Dale Kerstetter: Heist or Homicide

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dale Kerstetter – Heist or Homicide

Scams, Money, & Murder | Crime House | June 2, 2026
Hosts: Sarah Turney & Courtney Nicole

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the mysterious 1987 disappearance of Dale Kerstetter—a night watchman at Corning Glassworks in Bradford, Pennsylvania—alongside a major theft of platinum worth over $200,000. Hosts Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole meticulously break down the last hours of Dale’s life, the dual theories of heist versus homicide, and the disconcerting ways Dale’s employer and investigators handled his case. The discussion weaves together historical context, family insights, forensic investigations, and enduring questions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Disappearance: Timeline and Crime Scene ([00:58]–[06:02], [14:00]–[22:21])

• Surveillance Footage:
  • On September 12, 1987, surveillance showed a masked man entering the factory at 10:40pm. Dale, working the security night shift, approached and walked off camera with the man.
  • The masked man later returned alone, spending considerable time disassembling equipment in the tank area (housing platinum pipes), then left with a large bag on a hand truck.
  • Quote: “It's not clear if the security guard is going with the masked man willingly, but as the guard passes, he looks directly at the camera as if he's trying to communicate something.” —Sarah ([00:58])
• Immediate Aftermath:
  • Dale’s personal effects (lunch, cigarettes, car) were left behind, but his pistol was missing.
  • It took Corning Glassworks staff until 5pm the next day to notify police; they initially dismissed the situation as Dale abandoning his job to go drinking—a claim strongly disputed by his family.

2. Dale Kerstetter: Character and Life Story ([06:02]–[13:50])

• Personal Background:
  • Born in 1937, Dale was described as kind, dedicated, a family man, and adept outdoorsman.
  • Raised six children and maintained a close relationship with his ex-wife and kids.
  • Worked for Corning since 1959, trusted enough for various roles including machine operation and, later, night security.
  • Was a “survivalist,” unafraid to undertake tough tasks, a fact highlighted by stories of him sewing up his own injury and saving the plant from dangerous situations.
  • Quote: “I think there isn't a kid in the world who wouldn't want to have Dale as their dad.” —Al Kerstetter, Dale’s son ([09:41])
• Motivation for Extra Work:
  • Company pay cuts and economic downturn forced Dale to take overnight shifts to make ends meet.

3. Security and Company Response ([13:50]–[22:21])

• Security Lapses:
  • Security protocols were lax: doors left unlocked, little training or armament for the guards.
  • Memorable Exchange:
    • Sarah: “Why aren't we locking the doors?”
    • Courtney: “If you're going to have security guards, why aren't we locking the door?” ([11:59])
• Company's Attitude:
  • Corning’s response was impersonal and dismissive, quickly shifting suspicion onto Dale and showing more concern for material loss than an employee’s disappearance.
  • Quote: “This seems like a really cold response from a company that Dale's worked for for nearly 30 years. To just shrug and say that he was drinking feels insane to me.” —Sarah ([19:50])

4. Theories: Inside Job or Victim? ([22:21]–[34:12])

• Insider Knowledge vs. Coercion:
  • The theft required specialized knowledge of plant equipment and locations—leading to speculation about an inside job.
  • Debate whether Dale was an accomplice or coerced victim centers on surveillance footage, especially Dale’s poignant look into the camera.
  • Memorable Moment ([25:14]):
    • Sarah: “This doesn't make sense to me for him to do this heist... Why leave it all behind for this one, you know, seemingly kind of small heist?”
    • Courtney: “Personally, I don't think he was in on this. Just given the basic facts of this case, I genuinely don't think that he would have done this.”
• Physical Evidence:
  • Only a fraction of the platinum was taken; a large, unknown object was removed—plausibly, Dale’s body.
  • Neither Dale nor any trace of him has been found.
  • Critical Question ([31:26]):
    • Courtney: “If only 26 pounds of platinum was stolen, what was on that hand truck? Because it was very obviously, like, a large bag... That is super concerning.”
• Parallel Cases:
  • Dale’s disappearance echoes other platinum thefts nationwide, including another guard vanishing from a different plant just a month before.

5. Investigation: Law Enforcement, Evidence, FBI, and Family ([28:06]–[43:46])

• Police and FBI Handling:
  • Mishandlings included contaminated crime scene, missing key evidence (the gun holster and backpack were never accounted for), botched enhancement of camera footage, and significant delay in treating the case as a disappearance.
  • Quote ([30:29]):
    • Courtney: “I think it's just outrageous that the FBI steps in to help... But once they get this security footage, I don't understand why, like, another copy... wasn't made before they started working on it.”
• Focus on Dale as a Suspect:
  • Investigators scrutinized Dale’s finances—he had debts, but also assets and supportive family, making financial motive seem weak.
  • Dale's family and the hosts argue strongly against the likelihood of him orchestrating the theft or abandoning his family.
  • The family faced stigma and police surveillance in Dale’s absence.
  • Quote ([34:12]):
    • Sarah: “Dale's daughter Penny watched the video, too, and she saw the look in her father's eyes. It was not one of self satisfaction, but instead a cry for help.”
• Delayed Justice:
  • Corning opposed declaring Dale legally dead until 27 years later, impacting the family’s ability to access pension and insurance.

6. Lingering Mysteries and Aftermath ([43:46]–[47:40])

• False Sightings & Unsolved Status:
  • Various possible Dale sightings—all turned out to be dead ends.
  • No financial activity nor contact with family supports the thesis of voluntary disappearance.
  • The case was reopened in 2022 after a possible third person was noticed in remastered footage, but no substantive leads emerged.
• Memorable Quote ([45:28]):
  • Sarah: “It's just not enough money, especially if you're splitting it at least two ways... That just doesn't seem like enough.”
• Final Reflections:
  • The hosts, echoing Dale’s children, lean toward Dale being the victim of a violent robbery, not an accomplice.
  • Call to Action ([47:10]): Details for anyone with information on Dale’s fate.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Sarah ([25:14]):
  “This doesn’t make sense to me for him to do this heist. This is a man who's worked here for almost 30 years... So why leave it all behind for this one, you know, seemingly kind of small heist?”
• Courtney ([31:26]):
  “Because it was very obviously, like, a large bag. Some think that it looks like something was wrapped in plastic. To me. That is super concerning.”
• Sarah ([19:50]):
  “This seems like a really cold response from a company that Dale's worked for for nearly 30 years. To just kind of shrug and say that he was drinking feels insane to me.”
• Sarah ([34:12]):
  “Dale's daughter Penny watched the video, too, and she saw the look in her father's eyes. It was not one of self satisfaction, but instead a cry for help.”
• Courtney ([30:29]):
  “...once they get this security footage, I don't understand why, like, another copy or a copy of this footage wasn't made before they started working on it...”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:58–02:51: Summary of security footage and Dale’s last moments on camera.
• 06:02–13:50: Dale’s personal history, character, and life at Corning.
• 14:00–16:38: The night of the disappearance, discovery of missing items.
• 19:50–22:21: Plant and police response, start of investigation.
• 25:14–26:17: Host debate: was Dale an accomplice or a victim?
• 30:29–31:53: Tampering with key evidence, vault contents analyzed.
• 37:47–39:18: Scrutiny of Dale’s debts, family support, lack of motive.
• 42:28–43:46: Legal battles over Dale’s estate and pension.
• 43:46–44:53: False sightings and enduring mystery.
• 47:10: Call to action for tips and case information.

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Takeaways

• The duality of Dale Kerstetter—as either a criminal or casualty—remains unresolved decades later.
• Lax security, poor handling of evidence, and company priorities left critical questions unanswered and compounded the tragedy for Dale’s family.
• The case captures broader issues: working-class insecurity, institutional distrust toward blue-collar victims, and the lasting impact of unsolved crimes on families and communities.

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If you have information on Dale Kerstetter, contact Bradford Township Police at 814-368-3564.

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Listen to "Final Hours" from Crime House for more deep dives into true crime mysteries.

Transcript

[A]

Hi listeners, it's Vanessa.

[B]

Before we get into today's episode, I

[A]

want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhat. Every Monday, Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain.

[B]

Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myth myths, not superstition. Just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look.

[A]

Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or

[B]

wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery.

[C]

This is crime house.

[A]

Watching surveillance footage from a glass factory in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The date on the top left corner of the screen reads September 12, 1987. The timestamp below 10:40pm the camera angle changes a few times between cameras 1, 2 and 3. Rather than constantly rolling, the footage takes photographs every few seconds showing different parts of the empty building. It's monochrome, poorly lit and grainy. Around 10:40pm a man appears in the guards area at the back of the plant. He is all alone and wearing a black ski mask. Five minutes later, a security guard approaches him. They talk for a few minutes, then they start walking towards an area off screen. It's not clear if the security guard is going with the masked man willingly, but as the guard passes, he looks directly at the camera as if he's trying to communicate something. His name is Dale Kerstetter.

[B]

It's not the end of the footage. At 11:19pm the masked man enters a different part of the plant alone. He spends the next 35 minutes taking apart a piece of machinery. Then he makes trips back and forth to and from the machine for the next two hours. Finally, at 12:51am the masked man drags a hand truck out of the plant. On top of it is a large bag. The question is what? Or maybe who is inside? Because after he looked into that camera, Dale Kerstetter was never seen again. Every year, over half a million people go missing. And that's just in the United States alone. Most of the stories barely get a headline. Some don't even get a flyer or a tip line. And when cases do get media attention, we usually only get the broad strokes.

[A]

But for those of us who have lived these true crime cases, we know the devil's in the details. This is the final hours. A Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios. I'm Sarah Turney.

[B]

And I'm Courtney Nicole. Every Monday, Sarah and I will be looking at the final hours of someone's disappearance. The small, seemingly mundane moments to see if there was anything hiding in plain sight.

[A]

Looking back at all those last conversations, connections and choices is critical, and it could be the key to unlocking it all. Each episode I'll offer insight on what those close to the victim might have been going through, and Courtney will use her expertise to give more context into the crime scene, the red flags, and the investigation itself. And we want to thank you for being a part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for ad free access to every episode. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple

[B]

Podcasts this time we're discussing the disappearance of 50 year old Dale Kerstetter. On September 12, 1987, Dale said goodnight to his teenage son and left for his job as a night watchman at Corning Glassworks in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Ten minutes after he arrived, a masked man entered the empty building. Security footage captures Dale going to talk to him, and the two walk off camera together while the man reappears later, removing something from the factory. Dale Dale is never seen again.

[C]

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[D]

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[B]

Dale Kerstetter's case looks different depending on how you perceive him. Some saw Dale as a survivalist and a pragmatist, the kind of guy who did what needed to be done. When he disappeared from the factory he worked at, along with thousands of dollars in platinum, they thought he'd pulled off a heist. Others saw Dale as honest and loyal. They thought he would never commit a crime like that. But he may have been a casualty of one, either abducted or murdered. But almost everyone agrees on one they hope Dale's alive and they'll get to see him again. Before we discuss the duality of Dale, let's talk about his origin story.

[A]

Dale Kerstetter was a simple man who got along with everyone. People considered him kind and generous. Dale was born on March 7, 1937, in Bradford, Pennsylvania, a small town about 80 miles south of Buffalo, New York. According to the podcast Lost and Found, which spoke to Dale's daughter penny, back in 2018, Dale spent most of his life in Bradford. That's also where he met his first wife, Nancy, on the school bus, but they didn't date until much later. In fact, Lost and Found got a lot of interesting original details from Penny about her father's life, so we want to shout them out as one of our many great sources for this episode. But let's talk about Dale's life after high school. He actually left early to join the Air Force, which was the only time he lived outside of Pennsylvania. After he was honorably discharged, he earned his GED and took several college courses. Shortly after coming back, Penny told Lost and Found that Dale bumped into Nancy at a carnival. She thought Dale was a blast, someone who loved to have a good time, had an awesome sense of humor, and at the same time was respectful and trustworthy. They started dating in 1959, and six months later they got married. Dale and Nancy started a big family. First they had Cindy, then Penny, who Lost and Found learned was actually named after Dale's childhood dog. He was so attached to that dog that after she died, Dale refused to leave his bedroom for two days. According to Nancy, the human Penny ended up being the most like Dale. After her, they had Bonnie, Wendy, and then the twins, Susan and Al. Six children, five of them girls. Nancy stayed home to raise the kids while Dale went to work. But what Dale really wanted was to spend every Second, he could with his family. Don't get me wrong, they spent a lot of time together, usually in the great outdoors. In the summer, he'd take them to pick berries, fish, and camp. In the winter, he'd drive them down a country road to go sledding, cook hamburgers over a fire and drink hot chocolate. He hunted, fished, trapped, and went skydiving again with the kids. But he wasn't as country as some people thought. Penny told Lost and Pound that Dale enjoyed nice food and reading Forbes magazine. He studied the stock market and tried to invest. He also invested in people. After a father of seven who lived in Dale's trailer park was immobilized after an accident, Dale brought them food and made sure they were provided for. He took care of his own through thick and thin and maintained his relationships, including his one with Nancy. After 22 years of marriage, Dale and Nancy divorced, but they still remained close, even when Nancy moved to Texas while he stayed in Pennsylvania. Out of Dale's six children, two of them still lived in town. By that point, the eldest, Cindy, was out of the house. So the tide for youngest teenage Al was the only one left who lived with Dale. And the two of them were really close. Al once said he thinks there isn't a kid in the world who wouldn't want to have Dale as their dad.

[B]

I think that says so much about Dale as a person, as do the details of his career. So, as we mentioned, Dale worked at a plant called the Corning Glassworks. They produce glass rods that enclose resistors used in television sets, which helped regulate electrical currents. Dale started working there in 1959, the year after they opened. That was also the same year he married Nancy. His job title was journeyman, which meant he operated the machines and performed maintenance work. But he also did other odds and ends, washed the windows and painted the offices, basically whatever Corning needed. Once he even installed a new tile floor. But he didn't work there as a security guard until a little while later.

[A]

Dale's co workers described him as a survivalist. Once, when he cut his own finger, he sewed it up himself. Another time, a propane tank on a forklift rolled beneath a stream of molten glass, which was a ticking time bomb. The tank could have exploded if Dale hadn't jumped on and driven the forklift out in time. He saved at least a few lives that day and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. But people say that Dale was also a little troublemaker, a class clown, if you will. He liked scaring and pranking people as much as he liked making them laugh.

[B]

But it wasn't all fun and games. During that period of time in the late 1980s, a recession spread through rural sections of Pennsylvania. Demand for the electrical resistors that Corning helped produce decreased. By 1987, Dale had worked at Corning for 28 years. But the company was downsizing Because Dale was reliable and a longtime employee. He kept his job but lost and found. Learned that his pay got cut significantly. So to make ends meet, he added overnight and weekend security shifts to his schedule. He didn't have any special security training. In fact, none of the guards there did. Most of them didn't even carry weapons. But Dale told his daughter Penny that he wouldn't patrol the factory without his own gun. The.22 caliber pistol that no one seemed to mind him bringing. By the way, Dale wasn't the biggest guy. At 5 foot 4 and 130 pounds, it would have been easy to overpower him. So he liked the added protection because outside of the guards and the cameras, Corning didn't have much of a security system. They didn't even keep the doors locked overnight.

[A]

Courtney, why aren't we locking the doors?

[B]

I know this was, you know, what, 1987, and this was a very small town, But I don't know, I just feel like. Like you just have to be safe, but you never know the intentions other people have. Especially, like, this job in specific.

[A]

Yeah, if you're going to have security guards, why aren't we locking the door? I mean, but to circle it back to Dale, right? You know, that. That just popped out at me. I'm like, why is this even happening in the first place? But to circle it back to Dale, it's like, I don't know. The whole security operation feels very makeshift. And while Dale has worked there for, like, near years at this point, and I'm sure knows that plant like the back of his hand, it just feels like there's a better way. So, like, I wonder if maybe they gave him this gig, you know, and we kind of alluded to it, right, that it's very possible that he was given this gig just to kind of piece together the money that he was losing from his pay being cut.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like them downsizing and people losing their jobs. Like you mentioned, he was there for a really, really long time. They probably didn't want to just, you know, cut him out. He'd already, like, given so much of his life to this job in specific, so it makes sen, you know, him taking whatever Shift possible to kind of keep making that money. But a lot of people kind of point out, like, what the point of having, like, an untrained security officer does. I think to me, it kind of boils down to, like, it's a deterrent. There's just somebody there. So if somebody does happen to stroll by and see a security officer, they're probably going to think that person is trained and they're probably going to stray away and not try breaking in. So that's kind of like my thought process on that.

[A]

Yeah. When they open the unlocked door and see the security guard, maybe they'll walk right out. Nothing about this makes sense. And I just have to point that out. It's so hard for me. Like, what's the point of having armed security? Right. I know that Dale appears to be the only one that was armed, but armed security with the doors wide open, or at least unlocked, that part really got me.

[B]

I definitely understand why Dale would want to bring his own weapon, especially being, like, untrained. That makes perfect sense to me. I would probably do the same, because you just never know.

[A]

But I bet he thought it was like an easy gig, right? Again, he spends so much time there, he knows it like the back of his hand. And I have to imagine that he understands the. The risk that would come to it. I mean, again, working there almost 30 years, I think he's going to know if they've been broken into, if things have been stolen. I would imagine he was, you know, well aware of the possible risks. Well, let's go to Saturday, September 12, 1987, what seems like any other workday for Dale. He says goodnight to his son Al, the last of his kids to live with him. Then he leaves his home in Lewis Run, Pennsylvania, and drives the 10 miles to Corning Glassworks. He arrives at 10:30pm and chats with the guard. He's relieving Art Peterson. Dale and Art are friends. Their families even go camping together. A few minutes later, Dale takes the plant keys from Art, who leaves without punching his time card. Usually the incoming guard does that for the outgoing guard. So this is normal. What's not normal is that night, Dale seemingly forgets to do it. Dale settles in while the remaining employees leave. The place empties out, leaving Dale there alone. After that, he's supposed to check in every hour. But after midnight, nobody hears from him again.

[B]

What's weird to me, Sarah, is that people had different accounts of how Dale was supposed to check in. Some say he keeps a record, signing a logbook or something. Similar. Others say he calls into the main plant, in which case someone should have noticed his disappearance right away.

[A]

Yes, but at the same time, there were others who said a new employee was working that night and they weren't aware of the protocol. Which would make sense because by midnight there's no check in from Dale. He's gone completely silent, and no one seems to notice that he's missing or that a masked stranger is inside the building with him.

[D]

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[B]

It's 7am on Sunday, September 13, 1987. Dale's co worker John Lindquist is arriving at the factory to relieve him and take over security. Dale usually sits at a desk right inside the entrance, but that day he isn't there. So John checks the cafeteria. He finds Dale's lunchbox sitting on the table next to a newspaper with the plant keys underneath. John opens Dale's lunchbox and sees his meal is still inside. Dale's red Jeep pickup is still in the parking lot. The keys are in the ignition, which isn't unusual in Bradford at the time, probably because it's a small town where everyone knows each other. What's strange is that Dale left without his cigarettes. Considering how often he smokes, it's unheard of. He left a carton in the car, along with a backpack and a holster for his.22 caliber pistol. But the gun isn't with isn't long

[A]

until his family and friends notice something's up too. After his shift, Dale's supposed to go meet with his girlfriend, Pamela Mays, but he doesn't show up. Pamela calls his son Al, who calls Dale's eldest daughter, Cindy. She then calls her sister Penny. Penny currently lives in Washington, D.C. and is shocked when she hears her father disappeared from his job. She gets right in her car and drives 300 miles north to Bradford.

[B]

Meanwhile, his co worker John searches the deserted 112,000 square foot plant looking for Dale, first on his own, then with his Supervisor Dale is nowhere to be found. John is worried that his friend might have gotten hurt or had a heart attack. But the company seems more worried about its own interests. In fact, they write Dale's disappearance off by saying he probably just left to go drinking. And they claim that's why it took them so long to file a police report. For the record, Dale never drank before or during his shift, so this theory holds zero water. But at 5pm that evening, they finally call the police. While volunteers search the woods around the plant and trace a nearby creek, police follow a search dog through the plant. He alerts in all the places Dale normally spends time during his shift. The cafeteria, the bathroom, the storage areas, the mechanical equipment room, and the electric switchgear room, which houses and protects the equipment that sends electricity around the plant. Then the dog leads the police up to the second floor. This time, it alerts somewhere Dale doesn't usually the glass furnace, which employees call the tank. This is where the plant manufactures glass rods needed to make resistors. These devices regulate electrical currents in TV sets. In the tank, sand and other raw materials are melted at temperatures over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The molten glass then passes from the furnace into these platinum pipes. And that's the key to this whole thing. Platinum is one of the most valuable materials in the world. It makes sense why someone would want to take it. What doesn't make sense to his co workers or the police, at least not yet, is why Dale would have been up here. Even with the platinum pipes, the tank isn't part of Dale's security rounds. And because of the decreased demand for the glass rods lately, it hasn't been used in a few weeks.

[A]

This seems like a really cold response from a company that Dale's worked for for nearly 30 years. To just kind of shrug and say that he was drinking feels insane to me.

[B]

Yeah, he's been there. He's literally given almost 30 years of his life to this company. And I just. It's kind of a slap in the face. It just doesn't seem like that's who Dale was. And I don't know, from researching this case, it just seems like he really took his job seriously. He wouldn't just leave to go drinking and then, you know, whoops, forget to call. This seems way more serious than that.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, for somebody who was willing to take a pay and stay with the company and work more hours just to try to, like, gap that pay, I don't know, it just seems really weird to me.

[B]

Yeah. And one thing That I wanted to, like, touch on is I feel like a lot of people question why this specific machine with such valuable parts might not be on, like, somebody's security route. It kind of seems like it would be given, like, the nature. So in my own personal opinion, I feel like industrial security back then in 1987, it was probably more focused on perimeters and general patrols rather than on high value pieces of equipment.

[A]

I wonder, Court, if it was like a liability thing, you know what I mean? You know, it's one thing for somebody to get hurt on the job, but for a security guard to go missing on the job, I wonder what that looks like for a company. I don't know the answers. I'm just assuming that there would be some type of liability involved.

[B]

Yeah, you bring up a good point. I feel like that machine, it sounds like it could be really, really dangerous if you don't know what you're doing around it. So I guess that could be another. Another factor into this, like why the security wouldn't go in there. Like it wouldn't be on their regular route.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I think that they're opening themselves up to a lot of liability, But I'm not an expert.

[B]

I also feel like it's really weird that the tracking dogs picked up on his scent near this machine, though, Especially since it wasn't on his route.

[A]

I mean, he works a few different positions there. Right. So maybe it was from a different time. Maybe he touched a piece of equipment that went in there. I don't know. I feel like the dog finding the scent in a factory that he's worked for, like, 30 years could be anything. It's Monday, September 14, 1987. The day after people notice Dale is missing. A personnel manager at Corning named Patrick Foley sits down at his desk. Knowing that Dale is missing, he turns on a small television to review grainy, poorly lit security footage from his last shift. It flips through still images taken every few seconds by three different cameras throughout the planned. And what Patrick sees shocks him.

[B]

Ten minutes after Dale gets to work, at 10:40pm A masked man appears in the guards area at the back of the plant. On camera two, apparently, the door had once again been left unlocked. Five minutes later, Dale approaches him. They talk for a couple of minutes, and then they walk past the camera, the masked man a half step behind Dale. It's hard to tell if Dale is being coerced or if he's going willingly. And Dale's position is covering the masked man's arms. So if he's pointing a gun or some kind of weapon at Dale's back. It's impossible to tell, but during those few seconds, Dale looks directly into the camera like he's trying to say something as he walks with the masked man off screen. We have no idea where Dale goes from there because there's only a couple of cameras in the plant. The next time the masked man is seen, it's 33 minutes later and Dale isn't with him. At 11.19pm, the masked man enters Camera 1, the area where the tank operates. The same place the dog alerted the place where platinum is stored. And it seems like that's what the intruder is after. The masked man spends 35 minutes wrestling the tank apart to remove some of its platinum, which isn't easy. The section holding the metal is wrapped in mesh wire and locked behind a gate. The cylinders themselves are covered with U shaped fire bricks for insulation. The thief would have needed a special tool to remove them and a saw to slice out the platinum. And that tells us a lot. Since he didn't appear to come in with tools of his own, he'd have to know where to find them in the factory and be familiar with the machine. So could this be an inside job? Surveillance cameras captured the man going back and forth to the tank several times over the next hour. At one point, he's seen holding what appears to be a platinum rod. In total, he spends just over two hours inside the plant. At 12:51am, a little over two hours after he arrived, the masked man drags a hand truck out of the building. It's carrying what looks like a large bag or something large wrapped in plastic, but nobody can say for sure what's inside. Some guess it's platinum. Others believe it's Dale's body. The last time the masked man is seen on camera is at 12:53am when he goes back into the plant without the bag. Nobody knows where he put it or how he got it out of corning the second time. With anything, not just true crime, but with literally anything that's public, people will always share their opinions. And it pretty much like it can always be split down the middle. 50, 50 on what people are believing. In this case, it seems like some people believe Dale was in on this and kind of helping this guy take off with the platinum. Other people, you know, say that he looked at the camera as a way to plead for help without being able to say anything and that he wasn't in on it.

[A]

The craziest things happen in true crime and anything could be Possible. Right. So I just want to put that out there. But this doesn't make sense to me for him to do this heist. This is a man who's worked here for almost 30 years. He's reaching retirement. He's really gone through, like, the hardest phase of his life, I would imagine, like, raising the six children. Right. His youngest is left at home, and I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me for him to do it at this point in his life and leave all of his children behind. I mean, according to everybody we know in this, you know, narrative here, he was a very loving and caring father who cared about his family. So why leave it all behind for this one, you know, seemingly kind of small heist?

[B]

Yeah, I'm right there with you. We know that he liked to prank people and scare people and, like, have a fun time, but this is, like, on a whole different level. Personally, I don't think that he was in on this. Just given the basic facts of this case, I genuinely don't think that he would have done this.

[A]

Yeah, that narrative doesn't line up for me either, to be totally honest with you. I just don't see him leaving his family.

[B]

I don't think it was was Dale. But could this have been, like, another inside job somehow? It just seems like a really hard task to pull off and this person did it.

[A]

Yeah. No, I agree with you there. I do think that it's very likely that this was an inside job, but knowing that they have these rotating security guards, they have somebody new, it could have been anyone. But, no, I agree. I mean, I personally don't know how hard it is to take. You know, u shaped bricks out of molten. I keep wanting to call it molten lava. Right. But this molten glass, you know, you definitely have to know what you're doing, and you need these specialized tools that will be found inside of this plant. But locating them and knowing how to use them is something completely different. This feels like an inside job to me. Well, as you can probably imagine, the personnel manager, Patrick, is totally stunned when he sees the footage. This is a huge twist in the case. He or someone else in the company immediately alerts the police. Then they come back to the tank. They lift out the fire bricks that protect the platinum. In several places, they find the precious metal piping that's been cut out with a hacksaw. By the end, courting confirms 11,000 grams of platinum are missing, which is worth about $220,000 in 1987. That's the equivalent of $633,000 in 2026. So Courtney and I also learned that 11,000 grams of platinum would only weigh about 25 pounds, which could obviously be easily carried out of the plant.

[B]

Okay, well, then that actually makes this next part even more interesting, because there are still hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of platinum Left in the tank untouched. About three times as much was taken, to be exact. So was the guy in a rush? Did something happen, or was he only planning on taking a small amount?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, those are just a few of the many questions Being asked at this point. And on Tuesday, September 15, 1987, three days after Dale's disappearance, Pennsylvania State Trooper Max vezak comes in to help the local police. They show him the security camera footage, which he doesn't get much more out of. And by the time he gets to the crime scene, all the other evidence has been cleared or compromised. Max never sees dale's gun holster or the backpack, which have since just disappeared from dale's truck. The family doesn't know what happened to them either. They thought the backpack was odd in the first place, since dale never used one. They even wondered if it belonged to the masked man or someone else entirely. The whole thing is such a mess that just a few days later, they call in the FBI for technical assistance. The bureau tries to enhance the video's poor quality, but working on it has the reverse effect. When they get the tape back, the quality has somehow been made worse. It's unrecognizable, and they don't have a backup copy.

[B]

Well, there's also something else they need to consider. Stolen platinum is very valuable, but actually, making money off of it isn't easy. Whoever took it Will need access to a facility that can melt the metal down to sell. But as we said earlier, Platinum is used because of its heat resistance, so melting it down requires a special kind of machine. So max contacts a bunch of facilities in the area that might be able to do this, but they all say they don't have the resources. Then you also have to consider the buyer. It's probably someone they lined up before the heist. So to figure out who that might be, the FBI interviews all scrap metal dealers within a 200 mile radius. They all say they only deal with platinum from collecting catalytic converters, which are devices found on a lot of gas and diesel powered vehicles built after 1975. If you live in a big city, you've probably heard of someone getting their converter stolen off their car before. I think it's just outrageous that the FBI steps in to help. I mean, they obviously have more resources than local, you know, police stations. But once they get this security footage, I don't understand why, like, another copy or a copy of this footage wasn't made before they started working on it to try and enhance it. Because now the quality has been made worse somehow. And I just don't get how that's possible. It's infuriating.

[A]

Yeah, that seems like a big screw up, to be honest. Like, I get it. Like, you want to mess with the footage. But to your point, make a copy first. What are they doing? I know it's 1987, right? And I'm sure this is like a VHS tape, but, like, make a copy. We had the technology.

[B]

So I have two kind of big questions about this case. One, like, why was there so much platinum left behind? I feel like if you're, you know, breaking into this place, Pulling off, like, this big heist, you'd want to take as much as you can. But as we know, only 26 pounds of platinum was actually stolen. My second question is, if only 26 pounds of platinum was stolen, what was on that hand truck? Because it was very obviously, like, a large bag. Some think that it looks like something was wrapped in plastic. To me. That is super concerning. So if at this point, authorities believe that dale was in on it, why are they not questioning what was on that hand truck? Because this seems like a major red flag. It's super concerning to me. And I'm just like an armchair sleuth.

[A]

Right? Well, and like, let's be honest. If there's only, you know, this many pounds of the platinum being taken, right. That's not going to fill up the whole hand truck or the hand cart. What we do know is we have this larger bag filled with something, and the only other thing that appears to be missing is dale. So I think a reasonable person can conclude that he was likely in that bag or wrapped in the plastic or whatever. The question is, was he alive or was he being smuggled out after he perished?

[B]

Unfortunately, either way, I feel like that is. That should be the starting point. That is what they should be focusing on. Because either way, unfortunately, if he wasn't alive, like, that needs to be investigated. I just think that with all of these things piling up, it should be becoming more clear that maybe dale was not involved.

[A]

Right. Well, in trying to, like, you know, let's assume that he was a criminal and they smuggle him out in this bag, I don't really get the point, because either way, they're going to be looking for Dale whether he walks out or he goes out in a bag. But him going out in a bag possibly is what extremely concerns me. Obviously.

[B]

Now, here's something interesting. It turns out there have been least four platinum thefts at Corning plants around the country since the 1960s. Even more at facilities owned by other companies. And Dale isn't the first security guard to disappear because of it. Just one month before Dale went missing, a night watchman disappeared from another company along with $85,000 worth of platinum. The facility was located in Solon, Ohio, a three hour drive from the Corning plant in Bradford. And while he was suspected in the heist, they don't think those crimes are connected. That guard was employed by a third party company called Brink's Security System. He had no loyalty to the company itself, but Dale, he had worked directly for Corning for almost three decades. He had a reputation for saving lives and protecting the equipment. Dale was a good enough employee to keep during the downsizing and trusted enough to watch the plant when nobody else was there. And yet, Corning Glassworks turns ice cold on Dale after his disappearance.

[D]

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[A]

It's September 1987, the month Dale vanishes. But some newspaper reports about the robbery imply Dale is a suspect, not a victim. When interviewed by the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, one manager calls him a marginal employee and a slow worker. Patrick Foley, the one who first viewed the security footage, says he thinks Dale was looking at the camera smugly, telling Corning there was nothing they could do about him stealing their platinum. But Dale's daughter Penny watched the video, too, and she saw the look in her father's eyes. It was not one of self satisfaction, but instead a cry for help. Still, his former employer refuses to see it that way. Patrick even asked the police to check Dale's discharge papers from the United States Air Force to see why he left. But as we mentioned, it was an honorable discharge. So whatever dirt they're looking for, they don't find it. Meanwhile, Dale's family is having to fight to defend his honor now that Dale's gone. His teenage son Al joins his mother in Texas. So Dale's daughter Cindy, who's in her mid-20s and the only family member left in Pennsylvania, now feels like all eyes are on her. One day, Cindy goes to Corning to speak with the company supervisor. So she brings her boyfriend as a buffer. From the way they talk to her, she thinks they assume her dad's guilty. Investigators repeatedly ask her if her father has contacted her. She has to tell them no over and over. She even thinks detectives stake out her apartment a few times.

[B]

Have you ever seen this before, Sarah? Where like the police monitor the family members of a missing person? I guess you have to investigate like every avenue, but to me this, in this specific scenario, it seems like a bit much.

[A]

I have seen it before and to be honest, I want them to investigate every avenue. And we know that they start with that inner circle and they work out. So this does make sense to me. And I just, I want them to get through this, rule it out and move on to finding Dale. I think it goes back to some members of law enforcement having a bias towards families that they would rather believe. An employer saying, eh, he might have gone drinking. When I saw his look in the camera, it looked like it was smug versus, you know, his daughter. I think that they take that emotional bias and just like, don't consider what the family says Sometimes that's my perception of what's happening. It appears that they are investigating Dale as a criminal and not a missing person when in my opinion they should be doing both.

[B]

Yeah. At the very least.

[A]

I mean that's the thing is like, do you want to get to the bottom of it or do you want to investigate it based on your own bias?

[B]

Yeah, I mean like, shouldn't the goal, the end goal be to solve this crime, find Dale, rule out if he was involved or not? Like that should be the end goal.

[A]

If you find Dale, you can figure out which crime occurred, whether he was a true missing person or if he

[B]

was a thief or on the other end of it. I mean, other plants nearby have experienced the same thing with break ins and robberies and platinum going missing. I know at this point they're thinking it's not connected, but wouldn't you want to just find Dale to just be a hundred percent sure?

[A]

Exactly. It's not like it's uncommon for somebody to go in, you know, to a plant like this or any plant really, or any situation, take out the security guard, do the Crime and leave.

[B]

At this point, it seems pretty clear the police suspect Dale was in on the heist and don't actually think he's dead. There was no crime scene, no blood, no other evidence to suggest he was killed on Corning premises. And while they're trying to track down the platinum, they don't seem to be entertaining other possibilities for Dale. But they are looking into his finances.

[A]

You know, when people dig into this case, they often point out dale's debt. Just three days before he went missing on Wednesday, September 9, 1987, Dale got a letter from MasterCard declaring his balance of about 3, $900 to be in default, which today would be about $11,200. But his family says he had $5,000 in his savings account. That's more than enough to pay off the credit card bill.

[B]

That might not have been enough to cover all of his debts, though. According to Unsolved Mysteries, between his home vehicle and other bills, Dale owed a total of 30,000 to $40,000.

[A]

But even so, his family thinks the debt wasn't an issue. On top of the full time work, Dale had investments. Corning stock, a 401k, and children with high earning jobs who were ready to help him out. Plus, according to the Lost and Found podcast, he was close to retirement, which means he would have started collecting his pension soon. So why risk it all? Penny doesn't think money is a realistic motivation for her dad to be a part of the heist. She doesn't think he was involved at all, but if he was, she thinks it would have been solely for the thrill of it.

[B]

You know, Sarah, there are, there are a number of reasons why I don't think the money is like a realistic motivation for Dale. He was six months away from a pension. All of his kids had like high earning jobs, which, as we mentioned, they would be more than willing to help him out if he fell on hard times. And he lived a pretty simple life. And also like his debts compared to other people are like, it's not an insane amount. I really don't think the money would be a motivation to do this.

[A]

Exactly. I don't think 30 to $40,000 is that much even, you know, for the late 1980s, to have that much on your home, your car, all of your debts, it's not that bad.

[B]

I feel like I always am, like, definitely on the family side. I feel like they know their loved one more than anyone else. But yeah, I'm right there with you. I definitely don't think the money would have been his Reasoning for doing this

[A]

if he did do it in terms of, like, doing it for the thrill. I mean, Dale liked to, like, go skydiving. I don't think the thrill of leaving his life behind is exactly the same thing.

[B]

No, I mean, I feel like skydiving is really crazy to me. But, like, that is, you know, way more of a normal type of thrill to, like, seek than doing something like this.

[A]

While police are considering different scenarios, they also learn that Dale has quite a few interesting friends. People who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Like a doctor suspected of trying to kill his wife and another suspected killer who was tried for shooting a man, then pushing his truck into a large body of water with his alleged victim dead inside side. Now, I will say he was acquitted. Afterwards, he met with Dale in a local restaurant. On Saturday mornings, the police and FBI both interview these men and other friends of Dale's, but none turn out to be viable leads.

[B]

In 1988, one year after Dale disappears, the plant gets sold and renamed Bradford Electronics. The company is moving on, which seems to be the case for everyone else except for dale's family. In 1990, three years after Dale's disappearance, one of his daughters files a petition to declare their father legally dead. She wants the two siblings, who are still minors, to collect some of his pension. Corning Glassworks opposes the declaration. According to lost and found. They say it's been less than seven years, and there's no definitive proof he was killed that night. And the state supreme court shoots down Wendy's rapid request in December of 1990. I feel like there's one thing that I really, really want to touch on, and it's about Dale's friends and how they're suspected killers and, you know, bad people. There's one argument that always says you are who you hang out with and, like, who you surround yourself with. But I think you and I, Sarah, both know that you were not other people. You are yourself. People around you, people even in your own family, like in yours and mine, can do horrible things, and you are not that person.

[A]

Yeah. And I think it's also fair to say that when you're so close to a person, your mind just doesn't change like that when something happens. I think most people's first reaction when somebody very close to you is accused of doing something very, very bad Is like, no, like, that could never be my friend or whatever. So I feel like we just don't have enough information there to make, like, a definitive judgment. We don't know what Dale knew About that, we just know what these people did or were accused of. But in terms of the seven year rule, I did some digging and I looked up the laws in Pennsylvania and it is seven years to have somebody declared legally dead. And one way you can prevent that is if you can prove that that person is a fugitive. So I have to wonder if maybe that's what Corning came in with.

[B]

Well, in this case, it doesn't take seven years, it takes 27 years. In July 2014, Penny finally succeeds at having their first her father declared dead. She has the date of death listed as the day he disappeared. Corning only pays Del's family a tiny portion of his pension, but they're also ordered to pay 27 years worth of interest on his pension and the family can finally get a life insurance payout. Then in 2019, 32 years after Dale's disappearance, there's a wild new development. An amateur investigator requests the Corning security footage from the police through a non profit news site. When he receives it, it's even more degraded than earlier articles describe. But it passes hands a few times and makes it to a film hobbyist who cleans it up a little bit. During the process, he sees something on the tape that he thinks could be a third person. So they take it to the police. And in 2022, 35 years after Dale goes missing, the case is reopened. While the police don't really think the case cleaned up, footage clarifies anything, they do take the opportunity to see if any of Dale's friends, who are now older, are ready to come forward. But so far, nobody has provided information that points to a serious lead. Though over the years, there have been plenty of false sightings.

[A]

Yeah, and these are interesting, Courtney. So on September 23, 1987, just 10 days after Dale went missing, a man reported a sighting on on West Washington street in Bradford. They didn't speak, but he was sure he recognized Dale because they'd met before. The next day, a woman thought she saw Dale stretched out and reading a book near the railroad tracks. Five years later, in March 1992, a Pennsylvania trooper called Penny after a headless, handless body was found in Florida. He wanted permission to access Dale's medical records for comparison. It wasn't him. Then in 2020, a woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico saw an Unsolved Mysteries episode featuring Dale. She called authorities because she was convinced that Dale was her neighbor. But spoiler, he wasn't. As of this recording, neither Dale nor his body has been found.

[B]

I mean, on top of me, just not personally thinking Dale was involved. There also hasn't been any activity on his bank account, and he hasn't even contacted his kids. So to me, those are just two more reasons why I, you know, he. He just doesn't seem to be involved.

[A]

I mean, yeah, even in the late 80s, I feel like it was hard to disappear without a trace. I think it's harder than some people think. Is it impossible? No. But is it easy also?

[B]

No, it's definitely not. And I. I know some people will probably point out Dale's previous hobbies of, like, fishing, camping, you know, kind of like outdoorsy stuff. But, I don't know, like to do it for the rest of your life. It's not as easy as you might think. Even for a short period of time, you're gonna run into trouble. It's gonna get really hard. And to do this without leaving behind any trace of, like, your identity, like that just doesn't seem realistic.

[A]

No. And it's just not enough money, Especially if you're splitting it at least two ways, right? Like to have roughly a hundred thousand dollars each. And that's like the value of it. Like, we're not even talking about. By the time you sell it, whatever offer you get, I mean, they could be walking away with as little as like $50,000 each. And that just doesn't seem like enough. I mean, that's barely enough to pay off Dale's debt. People all seem to believe that Dale was either a casualty of a platinum robbery, which was surprisingly common at the time, or helped pull off the heist. We can only speculate one way or another, but we do know a few things for sure. Dale had had six children who he loved and who loved him very much. He worked at the Same company for 28 years. They had recently downsized and cut his pay, so he had to take on extra shifts to make ends meet. Dale was in debt, but he also had plenty of assets he hadn't tapped into to pay off his bills, including high earning kids who would have happily helped him. Plus, he was close to his retirement and pension. And yet, on Saturday, September 12, 1987, Dale said goodbye to his teenage son, Al, the last child who lived with him. He left his home and drove 10 miles to Corning Glassworks. When he arrived, he chatted with Art Peterson, his friend and camping buddy, and the security guard he was relieving. Fifteen minutes later, he greeted a masked man who had entered the building. They touched, talked, and then they walked off camera. In Dale's usual fashion, he went calmly but nobody knows if he went willingly.

[B]

Dale Kerstetter will be about 89 years old as of this recording. He's Caucasian with brown eyes, gray hair and a receding hairline. He's five' four and his last known weight was about 130 pounds. If you have any information about Dale Kerstetter, you can call the Bradford township Police at 814-368-3564.

[A]

Thank you for listening to the Final Hours. If you have any other details about Dale Kerstetter's case, please share it with us on social media. Rimehouse we want to hear from you. Your thoughts, condolences and feedback are what makes make this community so special at Crime House.

[B]

We value your support. Share your thoughts on social media and remember to rate, review and follow the Final Hours to help others discover the

[A]

show and to enhance your listening experience. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode of the Final Hours ad free, along with early access and exciting bonus content.

[B]

The Final Hours is hosted by Sarah Turney and me, Courtney Nicole, and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios, this episode is brought to life by the Final Hours team Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pertzofsky, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Dana Brazil Sulavey, Andrew Rosenblum and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.