The Amish & Crime

Justo Smoker’s preliminary hearing was held Friday, to determine if the homicide case against him would go to trial. After an hour-and-twenty minute hearing, District Judge Denise Commins ruled that prosecutors had met the burden to proceed. They needed to provide sufficient evidence that a crime was committed in the case of Linda Stoltzfoos’ disappearance last summer, and that the defendant is likely responsible. These…

The news is breaking that Justo Smoker, charged with kidnapping Linda Stoltzfoos, has now been charged with killing her: State police on Monday charged Justo Smoker — already facing a trial related to the kidnapping of Amish teen Linda Stoltzfoos — directly with the June death of the Lancaster woman, according to an arrest warrant. Police cited numerous sources of evidence, including witness accounts, DNA…

Linda Stoltzfoos‘ 19th birthday was last week. It’s now been 5 months since she disappeared. Lancaster Online shares a brief update. Unfortunately there are few positive details in it, other than the fact the investigation is ongoing. However, I think that is good to keep in mind: Saturday marks five months since Linda Stoltzfoos disappeared — kidnapped, according to authorities, while walking home from church…

Some new info in the Linda Stoltzfoos disappearance case. Unsealed court documents have shown that kidnapping suspect Justo Smoker sent multiple messages to his brother Victor in a window of time beginning about 20 minutes after Linda was last seen. The detective who applied for the search warrant stated that the text messages “would be directly after Linda Stoltzfoos was kidnapped.” Via Lancaster Online: In…

Reader “The other Erik” recently asked concerning the Linda Stoltzfoos case: How focused on this are Amish people? I’ve noticed a lot of recent articles on this website about this topic. That made me wonder: Are the local Amish, and those in more distant settlements, paying a lot of attention to this crime? What are their thoughts? As it happens, Lancaster Online has just published…

Two updates in the Linda Stoltzfoos case. First, yesterday Justo Smoker pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and a related charge: Justo Smoker will waive his arraignment Friday and has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and false imprisonment in the disappearance of Linda Stoltzfoos, according to court documents. The 18-year-old Amish woman has been missing since June 21. She was last seen walking from church to…

The judge at a preliminary hearing yesterday found that there was enough evidence to move forward with a trial in the case of Linda Stoltzfoos’ disappearance. Justo Smoker will be tried for felony kidnapping and misdemeanor imprisonment. Detective Christopher Jones testified. Via Penn Live: “She was nice, caring and always wanted to know about other people,” Jones testified today. The 18-year-old taught at an Amish…

The large organized searches for Linda Stoltzfoos have been stopped at this time according to the Facebook page dedicated to Linda’s search (“postponed until farther [sic] notice from authorities to resume directed searches in specific areas”). The latest significant news came from last Thursday’s press conference, in which new photos of Smoker’s car were released, and state police asked for surveillance footage and information from…

A disturbing story reported yesterday out of upstate New York: TOWN OF DEKALB, N.Y. (WWNY) – State Police are investigating suspicious incidents just outside the St. Lawrence County village of Richville last Wednesday. Troopers said a man and woman reportedly pulled into the driveway of an Amish household on Welch Road, where a sign was posted about rabbits for sale. According to police, a 13…