Found Deceased PA - Linda Stoltzfoos, 18, Bird-in-Hand, Lancaster County, 21 June 2020 *arrest* #2

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am80 said:
A very detailed article was posted today. This has the most specific information about the abduction that I have seen yet. What happened the day Linda Stoltzfoos went missing? Here's what we know

What happened the day Linda Stoltzfoos went missing? Here's what we know
At 2 a.m. June 22, Linda Stoltzfoos’ father called East Lampeter Township police to report his 18-year-old daughter missing after she didn’t return home from church.

Stoltzfoos, who was described by her friends as content and happy with her Amish lifestyle, had disappeared during a 19-minute walk from a farm on Stumptown Road to her home on Beechdale Road June 21.

No one realized until late into the night that she had been missing for hours. Her parents thought she had gone to youth group, and her friends at youth group thought she was sick at home.

After a three-week investigation involving East Lampeter Township police, Pennsylvania State Police, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office and the FBI, 34-year-old Justo Smoker has been charged with kidnapping Stoltzfoos.
Local News
Who is Justo Smoker? Here's what we know about the man charged with kidnapping Linda Stoltzfoos
Surveillance footage from the 500 block of Beechdale Road shows someone driving a red Kia Rio with black trim, a rear spoiler and an “LCM” sticker on the trunk — a description that matches Smoker’s vehicle — abducting Stoltzfoos at 12:42 p.m.

Lillian Ebersole, a friend of Stoltzfoos, told police that Stoltzfoos had left the church by at least 12:30 p.m. Before Stoltzfoos left, the two young women washed dishes together after the church service, which took place between 9 a.m. and noon at a farm along Stumptown Road.

While they washed dishes, Stoltzfoos told Ebersole she planned to change out of her formal church clothes and put something else on for a youth group meeting. After the dishes were washed, Stoltzfoos, barefoot with shoes in hand, left the farm and began walking home, Ebersole told police.

That was the last time Stoltzfoos was seen before she went missing.

A full timeline of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos' disappearance so far
The walk home
The walk from the Stumptown Road farm to Stoltzfoos house is about a mile, or about 19 minutes.

While cutting across nearby fields makes the trip quicker, Stoltzfoos’ father told police his daughter seldom did so. Police said it would have been difficult for her to take the shortcut because she would have had to cross a creek.

According to surveillance footage, Stoltzfoos was walking south on the east side of Beechdale Road around 12:40 p.m. Several minutes prior, a red Kia Rio that matches the description of Smoker's vehicle pulled off onto the west side of the road and out of the view of the surveillance camera.

As Stoltzfoos walked down Beechdale Road, she was approached by an unidentified person who police believe to be Smoker. Footage shows the person came from the direction of the Kia Rio. Within seconds, Stoltzfoos goes with the unidentified person out of frame. Soon after, the red Kia Rio drives off.

After speaking with Stoltzfoos’ friends and family, police do not believe Stoltzfoos went voluntarily with Smoker.

Two hours after Stoltzfoos was abducted, records show Smoker’s cellphone in the general area of 3104 Harvest Drive in Ronks, between 2:32 p.m. and 3:35 p.m.

At the same address 19 days later, a Pennsylvania State Police forensics team found a bra and stockings buried several inches underground. Stoltzfoos’ family identified the garments as what Stoltzfoos would have worn the day she went missing.

The garments were found three miles from where Stoltzfoos was kidnapped, police
Missing
At the same time as when Smoker was on Harvest Drive on June 21, Amish teens gathered for a youth group at a farm on South Groffdale Road in Leola around 2:30 p.m.

Despite telling several friends she’d be present, none of her friends had reason to think she had been abducted. They assumed she was sick and chose to stay home.

Youth group usually lasted until 11 p.m., Stoltzfoos’ father told police.

When Stoltzfoos didn’t return home from youth group after 11 p.m., her family checked her bedroom. They were unable to find her formal church clothing, leading them to believe she had never made it home after church.

In the hours following the Stoltzfoos family’s report to East Lampeter Township police of a missing person, hundreds of community members and emergency personnel searched the area surrounding Stumptown Road, where Stoltzfoos was last seen.

Within the first two days of searching, over 1,500 man hours had been spent looking for Stoltzfoos.
Local News
FBI offers reward up to $10K for information on Linda Stoltzfoos, who's been missing for three weeks
And for the next three weeks, hundreds would search using horses, dogs, all-terrain vehicles, drones and dive teams.

The search for Stoltzfoos continues, even after Smoker’s arrest. Sunday, the day after police announced the arrest, hundreds gathered at Blue Ball Fire Company and were dispatched across the area to search for the 18-year-old.

Following Smoker’s arrest, police said they believe Stoltzfoos was harmed after being kidnapped. Smoker has served time for armed robbery.

The Lancaster District Attorney’s Office said Stoltzfoos’ whereabouts were still being investigated.
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Thank you am80, for detailed info. JS must have had a weapon (gun, knife) to get Linda Stoltzfoos to get in his car. She was on one side of the road (east) and he on the other (west). She walked out of view of the camera.
 
Curiosity1234 said:
All the articles imply the Kia Rio belongs to JS LE should know by now who the vehicle is registered to. Are they still looking for it even after his arrest ? Could he have more than one vehicle and might have switched plates.
Click to expand...
Interesting... so how was he getting to work?
IMO Someone else knows... How do you get rid of a car or hide it without help from someone else?

Or is this just poor reporting of false information. Wouldn’t LE be posting this everywhere? That car has dna evidence
 
Trackergd said:
Checking Google Earth, the location he disposed of the clothing is strange to me. A shed building business with farm field next to it and rail road tracks behind. There are a lot more wooded and secluded places to disposed of evidence.
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Agree. I think this was partly what was bugging me about the clothing disposal. She ends up in the woods, theoretically, but he dumps her clothes in this weird spot. Which is why I wondered if he started panicking, and of course it might have to been to ensure she wasn't immediately ID'd as Linda, by removing Amish evidence. I'm almost positive he was thinking remove the clothing evidence because of the blood but DNA never occurred to him. Stupid evil person.
MOO
 
am80 said:
Interesting... so how was he getting to work?
IMO Someone else knows... How do you get rid of a car or hide it without help from someone else?

Or is this just poor reporting of false information. Wouldn’t LE be posting this everywhere? That car has dna evidence
Click to expand...
It's not really clear whose car it is now. Did he borrow it ? Is it a rental ? Is that what divers are looking for in the Welsh Moutain. Quarries ? The car with her body in it ? How would he have gotten back from there ? Hitch hike then call someone to pick him up somewhere say in the center of town in East Earl ? Maybe it's a rental and he reported it stolen.
 
Rosegold68 said:
Also that article says bra/stockings found.... no mention of any other clothing

yet it also says she left barefoot.... so stockings or not? Holding shoes in her hand
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Yes, she obviously got in the car with either shoes in hand or on her feet otherwise they would have been seen and found on the side of the road.
 
am80 said:
Interesting... so how was he getting to work?
IMO Someone else knows... How do you get rid of a car or hide it without help from someone else?

Or is this just poor reporting of false information. Wouldn’t LE be posting this everywhere? That car has dna evidence
Click to expand...
IMO, they have the car, but are asking the public for info. of all the locations the car was seen the day Linda went missing and the following days. They want more sighting other than on the camera on Beechdale and by the business on Harvest Drive. IMO-the news article is just not worded properly. ETA-However I did just listen to what the news said and now I'm confused if they have the car or not.
 
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MsMac said:
And considering the frugal nature of the Amish, I would think she did not have stockings on when she left the church service. Walking in stockings without your shoes will quickly ruin them.
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I agree. I never see them in their black church stockings when walking but they do walk barefoot most of the summer. I’m going to assume she was carrying them as well. Honestly, taking off stockings as soon as your “allowed” seems likely to me.
 
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