Amish Teen’s Killer Buried Her Body Behind Workplace Days After Murder: DA
TRAGIC
The Pennsylvania man charged with kidnapping an Amish teenager last June after she left a church service allegedly killed her within hours of her capture—and then moved her body behind his workplace several days later. Authorities say Justo Smoker, 34, kidnapped 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos on June 21, 2020. She was last seen around 12:30 p.m. at a farm on Stumptown Road in the heart of Pennsylvania’s bucolic Amish country. On Wednesday, investigators found Stolzfoos’ body in a grave on the railroad property behind Dutchland Inc., where Smoker used to work. “Based on all information we strongly believe and are comfortable saying that the remains are those of Linda Stoltzfoos. The body was located behind a business in a grave on railroad property wrapped in a tarp,” Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said during a Thursday press conference. The body was clad with a dress, bonnet, and shoes “consist with the closing worn by Linda on the day of her disappearance.”
While Adams did not provide many details into the ongoing investigation, she did reveal that authorities now believe Stoltzfoos was killed “within hours of her kidnapping.” Adams said they believed Smoker moved the body days after the murder and buried her 42 inches underground. She added that prosecutors are now pursuing murder charges against Soker, who already faces felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment charges.