Police: Penn State prof was possibly alive for days in quarry after cliff push
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A police investigator says a Penn State professor who was pushed off an 80-foot rock quarry ledge died slowly and possibly was alive and immobile for up to two days.
State Trooper Brian Wakefield revealed new details Wednesday during a preliminary hearing for one of the two people charged with Ronald Bettig’s murder.
Pennlive.com reports Wakefield testified during 39-year-old George Ishler Jr.’s hearing; 32-year-old Danelle Geier waived her hearing.
During a trip to Rehoboth Beach before Bettig’s death, authorities say Geier texted Ishler and made an alleged reference to being ready to kill Bettig because she was angry that he had criticized how she was raising her son.
Police say the duo thought they would inherit money after Bettig’s death.
They are accused of luring Bettig to the quarry Aug. 12 with a story about harvesting marijuana. They believe Ishler pushed him while Geier waited in the car with her toddler son.
Wakefield said a pathologist believes the professor may have remained alive for up to two days, immobile and possibly unconscious, the paper reports. A medical examiner reportedly ruled his cause of death “blunt force trauma due to a fall.”
The trooper said Bettig was likely still alive when Geier and Ishler allegedly returned eight hours later to plant his car and belongings, hoping to make his death appear to be an accidental fall.
Police found Bettig’s body Aug. 17, buzzards hovering above it.
Both were ordered to stand trial on murder and related charges.