Justo Smoker pleaded guilty to abducting and killing 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos and will be sentenced to a minimum of 35 & ½ years. This sentence will be served on top of his remaining parole sentence. This plea is essentially a life sentence as Smoker will not be eligible for parole until after his 85^th birthday.

Message from Chief Stephen Zerbe:

"I would like to publicly thank all the agencies and volunteers who helped in this investigation.

We were fortunate to have the large amount of public support as exemplified by more than 2,300 plus volunteers who spent months, over 14,000-man hours, searching over 10,000 acres in eastern Lancaster County. Much of this effort was carried by the Amish community, volunteer fire fighters, Search & Rescue crews, K9 Search Teams, EMS crews, all managed & coordinated by volunteers who put in countless hours. Thank You for your tireless efforts and everything you did to help with this investigation.

To our Law Enforcement colleagues, I would like to thank all those officers, detectives and agents who worked this case, from the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police, West Lampeter Township Police, Manheim Township Police, Lancaster City Police, Lancaster County Detectives and the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. Thank You for all your hard work. And to the Chiefs and Managers and Board members of those agencies, thank you for sparing your people.

We are very grateful to all the community members who supported us and the volunteers with food and water during the early days of this investigation. 

In closing I would encourage everyone to continue to remember the Stoltzfus family in your thoughts and prayers".

Please see the Lancaster County District Attorney Press Release for further details.