Who Was Eli Stutzman? Inside the Amish Murder Case

Amish communities center themselves around values of faith, family, community and simplicity. While the Amish revere the Bible, which decrees “thou shall not kill,” high-profile murder cases have come out of the Amish community. Edward Gingerich was the first Amish person convicted in a criminal homicide case, and Eli Weaver conspired in his wife’s death.

Eli Stutzman was involved in the deaths of both his son and a former roommate, and he may be responsible for more murders.

Stutzman was born in Apple Creek, Ohio, on September 20, 1950, and grew up as a member of an ultraconservative Amish sect called the Swartzentruber Order, which emphasized strict obedience, modesty and separation from modern society. Stutzman rebelled against the lifestyle and left the community in 1972. But a few years later, he returned as a means of protection after faking being a stabbing victim in a marijuana sting.

Stutzman soon married Ida Gingerich, and the couple bore a son, Danny. Yet the union was not happy. One reason Stutzman originally resisted the Amish way was due to his sexuality. He continued seeing men even after marriage, as divorce wasn’t culturally supported among the Amish. Still, not long into their marriage, rumors circulated that Ida planned to speak with a bishop about something private involving her husband.

However, on July 12, 1977, a fire at the Stutzman’s barn killed Ida, who was eight months pregnant. Stutzman was never formally questioned as a suspect, and the official verdict stated Ida died of “natural causes” while trying to save milking equipment. While there were rumors that Stutzman was somehow involved in his wife’s death, no one was willing to speak up due to the Amish’s protective and private nature. He was never charged or made an official suspect in Ida’s death.

Within two years after her death, Stutzman left the Amish life for good, taking Danny on the road with him. But freedom was only the beginning of Stutzman’s notorious life—and the end of Danny’s.

For the next several years, father and son travelled across the Midwest and Western states. Stutzman’s explanations about Danny’s whereabouts and his own job prospects changed constantly, and he often left Danny in the care of foster parents during the course of his travels. During that time, Stutzman pursued affairs with other men.

Then, on Christmas Eve of 1985, a resident of Chester, Neb., made a shocking discovery—a young boy in blue pajamas lying frozen in a ditch along U.S. 81, dead. The child was soon dubbed “Little Boy Blue,” as no one came forward to claim the body and there was no way to verify his identity. It wasn’t until a couple years later, when Reader’s Digest featured the boy’s story, that he was finally identified as 9-year-old Danny.

Authorities learned of Stutzman’s whereabouts in Texas and arrested him in December 1987. During his trial in Nebraska, Stutzman claimed Danny died on their way to Ohio, yet he’d also written letters claiming Danny was alive four months after his death. As the cause of Danny’s death was never determined (though authorities speculated it was suffocation), Stutzman was only charged with two counts of felony child abuse. Stutzman pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of abandoning a body and concealing a death and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

After serving time in Nebraska, Stutzman was taken back to Texas—this time, to face judgment for his involvement in the killing of Glen Pritchett, Stutzman’s former roommate and suspected lover.

Pritchett’s body had been found shot on the side of a Texas road on May 12, 1985, seven months before Danny’s death. By the time police connected Pritchett to Stutzman—and placed him as their prime suspect—he had fled the state. But when Danny’s case revealed a link to Stutzman in 1987, Texas authorities reopened Pritchett’s case.

During that investigation, two more brutal killings came to the fore: 24-year-old university student Dennis Sleater and 36-year-old businessman David Tyler. Both were murder victims in Durango, Colo.—Sleater by gunshot and Tyler by beating—in the latter half of 1985. Both were also known friends and potential lovers of Stutzman. All three men possibly attended the same party two days before Tyler’s death.

No definitive evidence ever linked Stutzman to Sleater’s and Tyler’s killings. But for Pritchett’s homicide, authorities had enough evidence to sentence Stutzman to 40 years in prison on July 31, 1989.

Although Stutzman was linked to a total of five suspicious deaths, he was only ever convicted for Pritchett’s murder—not quite fulfilling the moniker of “The Amish Serial Killer.” And despite receiving a lengthy prison sentence for Pritchett’s killing, Stutzman was paroled in 2005 after serving 13 years.

Two years later, in February 2007, Stutzman died by suicide in his Ft. Worth, Texas, apartment, at the age of 56. A friend claimed he used cocaine, and later reporting says he was HIV-positive.

Stutzman’s story has been featured in podcasts like Crimes and Consequences and My Favorite Murder, with the focus generally being on his involvement with “Little Boy Blue.” The New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen has also written extensively about Ida and Danny’s murders in his non-fiction books Abandoned Prayers: An Incredible True Story of Murder, Obsession, and Amish Secrets and The Amish Wife: Unraveling the Lies, Secrets, and Conspiracy That Let a Killer Go Free, on which Lifetime’s Sins of an Amish Husband is based.