August 21, 2016
Police have arrested a second person in connection with the death of an award-winning Penn State professor.
Danielle Geier, 32, of Lemont, was charged Saturday night with first- and third-degree murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit murder, the Centre Daily Times reports.
Geier and 39-year-old George Ishler Jr., who was charged earlier this week, are accused of killing 56-year-old Ronald Bettig, who was found dead in a quarry on Wednesday.
Authorities allege Geier and Ishler believed Bettig included them in his will and plotted to kill the professor.
On Aug. 12, Geier and Ishler lured Bettig to the quarry by telling him that they were going to harvest marijuana. According to police, Ishler pushed Bettig off the cliff where he fell 80 feet to his death.
The duo waited three days before reporting Bettig missing. Authorities discovered Bettig's body two days later.
Bettig was an associate professor of media studies at Penn State. He joined the College of Communications in 1988.
