Investigators searching rural Lancaster County have found human remains in the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos, authorities announced Wednesday.
The scene must be “forensically processed,” according to the Lancaster County district attorney’s office, before the remains are released to the coroner for official identification and death investigation.
The district attorney’s office has scheduled a press conference at the Lancaster County courthouse on Thursday at 11 a.m. It plans to provide an update on the Stoltzfoos investigation, the agency said in a press release it sent to the media.
Two news organizations, lancasteronline.com and WHP TV21, report that the family has confirmed they have been told it is her.
Stoltzfoos was reported missing on June 21, 2020, and 34-year-old Justo Smoker was charged with her kidnapping and death last year.
The district attorney’s office said the coroner’s prosecutor had been called to the scene, which they say is in a rural area in the eastern part of the province. The FBI, East Lampeter Township Police, and State Police were all part of the search. The search, they said, was related to Stoltzfoos’s disappearance.
The prosecutor’s office said the Stoltzfoos family has been notified of the update and “is still processing this information.”
According to the district attorney’s office, the smoker is being held in Lancaster County Jail pending his murder trial.
“Law enforcement officials and other community groups have searched extensively since June to bring Linda Stoltzfoos home,” said the prosecutor’s office, adding that more than 15,000 man hours had been attributed to the case and that Wednesday was the ten months of her disappearance. marks. .
Investigators have said they believe Stoltzfoos was kidnapped on Beechdale Road in Bird-In-Hand, East Lampeter Township, walking home from church.
The location where investigators found the remains was near Dutchland, Inc., a water purification provider along Route 41 in Gap. From there, it’s about a 20-minute drive to the area where the kidnapping took place.
Originally, Smoker was only charged with her kidnapping after witnesses helped lead investigators to his vehicle, which was in the area at the time of the kidnapping. In December, a murder charge was added in the belief that too much time had passed for Stoltzfoos to live.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office is working with members of the recovery team and will provide more details later.
Read more about PennLive:
- Missing Amish woman case: Judge orders man charged with kidnapping Linda Stoltzfoos to be tried for murder
- Missing Amish teenager’s ‘pleading eyes’ staring out of car linked to accused kidnapper: testimony