Stories about the Amish as victims – or perpetrators – of crime.
The trial of Shawn C. Cranston began yesterday at 1pm, following jury selection. I’ve pulled from reporting from several sources to provide a rundown of the first day of trial. The judge expects the trial to take several days. Rebekah Byler’s husband Andy Byler testified yesterday, as did the first officer on the scene of her murder as well as a forensic state trooper. First,…
After three prior postponements, it looks like the trial of Shawn C. Cranston is happening. Cranston faces trial for the murder of Amish woman Rebekah Byler and her unborn child, soon set to proceed in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Jury selection is happening today (June 9), according to the Erie Times-News: In jail without bond since his March 2, 2024, arraignment, Cranston, 53, returned to a…
Sarah Beth Petersen was the sister who tried to take the fall for the car-buggy crash which killed two Amish girls in Fillmore County, Minnesota. She pleaded guilty in February and was later sentenced to three months in jail. Now the sister who was actually driving, Samantha Petersen, has decided to plead guilty as well, forgoing a trial which had been scheduled to begin in…
Well, this is something. From Valley News Live: CLEARWATER COUNTY, Minn. (Valley News Live) – A Bagley woman has been charged with assault and reckless driving after an incident Friday in Clearwater County. Court documents state Jamie Harmon intentionally rammed into another vehicle, an Amish buggy, with her motor vehicle while the other vehicle was occupied. Harmon apparently managed to flip her SUV in the…
When I saw the headline, I thought for sure this was a follow-up to last week’s story of an Amish family being nearly run over in a high-speed chase involving a criminal suspect in the Bluegrass State. But no, this is a different, but disturbingly similar story from next-door Missouri. From KCTV5: WINDSOR, Mo. (KCTV) – Several charges have been filed against a Missouri man…
A man driving at “an extreme high rate of speed”, nearly ran over an officer in Bath County, KY. Here’s what happened next…in what sounds like an absolutely crazy pursuit (via FOX 56): The police claim he was still evading officers onto Highway 60 toward Owingsville before turning onto Peasticks Road and Forge Hill Road, running numerous vehicles off the roadway in the process. Callahan…
The main information here is the headline: Samuel Hochstetler, 18, appeared in court Friday (Meigs County, Ohio) and has pled not guilty in the murder of Amish woman Rosanna Kinsinger, 28. This is reported by WCHS: MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio (WCHS) — An 18-year-old Amish man pleaded not guilty Friday in a Meigs County, Ohio, murder case. Samuel Hochstetler, of Rutland, Ohio, was indicted earlier in…
This is a stomach-churning story. It is bad news. In some sense it is also “good news” in that this man has been caught and stopped from continuing his (alleged) awful behavior. From Penn Live: A 61-year-old man pretending to be a chiropractor in Lancaster County sexually assaulted multiple women, including minors, during “treatments,” targeting Amish and Mennonites, court documents said. John [Miller] Esh, of…
Samuel L. Hochstetler, charged with murder in Amish woman Rosanna Kinsinger’s death, made his first court appearance yesterday. From WCHS: POMEROY, Ohio (WCHS) — A Pomeroy courtroom was packed with members of Amish community as an unusually disturbing murder case advanced though Ohio’s court system. Samuel Hochstetler, 18, is accused of killing 28-year-old Rosanna Kinsinger, of Pomeroy. Hochstetler was dressed in an orange jail uniform…
I believe “shocking” is appropriate to describe this case. A young Amish man has been charged with the murder of an Amish woman in Ohio. And according to police, he has made a confession – of a sort (more on that below). This is out of Meigs County, Ohio, home to a tiny Amish community. From WSAZ: MEIGS COUNTY, Ohio (WSAZ) – A man has…