Pa. man charged in kidnapping of missing Amish teen girl

LANCASTER CO., Pa. — A Pennsylvania man has been charged in the kidnapping of an 18-year-old Amish woman who has been missing for almost four weeks.

According to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, Linda Stoltzfoos was last seen walking home from church in the Bird-in-Hand area on June 21. Her whereabouts are still unknown.

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East Lampeter Township Police arrested Justo Smoker, 34, Friday night and charged him with felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment, WGAL reported.

The DA’s office said Smoker became a person of interest in the case after after witnesses reported seeing an Amish woman in the passenger seat of a vehicle that matched the description of Smoker’s red Kia Rio sedan.

According to investigators, Smoker’s car was seen on June 23 parked in a rural area in Ronks, where they believed Stoltzfoos might have been taken after being kidnapped. They also found clothing that may belong to Stoltzfoos buried in a wooded area.

Authorities said that same vehicle was seen in surveillance video that shows Stoltzfoos’ abduction on Beechdale Road. They said that’s the same road Stoltzfoos would have taken to go home after church.

Anyone who may have seen Smoker, or his car, around the time Stoltzfoos was abducted is asked to call police at 717-291-4676. Smoker’s car is a red Kia Rio sedan with an “LCM” sticker on the trunk with the Pennsylvania license plate KYB-9713.

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