious the wound had been. The single knife wound however, had pierced her heart – a fact which would not be uncovered until she was examined at the hospital. It was thought by those administering CPR that Betsy had suffered from a seizure since evidence of the stabbing was not particularly visible.

The case of the murder of Betsy Aardsma has never been solved over the past forty six years. The Pennsylvania State Police are still seeking information in the unsolved murder.