Justo Smoker (L) and Linda Stoltzfoos. | Facebook/Lancaster County District Attorney s Office
Linda Stoltzfoos, an 18-year-old Amish girl from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who was recently found dead after she went missing while walking home from church last summer, was strangled and stabbed in the neck, a coroner ruled on Friday.
Lancaster County coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, said Stoltzfoos was positively identified through dental records and confirmed that her cause of death was asphyxia from strangulation, along with suffocation. A stab wound was a contributing factor in her death, The Associated Press reported.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office announced that the remains of Stoltzfoos, who disappeared on June 21, 2020, after being kidnapped on Beechdale Road in Bird-in-Hand, East Lampeter Township, was found last Wednesday.
Amish teen who went missing after church was strangled, stabbed
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Young Amish woman laid to rest nearly 1 year after disappearance
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A young Amish man fixes his horse as buggies make their way down East Eby Road to the Myers Cemetery, where 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos was buried on Monday, April 26, 2021. Stoltzfoos went missing on June 21. Her body was found exactly 10 months later. Police charged Justo Smoker with kidnapping and homicide. He s currently in Lancaster County Prison.
Ty Lohr | LNP|LancasterOnline
Horse-drawn buggies wait to enter the Myers Cemetery on East Eby Road in Upper Leacock Township during the funeral for Linda Stoltzfoos, Monday, April 16, 2021. Stoltzfoos went missing on June 21, 2020. She was 18. Her body was found 10 months later, on April 21, 2021. Justo Smoker is the man that police have charged with her kidnapping and homicide. He s currently in Lancaster County Prison.
Young Amish woman laid to rest 10 months after disappearance
April 27, 2021
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LEOLA, Pa. (AP) A young Amish woman has been laid to rest more than 10 months after she went missing while walking home from a church service in Pennsylvania, after which authorities say she was strangled and stabbed.
LNP newspaper reports that 69 horse-drawn buggies and a handful of vans and sport utility vehicles brought more than 100 people together Monday afternoon at the Myers Cemetery burial grounds, not far from where police say 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos was abducted.
The remains of Stoltzfoos were found last week buried along railroad tracks in the small town of Gap along Route 41 behind a business where 35-year-old Justo Smoker had worked, authorities said. Smoker was arrested shortly after her June 2020 disappearance and charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment, and later with homicide.