Dale Kerstetter | Image: Unsolved Mysteries via Wikia
The public has spent collective millions on surveillance cameras in private homes, public areas, retail establishments and the like. The goal is to have video footage as backup in case of accident, theft or other emergency. Sometimes these videos pay off, perpetrators are apprehended and once unclear circumstances are understood. Yet occasionally the video footage not only doesn't clarify things, it deepens the mystery. Such is the case with the following story.
"In 1987, 50-year-old Dale Kerstetter was employed as a security guard at the Corning Glassworks plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. On the evening of September 12, Dale arrived at the plant to work the graveyard shift. The following morning when another security guard showed up to relieve Dale, he was inexplicably missing.
Dale’s truck was still in the parking lot, and his keys and other personal items were left behind. It was soon discovered that $250,000 of platinum pipe had been stolen from the plant. The situation became even more perplexing when investigators checked the plant’s security tapes.
Surveillance footage showed that an unidentified masked man had entered the plant sometime during the night. At one point, Dale was seen leading this man through the building and staring directly at the camera. Upon first glance, it seemed like the intruder was forcing Dale to take him to the area where the platinum was stored, but the footage made it impossible to determine whether Dale was under duress or working in conjunction with the thief.
Dale was in debt at the time, so there was speculation that he may have been involved in the heist and skipped town with his share. The plant’s management seemed to think that Dale stared directly at the camera to taunt them. However, Dale’s family never believed that he was involved and suspected that he was an innocent murder victim.
Indeed, the surveillance footage also showed the masked intruder wheeling a large bag out of the plant, which could have contained Dale’s body. Whatever the truth, Dale Kerstetter has not been seen in nearly 30 years."
Read more mysteries involving creepy surveillance footage here.