If it is foul play, my thoughts are that it would almost certainly be someone not Amish. I can recall a very few Amish women in Pennsylvania who were killed by their husbands. Obviously that’s not the case here.
But the only Amish murder victims I can think of in Lancaster County were killed by non-Amish people. Naomi Huyard was killed in 1982 by a teenaged neighbor when she went to their house to put food in a freezer they shared. The boy was Mennonite, not Amish. And then of course there are the victims of the 2006 Nickel Mines shooting. Charlie Roberts was a milk truck driver known to the Amish but was not Amish.
So not that there’s a lot of precedent to consider, thankfully, but it seems like a perpetrator would likely be not Amish but not a total stranger to the community either. I think if someone from inside the Amish community were involved with Linda’s disappearance, her family and friends would have been able to give LE something to go on, whether it was an actual issue between Linda and this person or just someone whose actions surrounding the disappearance seemed suspicious.
Sadly in today's time if she was kidnapped by a predator, and that is my belief at this time, it could be anyone in the area at the time she went missing into thin air. I wouldn't discount the offender being amish themselves.
I believe many crimes may go unreported such as rapes, DV etc. in the amish community. Jmo.
No one no matter where they live or who they are aren't immune from being targets of sexual predators who strike when they see an opportunity to do so.
Imo, for predators their targets are selected when they feel the opportunity is right. Many times when it happens in daylight no one sees or hears a thing. They usually select their victim when they see them alone at the time, and vulnerable with no one else around.
I've read extensively through the years about sexual predators. Even before they strike they are fully prepared in case an opportunity arises. They have long fantasized what they will do way before they kidnap their first victim.
Unfortunately for their victims they are very good at what they do. They arent some frightening looking monsters, but look just like everyone else. They can come across as very unassuming, and safe.
However when neccessary when kidnapping a victim they can be ruthless in order to control the victim by paralyzing fear. It's whatever works for them at the time they seize their victims.
They are also known to take the abducted victim to another location, even possibly to their own home or property to rape, and even murder the victim or murder them elsewhere. If they put the remains in another area from where the rape, and murder occurred it can be what they consider their comfort zone which can be close by or many miles away.
Also we have seen where the suspect puts the body inside of their home like a crawl space, inside walls, basement, or buried under their porch. Etc.
They know police must have probable cause to be able to search any private home or property.
So it could literally be anyone who was in the area at the time she disappeared without a trace. It could turnout to be someone who is the least likely to be suspected who lives in the town or surrounding areas.
For all we know the offender could have been stalking her for awhile without her knowing ....tracking her daily routines. While most predators select targets based solely on the opportunity at the time...some do stalk their selected targets first, and then act when they see them walking alone.
If deceased, her body may not have been put outside in the elements such as farmland etc. She could be inside of someone's home buried or concealed somewhere in or under the home or has been buried in an outbuilding.
Finding the body of a missing person is truly looking for a tiny needle in a huge haystack with LE not even knowing which haystack to look in nor knowing if the elusive haystack may be inside instead of outside.
Jmhoo
