Bill Sheridan

The body of a missing Amish teen has been found brutely murdered.

Linda Stoltzfoos went missing from her idyllic rural neighborhood in Pennsylvania’s “Amish Country” 10 months ago. Her remains, which were discovered on April 21. Her body was positively identified by officials using her dental records.

According to the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office, Stoltzfoos, 18, was strangled and stabbed in the neck. The Associated Press reported that the coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, determined that her cause of death was asphyxia due to strangulation and suffocation, with a knife wound to the neck serving as a contributing factor.

Stoltzfoos disappeared on June 21, 2020, when she was last seen heading home after church to change into something else for a youth group meeting.

Justo Smoker, 35, was arrested in July on charges of felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment in connection with Stoltzfoos’ disappearance.

He was charged with murder in December after investigators reviewed all of the evidence gathered and made the determination that Stoltzfoos was likely dead.

In a press conference the day after her remains were identified, district attorney Heather L. Adams said that her body was found on railroad property behind Smoker’s previous place of employment. According to Adams, the remains were wrapped in a tarp and buried in a grave with a dress, bonnet, and shoes consistent with clothing worn by Stoltzfoos at the time of her disappearance.

Investigators believe Stoltzfoos had initially been buried at another location in Ronks, where Stoltzfoos’ bra and stockings were previously recovered, but was moved behind Smoker’s place of employment several days after her death Adams said.

According to the Associated Press, Smoker first became a suspect in Stolzfoos’ abduction when local police received multiple reports of a young girl in Amish garb in a red Kia. It is very unusual to see any member of the Amish – who eschew the use of modern conveniences – in a vehicle, so seeing the girl in the passenger seat raised the alarm.

As the local police investigated further, authorities obtained surveillance video that police say “depicts the abduction” of Stoltzfoos on Beechdale Road, which would have been part of her walk home, and they matched the red Kia Rio vehicle seen in the video to Smoker.

After learning that the vehicle with a distinct “LCM” sticker on the trunk had been seen parked June 23 at a rural location in Ronks, authorities searched the area, and that was when they located the Stoltzfoos buried bra and stockings, police said.

Smoker’s DNA was detected on Stoltzfoos’ clothing, according to prosecutors.

In March, Smoker — who had previously pleaded not guilty to charges of felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment stemming from Stoltzfoos’ disappearance — pleaded not guilty to homicide. 

Smoker is currently being held at Lancaster County Prison without bail.