Is there such a thing as an Amish serial killer?

I’m not sure how many of you have asked this question but it has been floating around in my head for some time. In the course of my search for answers, I stumbled upon Eli Stutzman – a man who may be one of the only Amish serial killers.

A July 7, 1977 barn fire near Dalton, Ohio claimed the life of Ida Stutzman and her unborn child. She died from smoke inhalation after a fire broke out in her family’s milking barn. 

In Texas 1985, a 24-year-old male, Glen Pritchett, was shot through his left eye and killed. His body was found in May 1985 in a ditch.

On Christmas Eve, 1985, in Nebraska, a passerby discovered the frozen corpse of a boy, later identified as Danny Stutzman. His body was found in a grassy ditch along a harvested cornfield, his body frozen and partially covered by snow. The official cause of death was inconclusive and there were no leads.

Despite being spread across the country, these three (potential) murders are tied together by one man - Eli Stutzman.

Regarding the 1977 fire and death of Ida Stutzman, many believed her husband, Eli Stutzman, set the fire, although the circumstances were never investigated. However, it was known that Stutzman wanted out of his marriage and the Amish community to live openly as a gay man. 

As such, he and his son, Danny, left Ohio in 1982 and for the next three years, they lived mostly in Colorado and Texas. In the summer of 1985, Stutzman left his son with a Wyoming family in a makeshift foster care arrangement. He went back to get the boy on December 14, telling the foster family he was taking Danny back to Ohio for Christmas. Danny’s body was found less than two weeks later on the side of the road, but it wouldn’t be identified until years later.

Two years passed before the police even suspected Eli Stutzman. In 1987, Reader’s Digest published an article about Danny Stutzman, known as Little Boy Blue since he was found in blue pajamas. This led to his identification and search for family. Investigators found Eli Stutzman in Texas. He said his son was on antibiotics for a bad chest cold when he picked him up. During their drive to Ohio, Stutzman reports that he found his son dead in the back seat. He dumped him off the side of the road to “let God take care of him” before continuing on his journey.

With no evidence he was truly responsible for his son’s death, a child abuse charge would not stick. As such, Stutzman was only convicted of abandoning a body and concealing a death. He served a single year in prison.

Subsequently, it was discovered that Eli Stutzman was Glen Pritchett’s former roommate and guilty of his murder. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing Glen Pritchett.

In 1990, Eli Stutzman’s life inspired a controversial book - “Abandoned Prayers: The Shocking True Story of Obsession, Murder and “Little Boy Blue.” The book covers the life of Stutzman and his murders. It also provides insight into the murders he is suspected of committing, but may or may not have actually been committed for.

In 2007, the fifty-six-year-old Stutzman committed suicide. His body remained in a Texas morgue, unclaimed by his former Ohio Amish community or any family until he was buried in a nearby cemetery in Texas. Stutzman’s death rekindled interest in the cold cases of David Tyler and Dennis Sleater, who were also murdered. Police obtained Stutzman’s DNA and fingerprints, but they did not match with anything retrieved surrounding these two deaths. Perhaps the cases will be solved in the future but it is likely we may never have answers.