Crimery
Crimery is your no nonsense dose of true crime. Each episode unpacks a real case with facts, twists, and zero filler. Hosted by Jennifer Novotney. New stories drop soon. If you like your murders served cold, hit follow.
Crimery
WHO KILLED BETSY AARDSMA?: SILENCE IN THE STACKS
On November 28, 1969—the quiet day after Thanksgiving—a 22-year-old Penn State graduate student walked into Pattee Library to retrieve one final source for a research paper.
She never walked out.
Betsy Ruth Aardsma was stabbed once—cleanly, precisely—between the shelves of the basement stacks. No scream. No visible blood. Students and staff believed she had collapsed from a medical emergency and unknowingly wiped away crucial evidence while trying to save her life.
By the time doctors discovered the wound, the killer had already left the building—possibly after calmly telling others, “Some girl back there needs help.”
More than fifty years later, no one has been charged.
In this episode of CRIMERY, we reconstruct the final hour of Betsy’s life, examine the man known only as “the man in the stacks,” and explore how a murder committed in broad daylight—with witnesses nearby—became one of Pennsylvania’s most baffling unsolved cases.
Content advisory: violence against a young woman.
Keywords: Betsy Aardsma, Penn State, Pattee Library, unsolved murder, 1969 cold case, library homicide, Pennsylvania State Police.
If you have information about this case, please contact Pennsylvania State Police.
You can also reach us at crimerypod@gmail.com
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CRIMERY is reported, written, and hosted by Jennifer Novotney. Produced by Timothy Novotney.
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Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.
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