Justo Smoker will stand trial on charges he kidnapped Amish teen, Linda Stoltzfoos

Shelly Stallsmith
York Daily Record

The man accused of kidnapping Amish teen Linda Stoltzfoos is going to stand trial, a district judge said Wednesday.

Lancaster County First Assistant District Attorney Todd E. Brown presented evidence against 34-year-old Justo Smoker in a preliminary hearing that lasted more than 2 hours. Smoker was ordered to be tried for felony kidnapping and misdemeanor false imprisonment, according to a release from the district attorney’s office.

Stoltzfoos’ whereabouts remain unknown.

More:Missing Lancaster, Pa. Amish woman: What we know now about Linda Stoltzfoos

Justo Smoker

District Judge Denise Commins saw photos of Stoltzfoos, 18, walking to church on June 21, the day she went missing. She is shown with four other Amish females in a line across a Bird-in-Hand area road at 8:30 a.m.

Stoltzfoos walked to her church, attended the service, helped to wash some dishes, then walked toward home, according to testimony.

East Lampeter Township police detective Christopher Jones said surveillance video recorded the kidnapping. The video wasn’t shown, but Jones described it.

He said a vehicle pulls onto the berm of Beechdale Road. A person is seen walking on the other side of the road. A male exits the vehicle and approaches the pedestrian. After a 6-second interaction, the two walk back to the car together.

Investigators allege Stoltzfoos was the pedestrian and Smoker was the man in the car, the release said.

Christopher Tallarico, Lancaster County's chief public defender who is representing Smoker, told Lancasteronline that the images showed "pixels," not people, and that there's no way to prove it was Stoltzfoos from the video alone.

Jones also described still photos taken from surveillance cameras that show Smoker’s red Kia Rio around the abduction site in the morning and afternoon of June 21 and two days later. The images show Smoker’s Kia traveling around an area where Stoltzfoos’ bra and stockings were found buried, in a wooded area off of Harvest Road.

Linda Stoltzfoos

Jones testified that Smoker said he was not on Beechdale Road or in that area, and that no one else drove his vehicle.

Smoker, who appeared at the preliminary hearing wearing a green jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists and ankles, told police the Kia appeared to be his when shown photos, Jones testified.

Smoker remains in Lancaster County Prison without bail. He will be formally arraigned on Aug. 28, court documents show.

Investigators continue to ask anyone with information on Stoltzfoos’ whearabouts, or Smoker’s activities on and around June 21, to submit the information in one of these ways:

  • Call East Lampeter Trownship police at 717-291-4676
  • Call Pennsylvania State Police at 717-299-7650
  • Submit a tip online by clicking the “submit” button at the bottom of this linked page.

Shelly Stallsmith is a trends reporter for the York Daily Record. She can be reached at mstallsmith@ydr.com or followed on Twitter at @ShelStallsmith.