Unsolved Mysteries Security Guard Never Seen Again After Heist

Dale Kerstetter

Real Name: Dale Irwin Kerstetter
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Bradford, Pennsylvania
Date: September 12, 1987

Bio

Occupation: Security Guard and Maintenance Homo
Date Of Birth: March 7, 1937
Elevation: 5'4"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Marital Status: Divorced
Characteristics: Caucasian male person with chocolate-brown eyes and receding gray hair. He has two upper front fake teeth. He was terminal seen wearing a dark shirt and pants.

Case

Details: Sabbatum, September 12, 1987, began as a typical workday for Dale Kerstetter. The l-year-quondam security guard and maintenance man had worked for twenty-seven years at the Corning Glassworks Plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The establish made long drinking glass rods for electrical resistors. That evening, he left his mobile home in Lewis Run and drove 10 miles to the plant. His shift every bit weekend security guard went from 11pm to 7am. However, he arrived at that place early, at 10:30pm, and relieved guard Art Peterson. He then settled in as the few remaining employees left the plant. That night, a quarter of a million dollars' worth of platinum pipe vanished from the plant, and he was never seen again.
Pound for pound, platinum is one of the most precious bolt in the globe. It is even more expensive than golden. In addition to its beauty as jewelry, it was widely used in manufacturing. Afterward Dale and a fortune in platinum pipage disappeared from the Corning plant, government were mystified. Was he the unwitting victim of a robbery?  Or had he engineered the heist himself?
Dale grew up in Bradford, and, except for his years in the Air Force, lived there all his life. He had been divorced for ten years and his teenage son Al all the same lived with him. Four of his 5 daughters also lived in Pennsylvania. His daughter, Penny Baptiste, described him as very compassionate and honest. He liked to have fun and spend time outdoors. His mother, Evelyn Hanson, said that he was very faithful to everybody. He hated to lie and never believed in doing it. Al said that he was a slap-up father, and that "there wasn't a kid in the world who wouldn't want to accept him as their dad."
Personnel director C. Dale Parry described Dale as a "marginal employee." Co-ordinate to Parry, he was a slow worker, and they had some problems with him occasionally. Nevertheless, Parry besides noted that Dale, at the risk of his ain life, probably saved one-half a dozen lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars of belongings value.
Several years prior to Dale's disappearance, a forklift accidentally rolled underneath a stream of hot molten glass. The drinking glass started pouring down onto the propane tank in the dorsum of the forklift. Dale immediately jumped onto the forklift and drove it out from underneath the hot stream of glass. Parry says that you can expect at ane side of Dale and see where it would make sense that he would be involved in a theft. But you can besides wait at the other side of Dale and run into that it would not brand sense for him to be involved.
At 7am on Lord's day forenoon, September 13, 1987, security baby-sit John Lindquist arrived at the plant. He expected to notice Dale waiting to exist relieved. Ordinarily, John would discover him sitting right inside the door. However, he was not there. John walked to the cafeteria and noticed Dale'due south lunch pail sitting on a table. He picked up a newspaper next to the pail and found Dale's plant keys underneath. He then opened the pail and found all of Dale'due south lunch nonetheless in it.
Later Lord's day morning, Dale's new red Jeep pickup truck was discovered in the parking lot. At showtime, managers at the institute thought that he was "out drinking" and would plow up. Withal, by 5pm, the police were called to investigate. The truck yielded a number of clues that suggested he had not disappeared voluntarily. His keys were in the ignition. He left backside a full carton of cigarettes, an empty holster from his .22 quotient pistol, and his solar day pack. Constabulary learned that he was supposed to bank check in with the main factory every hour after making his rounds; nevertheless, that nighttime, he did not phone in after midnight (a new employee was working at the main manufactory and was unaware of the protocols, then information technology was not noticed initially).
On Sunday afternoon, the sheriff's K-ix unit of measurement was brought in to rails Dale in the 112,000 square foot plant. Police force were concerned that he might have suffered a eye set on or fallen and injured himself somewhere in the vast building. The dog first found his odor along his normal route. Then, the dog led constabulary to the 2nd floor. This was the site of the institute's glass kiln, too known as "the tank." Although the tank contained valuable platinum piping, it was non usually on Dale's security rounds. His scent was plant at the tank, but he was nowhere in the edifice. The woods and a nearby creek were too searched, but no trace of him was constitute.
The investigation next focused on the three security cameras that monitor the plant around the clock. Four days after Dale vanished, personnel manager Patrick Foley viewed the footage from them. He was surprised and disturbed by what they had recorded. The first thing he saw was a masked intruder walking into the guard's area in the dorsum of the establish at effectually ten:40pm, 10 minutes after Dale relieved Art. When Foley saw the intruder on the tape, he was very alarmed. He assumed that Dale had been the victim of foul play and was abducted by this person.
So, at 10:45pm, the footage showed Dale coming in and coming together the intruder in a corridor in the back of the plant; the two appeared to briefly talk to each other. It also showed the two walking together in the plant. Dale was not seen once again after that. About a infinitesimal later, the intruder was seen walking alone. Foley was unsure what to think about the situation.
As Foley continued to review the tapes, he saw the intruder go upward and into the tank surface area at around midnight. The intruder then began removing the platinum pipe from the tank. At that signal, he realized that not only did they have a missing employee, but in that location was also a good possibility that they had missing platinum in the plant. Plant officials went to the tank and lifted out burn bricks that shielded the platinum. They discovered that several pieces of platinum pipe were missing from the tank, plain cut out with a hack saw.
According to Foley, whoever removed the platinum from the tank was extremely familiar with the found and everything within. They knew exactly where to go. It is important to note that this happened late at night, so there were very few lights on in the plant. However, the intruder knew exactly where to go, where to find bags that they needed, tools that they needed, how to go up to the tank, and move dorsum out of the tank area. This suggested that someone who worked or previously worked there was involved.
The most perplexing moment in the tapes was the interaction between Dale and the intruder where they are shown walking together. Is Dale being coerced or only pretending to be coerced? At one point, he looks direct into the camera. Was he secretly signaling for help or was he coolly flaunting his criminal offence? Penny points out that if he was involved, information technology would non make sense for him to willingly walk in forepart of a camera, knowing that it was there. She believes that, if he was involved, he would have tried to encompass it up.
Foley, even so, thinks that Dale did everything in front of the cameras to flaunt his involvement in the offense, as if he were saying "Hey, look, I'm taking your platinum, and at that place isn't a matter you can do most it." Dale's daughter, Wendy, says in that location are several things that practise not make sense if he was planning on disappearing. For example, it would not make sense for him to pack a lunch and just leave it. It would too not make sense for him to go out behind a carton of cigarettes, since he smoked all of the time, or all of his hunting rifles, since he went hunting oftentimes. His ex-wife, Nancy, also noted that he was well-nigh six months from retiring from his job, then information technology would non make sense for him to upend his life like that.
Dale'southward daughters believe he was an innocent victim. According to their theory, he heard or saw the masked intruder and went to investigate. The intruder, fearing discovery and intent on his robbery, may have murdered Dale. Ane camera showed the intruder wheeling out a heavy bag from a side room on a transmission forklift at effectually 12:50am. Investigator Max Bizzak noted that in that location is a skillful possibility that the bag contained the platinum, only there is also a expert possibility that information technology independent Dale's torso.
Evelyn is unsure if Dale was involved in the theft. She says if he was, then he was "out of his mind." A second theory places him at the center of a assuming and premeditated robbery. According to Foley, Dale was happy every bit a trade worker. However, prior to his disappearance, Corning began downsizing and several people lost their jobs. Although Dale kept his job, he was cut out of the merchandise shop. This led to a $five,000 to $7,000 cut for him. He started working the overnight shifts equally a baby-sit to make up for the pay cutting. According to Foley, he was not a "happy person" at the fourth dimension of the theft. Investigators found no sign of forced entry at the constitute and no evidence of a struggle. Although Dale's gun was missing, there was no prove that it or whatsoever weapon was fired there.
Through the constabulary investigation, information technology was determined that Dale was approximately $30,000 to $xl,000 in arrears on diverse payments, including trailer and vehicle payments, and different bills which he had owed throughout the expanse. Penny, however, notes that he had children that could take intendance of him. She was in a financial position to take care of him. He had stock in Corning and coin invested. He as well had a 401K and $v,000 in his savings account. According to Penny, if it got to the betoken where he actually needed coin, there were too many means he could have obtained it legally. Therefore, it did not brand sense for him to be involved in the theft. Foley thinks that Dale was a very intelligent homo in a "crafty" sort of way. He thinks that if Dale did not program the theft past himself and do it with an accomplice, he was indirectly involved.
Two witnesses reported seeing Dale in and around Bradford following his disappearance. However, neither sighting checked out. His family is broken-hearted to know if he is alive. Whether he committed the crime or not, they want to know the truth. Penny does not care whether he was involved; she says that that will not make her recall any less of him or love him any less. She just wants to know what happened: was he involved? Did he go abroad with information technology? Is he dead somewhere? Was he abducted?
Al does non retrieve Dale would do it unless he planned on coming dorsum someday. If he is live (which Al thinks he is), Al thinks he is either in Canada or Australia. Al figures that in vii years when the statute of limitations is upwardly, he will come back scot-costless, and they will not exist able to bear upon him. Evelyn, all the same, cannot believe that he was involved at all. Wendy points out that he has six kids and two grandkids; she does non believe that he would exist involved in the theft and take off without contacting whatever of them.
Dale'southward all-time friend, Bob Hartle, also does not believe that Dale was involved in the theft. The 2 had spent many times together on hunting trips prior to his disappearance; Dale never mentioned anything about wanting or planning to steal from the constitute. He believes that if Dale was planning on committing the theft, he would accept said something or "slipped up" while they were together.
In the months that followed the theft, Corning sold its Bradford operation. The new owners informed Unsolved Mysteries that platinum is no longer used at the facility. Dale's family continues to hope that he is safety. If he is live, Pennsylvania Country Police want to question him nigh his involvement in the events of September 12, 1987.

Still from actual surveillance video showing Dale and the intruder

Suspects: In that location is no description available for the masked intruder that was involved in the theft, other than it was most likely a male. It is still not known if Dale was involved in the theft or not. There is some show that the intruder knew the establish and was mayhap a quondam or current employee. This is based on the intruder's credible knowledge of the plant setup and the tank. However, at that place is also some evidence that the intruder was unfamiliar with information technology. One source said that, according to the tape, the intruder was walking around inside the plant "cluelessly" for a certain corporeality of time.
Virtually of Dale's family and friends practise not believe that he was involved in the theft. His daughters noted that if he was involved, he would take tried to cover upwards the cameras and avoid existence seen on them. They likewise do not believe he would have packed a luncheon or left his cigarettes backside if he was involved. They believe that he saw or heard something and went to investigate. They believe he was and so overpowered by the intruder. At one betoken on the tape, the intruder was shown backside Dale; his family believes that the intruder was property a gun to Dale'southward dorsum. They also believe that he was killed shortly after the theft.
Dale may have been removed from the plant while on a transmission forklift used past the intruder. It is of import to note that the amount of platinum stolen that night could take hands been carried by one person, making it unlikely that it was the only items in the pocketbook on the forklift.
Penny noted that on several occasions prior to Dale's disappearance, she and her friends would visit him while he was working. The door was never locked, and they were always able to walk in. She believes that the intruder could have easily entered the plant without Dale noticing.
Dale's employers suspect that he may have been involved in the theft. They believe he "flaunted" his crime when he looked at the camera. They believe that he was involved because he had been cutting from a program at work and was in debt.
A friend of Dale's was considered a possible suspect. According to some sources, he always seemed to accept an aplenty amount of money on him merely had no clear caption of how he obtained information technology. A few months before Dale's disappearance, he moved to Florida. Police and the FBI questioned him; all the same, they later on stated that they did not believe he was involved.
Penny after reached out to the friend; he told her that he had one time overheard an employee of his named Ollie discussing with Dale virtually how piece of cake it would be to steal platinum from the found. The friend believed that Ollie and Dale planned to steal the platinum, simply Ollie "double-crossed" him, killed him, and dumped him downward a gas well. However, no show was establish to support this theory. Ollie is at present deceased.
A co-worker of Dale'southward had been fired about a month prior to Dale'south disappearance for stealing items from work. It is not known if he was interviewed by police later on the theft.
Platinum dealers were as well interviewed by police. It is non known if any leads came from that. It is besides not known what actually became of the platinum stolen during the theft. Ohio investigators reported three platinum burglaries in their country; information technology is not known if they are continued to Dale's disappearance. In that location were besides other platinum thefts throughout the United states prior to and afterward his disappearance. Once again, information technology is non known if they were connected to his instance.
Actress Notes:

• This example starting time aired on the October 25, 1989 episode.
• Information technology was submitted to the bear witness by Investigator Bizzak.
• Information technology was also featured on The Trail Went Common cold and Unfound podcasts.
• Some sources state that Dale's shift started at ten:30pm, that he had worked there for twenty-nine years, and that he did not check in at all that night.
• The surveillance footage of the plant was non shown on the broadcast. Reenactment footage was shown instead. Penny viewed the bodily footage and noted that the reenactment was very accurate. It was noted that the existent tapes were "too blurry" to say with certainty what happened. The FBI tried, unsuccessfully, to make the footage less blurry. Likewise, the tape switches every few seconds from one camera to another, making information technology hard to view.
  

Results: Unsolved. In 1990, Wendy petitioned the Pennsylvania Superior Court to accept Dale declared legally dead. An chaser for Corning argued confronting it. Their position was that Dale was just as likely a participant in the theft every bit the victim of foul play. They also refused to plough over any of his pension or insurance money to his children. In Dec, the courtroom ruled against Wendy'due south petition, noting the following: the evidence was "besides vague"; it could not exist proven that Dale met with any harm that night; and vii years had not yet elapsed following his disappearance.
In July 2014, Dale was finally declared legally dead. His engagement of death was listed as the twenty-four hour period of his disappearance. Corning was ordered to pay twenty-seven years' worth of involvement on his alimony as well every bit involvement on his life insurance proceeds.
In February 2019, "MuckRock", a nonprofit news site that requests, analyzes, and shares government documents, sent a "Pennsylvania Right to Know Act Request" to Bradford police, request for the original surveillance tape to be released. After several requests, the police force finally sent a re-create of the tape to MuckRock, which put it up for viewing on its site in June. Unfortunately, the tape was in poor status. Yet, a affiche from the Unsolved Mysteries SitcomsOnline bulletin lath helped clean upwards the video to make information technology more watchable.
Police have investigated several leads in Dale's case over the years, including that: he was "double-crossed" and killed past a sometime coworker who helped him steal the platinum; he was placed in a gas well nigh the found or in the Rutherford Run area; he was placed in the plant's furnace; and he was killed in a mob-related incident. Notwithstanding, none of these theories have been confirmed. In fact, government have noted that the furnace was not turned on that dark, significant that it could not have been used to dispose of his body. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Sadly, in 1994, Evelyn passed away at the historic period of 70-eight.
Links:

• Dale Kerstetter on Unsolved.com
• Dale Kerstetter on the Charley Project
• Dale Kerstetter on the Doe Network
• Dale Kerstetter on McKean County Cold Cases
• Dale Kerstetter on Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers
• CGW guard, $220,000 in platinum missing - September 26, 1987
• In re Dale Kerstetter. Appeal of Wendy Kerstetter. (Appeal to declare Dale legally expressionless) - December 4, 1990
• Dead or alive: Baby-sit however primal to 1987 platinum theft (Page ane) (Page 2) - December xvi, 1990
• Platinum theft puzzles baby-sit'south shut friends - Dec 17, 1990
• Dale Kerstetter: Gone Platinum (includes interviews with family unit and investigators) - Baronial xv, 2018
• Kerstetter disappearance, missing platinum more than than 30 years ago nonetheless an open case - October five, 2018
• Dale Kerstetter: Gone Platinum 2 (The Mystery Deepens) - October 20, 2019
• Kerstetter family left with more questions after video release - November 14, 2019
• Dale Kerstetter on MuckRock Website
• SitcomsOnline Word of Dale Kerstetter
  • SitcomsOnline Discussion of Dale Kerstetter 2 (includes stills from surveillance video)

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Source: https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dale_Kerstetter