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

[jhock]

Somebody saw something suspicious at Church....
or- somebody saw something suspicious along the road.
An interaction between Linda and someone she knew or a stranger(s) that didn't seem right to the observer.
That somebody talked to the police.

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

Somebody saw something suspicious at Church....
or- somebody saw something suspicious along the road.
An interaction between Linda and someone she knew or a stranger(s) that didn't seem right to the observer.
That somebody talked to the police.

How do you know that? Are you a verified insider? Or are you just speculating?

 

[jondaba]

From the FBI poster:
"The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the recovery of Linda Stoltzfoos and the identification, arrest and conviction of the subject(s) responsible for her disappearance."
This is a statement by the FBI that they believe Linda was abducted.
The hunt for answers takes a new turn.

Respectfully disagree. By posting a composite sketch of LS in secular clothing, the FBI is indicating that indeed she may have walked off and started a secular life elsewhere. Ala Maddie Bell.
Does anyone know LS owned a smart phone?

 

[jhock]

I'm just speculating. Why would the FBI word on the poster ..."subject(s) responsible for her disappearance"...They had to have a lead from someone.

 

[Barlow]

Respectfully disagree. By posting a composite sketch of LS in secular clothing, the FBI is indicating that indeed she may have walked off and started a secular life elsewhere. Ala Maddie Bell.
Does anyone know LS owned a smart phone?

Linda owned a smartphone? Or did you mean “if”? She didn’t own a cellphone, according to family/news reports.

 

[TwoBlueJays]

I'm just speculating. Why would the FBI word on the poster ..."subject(s) responsible for her disappearance"...They had to have a lead from someone.

Not necessarily.

 

[jhock]

Jondaba,
What if Linda was abducted and her abductor(s) dressed her in "English" clothing? The composite is helpful if that happened.

 

[jhock]

Two Blue Jays,
Then are you saying the FBI made an assumption she was abducted?

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

Respectfully disagree. By posting a composite sketch of LS in secular clothing, the FBI is indicating that indeed she may have walked off and started a secular life elsewhere. Ala Maddie Bell.
Does anyone know LS owned a smart phone?

Where did Maddie Bell end up? Was she still in OH or far away?

 

[Alethea]

Respectfully disagree. By posting a composite sketch of LS in secular clothing, the FBI is indicating that indeed she may have walked off and started a secular life elsewhere. Ala Maddie Bell.
Does anyone know LS owned a smart phone?

The FBI doesn’t get involved in adults deciding to leave their religious communities. I think the composite was included because they think if she was abducted, the abductor may have forced her to change into modern clothes to avoid being spotted.

They want to jog people’s memories - maybe someone saw a man and a young girl at a gas station and the girl looked uncomfortable but the witness dismissed it because the girl wasn’t dressed like the Amish.

I think they definitely think she was abducted and they likely have some type of tip regarding suspicious person/car in the area. They may have been asking people who were driving on specific roads mentioned earlier if they recalled seeing certain identified cars. I hope they’re this far along at least!

 

[TwoBlueJays]

Two Blue Jays,
Then are you saying the FBI made an assumption she was abducted?

No. They don't do assumptions. The poster has fairly standard language for a missing persons notice. They're pursuing all avenues, I would think.
MOO

 

[jhock]

When first looking at Linda's disappearance, a lot of scenarios of what could have happened to her are thought out. Try to narrow it down. Time passes. Are the odds more that a person Linda knew would abduct her as opposed to a stranger...?
Maybe Linda's disappearance started at the Church that day.
Was she involved in a secret relationship she was trying to end?
Not in a relationship but feeling pressured to be in one?
Had she been abused by someone in the community and threatened to expose the person?
Or could she have been a target of opportunity, taken by a Church member?

 

[JDough]

I previously mentioned the possibility of Linda falling into an opening in the ground. I happen to be in the process of preparing my childhood home for sale. Less than a week ago it hit me that right there in my mom and dad's back yard is an abandoned hand dug water well. It is covered by a concrete slab that looks just like a nice place to sit and appears totally harmless. I don't know why it never occurred to me what was underneath that cement slab but I think since I grew up with it, it was simply a monster in plain site that no one gave a second thought to. In reality, the cement covers a well that I was told years ago is about 28 feet deep and 5 feet across. I played on that cover, my children played on it. I am an anxious mess waiting for the contractor to get there this month to crush the lid and fill it in. I make this point because in speaking to others, I am hearing stories about old wells. Online you can read about old forgotten wells out in fields, maybe they were covered by wood and it rotted and fell in leaving a hole that grass gradually grew over top of. IF Linda never left the property, I hope that entire area has been closely examined for old abandoned wells. In the case of my parents old well, there is NO record of it since it is so old. On paper it does not exist. These old wells are deadly, can contain water to drown someone or at a minimum cause fatal fall injuries.

Such great insight. I, too, grew up with a hand dug well. The thought never crossed my mind (I'm sorry if I missed your post somehow). It would definitely be a spot where something terrible could happen. Especially if someone did not know it was there. Searching the known wells would be relatively easy. Not knowing where one may be would not.

 

[JDough]

I agree, I think she would have been located by now. I was thinking her body and brain are not doing what we would expect if something like this happened so maybe she went in a direction that doesn't make sense or got into or under something. My logical brain says this didn't happen. I am grasping at straws trying not lose faith in humanity probably.

That's exactly what makes WS so special. We all come together, share our experiences, speak our thoughts out loud, and sometimes grasp at straws. All in the hope of bringing Linda home (or any other missing person- there are so many). Your (original) post initiated these thoughts for me. And @Maplesyrup provided another very plausible theory. Teamwork!!!

 

[janewall]

I would very much like to know whether Linda was "last observed at a farm" (per the FBI poster) indoors or outdoors. It's odd that all LE talk of her walking on the road, or outdoors, has apparently ceased. It makes me think she wandered away from the room(s) or area at the farm where the church service was being held ... but then what? Was someone from either inside or outside the community lying in wait on the property for a lone person (target) to step away from the others attending worship?

Do Amish homes generally have indoor plumbing, or are there outhouses in use for bathroom purposes? If during the service Linda stepped away inconspicuously to attend to personal needs, that could be why the last-seen information is so vague - the rest of the congregation knew she had been there, but then at some point while they were worshipping and not focussed on the other humans present, she slipped away/outside - and never came back.

The above is totally speculation, not even an opinion here.

 

[Rosegold68]

There will be no ‘bringing Linda home’ if she’s left through choice. She should be left to live as she chooses. But it does beg the question of why she couldn’t just speak to someone to explain she’s gone from that community instead of letting everyone carry on searching. That would be the decent thing to do

 

[Rosiebones]

One structure most farms have is a silo, it would be very easy to put her in one and she wouldn't be found till the silo was emptied over time. MOO MOO MOO

 

[Rosegold68]

how do you get into one of those silos? top entry only i assume?

 

[Hereshecomes75]

Jondaba,
What if Linda was abducted and her abductor(s) dressed her in "English" clothing? The composite is helpful if that happened.

I agree! If she were taken by someone, changing her clothes would be one of the first things they’d do.

Around here, I see Amish people all day long, so in a way they don’t stand out to me like they would in a place where the Amish aren’t as common. But even here, there are situations where someone in Amish dress would look out of place and wrong, say a young woman in the company of a non Amish man or two. Seeing an Amish person in a store on Sunday would seem out of character and thus a little remarkable. So I think the first order of business would be to make her look like any other 18 year old.

 

[cutter99]

Silos are typically filled by the top. This time of year they are almost empty as the silage from the previous year’s harvest has been fed out and the silo is readied for this year’s harvest, which will be in the fall. There is a space at the bottom to allow for clean up once the silo is emptied. There is equipment that sits on top of the silage to feed it out and most silos have a ladder, either open or enclosed, running up the side to provide a means to service equipment.

There are a couple problems with the silo theory. 1) Many modern day farms no longer use silos as they are inconvenient and dangerous. Instead, farmers use “ag bags”- long white tubular bags that lay on the ground, or silage bunkers or trenches, which in Lancaster typically have concrete walls and open tops. The silage is piled in, packed and then covered with plastic. 2) Silos are filled from the top and take specific equipment to fill. Most farms do not just leave the equipment out sitting around. 3) If a silo, ag bag, or trench or bunker silo were disturbed, you would know it. The science behind making silage involves air, or rather the lack thereof. If you expose silage to air, it changes the color and smell of it and you can tell it has been disturbed.

Silos have had people fall in them and be killed by either fumes from the fermentation or the weight of silage fall on them or the fall itself. Trench and bunker silos have killed people when the face of the silage has collapsed on them- think like a very small avalanche. Sadly, it is not unusual to have deaths in the agricultural industry every year involving silage.

Silos or ag bags or bunker silos are typically seen on farms with a lot of cattle, and more so in on dairy farms than beef farms. Looking on the satellite view of Google Maps in the immediate area of where Linda went missing does not show many silos.