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Thread: Justo Smoker Sentenced to 35 1/2 to 71 Years in Prison in 2020 PA Murder of Linda Stoltzfoos

  1. #1
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    Justo Smoker Sentenced to 35 1/2 to 71 Years in Prison in 2020 PA Murder of Linda Stoltzfoos





    December 22, 2020

    Man charged with murder of Pennsylvania Amish woman after police find her clothing

    She was last seen on Father's Day

    By Louis Casiano
    Fox News

    A 34-year-old man has been charged in the abduction and death of a Pennsylvania Amish woman who was last seen on Father's Day.

    Justo Smoker was charged with the June 21 kidnapping of Linda Stoltzfoos, 18, in July when he was taken into police custody. On Monday, prosecutors charged him with her murder, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said.

    Stoltzfoos' body has not been recovered but authorities believe Smoker abducted her while she was walking home from church.

    "Given the circumstances of Linda’s disappearance; specifically, that she was forcefully abducted by a stranger, we always feared she suffered a tragic fate," Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said Monday. "After careful consideration of all of the facts uncovered by the investigation as a whole, we are now in a position – legally – to charge Smoker with murder."

    Investigators said evidence supports the conclusion that Stoltzfoos was killed.

    "There was nothing found, no report or evidence, that indicates Linda was planning to leave her home and community," Adams said. "And since June 21, there have been no signs of Linda or traces of activity or routines involving Linda."

    Police continue to search for her body, she said.

    Authorities said they received reports of a Kia -- Smoker drove the same type of vehicle -- with a driver marching Smoker's description following Amish females on June 20. His cellphone was in the area of the abduction, they said.

    Within hours prior to the alleged stalking incidents, Smoker purchased alcohol and multiple pairs of disposable cleaning gloves and boot and shoelaces. In the early days of their search for Stoltzfoos, authorities found a pair of her bra and stockings buried by Smoker in a wooded area, prosecutors said.

    Smoker's DNA was found on one of the stockings, they said.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/murder-pa-amish-woman
    Last edited by Steven; 05-08-2022 at 10:07 AM.

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    PA police find human remains in search for missing Amish woman

    Linda Stoltzfoos, 18, was last seen walking home from church June 21 in Lancaster County

    By Frank Miles
    Fox News

    Authorities have located human remains while searching for 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos, an Amish woman from Pennsylvania missing since last summer, according to FOX43.

    After police forensically process the scene in a rural area in the eastern part of Lancaster County, the remains will be sent to the coroner to be identified and to determine cause and manner of death.

    It’s unknown if the remains belong to Stoltzfoos, who was last seen walking home from church June 21 in the Bird-in-Hand area.

    A Lancaster County judge ruled early last month that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to bring a case to trial against 34-year-old Justo Smoker of Paradise in the disappearance of Stoltzfoos, LNP newspaper reported.

    Prosecutors said no sign of her has been found since, and friends and family report that Stoltzfoos was happy with her life and had never expressed any desire to leave. In fact, they said, she had made plans to join others in a church youth group the day she disappeared.

    Smoker, who pleaded not guilty earlier to the kidnapping and false imprisonment charges, was charged with homicide in December and was earlier charged with felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment.

    Authorities said surveillance video enhanced by FBI forensic technicians showed a red sedan, the same kind of car owned by Smoker, involved in the abduction.

    In a rural location in Ronks where they believe the victim might have been taken and where the vehicle was seen parked June 23, authorities found items of Stoltzfoos’ clothing buried in a wooded area, prosecutors said. A DNA profile "attributable to Smoker" was found on one of her buried stockings, prosecutors have said.

    Christopher Tallarico, the county’s chief public defender, argued in March there was no proof that Stoltzfoos had ever gotten into Smoker’s car, and he elicited testimony that her DNA wasn’t found on samples taken from the car. East Lampeter Township Detective Christopher Jones said DNA profiles recovered were insufficient to test.

    Jones also testified that FBI analysis of Smoker’s cell phone data showed him moving from the kidnapping area to the rugged, largely rural Welsh Mountain area, which along with the kidnapping scene has been the subject of numerous searches by hundreds of people. Jones said investigators will continue to search for the victim.

    First Assistant District Attorney Todd Brown said no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/pa-police...nda-stoltzfoos

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    Coroner says buried Amish teen had been strangled, stabbed

    AP

    LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A young Amish woman whose remains were found this week, 10 months after her disappearance, was strangled and stabbed in the neck, a coroner ruled Friday.

    The Lancaster County coroner used dental records to positively identify the body of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos. The cause of death was asphyxia from strangulation, along with suffocation, the coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, said following an autopsy Friday. He said the stab wound was a contributing factor in her death.

    Stoltzfoos was last seen walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area on June 21, 2020. Her remains were found in a grave along railroad tracks behind a business where the man charged in her death had worked.

    Justo Smoker, 35, of Paradise, was charged with homicide in December and is awaiting trial. Smoker was initially arrested in August, and also faces charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment. He has pleaded not guilty.

    Authorities have declined to say what exactly led them to the grave, or whether Smoker had provided the information as part of a deal with prosecutors. Stoltzfoos’ body was found in the small town of Gap along Route 41, in an area of brush on railroad property behind a business where Smoker had been employed.

    Authorities have said they believe Smoker killed Stoltzfoos within a few hours of kidnapping her, buried her in one location where her stockings and bra had been found, and then moved her several days later to the grave discovered Wednesday.

    Mervin Fisher, an uncle to Linda Stoltzfoos, told Pennlive that the family had held out hope that she would be found alive, but had been preparing themselves for the worst.

    “The not knowing is a long, dark tunnel without an end. And when you find the remains, you have the end in sight,” Marvin Fisher told Pennlive. “It brings closure, and when there’s closure, the healing process can continue.”

    He said Linda was the eldest sibling in a large family.

    https://apnews.com/article/religion-...a93a3a096e8913

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    Man pleads guilty to kidnapping, killing young Amish woman

    Associated Press

    LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — A man who led authorities to the remains of a young Amish woman in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping and killing her.


    Justo Smoker, 35, pleaded guilty in Lancaster County to third-degree murder, kidnapping and other offenses in the death of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos, who was last seen walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area on June 21, 2020.


    Smoker was sentenced to 35 1/2 to 71 years in prison. He faces an additional sentence of more than 17 years for violating parole from a previous series of burglaries and robberies.


    "This effectively is a life sentence for Smoker," District Attorney Heather Adams said at a news conference after the hearing.


    Authorities said they believe Smoker killed Stolzfoos within a few hours of kidnapping her, buried her in one location where her stockings and bra were later found, then moved her body to another grave, on railroad property behind a business where he worked.

    A coroner said she was strangled and stabbed.


    Smoker led authorities to her remains in April as a condition of his plea agreement, Adams said.


    LNP newspaper reported that Smoker apologized to Stoltzfoo's family in court, saying he had “robbed the family of time and memories.” President Judge David Ashworth called Smoker a “predator of the worst kind.”


    Smoker was on parole from string of armed robberies he committed in 2006. He was released from prison in February 2019, 16 months before Stoltzfoos was killed.

    https://apnews.com/article/religion-...cd0839b9280da7
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