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You pushed her! Freak!
— Bethany to Charles

Bethany Young was a minor character in Pretty Little Liars television series on Freeform. She is portrayed by Jessica Belkin and Jennifer Cain.

She was a 17-year-old Radley Sanitarium patient that was murdered the night of Alison's disappearance. A year later, her body was discovered and incorrectly identified as Alison DiLaurentis. She was hit on the head by Mona Vanderwaal, who thought she was Alison and was later buried by Melissa Hastings, who also thought she was Alison and that she was protecting her sister.

Biography

Bethany Young was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She was a troubled girl that suffered from numerous violent behavioral outbursts. She was later institutionalized by her parents at Radley Sanitarium.

While in Radley, Bethany befriended Charlotte DiLaurentis. She was supportive of Charlotte as a transgender girl and kept her secret. One night, Charlotte and Bethany snuck onto the roof of Radley Sanitarium. They discussed running away from the Sanitarium, to which Bethany explained that running away was easy - it was staying gone that was the hard part. Charlotte was wearing and spun in a yellow dress, which Bethany complimented her on. Moments later, Marion Cavanaugh walked onto the roof. Charlotte asked Bethany for help as the fallout of Marion seeing her in a dress wouldn't be good. Bethany agreed and went to speak with Marion. Moments later, Bethany pushed Marion off the roof, which killed her. A shocked Charlotte asked Bethany what she had done, and Bethany turned on her and blamed her for pushing Marion. She called her a freak and when questioned by the Sanitarium employees and police, lied and said that Charlotte pushed Marion. Charlotte was incorrectly diagnosed with an intermittent explosive disorder, which was a more accurate diagnosis for Bethany.

She was later introduced to Jessica DiLaurentis who, at the time, was on the board of the sanitarium. Jessica often took her out on day trips. On one occasion, Jessica took Bethany to a stable in Harrisburg. This is where Jessica purchased Bethany a horse named Custard. Jessica insisted that Bethany call her Aunt Jessie. Bethany was angered by Jessica's comment and proceeded to throw a bucket at the woman.

Afterward, Bethany discovered Jessica was having an affair with her father and that Custard was a hush present. Bethany was outraged and expressed her anger by drawing Jessica with devil horns or other crude images or words around the woman. Her anger was so distinguishable that many patients, including recently transitioned Charlotte, heard about Bethany's obsession with Jessica.

Bethany Alison stalker theroy

Bethany's unconscious body

On September 1st, 2009, Bethany stole Charlotte's clothes and snuck out of Radley under Charlotte's identity. Because Charlotte had out privileges, no one questioned Bethany when she left. She wanted to hurt Jessica because of her affair with Mr. Young. She made it to the DiLaurentis' back yard when she was spotted by Mona Vanderwaal, who mistook Bethany for Alison DiLaurentis, due to their matching clothes and blonde hair. Mona struck Bethany over the head with a shovel and fled the scene. Bethany's unconscious body was found by Melissa Hastings, who also believed Bethany was Alison. Melissa had seen her sister, Spencer Hastings, fighting with Alison earlier that night, and thought Spencer had hit Alison. Melissa pushed Bethany's body into a shallow grave, unaware that she was not Alison. Unbeknownst to Melissa, Bethany was still alive.

Bethany's body was found a year later when builders knocked down a gazebo and discovered a female body. The autopsy report falsely identified her as Alison DiLaurentis after an unknown person switched Alison and Bethany's dental records.

When the police discovered that Alison was alive, the Rosewood PD exhumed the grave to properly identify their Jane Doe. In a televised press conference, it was announced to the public by the Rosewood chief of police that the body had been identified as Bethany Young.

Personality

Physical Appearance

Series

Season 1

Pilot

Pilot2309

At the end of the episode, Bethany's body is found when workers are tearing down the gazebo which was built over the spot she was buried. Her body is mistakenly identified as that of Alison DiLaurentis' and her funeral occurs at the end of the episode, with everyone paying their respects to Alison, unaware that it is really Bethany in the coffin.

The Jenna Thing
In this episode it is revealed that Bethany suffered a blunt force head trauma, but her cause of death was suffocation.

Season 2

Save the Date
Spencer and Aria break into the morgue at Rosewood Community Hospital and read the autopsy report carried out on "Alison's" body. Bethany had been hit from behind or was running away when she had been hit on the head. The wound had come from a curved, blunt object (which Spencer believes to be her old field hockey stick). However, the impact had not killed her immediately. The autopsy found her lungs to be filled with dirt, implying that she had been inhaling dirt in the last moments before her death. This basically means her assailant had struck her, either knocking her unconscious or otherwise paralyzing her defenses, and proceeded to bury her alive.

Over My Dead Body
We come to learn that the "curved, blunt object" "Alison" was hit with was a shovel and she was also buried alive with it.

Season 3

It Happened 'That Night'

Bethany's body is stolen from Alison's grave by two members of The A-Team, one in a black hoodie and a blonde girl in a red coat.

This Is A Dark Ride

Bethany's body is found in the ice cooler at the Halloween Ghost Train Party, after Toby and Noel fight, Toby knocking Noel into knocking the Cooler down, showing a black body bag.

Season 4

Turn of the Shoe

Mrs. DiLaurentis reveals that when identifying the body found in their backyard all she needed to see was the yellow blouse to confirm it was Alison.

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

It was revealed that Alison was pulled out of the ground where she had been buried alive the night she went missing by Mrs. Grunwald, meaning she did not die that night. The identity of the body that was found remains unknown. This leads Emily to ask "If Alison's been alive this whole time, then whose funeral did we go to?"

Who's In The Box?

While visiting Alison's grave Hanna says that she has a theory: whoever was buried in Ali’s place still died, and she had to have been placed under the gazebo before it was filled with cement. This means that a girl must have gone missing around the same time that Ali did, and if they find out who, they can connect her to someone they know and solve the case. The girls realize that the body was identified as Ali because it was important that everyone believed that she was dead. Later on, Hanna searches for other girls who went missing the same time as Alison and finds Sara Harvey from Courtland. She went missing Labor Day Weekend and Hanna sets up a meeting with her friends, Tina and Claire. It is revealed that Sara was very similar to Alison, both in appearance and personality. However, Sara went missing the day after Alison meaning that she cannot be in Alison's grave as she was seen after the cement was poured over the gazebo. The Liars later on pay their respects to whomever is in Alison's grave.

Bite Your Tongue

While speaking to Detective Holbrook, Hanna realizes that dental records would have been used to identify the body found in Alison's backyard. Following a clue from a book she is reading, she believes A must have swapped the dental records of Alison and the Jane Doe in the grave in order for the body to be passed off as Alison's. She goes to the dentist to try and discover who could have swapped the records by looking at patients who visited the dentist following the discovery of the body in the DiLaurentis backyard as she believes this could lead her to 'A'. However, she is attacked by 'A' who steals the sheets and shreds them.

Unbridled

Following Paige's tip that Alison is alive to the Rosewood PD, Holbrook visits Jessica and tells her that they are exhuming the body in Alison's grave to check if they are actually hers, as evidence has suggested it is not. The Liars discuss who could possibly be in Alison's grave and mention the fact that CeCe was wearing the same top as Alison the night she went missing. Spencer later on asks Jason if he is sure the girl he saw with Melissa in the yellow top was CeCe.

Season 5

Miss Me x 100

The Rosewood Police Chief hold a televised press conference, stating that they've just received confirmation that the name of the victim, that was buried alive on the DiLaurentis property was Bethany Young. She was a 17 year old patient at the Radley Institution, and was believed to have run away from the hospital on the night that Alison DiLaurentis was allegedly kidnapped.

Run, Ali, Run

Pretty Little Liars S05E06 Bethany

Ezra tells Aria that he is looking for a connection between Mrs DiLaurentis and Bethany Young. When Aria questions him why, Ezra explains that he doesn't think he was to far off with his Mrs D theory, "Mrs D was on the board at Radley Sanitarium. Bethany was a patient there. Bethany was buried in her yard, in the same spot where Ali was buried". Aria picks up that Ezra thinks A killed Bethany and Mrs D, and Ezra telling her that would be a connection.

At Radley Sanitarium, Eddie Lamb tells Spencer that he heard about Mrs DiLaurentis, and when Spencer says she doesn't really think it was a coincidence that Bethany Young was buried in the DiLaurentis backyard, Eddie says her he doesn't either. Spencer asks if Eddie knew Bethany well, and looking over his shoulder, Eddie tells her that if he did, he can't talk about it.

Ripping open the envelope that was left for him, Ezra finds a drawing and wonders what it is. Walking over to him, Aria says that she thinks it Mrs DiLaurentis, and when Ezra asks how she can tell, Aria explains, "that's her house, she was obsessed with her roses, and she definitely wore scarves like that". Flipping the page over, Ezra reads the signature, "Bethany", and when Aria questions how many Bethany's he knows, he tells her just one, "and she was buried in Mrs. DiLaurentis' backyard".

Rewinding and going through the footage in slow motion, they spot who left the envelope, and when Aria asks Ezra if he knows who the person is, Ezra tells her that it is Eddie Lamb, "he works at Radley, and he's one of the people I interviewed for the book". Recognizing the name, Aria mentions that Eddie Lamb was the one who Spencer talked to earlier, and that "he wouldn't tell her a thing. That it was against Radley policy", and Ezra says that he must have had a change of heart.

Scream For Me

Aria speaks to Bethany's old Radley room mate Big Rhonda and learns that Jessica DiLaurentis took Bethany to the circus and bought her a horse named Custard, although Rhonda does not know why Mrs. DiLaurentis was giving Bethany presents.

Spencer and Emily later go to the stables where Jessica had let Bethany adopt a horse. They speak to Declan, a worker at the stables, who tells them that Bethany and Jessica came up a few times, although they stopped coming after "the bucket incident". He tells them that Jessica had asked Bethany to call her Aunt Jessie and Bethany had freaked out and thrown a bucket at her. He says that they weren't related and there was something else going on between them.

No One Here Can Love or Understand Me

Melissa reveals in a video to Spencer that she saw Spencer carrying a shovel that night and later found Bethany's body. She thought it was Alison's, since she was wearing the same yellow top and did not look at her face. She buried her in the same spot Alison had been buried in in an effort to protect Spencer, who she thought had killed her. She later learned that she was, in fact, the one who killed her as the body wasn't Alison's and that Bethany was still alive when Melissa buried her. Melissa realised that she had killed an innocent girl.

Taking This One to the Grave

Spencer and Mona break into Radley to look at Bethany's hospital records, as something in there connects her to Alison. Spencer finds a tape from August 8th in which Bethany talks about Mrs. DiLaurentis. They discover that she was having an affair with Bethany's father. She then questions if she can trust anyone in the DiLaurentis family. She asks "is it like mother, like daughter?". Spencer is shocked that Alison possibly knew Bethany. Spencer herself is then arrested for Bethany's murder.

Mona discovers more from her records later on, finding out that Alison lured Bethany to Rosewood because she was jealous and wanted her dead. Mona is supposedly murdered by 'A' minutes after this, implying that Mona was getting too close to the truth, although it is later revealed that Mona was kidnapped by A and held captive in A's Dollhouse.

How the 'A' Stole Christmas

While Hanna is snooping around in Alison's attic, she discovers a letter from Bethany to Alison. In the letter, Bethany writes about how excited she is to go and see Alison that Labor Day Weekend(the same weekend Alison went missing). She also thanks Alison for sending her clothes, stating that yellow is her favourite colour. It is implied that Alison sent Bethany the yellow top. However, the letter is later revealed to be fake and to have been put there by A to make the Liars think that Alison was guilty.

Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me

Hanna discovers another one of Bethany's tapes, hidden in Mona's room. In the tape she calls somebody (presumably Alison) an evil bitch who can persuade anyone to do anything for them. She also states that the person is not the only person who can make plans and it is "me or her".

Season 6

She's No Angel

Spencer and Hanna discover that Lesli Stone was a patient at Radley for a long time and that she shared a room with Bethany during her time there. Spencer theorizes that Lesli is A because she is avenging Bethany's death as she probably believes Alison hit her with the shovel and the girls helped her bury the body, not knowing that it was in fact Melissa who buried Bethany alive.

No Stone Unturned

Mona tells the Liars that Lesli in fact hated Bethany, meaning that she has no motive for being A. Mona also tells them that Charles DiLaurentis snuck out of Radley with Bethany the night she was murdered, suggesting that Charles may be avenging Bethany's death as A.

Game Over, Charles

In a flashback, Bethany is talking to Charles about leaving Radley when Marion Cavanaugh walks up to the roof. While Charles hides, she is talking to her until she pushes the woman off the roof. Charles asks her why she was doing this, but Bethany blames it on him. She states that nobody would believe a boy in a dress.

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Charlotte accidentally hits Alison

Charlotte confesses that Bethany found out about her escaping Radley and tried to expose her. Bethany then found Jessica DiLaurentis was having an affair with her father. Charlotte told Alison that when Jessica buys Alison an outfit she buys Charlotte the same outfit, she told Alison that the night Bethany died, Bethany stole Charlotte's clothes, made her way to the DiLaurentis house and Charlotte followed her there. However, Bethany and Alison now looked exactly like each other from behind.

Episode 10 Game Over, Charles 307

Mona realizes she was the one who killed Bethany

Charlotte believed she was following Bethany and intended to hit Bethany, but instead she was following Alison and accidentally hit Alison. The Liars watch Charlotte confess this and Mona realizes she was the one who killed Bethany, as she had still believed she hit Alison but Alison got out and ran away. She reveals to the Liars, that she killed Bethany, as she mistook her for Alison. Emily asks her "You hated Ali that much? Enough to kill her?", Mona tells her that before she hit "Alison", she remembered every awful thing Alison did or said to her. Mona feels guilty that she killed "an innocent person". Spencer reminds Mona that Bethany was not innocent because she intentionally killed Toby's Mom.

Trivia

  • Bethany is not a character from the books. She's an original character, created specifically for the series.
    • However, Bethany's plotline is also similar to Tabitha Clark's, who first appeared in the book Twisted. Tabitha also almost got killed for being mistaken for Ali, both deaths were used at some point to scare the liars with the possibility of them being framed for it, both girls were institutionalized for behavioral problems, and both knew their own media's version of Ali.
  • Melissa Hastings is Bethany's killer. She was the one who killed her by burying her alive. She was knocked unconscious by Mona Vanderwaal with a shovel because she was thought to be Alison from behind. Melissa then found her unconscious body and thought Spencer had hit her (as she saw Spencer walking around with a shovel), so she pushed Bethany in thinking she was Alison (without looking at her face) and buried her unbeknownst to her that she was still alive.
  • Bethany had IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder) although she was never diagnosed, due to her framing Charles for having it, a plot similar to the Alison vs. Courtney one in the books.
  • She killed Marion Cavanaugh presumably to protect Charles' secret, although she framed him for it when asked.

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