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in: Pennsylvania, 1987, Disappearances,
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Dale Kerstetter

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Dale kerstetter1

Dale Kerstetter

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

Bio

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

Case

Details: Saturday, September 12, 1987, began as a typical workday for Dale Kerstetter. The fifty-year-old security guard and maintenance man had worked for twenty-seven years at the Corning Glassworks Plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The plant made long glass rods for electrical resistors. That evening, he left his mobile home in Lewis Run and drove ten miles to the plant. His shift as weekend security guard went from 11pm to 7am. However, he arrived there 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 commodities in the world. It is even more expensive than gold. In addition to its beauty as jewelry, it was widely used in manufacturing. After Dale and a fortune in platinum pipe disappeared from the Corning plant, authorities 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 still lived with him. Four of his five 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 great father, and that “there wasn’t a kid in the world who wouldn’t want to have him as their dad.”
Personnel manager C. Dale Parry described Dale as a “marginal employee.” According to Parry, he was a slow worker, and they had some problems with him occasionally. However, Parry also noted that Dale, at the risk of his own life, probably saved half a dozen lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars of property value.
Several years prior to Dale’s disappearance, a forklift accidentally rolled underneath a stream of hot molten glass. The glass started pouring down onto the propane tank in the back 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 look at one side of Dale and see where it would make sense that he would be involved in a theft. But you can also look at the other side of Dale and see that it would not make sense for him to be involved.
At 7am on Sunday morning, September 13, 1987, security guard John Lindquist arrived at the plant. He expected to find Dale waiting to be relieved. Normally, John would find him sitting right inside the door. However, he was not there. John walked to the cafeteria and noticed Dale’s 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’s lunch still in it.
Later Sunday morning, Dale’s new red Jeep pickup truck was discovered in the parking lot. At first, managers at the plant thought that he was "out drinking" and would turn up. However, 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 behind a full carton of cigarettes, an empty holster from his .22 caliber pistol, and his day pack. Police learned that he was supposed to check in with the main factory every hour after making his rounds; however, that night, he did not phone in after midnight (a new employee was working at the main factory and was unaware of the protocols, so it was not noticed initially).
On Sunday afternoon, the sheriff’s K-9 unit was brought in to track Dale in the 112,000 square foot plant. Police were concerned that he might have suffered a heart attack or fallen and injured himself somewhere in the vast building. The dog first found his scent along his normal route. Then, the dog led police to the second floor. This was the site of the plant’s glass kiln, also known as “the tank.” Although the tank contained valuable platinum pipe, it was not normally on Dale’s security rounds. His scent was found at the tank, but he was nowhere in the building. The woods and a nearby creek were also searched, but no trace of him was found.
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 back of the plant at around 10:40pm, ten 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.
Then, at 10:45pm, the footage showed Dale coming in and meeting 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 again after that. About a minute 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 up and into the tank area at around midnight. The intruder then began removing the platinum pipe from the tank. At that point, he realized that not only did they have a missing employee, but there was also a good possibility that they had missing platinum in the plant. Plant officials went to the tank and lifted out fire bricks that shielded the platinum. They discovered that several pieces of platinum pipe were missing from the tank, apparently cut out with a hack saw.
According to Foley, whoever removed the platinum from the tank was extremely familiar with the plant and everything inside. 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. Yet, 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 back 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 simply pretending to be coerced? At one point, he looks directly into the camera. Was he secretly signaling for help or was he coolly flaunting his crime? Penny points out that if he was involved, it would not make sense for him to willingly walk in front of a camera, knowing that it was there. She believes that, if he was involved, he would have tried to cover it up.
Foley, however, thinks that Dale did everything in front of the cameras to flaunt his involvement in the crime, as if he were saying “Hey, look, I’m taking your platinum, and there isn’t a thing you can do about it.” Dale’s daughter, Wendy, says there are several things that do 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 also not make sense for him to leave behind a carton of cigarettes, since he smoked all of the time, or all of his hunting rifles, since he went hunting often. His ex-wife, Nancy, also noted that he was about six months from retiring from his job, so it would not make sense for him to upend his life like that.
Dale’s 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. One camera showed the intruder wheeling out a heavy bag from a side room on a manual forklift at around 12:50am. Investigator Max Bizzak noted that there is a good possibility that the bag contained the platinum, but there is also a good possibility that it contained Dale’s body.
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 bold and premeditated robbery. According to Foley, Dale was happy as 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 trade shop. This led to a $5,000 to $7,000 cut for him. He started working the overnight shifts as a guard to make up for the pay cut. According to Foley, he was not a “happy person” at the time of the theft. Investigators found no sign of forced entry at the plant and no evidence of a struggle. Although Dale's gun was missing, there was no evidence that it or any weapon was fired there.
Through the police investigation, it was determined that Dale was approximately $30,000 to $40,000 in arrears on various payments, including trailer and vehicle payments, and different bills which he had owed throughout the area. Penny, however, notes that he had children that could take care of him. She was in a financial position to take care of him. He had stock in Corning and money invested. He also had a 401K and $5,000 in his savings account. According to Penny, if it got to the point where he really needed money, there were too many ways he could have obtained it legally. Therefore, it did not make sense for him to be involved in the theft. Foley thinks that Dale was a very intelligent man in a “crafty” sort of way. He thinks that if Dale did not plan the theft by 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 anxious 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 think any less of him or love him any less. She just wants to know what happened: was he involved? Did he get away with it? Is he dead somewhere? Was he abducted?
Al does not think Dale would do it unless he planned on coming back someday. If he is alive (which Al thinks he is), Al thinks he is either in Canada or Australia. Al figures that in seven years when the statute of limitations is up, he will come back scot-free, and they will not be able to touch him. Evelyn, however, cannot believe that he was involved at all. Wendy points out that he has six kids and two grandkids; she does not believe that he would be involved in the theft and take off without contacting any of them.
Dale's best friend, Bob Hartle, also does not believe that Dale was involved in the theft. The two had spent many times together on hunting trips prior to his disappearance; Dale never mentioned anything about wanting or planning to steal from the plant. He believes that if Dale was planning on committing the theft, he would have 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 safe. If he is alive, Pennsylvania State Police want to question him about his involvement in the events of September 12, 1987.

Dale-kerstetter3

Still from actual surveillance video showing Dale and the intruder

Suspects: There 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 evidence that the intruder knew the plant and was possibly a former or current employee. This is based on the intruder's apparent knowledge of the plant setup and the tank. However, there is also some evidence that the intruder was unfamiliar with it. One source said that, according to the tape, the intruder was walking around inside the plant "cluelessly" for a certain amount of time.
Most of Dale's family and friends do not believe that he was involved in the theft. His daughters noted that if he was involved, he would have tried to cover up the cameras and avoid being seen on them. They also do not believe he would have packed a lunch or left his cigarettes behind if he was involved. They believe that he saw or heard something and went to investigate. They believe he was then overpowered by the intruder. At one point on the tape, the intruder was shown behind Dale; his family believes that the intruder was holding a gun to Dale's back. They also believe that he was killed shortly after the theft.
Dale may have been removed from the plant while on a manual forklift used by the intruder. It is important to note that the amount of platinum stolen that night could have easily been carried by one person, making it unlikely that it was the only items in the bag 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 cut 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 have an ample amount of money on him but had no clear explanation of how he obtained it. A few months before Dale's disappearance, he moved to Florida. Police and the FBI questioned him; however, they later stated that they did not believe he was involved.
Penny later reached out to the friend; he told her that he had once overheard an employee of his named Ollie discussing with Dale about how easy it would be to steal platinum from the plant. The friend believed that Ollie and Dale planned to steal the platinum, but Ollie "double-crossed" him, killed him, and dumped him down a gas well. However, no evidence was found to support this theory. Ollie is now deceased.
A co-worker of Dale’s had been fired about a month prior to Dale’s disappearance for stealing items from work. It is not known if he was interviewed by police after the theft.
Platinum dealers were also interviewed by police. It is not known if any leads came from that. It is also not known what actually became of the platinum stolen during the theft. Ohio investigators reported three platinum burglaries in their state; it is not known if they are connected to Dale's disappearance. There were also other platinum thefts throughout the United States prior to and after his disappearance. Once again, it is not known if they were connected to his case.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the October 25, 1989 episode.
  • It was submitted to the show by Investigator Bizzak.
  • It was also featured on The Trail Went Cold and Unfound podcasts.
  • Some sources state that Dale's shift started at 10:30pm, 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 not shown on the broadcast. Reenactment footage was shown instead. Penny viewed the actual footage and noted that the reenactment was very accurate. It was noted that the real tapes were "too blurry" to say with certainty what happened. The FBI tried, unsuccessfully, to make the footage less blurry. Also, the tape switches every few seconds from one camera to another, making it difficult to view.

Results: Unsolved. In 1990, Wendy petitioned the Pennsylvania Superior Court to have Dale declared legally dead. An attorney for Corning argued against it. Their position was that Dale was just as likely a participant in the theft as the victim of foul play. They also refused to turn over any of his pension or insurance money to his children. In December, the court ruled against Wendy's petition, noting the following: the evidence was "too vague"; it could not be proven that Dale met with any harm that night; and seven years had not yet elapsed following his disappearance.
In July 2014, Dale was finally declared legally dead. His date of death was listed as the day of his disappearance. Corning was ordered to pay twenty-seven years' worth of interest on his pension as well as interest 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, asking for the original surveillance tape to be released. After several requests, the police finally sent a copy of the tape to MuckRock, which put it up for viewing on its site in June. Unfortunately, the tape was in poor condition. However, a poster from the Unsolved Mysteries SitcomsOnline message board helped clean up the video to make it more watchable.
Police have investigated several leads in Dale's case over the years, including that: he was "double-crossed" and killed by a former coworker who helped him steal the platinum; he was placed in a gas well near the plant or in the Rutherford Run area; he was placed in the plant's furnace; and he was killed in a mob-related incident. However, none of these theories have been confirmed. In fact, authorities have noted that the furnace was not turned on that night, meaning that it could not have been used to dispose of his body. His whereabouts remain unknown.
Sadly, in 1994, Evelyn passed away at the age of seventy-eight.
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