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For years, Ira Einhorn was celebrated as a visionary.

He called himself The Unicorn — a peace activist, environmental prophet, and counterculture icon with powerful friends and devoted followers. He spoke about consciousness, love, and the future of humanity. People believed him.

Then, in March of 1979, police opened a padlocked closet in his Philadelphia apartment.

Inside was a steamer trunk.
Inside that trunk was the body of Holly Maddux.

In Part One of this two-part Crimery series, we peel back the mythology surrounding Ira Einhorn to reveal the man behind the movement. Through his own journals, survivor testimony, and long-buried history, we trace a disturbing pattern of control, sadism, and violence — years before Holly was murdered.

This episode isn’t about speculation.
It’s about how charisma becomes camouflage.
How power protects predators.
And how a man who preached love lived with a corpse beside his bed for eighteen months.

Next episode: the arrest, the bail that set him free, and the international manhunt that followed.

Content warning: intimate partner violence, homicide.

CRIMERY is reported, written, and hosted by Jennifer Novotney. Produced by Timothy Novotney.

Tip line & inquiries: crimerypod@gmail.com

If you found this episode valuable, follow, rate, and review in your podcast app it really helps others find the show.

Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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On February 22, 1985, in rural Winfield Township, Pennsylvania, eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan stepped off her school bus at 4:10 p.m. She had only 150 feet to walk home.

She never made it.

Witnesses reported two suspicious vehicles near the stop—a bright blue van with a painted skier mural and a small blue car. In the snow, investigators found tire marks… but no footprints leading up Cherrie’s driveway.

The case became one of Pennsylvania’s most haunting child disappearances—fueling nationwide awareness when Cherrie was chosen as the first missing child featured on National Center for Missing & Exploited Children postcards.

And now—four decades later—new leads, a major reward, and active searches have reignited hope that the truth may finally come out.

In this episode of CRIMERY, we reconstruct the last known moments of Cherrie’s walk home, the vehicles that still haunt the investigation, the anonymous “Pastor Justice” letter, the decades of false claims, and the renewed 2025 push to finally bring Cherrie back to her mother, Janice.

Content advisory: child abduction, violence, and sensitive details involving a missing child case.

If you have information about Cherrie Mahan, contact:
• Pennsylvania State Police Butler Barracks: 724-284-8100
• Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers: 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477)
You can also email us at crimerypod@gmail.com
.

CRIMERY is reported, written, and hosted by Jennifer Novotney. Produced by Timothy Novotney.

Tip line & inquiries: crimerypod@gmail.com

If you found this episode valuable, follow, rate, and review in your podcast app it really helps others find the show.

Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.

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On November 28, 1969—the quiet day after Thanksgiving—a 22-year-old Penn State graduate student walked into Pattee Library to retrieve one final source for a research paper.

She never walked out.

Betsy Ruth Aardsma was stabbed once—cleanly, precisely—between the shelves of the basement stacks. No scream. No visible blood. Students and staff believed she had collapsed from a medical emergency and unknowingly wiped away crucial evidence while trying to save her life.

By the time doctors discovered the wound, the killer had already left the building—possibly after calmly telling others, “Some girl back there needs help.”

More than fifty years later, no one has been charged.

In this episode of CRIMERY, we reconstruct the final hour of Betsy’s life, examine the man known only as “the man in the stacks,” and explore how a murder committed in broad daylight—with witnesses nearby—became one of Pennsylvania’s most baffling unsolved cases.

Content advisory: violence against a young woman.

Keywords: Betsy Aardsma, Penn State, Pattee Library, unsolved murder, 1969 cold case, library homicide, Pennsylvania State Police.

If you have information about this case, please contact Pennsylvania State Police.
You can also reach us at crimerypod@gmail.com
.

CRIMERY is reported, written, and hosted by Jennifer Novotney. Produced by Timothy Novotney.

Tip line & inquiries: crimerypod@gmail.com

If you found this episode valuable, follow, rate, and review in your podcast app it really helps others find the show.

Legal: Everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Content may include descriptions of violence. Listener discretion advised.

©2025 CRIMERY. All rights reserved.