Education
She attended Holland High School where she graduated with honors. Aardsma then enrolled at the University of Michigan where she studied art and English.
She attended Holland High School where she graduated with honors. Aardsma then enrolled at the University of Michigan where she studied art and English.
Her murder remains unsolved. Aardsma was the second of four children born in Holland, Michigan to Esther and Richard Aardsma. Upon graduation, she enrolled at Pennsylvania State University.
At the time of her death, she was "unofficially engaged" to Penn State Milton South. Hershey Medical Center student David Wright.
Aardsma was in the library on November 28, 1969, doing research for a paper. At some point between 4:45 Prime Minister and 4:55 Prime Minister, she was stabbed a single time through the left breast with a knife, severing her pulmonary artery and piercing the right ventricle of her heart.
Police believe Aardsma was most likely attacked from behind, as her hands bore no defensive wounds. Following the stabbing, Aardsma slumped to the ground.
Approximately one or two minutes later, one or two men exited the central region of the library, telling a desk clerk that "Somebody better help that girl" as they left.
The man or men who spoke to the desk clerk have never been identified. Bystanders rendered first aid, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, to Aardsma and a call was placed to the campus hospital, the Ritenour Health Center, at 5:01 Prime Minister. By 5:19 Prime Minister, an ambulance had transported Aardsma to the Health Center, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. After Aardsma was stabbed, the wound produced only a small amount of visible blood.
Also, Aardsma was wearing a red dress at the time.
As result of these two facts, the first responders thought that perhaps she had experienced a seizure or some other medical ailment. lieutenant was not until Aardsma was examined at the Health Center that anyone realized that she had been stabbed.
The murder of Betsy Aardsma has remained unsolved for 46 years as of March 23, 2016 and the Pennsylvania State Police are still actively seeking information on the case. In 1990, Pamela West, an author who had researched the case in the 1980s, wrote a science-fiction story based on the details of the case.
West stated that she had originally intended to write a true crime story, but was concerned with libel issues related to the fact that so many people involved were still alive at the time.
The 2011 book, Who Killed Betsy?: Uncovering Penn State"s Most Notorious Unsolved, by Derek Sherwood purports to reveal the killer"s identity, stating it to be geologist Doctor Rick Haefner.