A Pennsylvania Amish woman missing for nearly a month was abducted, Lancaster County prosecutors said Saturday, and a man has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.
But the whereabouts of Linda Stoltztfoos, 18, remain unknown, although investigators believe she “was harmed following her abduction,” the Lancaster County district attorney’s office said, according to 6ABC.
Justo Smoker, 34, was arrested on Friday, prosecutors said. East Lampeter Township Police obtained surveillance footage that was enhanced by the FBI. The footage “depicts the abduction” of Stoltzfoos along the route she would have taken home from church services in Bird-in-Hand on June 21, when she disappeared.
The video shows a red Kia Rio involved in the abduction, prosecutors said, and Smoker owns the same type of car, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Further, the prosecutors said, witnesses said they saw an Amish female in the passenger seat of a similar car, and descriptions of the driver were consistent with Smoker.
And finally, detectives searched a rural area in Ronks, just down the road from Bird-in-Hand, where the vehicle was seen parked on June 23. There, they found clothing believed to belong to Stolztfoos buried in a wooded area.
Smoker was arraigned Saturday. He was denied bail because of “the nature of the charges and the ongoing investigation,” prosecutors said.
Stoltzfoos was last seen at about 12:30 p.m. on June 21 after church services, as CrimeOnline previously reported. She never came home and did not attend services in the evening.
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[Featured image: Linda Stoltzfoos/FBI]
