When 55-year-old Penn State University professor Ronald Bettig was reported missing by his housekeepers on Monday, August 15, 2016, police began looking into it as a missing persons case. But after they met Bettig’s 34-year-old girlfriend, Danelle Geier, and her 41-year-old uncle, George Ishler, at Bettig’s State College, Pennsylvania home, they immediately became suspicious.
“I think Danelle, her moving in and becoming a girlfriend, I think that was planned from the very beginning,” said former State College detective Christopher Weaver on Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen. “For her to get in there and form a fake relationship and gain his trust. And they were gonna exploit that.”
Geier and Ishler told police they’d been with Bettig at a beach in Delaware, and had last seen him Friday, August 12, when the trio returned to Bettig’s home. Geier claimed she went to bed that night, and when she woke up, the professor was gone.
“They indicated he was depressed over the loss of his wife from several years prior,” Weaver said. “He was having some mental health issues. They thought that something bad had happened to Ronald Bettig.”
Two days later, police found Bettig’s vehicle abandoned near an abandoned limestone quarry. A search found his body at the bottom of a 90-foot drop.
“It was our pathologist’s conclusion that he had actually survived the fall,” said prosecutor Bernie Cantorna on Snapped. “He survived for approximately two days.”
But was it an accident, suicide, or murder? Keep reading to see what police discovered.
Dr. Ronald Bettig moves Danelle Geier into his home
When Dr. Ronald Bettig’s second wife died unexpectedly in 2011, friends and family said it sent him into a depression.
“I know how deeply he loved her,” said Fred Bettig, Ron’s brother, on Snapped. “And he would tell me that all the time — how much he missed her. He was losing weight. And he wasn’t going out. And that’s also the point where he started to have some memory issues.”
By 2015, Bettig’s health problems became so severe, he was no longer able to teach and took a sabbatical. During that time, he became friends with George Ishler, who he met at a local smoke shop. Ishler told Bettig about his troubled niece, Danelle Geier, who was struggling to make ends meet with a young child and was homeless.
In 2016, just seven months before he died, Bettig offered her a room in his home. Their relationship quickly went from friendly to romantic.
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“The life force was starting to come back to him. He had purpose,” Fred Bettig said. “As he started having more and more conversations with Danelle, I think that he was also starting to have feelings for her as well.”
Geier had lost custody of her first son to her ex-husband and was currently raising her second son alone.
“Danelle told us that Ron took care of her, fed her and gave her shelter,” said Brian Wakefield, former Pennsylvania State Police Investigator, on Snapped. “And was paying for much of the items needed for raising her child.”
George Ishler and Danelle Geier blame each other for Dr. Bettig’s death
Soon after Dr. Bettig’s body was found, George Ishler contacted police and shared his suspicions that his niece was involved in the professor’s death — claiming there’d been tension between the couple while on vacation.
“He also suggested that Danelle had had another man over to Ron’s house while Ron was missing that weekend,” said Geoff Rushton, former reporter for statecollege.com on Snapped. “And really seems to turn suspicion on Danelle being responsible for Ron Bettig’s death.”
But when police interviewed Danelle Geier, she pointed the finger at her uncle.
“She says she had nothing to do with it,” Cantorna said. “She says that George Ishler has threatened to kill her, that she’s afraid. She’s afraid for the life of her child.”
The reason Geier said Ishler wanted Dr. Bettig dead? Money. She told police the plan was to go to the beach in Delaware to get it.
“Danelle tells a story that George Ishler is going down there to get money, because he owes the professor money,” Cantorna said. “He was mad at George Ishler because he discovered the fact that he’d been using his credit card for purchases that he wouldn’t have authorized.”
Geier claimed that when Ishler was unable to come up with the money, he offered the professor marijuana plants he was growing by the quarry. Geier told police the trio and her child drove to the quarry, and Ishler and Bettig left to harvest the plants — then Ishler came back alone.
“That’s when she asked George, ‘Where is Ron?’ He said, ‘I killed him. I killed him and if you say anything to anybody about it, I’m going to kill you, too, and I’m going to kill your son,’” said defense attorney Deborah Lux on Snapped.
George Ishler confesses he killed Dr. Bettig — but calls Danelle Geier the mastermind
When police once again interview George Ishler, he confessed to murder, but claimed Danelle Geier was the mastermind behind the plot.
“His next statement was, ‘Danelle talked me into it. Danelle convinced me to kill him,’” Wakefield said. “He said it was because Danelle wanted [Bettig’s] money because of the will. He explained to us that he had written a will, knowing that Ron’s mental state seemed to be diminishing, and Ron had signed it.”
The will provided a motive for Danelle Geier to want Ronald Bettig dead.
“The will says that Danelle will inherit Ron’s house and that George will become the executor of the remainder of his estate,” Rushton said.
“Danelle Geier thought he had about a million dollars in Disney stock, and she believed that she was going to be a recipient,” Cantorna added, although the stock proved to be worth $50,000.
Ishler alleged that after Dr. Bettig discovered they’d been charging his credit card, Geier’s relationship was in jeopardy.
“The whole thing was coming to an end and Danelle was not going to have anywhere to go and be out in the street with her baby,” Weaver said.
Both Ishler and Geier were tried together, and both were found guilty of first-degree murder in April 2018 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“Why did Danelle snap? Want to know the real reason? She lost her kid. She lost custody of her kid in Florida,” Cantorna said. “And she needed money. She wanted that kid back desperately. I think she thought Dr. Bettig was a million-dollar price tag.”
Watch all-new episodes of Snapped on Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.
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