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Authors: Gregg Olsen
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because the prosecution’s star witness was mentally disturbed—exactly as Stutzman had planned.
Before he was discharged, Stutzman sent for Rebecca Yost and asked her if she would come out to Stoll Farms and take care of him when he was released. Yost agreed.
On November 28, the Orrville
Courier
published a cryptic item on page 13:
To clarify rumors in the Marshallville area, Wayne County Sheriff James M. Frost released information concerning an alleged aggravated assault Tuesday, November 19, at 6:45 P.M . The incident occurred in a barn on Co. Rd. 95 (Coal Bank Road) in Baughman Township. It is rumored that a 24-year-old man was assaulted and that the incident was drug related, Sheriff Frost stated.
An intensive investigation by the sheriff’s department revealed that the injuries to the male were self-inflicted. “There was no assault,” Frost said. “This is a completely false complaint and was confirmed by the victim that it was his own doing,” he continued.
The sheriff’s department normally does not release information on incidents which involve self-inflicted wounds. However, the release was made because of the department’s concern about rumors in the Marshallville Community.
That statement was only part of the story. The truth of a former Amishman with mental problems being used as an undercover agent by the Wayne County sheriff’s office would have been scandalous.
If Stutzman was ashamed or bothered by the whole business, it didn’t seem so to others. From the day he came home he acted as though nothing had happened.
Maryjane Stoll felt sorry for the mixed-up young man and tried to get Stutzman to see a Christian counselor, but he refused, saying he wanted no part of any religion. Ed Stoll arranged for Stutzman to see a psychiatrist at the Wayne County Mental Health Department in Wooster.
Shortly after Stutzman was released from Dunlap, his father made the considerable buggy trip out to Marshallville. Stutzman told the Stolls to get rid of the old man, which they did. If One-Hand Eli had planned to bring his son home, he was mistaken.
Over the next few weeks Stutzman seemed to make progress, but Maryjane Stoll worried when he sometimes left for a day or two without saying where he was going. On occasion the time away stretched to several days.
Stutzman received an inordinate amount of mail at this time. Several letters—sometimes stacks of letters—arrived daily. Maryjane Stoll put them in his desk. Once, she found some things so disturbing and so strange that she didn’t even know exactly what they were. She did know, however, that they had to do with sex.
She told her son Ed about the discovery. From her description he figured that his mother had run across a cache of vibrators and ticklers.
But that was not all.
Later, Mrs. Stoll found several magazines tucked underStutzman’s mattress. The publications shocked and puzzled her. They contained graphic pictures of men having sex with each other. She burned them.
She never told anyone other than her son. Later, she might have wished she had.
On February 10, 1975, Ed Stoll fired Stutzman. Stutzman told the Chupps he had seen Stoll steal some parts from a farm equipment store and he had been fired because Stoll didn’t want him around.
Of course, it was a lie.
CHAPTER FIVE
A straight shot north from Hebron via U.S. 81, U.S. 80 is Nebraska’s main east-west route, stretching from Omaha to Scottsbluff. Gary Young punched the pedal on his ’85 Crown Victoria patrol car, en route to the autopsy in Lincoln. Pushing 70 mph is easy in Nebraska, even for drivers who don’t have the advantage of a badge. Highways are long, wide, and traffic-free.
Young was headed east on 80 to Lincoln to confirm what had seemed unequivocal back at the funeral home in Hebron: the little boy had been beaten and strangled before he was dumped in the field. He parked and found his way to the basement of Lincoln General Hospital.
The Clinical Evaluation
Before he was discharged, Stutzman sent for Rebecca Yost and asked her if she would come out to Stoll Farms and take care of him when he was released. Yost agreed.
On November 28, the Orrville
Courier
published a cryptic item on page 13:
To clarify rumors in the Marshallville area, Wayne County Sheriff James M. Frost released information concerning an alleged aggravated assault Tuesday, November 19, at 6:45 P.M . The incident occurred in a barn on Co. Rd. 95 (Coal Bank Road) in Baughman Township. It is rumored that a 24-year-old man was assaulted and that the incident was drug related, Sheriff Frost stated.
An intensive investigation by the sheriff’s department revealed that the injuries to the male were self-inflicted. “There was no assault,” Frost said. “This is a completely false complaint and was confirmed by the victim that it was his own doing,” he continued.
The sheriff’s department normally does not release information on incidents which involve self-inflicted wounds. However, the release was made because of the department’s concern about rumors in the Marshallville Community.
That statement was only part of the story. The truth of a former Amishman with mental problems being used as an undercover agent by the Wayne County sheriff’s office would have been scandalous.
If Stutzman was ashamed or bothered by the whole business, it didn’t seem so to others. From the day he came home he acted as though nothing had happened.
Maryjane Stoll felt sorry for the mixed-up young man and tried to get Stutzman to see a Christian counselor, but he refused, saying he wanted no part of any religion. Ed Stoll arranged for Stutzman to see a psychiatrist at the Wayne County Mental Health Department in Wooster.
Shortly after Stutzman was released from Dunlap, his father made the considerable buggy trip out to Marshallville. Stutzman told the Stolls to get rid of the old man, which they did. If One-Hand Eli had planned to bring his son home, he was mistaken.
Over the next few weeks Stutzman seemed to make progress, but Maryjane Stoll worried when he sometimes left for a day or two without saying where he was going. On occasion the time away stretched to several days.
Stutzman received an inordinate amount of mail at this time. Several letters—sometimes stacks of letters—arrived daily. Maryjane Stoll put them in his desk. Once, she found some things so disturbing and so strange that she didn’t even know exactly what they were. She did know, however, that they had to do with sex.
She told her son Ed about the discovery. From her description he figured that his mother had run across a cache of vibrators and ticklers.
But that was not all.
Later, Mrs. Stoll found several magazines tucked underStutzman’s mattress. The publications shocked and puzzled her. They contained graphic pictures of men having sex with each other. She burned them.
She never told anyone other than her son. Later, she might have wished she had.
On February 10, 1975, Ed Stoll fired Stutzman. Stutzman told the Chupps he had seen Stoll steal some parts from a farm equipment store and he had been fired because Stoll didn’t want him around.
Of course, it was a lie.
CHAPTER FIVE
A straight shot north from Hebron via U.S. 81, U.S. 80 is Nebraska’s main east-west route, stretching from Omaha to Scottsbluff. Gary Young punched the pedal on his ’85 Crown Victoria patrol car, en route to the autopsy in Lincoln. Pushing 70 mph is easy in Nebraska, even for drivers who don’t have the advantage of a badge. Highways are long, wide, and traffic-free.
Young was headed east on 80 to Lincoln to confirm what had seemed unequivocal back at the funeral home in Hebron: the little boy had been beaten and strangled before he was dumped in the field. He parked and found his way to the basement of Lincoln General Hospital.
The Clinical Evaluation
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