Stories about the Amish as victims – or perpetrators – of crime.
An Amish taxi driver has been charged with DUI while he was transporting several Amish people, including two young Amish children, in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. On stopping the driver, 58-year-old Patrick Allen Reitz Jr., police discovered marijuana in the vehicle, in addition to a strong burnt marijuana smell. Here’s what happened according to the report at Explore Jefferson: According to a criminal complaint, the incident…
Some sick person is exposing himself to Amish women in Pennsylvania. This has been going on for months now, apparently. The location is Indiana County, PA, home to over 4,000 Amish people living in several communities. And this isn’t the first time this has happened to the Amish in this general area (more on that below). In these latest occurrences, the suspect targets Amish females…
Ruth Miller – the Amish mother facing aggravated murder, among other charges, in her four-year-old son’s August drowning death – was in court yesterday for a pre-trial hearing which lasted about a half-hour. Miller’s trial is scheduled to begin March 4th, so just about two months from now. There was not a ton of headline-grabbing news made, though one important issue was addressed (and except…
An update to a tragic story that is now coming to a close, of sorts. Last December, 10-year-old Amish boy Anthony Miller lost his life when he was hit by 30-year-old Logan Thomas, driving a pickup truck and under the influence of multiple drugs, including meth and fentanyl. This happened in the sizeable Amish community in St. Joseph County, Michigan. Thomas pleaded guilty to the charges…
March 2026 Update: “Ringleader” Bradford Hosler has now pleaded guilty to two counts as part of a plea deal. Full update at bottom of post. October brought news of an “appalling” attack upon an Amish family in Geauga County, Ohio. In it, an Amish man was brutally assaulted, and the culprits even attempted to abduct a young Amish boy (who fortunately somehow escaped. Now the…
It’s happened again. Authorities seek a man and a woman wanted for an attempted kidnapping of an Amish boy – only the latest attempted abduction of an Amish child. This happened yesterday in Gallia County, Ohio, in the southern end of the state. More from WSAZ: GALLIA COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) – Deputies are investigating a reported attempted abduction that allegedly happened Wednesday in Green Township….
It’s been a month since Amish teenager Elmer Borntrager lost his life on a Clarke County, Iowa backroad, killed when a driver struck his buggy and fled, leaving him to die on the roadside. A search for the vehicle operator ensued; several days later, his car was found. And now it’s been reported that the driver himself has been arrested. Here are the basic details,…
It’s still deer hunting season – and that means in many Amish communities, the men (and some women) are taking full advantage of the chance to go after a prize buck. And in Perry County, Pennsylvania, one group of hunters managed to get that trophy – only to have it swiped away by a thief. The report from CBS 21: PERRY COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) —…
Anthony Miller was a 10-year-old boy living the life of an Amish child in his community in St. Joseph County, Michigan. But Anthony’s life was abruptly cut short, one year ago this week. On December 2, 2024, Logan Thomas, 30, driving a pickup truck at a claimed speed of 50-55 mph, plowed into a group of four Amish children on the roadside, one of whom…
The father of an Amish woman, badly injured in a hit-and-run crash along with her two small children, has written a letter to a local news station providing more details on the condition of his daughter and grandchildren. Martha Wagler, age 27, was in a buggy in her community in Williams County, Ohio, on November 12, when the buggy was struck from behind by a…