Was Dale Kerstetter Double Crossed Or A Victim? Either Way, He Disappeared And Never Has Been Seen Again.

Dale Kerstetter

He was a simple, calm, kind and generous man who seemed to get along with everyone. He had and adventurous spirit. He was also a loving and devoted father to his children. He was known to be a very honest man with a diverse group of friends, which he'd do anything for.

Dale was born on March 7th, 1937 in Pennsylvania. Aside from a brief time stationed in the Air Force in his early years he remained in the same area in Pennsylvania. He liked to trap, hunt, ski, skydive and do many other outdoor activities. When a family who lived in his trailer park with 7 children was hit by hardship and the father was incapacitated in an accident Dale would often bring food to the family and made sure the children never did without. 

In 1987, he was a divorced man, but still close to his family. He kept in touch his 6 children and was living with his teenage son. Dale's job had been a journeyman at the Corning Glassworks in Bradford, Pennsylvania for 29 years. The last several months Corning had been downsizing. Dale was given a pay-cut and in the last several months had to take some shifts as an overnight security guard to help make up for it. Other workers weren't so lucky and were fired but Dale was not because he was a dependable employee. During one incident at work, a forklift rolled underneath a stream of molten glass. The glass started pouring down on the forklift's propane tank. Dale immediately jumped on the forklift and drove it away from the glass, potentially saving dozens of lives and thousands of dollars of property.

Dale was last seen on September 12th, at 11 p.m. during his weekend shift when he showed up to relieve fellow security guard Art Peterson. The next morning, on September 13, a fellow security guard, John Lindquist, showed up around 7 a.m. to relieve him of his duty. He couldn't  find Dale anywhere. He did find Dale's lunch pail, newspaper and keys on a cafeteria table. The lunch pail was set out on a table with his uneaten lunch inside. Dale's truck was still in the parking lot with the keys in the ignition. Inside his truck was an untouched carton of cigarettes. One item that was not in his truck however, was his .22 caliber gun. Only the holster remained.

At 5 p.m. the police were called and one of their dogs traced Dale's scent to the second floor of the plant where the glass furnace was located. This area was not part of Dale's normal security rounds. They discovered that $250,000 worth of platinum pipe was missing.

An examination of security tapes from three security cameras showed a masked intruder come into the plant around 11:15 p.m.In one shot, the intruder was seen around the area where the platinum was missing. In a second shot, Dale is seen talking to the masked intruder. The masked man was thought to be familiar with the plant and worked there at the time or previously.

As both Dale and the intruder walked out of the second floor, Dale looked directly into the security camera. Some say that he was staring at the camera as a sign for help, others say he was involved in the crime.

A third shot showed the intruder wheeling out a large bag with a manual forklift. Police speculated that the bag contained the missing platinum or Dale's body. The platinum missing could have been easily carried by one person...

Dale was made to take a pay cut at work and wasn't happy about it. He was also $30,000 in debt. Bradford police believe that he willingly participated in the robbery. His family disagreed and said that he would never abandon them.  Dale was also going to retire within six months of the date he disappeared. And even though he was that far into debt, between his job, the $5,000 in his savings acct stock in Corning and a 401K, Dale had more than enough money to pay off all his debts .

Dale's daughters Penny noted that security guards at the plant were supposed to check in every hour. Between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., he did not check in. She also stated that there were times, one was just a few months before Dale went missing, when Penny and a few friends would go to visit her dad overnight while he was at work. She said the door was never locked and they were always able to walk right in.

A co-worker of Dale’s had been fired about a month prior to Dale’s disappearance for stealing items from work. It is unknown whether he was interviewed by police or not after the platinum theft. 

Dale was declared legally dead in July of 2014. Police have investigated several leads in the case.

A couple of years ago, Penny talked with one of Dale's friends who claimed that he had over heard an employee of his named Ollie and Dale while out drinking talking about how easy it would be to steal platinum from the plant. He thought that the two had worked out some kind of arrangement and that Dale was double crossed by Ollie and killed and put down a 6,000’ gas well. The Bradford PD did also make mention of a young man who said that he knew where Dale’s body was and it was down a gas well. The specific area he mentioned was only a few miles from the Corning.

At the time of Dale's disappearance he was 50 years old, 5'4" tall, 130 pounds with Gray hair and brown eyes.

If you have any information about his disappearance please contact Pennsylvania State Police 814-938-0532.