A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the 2020 death of an 18-year-old Amish girl.
Justo Smoker was sentenced Friday to 35 and a half to 71 years in prison, with an additional 17 and a half years that could be added for a parole violation, in the death of Linda Stoltzfoos.
He also pleaded guilty to kidnapping, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and possession of an instrument of crime.
While the Stoltzfoos family did not appear in court finding it too emotional, Smoker apologized to the family saying ‘I know Linda was a light. Because of me, the world is dimmer. All I can say is I’m sorry.’
Justo Smoker, 34, was charged with homicide in December in connection with Stoltzfoos’ killing
Linda Stoltzfoos, 18 (left and right), was strangled to death and stabbed in the neck while walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area of Lancaster on June 21 last year
The family spokesperson Samuel Blank described Stoltzfoos as a caring, loving, timid teen with a big heart for children who needed help.
District Attorney Heather Adams addressed the plea deal that Smoker was given, explaining that it was necessary to locate Stoltzfoos’ body to give her a proper burial.
The young girl’s remains were found in rural Pennsylvania in April, 10 months after her disappearance.
The Lancaster County coroner used dental records to positively identify the body of Linda Stoltzfoos. The cause of death was asphyxia from strangulation, along with suffocation, the coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, said following the autopsy. 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 wrapped in a tarp and buried in a 3 foot deep grave along railroad tracks behind Dutchland Inc, a business where Smoker had worked. It is in the small town of Gap along Route 41.
Smoker, 35, of Paradise, was charged with homicide in December after being arrested in August. Officials previously said that the suspect’s DNA was discovered on the victim’s stocking.
Mervin Fisher, an uncle to Linda Stoltzfoos, told Pennlive that the family had hoped she would be found alive, but had been preparing 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,’ Fisher told Pennlive. ‘It brings closure, and when there’s closure, the healing process can continue.
When the body was discovered, local resident Debbie Matteoda said, ‘For the family I feel terrible because they keep all this hope all this time that maybe she will show up, but then again it’s a closure.’
Prosecutors have said friends and family reported that Stoltzfoos was happy and had never expressed any desire to leave.
Smoker was initially charged with felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment then with homicide.
Adams said, ‘Smoker’s conduct on and around the time of Linda’s kidnapping, along with physical evidence, supports the allegations that he kidnapped and murdered her.’
Stoltzfoos was reported missing on the evening of Father’s Day by her dad after she failed to return home from a youth group she planned to attend. Investigators said Stoltzfoos never made it to the social gathering that night.
Surveillance footage observed by authorities captured Stoltzfoos walking alone on Beechdale Road, a route she typically took home after church. A red Kia Rio that matched Smoker’s vehicle registration number also was seen in the footage.
In Ronks, where the vehicle was parked June 23, authorities found items of Stoltzfoos’ clothing buried in a wooded area, prosecutors said.
‘Smoker became a person of interest in the kidnapping after police received information about a red/orange vehicle seen in the Gap area on the afternoon of the abduction,’ the East Lampeter Township Police Department said in a press release in July last year.
‘Multiple witnesses in the area reported seeing an Amish female in the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by a male. Witness descriptions of the driver and vehicle are consistent with Smoker and his vehicle.’
The FBI offered a reward of $10,000 in July for information leading to her recovery.
The remains were found buried more than three feet down and wrapped in a tarp behind Dutchland Incorporated, the former workplace of Smoker in a rural area in the eastern part of Lancaster County, the DA 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.
Smoker has an extensive criminal history stretching back to 2005 and has spent the majority of his adult life behind bars
Smoker has an extensive criminal history stretching back to 2005 and has spent the majority of his adult life behind bars.
He was a high school wrestling all-star who had a 3.0 grade point average and earned a place on the Lancaster-Lebanon wrestling all-star team in 2003 before turning to a life of crime.
The 35-year-old was sentenced to serve 12-and-a-half years to 30 years in prison following a string of armed robberies in 2006.
Smoker pleaded guilty to the robberies, during which he and his brother, Victor, used a BB gun to rob four businesses between Aug. 8 and Aug. 13, 2006.
During the trial, Smoker revealed that he was adopted at age seven after he was found ‘living on the street, just trying to survive’, his defense attorney said.
‘They raised me better than this,’ Smoker told the judge of his adoptive parents. ‘I’m sorry for what I did and the people I hurt, including my family.’
His adoptive father said Smoker had been ‘trouble since we got him.’
The judge told Smoker at the 2007 hearing that he could have imposed a sentence that would have kept him in prison for twice as long, if not the rest of his life, Lancaster Online reported. But, the judge said he issued a sentence that ensures ‘society is protected, but that you could still come out and lead a reasonable life.’
Smoker ended up serving nearly the minimum and was released on Feb. 28, 2019.
DA Adams said the surrounding area where the remains were found had been previously searched by police
The remains were buried and wrapped in a tarp behind the former workplace of Smoker in a rural area in the eastern part of Lancaster County, Adams said
The remains were recovered from a rural area in Lancaster County
Bird-in-Hand is known for its large Amish population, and tourists come to visit the Amish Village heritage museum there.
Pennsylvania and Ohio have the highest concentration of Amish communities, with 50 in each state.
The Pennsylvania Amish are known to be private people who believe that God has called them to a simple life of faith, discipline, dedication and humility.
Shunning technology, they believe that the Amish religion should be practiced, not displayed, and translated into daily living rather than focused on tangible symbols or complicated religious rituals.
Stoltzfoos’ disappearance came a month after a 21-year-old US Air Force airman was arrested in the death of Mennonite Sunday school teacher Sasha Krause, 27, in Arizona.
Both the Amish and Mennonites belong to the Anabaptist denomination of Christianity and dress in similar garb, but unlike the Amish, the Mennonites allow modern technological advances in their daily lives.
Source: Daily Mail
