PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Lancaster authorities have charged a man in the kidnapping of an 18-year-old Amish woman who went missing nearly three weeks ago as she was walking home from church.
The woman has not been found yet and police are asking for the public's help.
18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos was reported missing by her father after she didn't make it to a youth group she was supposed to attend on June 21.
Surveillance video obtained by police, showed Stoltzfoos being abducted by someone in a Red Kia Rio as she was walking home from church on Beechdale Road in the Ronks area.
The Lancaster County District Attorney's office says that car belongs to 34-year-old Justo Smoker.
Witnesses in the area say they saw an Amish girl in the passenger side of a vehicle that matched the description of Smoker's on the day of Stoltzfoos' abduction.
On Friday, investigators searched a rural location where they believed she might have been taken after being kidnapped. They say Smoker's vehicle was seen parked at that location two days after Stoltzfoos went missing.
It's still unclear what happened after the woman was kidnapped, but they believe she was harmed. Investigators also discovered clothing that belonged to Stoltzfoos buried in the woods.
Smoker has been charged with felony kidnapping and a misdemeanor for false imprisonment.
Anyone who might have seen Smoker or his red Kia Rio sedan around the time Stoltzfoos was abducted is asked to contact police.
