Murder in the Stacks

July 7, 2014
DeKok (The Epidemic), a former investigative reporter noted for his coverage of the Centralia mine fire, turns his attentions to a baffling murder that has haunted Penn State for decades. In 1969, Betsy Aardsma, a graduate student, was murdered in the stacks of Penn State’s Pattee Library. Despite years of investigation, the killer was never definitively identified or brought to justice. DeKok reconstructs Aardsma’s life and death, sparing no detail in his attempt to provide the full and authoritative story from beginning to end. In the process, he points the finger at one suspect, Richard Haefner, a geology graduate student and secret pedophile with a checkered past and a volatile temper. Though Haefner was never charged with the murder, DeKok follows his subsequent legal troubles, and paints a convincing picture of a man with the means, motive, and opportunity for the murder. DeKok examines other suspects and every other aspect of Aardsma’s life, as well as the cultural events influencing the era: 1969, he claims, was the “long, hot summer of the murder year,” defined by a rash of high-profile murders whose culprits—the Coed Killer, the Zodiac Killer, Charles Manson—quickly gained tabloid notoriety. The sheer amount of information in the book may be excessive, but it’s well written, accessible, and undeniably thorough, making this an exemplary true-crime story.

October 15, 2014

DeKok (The Epidemic) presents his theory of Pennsylvania State University student Betsy Aardsma's 1969 murder in the university's library, focusing heavily on her putative killer Rick Haefner's background and legal activities. Researched occasionally to the point of excess (does it really matter that Haefner's great-great-grandfather ran a hotel?), this account provides a detailed picture of the kind of community Aardsma lived and died in and the attitudes preventing her killer from being brought to justice. While the overtness of the author's research efforts and unusualness of his dramatic speculation are slightly jarring, the facts he unearths and contextualizes reveal a story to satisfy readers willing to follow along. It is unclear whether more credit is due the author or Haefner himself for bringing such a fascinatingly detestable villain to the reader, who increasingly hopes that Haefner suffers an end suitably worthy of his numerous crimes. VERDICT Library workers, readers who love to hate antagonists, and those interested in small-town tragedies will appreciate this book.--Ricardo Laskaris, York Univ. Lib., Toronto

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