October 12, 2025 • 28 mins
In the peaceful and simple Amish community, crime is almost unheard of. However, in 1993, the tranquility of Rockdale Township in Pennsylvania turned into a nightmare. Edward Gingerich, the first Amish man on record to commit murder in over two centuries, brutally killed his wife in a manner so shocking it stunned even the most experienced investigators. This story is not just about murder, but also about neglected mental illness, misguided beliefs, and a community that rejected the modern world to the point of losing one of its own.
In this episode, you will learn how cultural pressure and resistance to modern medicine drove Edward to madness, ultimately leading him to commit an unimaginable act against his wife, Katie Gingerich.
In this episode, you will learn how cultural pressure and resistance to modern medicine drove Edward to madness, ultimately leading him to commit an unimaginable act against his wife, Katie Gingerich.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this quiet, old fashioned town of Rockdale Township, Pennsylvania,
where the Amish embrace a life of simplicity, a nightmare
unfolded that no one could have ever imagined. The Amish
are known for their peaceful way of life, where violence
is rare and murder is practically unheard of. But then
came Edward Jingerich, a man who would shatter that history
(00:22):
in the most brutal and disturbing way possible. He didn't
just kill someone, he carved out his victim's organs and
stacked them in a grotesque display, leaving behind a crime
scene so horrifying that even seasoned investigators were shaken, and
it made Edward the first recorded Amish murderer in over
two hundred years. Of all the cases we've uncovered, this
(00:45):
is one that will stick with you for days, making
you wonder if Edward had been taken to a modern
doctor sooner, could this tragedy have been prevented. You can
let me know your thoughts once you hear the full story,
because trust me, this is as tragic as the mind
of the man who committed it. For starters, Edward was
one of eleven children born into a deeply traditional Amish family.
(01:10):
When he was eighteen years old, his family packed up
and moved to Crawford County, Pennsylvania in nineteen eighty three.
Life in an Amish community is all about simplicity, faith,
and following strict rules, but from a young age, Edward
never quite fit the mold. While most Amish boys grew
up learning farming and carpentry, Edward had an unusual fascination
(01:32):
with machinery, something that wasn't exactly encouraged in his world.
He worked at his family's sawmill, where he quickly developed
a reputation as a master mechanic. He had a special
talent for fixing diesel engines, something rare for someone in
his community. In fact, people often said, if something's broken,
just take it to ed he'll fix it better than
(01:54):
anyone else. But his curiosity didn't stop with machines. He
also had an interest in the outside world, something that
made him stand out even more. Unlike most Amish men,
Edward started spending time with non Amish locals, forming friendships
that others in his community wouldn't dare to. One of
(02:15):
his closest friends was Dave Lindsey, an outsider with whom
he felt comfortable enough to admit something shocking. He didn't
really like the Amish way of life. This was a
huge deal. The Amish are taught from birth that their
way of life is sacred, that the outside world is
filled with temptation and sin. For Edward to openly say
(02:37):
he didn't want to be a part of it, that
was unheard of. But then Katie Settler entered the picture.
Katie was the daughter of a highly respected Amish elder,
and from the start their relationship raised eyebrows. People whispered
that Katie was too good for Edward, that his rebellious
nature would cause trouble. But despite the rumors, family pressure
(03:00):
pushed Edward to propose. The Amish believe in strong traditional marriages,
and backing out wasn't really an option. So on a
rainy day in nineteen eighty six, Edward asked Katie to
marry him. By the spring of nineteen eighty seven, they
were officially husband and wife. At first, it seemed like
(03:20):
Edward was settling into married life, just like everyone expected.
Katie became pregnant soon after, and before long she gave
birth to their first child, a son named Danny, after
Edward's father from the outside, it looked like Edward was
on the right path, married, working, raising a family. But
beneath the surface, something was changing. Edward started to pull
(03:45):
away from his community. He became distant withdrawn, spending more
and more time alone. It wasn't just that he missed
his old friendships or his interest in machinery. This was different.
The once outgoing, twokative Edward was now a man who
barely spoke. He avoided gatherings, lost interest in his work,
(04:07):
and started acting in ways that confused and worried those
around him. Naturally, concern for Edward grew among his family
and the Amish community, but in typical Amish fashion, they
chose to support him the best way they knew how,
staying close, offering quiet, encouragement, and hoping for the best.
What no one could have predicted, though, was that Edward's
(04:29):
detachment was just the beginning, because by July of nineteen
eighty eight, Edward's condition took a disturbing turn. Dizzy spells
became frequent, and he was sleeping an abnormal amount, sometimes
for entire days. His worried wife, Katie, reached out for help,
but in their Amish way of life, modern medicine was
(04:50):
a last resort. Instead, they turned to a trusted chiropractor,
a man favored by the Amish for his natural, drug
free remedies. His solution toe pulling foot rubs and a
jar of molasses, the latter meant to purify his blood.
The cost twenty five dollars. Now, let's be real, none
(05:12):
of that was going to work, but Edward, desperate and
with no other options, went through with it anyway. Despite
multiple visits to the chiropractor and more molasses than anyone
should ever have to consume, his condition didn't improve. But
just when it seemed like everything was falling apart, a
(05:32):
flicker of hope appeared. In nineteen eighty nine, Katie gave
birth to their second son, and by nineteen ninety they
welcomed a daughter. For a moment, it seemed like life
might settle down, but Edward he was already too far gone.
His presence in the family became almost nonexistent. He avoided
(05:53):
his wife and children, showing little to no interest in them.
It wasn't just emotional distance. He became physically absent too,
even refusing to sleep with Katie for fear she would
become pregnant. Again, and when he did speak, it was
only to mutter strange things under his breath, things about darkness,
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about visions, about something coming. By the time nineteen ninety
one rolled around, Edward was barely a shadow of the
man he used to be. His physical health had taken
a drastic hit, his once strong and capable hands now
trembled with an eerie frailty. His skin had turned pale,
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almost translucent, and the hollowness in his eyes made it
seem like he was peering into a world that no
one else could see. Then, as if fate hadn't already
dealt him a cruel enough hand, things got even worse.
While working in his machine shop, he was exposed to
toxic solvents, which only pushed his already fragile body further
(06:55):
toward the edge. But here's the thing, the most terrifying
changes weren't happening to his body. They were happening to
his mind. At first, the signs were subtle, almost easy
to brush off. He would mumble to himself under his breath,
his words barely decipherable, just a low, constant whisper that
unnerved anyone who happened to overhear. But Then the whispers grew,
(07:19):
became more urgent, more frantic. He started answering questions no
one had asked, responding to voices no one else could hear.
Then came the laughter, soft at first, then suddenly erupting
into maniacal fits that would shake his entire body. His
family would find him staring into the distance, lips moving
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but making no sound, his expression one of pure, unfiltered terror.
But the worst was yet to come. One night, without warning,
Edward dropped to all fours and began racing around the
living room like a wild animal. He howled an inhuman
guttural sound that sent chills down the spines of everyone
(08:01):
in the house. His eyes darted around wildly, as if
he were seeing things that weren't there, and then, in
a voice that wasn't quite his own, he started raving
about giant rabbits with glowing eyes lurking in the dark
corners of the house. He swore they were watching him,
waiting for him, And if that wasn't disturbing enough, his
(08:21):
ramblings took on an even darker tone. He began shouting, screaming,
really about a war between God and Satan, a battle
being waged for his very soul. His family could only
watch in horror, unable to do anything but pray that
whatever was happening to him would pass. But it didn't.
It got worse. By nineteen ninety two, Edward had descended
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into full blown madness. His episodes became unpredictable, violent, and
completely unhinged that he could no longer be left alone
with his wife and children. At this point, they knew
he need medical intervention, but getting him to a hospital
was no easy task. Edward resisted with everything he had,
(09:08):
refusing to go willingly. His strength, fueled by some unseen force,
was so overwhelming that his family was left with only
one option. They had to hog tie him just to
get him into the car. When they arrived at the
emergency room, chaos erupted. The moment they freed him. Edward snapped.
(09:30):
He lunged at nurses, sent medical equipment flying, and thrashed
so violently that it took multiple people to hold him down.
The medical staff had no choice but to sedate him,
finally bringing his madness to a temporary halt. Doctors diagnosed
him with a severe psychotic disorder and prescribed antipsychotic medication
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to calm his symptoms, and for a time it worked.
The terrifying visions faded, the violent episodes ceased. But Edward
hated the way the drugs made him feel. He described
it as being trapped in a slow, foggy world, his
body sluggish and his thoughts weighed down. He felt like
a zombie, stripped of whatever was left of his identity,
(10:14):
and so, like so many before him, Edward made a
fateful decision. He stopped taking the medication. Edward's descent into
madness reached terrifying depths in the early months of nineteen
ninety three. His mental health had deteriorated so drastically that
his wife Katie, was desperate for any kind of help.
(10:35):
In March, she took him to see a well respected
Amish healer named Jacob Troyer, hoping for some kind of remedy.
But Troyer took one look at Edward and knew that
whatever was afflicting him was beyond any herbal cure or
spiritual healing. His words were blunt and chilling. Your husband
has a mental problem. Take him to a hospital. I'm
(10:57):
afraid of suicide. Goodbye and good luck. But whether it
was fear denial, or simply the way the Amish avoided outsiders.
Katie didn't take him to a hospital. Instead, the next morning,
Edward was taken to a chiropractor. The chiropractor massaged Edward's scalp,
gave him some liver pills, and sent him on his way.
(11:19):
A man whose mind was on the verge of complete
collapse was given a head rub and some pills meant
for digestion. Edward was drowning and everyone around him was
pretending he could just float back to the surface on
his own now. As mentioned earlier, Edward didn't have many
non Amish friends, but one of the few he did
have was a man named David Lindsay. David was a
(11:41):
born again Christian, deeply passionate about his faith and determined
to save lost souls. When he met Edward at the sawmill,
he saw him as someone who needed to be rescued.
David wasn't just trying to be a friend, He was
trying to convert Edward. He told him that unless he
left the Amish faith and became a born again Christian,
(12:03):
he would go to Hell. Other evangelists who visited the
wood shop repeated the same warnings. Pushing Edward to believe
that he was trapped, that his wife, his family, and
his entire Amish way of life were keeping him prisoner.
Edward's mind was already fragile, but these words sent him
spiraling further. His paranoia grew. The thoughts that had once
(12:27):
been mere whispers in his mind became deafening screams, and
soon he began to see his own wife as something
far worse than just an obstacle to Edward. Katie was
no longer just the woman who stood in his way.
She was the devil. So on the morning of May eighteenth,
(12:48):
nineteen ninety three, something inside Edward finally snapped. He had
been drowning in depression for months, his mind slipping further
into darkness, but that day day it was different. Something
evil had taken hold. The weight of his torment became unbearable,
and as he stood in the kitchen watching his wife
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Katie go about her mourning, a violent storm erupted within him.
Without warning, he struck his fist slammed into her face
with brutal force, sending her crashing to the ground. I
am the devil, he screamed. Katie knew she had to
act fast. She turned to her six year old son, Danny, saying,
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run get Uncle Dan. Now. Danny didn't hesitate. He bolted
out the door, his little feet pounding against the ground
as he raced to his uncle's house. When he got there,
breathless and wide eyed, he could barely form the words saying,
Daddy isn't well. Dan had seen his brother in dark
moments before, but this time, something in his nephew's voice
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sent a shiver down his spine. This wasn't just another
one of Edward's breakdowns. This was something much worse. He
ran toward the house, hoping, praying he wasn't too late,
but the moment he stepped inside, those prayers were shattered.
The scene before him was straight out of a nightmare.
Edward was on top of Katie, his fists hammering into
(14:17):
her face over and over again. The sound of flesh
meeting bone was sickening, and with every brutal hit, blood
sprayed across the walls, the floor, even the ceiling. It
was pure, unrelenting violence. Bones cracked beneath Edward's relentless assault,
their sharp snaps echoing through the house like the breaking
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of twigs. Later, when paramedics arrived, they would say. Katie's
face was so utterly destroyed that she was unrecognizable. Dan
wanted to stop it, He wanted to do something, but
the brother he knew was gone. What stood before him
was a monster lost in pure, unc controllable rage. Before
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he could react, Edward stood up, lifted his boot, and
with terrifying force, stomped down on Katie's face. The crack
that followed was sickening, the sound of bones turning to
dust beneath his weight. Dan's stomach twisted, his mind screamed
at him to intervene, but fear one he turned and ran,
(15:23):
bolting for help. But if you were Dan at that moment,
what would you have done? Would you have stepped in
or would fear have paralyzed you? Drop your thoughts in
the comments below. Because the horror was far from over.
Edward stood there for a moment. Then, with chilling calmness,
he walked to the corner of the room, slipped on
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his heavy work boots, and returned to his wife's shattered body.
And then he stomped again and again and again. Each
blow crushed what little remained of her skull, until her
head was no longer a head, just a mess of blood,
bone and flesh. But even that wasn't enough. Something snapped
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inside Edward. Moving with eerie precision, he stripped Katie's body
of its clothes, then walked to the kitchen. His blood
soaked hands reached for a steak knife, fingers curling around
the handle as if it were just another tool in
his collection. Without hesitation, he plunged the blade into her
abdomen and dragged it downward, cutting through skin, muscle, and tissue.
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Blood poured onto the floor, thick and dark, pooling around
his feet, but Edward didn't flinch, didn't hesitate, His hands
disappeared inside her, and then, in a moment so horrifying
it defied all human logic, he began pulling her apart.
One by one. He removed her organs, her heart, her lungs,
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her liver, her kidneys, her spleen, her intestines, each one,
dripping with blood, was carefully placed in a knee methodical
pile beside her body. It was surgical, calculated, like he
was completing a task rather than committing an atrocity. When
it was over, he stood up, wiped his hands on
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his shirt, and walked to the sink, He turned on
the water, letting the deep red stains swirl down the drain,
as if washing away all evidence of his monstrous act. Then,
as if it were just another day, he picked up
his bible, walked over to the fireplace, and threw it
into the flames. After that, Edward turned to his four
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year old son and three year old daughter, their small
faces frozen in fear. In a disturbingly calm voice, he
told them to put on their coats, saying they were
going to their grandfather's house. Then, almost as an afterthought,
he added that he would come back to burn the
house down, but fate had other plans. He never got
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the chance. The ambulance crew had already been warned that
the scene was unsafe. The call described a disturbed man
with whispers that Edward was inside killing his wife. Assistant
fire Chief Andrew mc laughlin immediately recognized the name. He
had been to the household about a year earlier and
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had seen Edward in one of his terrifying episodes, howling
like a wild animal, cackling, spitting and lashing out as
his family and paramedics struggled to restrain him. McLaughlin had
been in the ambulance with Edward that day, and remembered
the chilling words he had whispered, My heart is loose,
I'm drowning on the inside. This time, the emergency team
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braced for another violent outburst, but when they found Edward
walking calmly down the road with his two children, he
was eerily quiet. He simply told them that his father
would understand. However, when McLoughlin finally arrived at the ginger
Rich home, nothing could have prepared him for the nightmare inside.
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Katy's naked body lay sprawled on the floor, her skull
shattered beyond recognition. Her internal organs were carefully arranged beside her,
a grotesque and chilling sight. Mc laughlin, horrified, immediately radioed
his crew, ordering them to call the police and keep
a close eye on Edward. The brutality of the scene
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was so overwhelming that one of the e mts ran
outside and vomited. When the police arrived, Edward was promptly arrested.
He was read as rights, but he didn't resist. Instead,
he freely admitted to killing his wife as if it
was a simple fact. At the station, officers ordered him
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to remove his boots and coat for evidence. As he did,
a piece of flesh fell from his boot, a sickening
reminder of what he had done. Even in custody. Lost
in his delusions, he muttered to the officers, for some reason,
I think we could still save her. It was only
after his arrest that doctors finally diagnosed Edward with paranoid schizophrenia.
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A name was finally given to the illness that had
tormented him for so long. But the diagnosis had come
far too late, too late to save Katy, too late
to undo the horror he had unleashed. Neither the prosecution
nor the defense ever disputed that Edward Gingrich had killed
his wife. The evidence was clear, the crime undeniable. However,
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the argument was never about whether he did it, It
was about why he did it. His attorney, Donald Lewis,
painted a harrowing picture of a man trapped in the
grips of severe mental illness, unable to comprehend reality, let
alone his own actions. Edward pleaded not guilty by reason
of insanity, a claim backed by chilling accounts of his
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deteriorating mental state. Edward had begged for help again and again,
to his father, to his wife, to his brothers. He
spoke of the unbearable headaches that torre me, of his
growing fear that God had abandoned him, and of the
dark presence he believed had taken hold of him. He
was desperate, spiraling, but no one understood the true depth
(21:11):
of his suffering. No one realized the horror that was coming.
His wife, Katie, had lived in quiet submission, as was
expected in their Amish community. She was a devoted mother
and wife, but her husband was becoming more erratic by
the day. Even as Edward's mind crumbled under the weight
of his delusions, The Amish way of life rejected modern medicine.
(21:35):
Instead of psychiatric care, he was treated by a chiropractor
who for six months massaged his scalp and gave him molasses.
Hours before Katie's death, that same chiropractor had treated Edward again,
completely unaware of the monster brewing beneath his troubled surface.
Then it happened. Edward's psychosis reached its breaking point in
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the most horrific way, way imaginable. When the fog lifted,
Katie was dead. The brutality of the murder shocked even
the most hardened individuals, But was it the act of
a cold blooded killer or was it the tragic consequence
of untreated mental illness. In the year nineteen ninety four,
Edward was convicted of involuntary manslaughter but mentally ill. He
(22:23):
was sentenced to five years in the prison ward of
a mental hospital. The Amish community and the public at
large were outraged. Many believed this sentence was far too
lenient for such a horrific crime. Mental health professionals and
even members of his own community feared what would happen
once Edward was released. Yet there were others who took
(22:45):
a different view. Some of Edward's fellow Amish saw his
punishment as just, arguing that modern medicine had restored his sanity.
They believed he was truly remorseful, that he deserved the
opportunity to repent, and that with proper guidance, he could
return to the community. Some even offered to take him in,
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pledging to supervise him. Against public outcry, Edward was released
in the year nineteen ninety eight. He was placed in
an Amish mental care facility in Michigan, but after an
unspecified incident, he was transferred to an Indiana psychiatric unit
designated for Amish individuals. Who required constant supervision. Still, he
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longed to return home. He wanted to see his children,
He wanted to rebuild his life. Eventually, Edward moved back
to Crawford County, but the life he had once known
was gone. Though two of his brothers and his teenage
sons had reconciled with him, the rest of the Amish
community had not. Edward was shunned, cast out, forced to
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exist on the fringes of his former life. In the
Amish world, shunning isn't just rejection, it's a rasure. To
be shunned means you are seen but not acknowledged. You
are there, yet you do not exist. His teenage daughter
Mary was placed in the care of her grandparents and
was forbidden from seeing him. Anyone who dared associate with
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Edward risked being shunned themselves. Even his children, innocent as
they were, were not spared. Tensions ran so high that
when some of the children attempted to attend a youth
prayer meeting, they were arrested for defiant trespass. In April
of the year two thousand seven, Edward's desperation reached new heights.
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He and his sons orchestrated the kidnapping of his seventeen
year old daughter Mary in a last ditch attempt to
reclaim a piece of the family he had lost. According
to an affidavit from Mary's aunt Clara Gingerich, Mary and
Clara had been traveling in a horse drawn buggy when
Edward's brother Dan suddenly leapt onto the wagon, seized the reins,
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and redirected them toward another Gingerrich brother's property. As they
neared the barn, Mary's brother grabbed the horses, leading them inside,
where Edward and his other brothers were waiting. Surrounded and outnumbered,
Mary was given an ultimatum leave willingly with her father
or the police would force her to go with him.
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Convinced she had no choice, she went. For five days,
Mary was missing. To many in the Amish community, the
nightmare was repeating itself. A vulnerable young woman was in
the hands of the same man who had murdered her mother.
Some feared that Edward had suffered another psychotic break, that
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history would repeat itself in blood. When Mary was finally found,
safe but shaken, Edward faced legal consequences once again. However,
his punishment was shockingly light. He pleaded no contest to
concealing the whereabouts of a child and was sentenced to
just six months of probation and a five hundred dollars fine.
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Despite regaining contact with some of his family, Edward remained
an outcast. He could never fully return to his old life.
For an Amish man, exile was a punishment far worse
than prison. It was social death. Edward struggled with his
guilt for years. He was haunted by the reality that
his family could never fully embrace him without risking their
(26:23):
own place in the community. His depression deepened and he
became more isolated. His mental state, once stabilized, began to
decline once more. Then, in the year twenty eleven, nearly
two decades after the murder of Katie Gingrich, Edward took
his own life. He had been living with his attorney
for six months. One day, the attorney's wife went out
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to the barn and found Edward's lifeless body hanging. He
had left behind only one final message, scrawled in the
dust on top of a bucket, forgive me please. In
a twist of irony, Edward was finally welcomed back into
the Amish community. After his death, he was buried beside
Katie in an Amish cemetery, a gesture of reconciliation that
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sparked just as much controversy as his life had. Some
saw it as an act of mercy, a way to
finally grant him peace. Others saw it as an insult
to Katie's memory. Despite their differing views, the Amish community
gathered from far and wide to attend the funeral. They
stood together in grief, offering support to Edward's brothers and sons.
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Now that he was gone, his family was no longer outcasts.
They could return, They could belong again, And so the
tragic chapter of Edward Gingrich finally came to a close.
As you probably already know, the Amish are known for
their simple way of life, rejecting modern conveniences and relying
(27:53):
on their faith to guide them. But in Edward's case,
their rejection of modern medicine may have sealed his faith
and that of his wife. Had he received proper psychiatric
care instead of natural remedies, Katie might still be alive.
So what do you think? Could this tragedy have been
prevented if they had just taken him to a hospital.
(28:15):
Was this a case of untreated mental illness, or was
something more at play.
In this quiet, old fashioned town of Rockdale Township, Pennsylvania,
where the Amish embrace a life of simplicity, a nightmare
unfolded that no one could have ever imagined. The Amish
are known for their peaceful way of life, where violence
is rare and murder is practically unheard of. But then
came Edward Jingerich, a man who would shatter that history
(00:22):
in the most brutal and disturbing way possible. He didn't
just kill someone, he carved out his victim's organs and
stacked them in a grotesque display, leaving behind a crime
scene so horrifying that even seasoned investigators were shaken, and
it made Edward the first recorded Amish murderer in over
two hundred years. Of all the cases we've uncovered, this
(00:45):
is one that will stick with you for days, making
you wonder if Edward had been taken to a modern
doctor sooner, could this tragedy have been prevented. You can
let me know your thoughts once you hear the full story,
because trust me, this is as tragic as the mind
of the man who committed it. For starters, Edward was
one of eleven children born into a deeply traditional Amish family.
(01:10):
When he was eighteen years old, his family packed up
and moved to Crawford County, Pennsylvania in nineteen eighty three.
Life in an Amish community is all about simplicity, faith,
and following strict rules, but from a young age, Edward
never quite fit the mold. While most Amish boys grew
up learning farming and carpentry, Edward had an unusual fascination
(01:32):
with machinery, something that wasn't exactly encouraged in his world.
He worked at his family's sawmill, where he quickly developed
a reputation as a master mechanic. He had a special
talent for fixing diesel engines, something rare for someone in
his community. In fact, people often said, if something's broken,
just take it to ed he'll fix it better than
(01:54):
anyone else. But his curiosity didn't stop with machines. He
also had an interest in the outside world, something that
made him stand out even more. Unlike most Amish men,
Edward started spending time with non Amish locals, forming friendships
that others in his community wouldn't dare to. One of
(02:15):
his closest friends was Dave Lindsey, an outsider with whom
he felt comfortable enough to admit something shocking. He didn't
really like the Amish way of life. This was a
huge deal. The Amish are taught from birth that their
way of life is sacred, that the outside world is
filled with temptation and sin. For Edward to openly say
(02:37):
he didn't want to be a part of it, that
was unheard of. But then Katie Settler entered the picture.
Katie was the daughter of a highly respected Amish elder,
and from the start their relationship raised eyebrows. People whispered
that Katie was too good for Edward, that his rebellious
nature would cause trouble. But despite the rumors, family pressure
(03:00):
pushed Edward to propose. The Amish believe in strong traditional marriages,
and backing out wasn't really an option. So on a
rainy day in nineteen eighty six, Edward asked Katie to
marry him. By the spring of nineteen eighty seven, they
were officially husband and wife. At first, it seemed like
(03:20):
Edward was settling into married life, just like everyone expected.
Katie became pregnant soon after, and before long she gave
birth to their first child, a son named Danny, after
Edward's father from the outside, it looked like Edward was
on the right path, married, working, raising a family. But
beneath the surface, something was changing. Edward started to pull
(03:45):
away from his community. He became distant withdrawn, spending more
and more time alone. It wasn't just that he missed
his old friendships or his interest in machinery. This was different.
The once outgoing, twokative Edward was now a man who
barely spoke. He avoided gatherings, lost interest in his work,
(04:07):
and started acting in ways that confused and worried those
around him. Naturally, concern for Edward grew among his family
and the Amish community, but in typical Amish fashion, they
chose to support him the best way they knew how,
staying close, offering quiet, encouragement, and hoping for the best.
What no one could have predicted, though, was that Edward's
(04:29):
detachment was just the beginning, because by July of nineteen
eighty eight, Edward's condition took a disturbing turn. Dizzy spells
became frequent, and he was sleeping an abnormal amount, sometimes
for entire days. His worried wife, Katie, reached out for help,
but in their Amish way of life, modern medicine was
(04:50):
a last resort. Instead, they turned to a trusted chiropractor,
a man favored by the Amish for his natural, drug
free remedies. His solution toe pulling foot rubs and a
jar of molasses, the latter meant to purify his blood.
The cost twenty five dollars. Now, let's be real, none
(05:12):
of that was going to work, but Edward, desperate and
with no other options, went through with it anyway. Despite
multiple visits to the chiropractor and more molasses than anyone
should ever have to consume, his condition didn't improve. But
just when it seemed like everything was falling apart, a
(05:32):
flicker of hope appeared. In nineteen eighty nine, Katie gave
birth to their second son, and by nineteen ninety they
welcomed a daughter. For a moment, it seemed like life
might settle down, but Edward he was already too far gone.
His presence in the family became almost nonexistent. He avoided
(05:53):
his wife and children, showing little to no interest in them.
It wasn't just emotional distance. He became physically absent too,
even refusing to sleep with Katie for fear she would
become pregnant. Again, and when he did speak, it was
only to mutter strange things under his breath, things about darkness,
(06:14):
about visions, about something coming. By the time nineteen ninety
one rolled around, Edward was barely a shadow of the
man he used to be. His physical health had taken
a drastic hit, his once strong and capable hands now
trembled with an eerie frailty. His skin had turned pale,
(06:34):
almost translucent, and the hollowness in his eyes made it
seem like he was peering into a world that no
one else could see. Then, as if fate hadn't already
dealt him a cruel enough hand, things got even worse.
While working in his machine shop, he was exposed to
toxic solvents, which only pushed his already fragile body further
(06:55):
toward the edge. But here's the thing, the most terrifying
changes weren't happening to his body. They were happening to
his mind. At first, the signs were subtle, almost easy
to brush off. He would mumble to himself under his breath,
his words barely decipherable, just a low, constant whisper that
unnerved anyone who happened to overhear. But Then the whispers grew,
(07:19):
became more urgent, more frantic. He started answering questions no
one had asked, responding to voices no one else could hear.
Then came the laughter, soft at first, then suddenly erupting
into maniacal fits that would shake his entire body. His
family would find him staring into the distance, lips moving
(07:40):
but making no sound, his expression one of pure, unfiltered terror.
But the worst was yet to come. One night, without warning,
Edward dropped to all fours and began racing around the
living room like a wild animal. He howled an inhuman
guttural sound that sent chills down the spines of everyone
(08:01):
in the house. His eyes darted around wildly, as if
he were seeing things that weren't there, and then, in
a voice that wasn't quite his own, he started raving
about giant rabbits with glowing eyes lurking in the dark
corners of the house. He swore they were watching him,
waiting for him, And if that wasn't disturbing enough, his
(08:21):
ramblings took on an even darker tone. He began shouting, screaming,
really about a war between God and Satan, a battle
being waged for his very soul. His family could only
watch in horror, unable to do anything but pray that
whatever was happening to him would pass. But it didn't.
It got worse. By nineteen ninety two, Edward had descended
(08:46):
into full blown madness. His episodes became unpredictable, violent, and
completely unhinged that he could no longer be left alone
with his wife and children. At this point, they knew
he need medical intervention, but getting him to a hospital
was no easy task. Edward resisted with everything he had,
(09:08):
refusing to go willingly. His strength, fueled by some unseen force,
was so overwhelming that his family was left with only
one option. They had to hog tie him just to
get him into the car. When they arrived at the
emergency room, chaos erupted. The moment they freed him. Edward snapped.
(09:30):
He lunged at nurses, sent medical equipment flying, and thrashed
so violently that it took multiple people to hold him down.
The medical staff had no choice but to sedate him,
finally bringing his madness to a temporary halt. Doctors diagnosed
him with a severe psychotic disorder and prescribed antipsychotic medication
(09:50):
to calm his symptoms, and for a time it worked.
The terrifying visions faded, the violent episodes ceased. But Edward
hated the way the drugs made him feel. He described
it as being trapped in a slow, foggy world, his
body sluggish and his thoughts weighed down. He felt like
a zombie, stripped of whatever was left of his identity,
(10:14):
and so, like so many before him, Edward made a
fateful decision. He stopped taking the medication. Edward's descent into
madness reached terrifying depths in the early months of nineteen
ninety three. His mental health had deteriorated so drastically that
his wife Katie, was desperate for any kind of help.
(10:35):
In March, she took him to see a well respected
Amish healer named Jacob Troyer, hoping for some kind of remedy.
But Troyer took one look at Edward and knew that
whatever was afflicting him was beyond any herbal cure or
spiritual healing. His words were blunt and chilling. Your husband
has a mental problem. Take him to a hospital. I'm
(10:57):
afraid of suicide. Goodbye and good luck. But whether it
was fear denial, or simply the way the Amish avoided outsiders.
Katie didn't take him to a hospital. Instead, the next morning,
Edward was taken to a chiropractor. The chiropractor massaged Edward's scalp,
gave him some liver pills, and sent him on his way.
(11:19):
A man whose mind was on the verge of complete
collapse was given a head rub and some pills meant
for digestion. Edward was drowning and everyone around him was
pretending he could just float back to the surface on
his own now. As mentioned earlier, Edward didn't have many
non Amish friends, but one of the few he did
have was a man named David Lindsay. David was a
(11:41):
born again Christian, deeply passionate about his faith and determined
to save lost souls. When he met Edward at the sawmill,
he saw him as someone who needed to be rescued.
David wasn't just trying to be a friend, He was
trying to convert Edward. He told him that unless he
left the Amish faith and became a born again Christian,
(12:03):
he would go to Hell. Other evangelists who visited the
wood shop repeated the same warnings. Pushing Edward to believe
that he was trapped, that his wife, his family, and
his entire Amish way of life were keeping him prisoner.
Edward's mind was already fragile, but these words sent him
spiraling further. His paranoia grew. The thoughts that had once
(12:27):
been mere whispers in his mind became deafening screams, and
soon he began to see his own wife as something
far worse than just an obstacle to Edward. Katie was
no longer just the woman who stood in his way.
She was the devil. So on the morning of May eighteenth,
(12:48):
nineteen ninety three, something inside Edward finally snapped. He had
been drowning in depression for months, his mind slipping further
into darkness, but that day day it was different. Something
evil had taken hold. The weight of his torment became unbearable,
and as he stood in the kitchen watching his wife
(13:10):
Katie go about her mourning, a violent storm erupted within him.
Without warning, he struck his fist slammed into her face
with brutal force, sending her crashing to the ground. I
am the devil, he screamed. Katie knew she had to
act fast. She turned to her six year old son, Danny, saying,
(13:30):
run get Uncle Dan. Now. Danny didn't hesitate. He bolted
out the door, his little feet pounding against the ground
as he raced to his uncle's house. When he got there,
breathless and wide eyed, he could barely form the words saying,
Daddy isn't well. Dan had seen his brother in dark
moments before, but this time, something in his nephew's voice
(13:54):
sent a shiver down his spine. This wasn't just another
one of Edward's breakdowns. This was something much worse. He
ran toward the house, hoping, praying he wasn't too late,
but the moment he stepped inside, those prayers were shattered.
The scene before him was straight out of a nightmare.
Edward was on top of Katie, his fists hammering into
(14:17):
her face over and over again. The sound of flesh
meeting bone was sickening, and with every brutal hit, blood
sprayed across the walls, the floor, even the ceiling. It
was pure, unrelenting violence. Bones cracked beneath Edward's relentless assault,
their sharp snaps echoing through the house like the breaking
(14:39):
of twigs. Later, when paramedics arrived, they would say. Katie's
face was so utterly destroyed that she was unrecognizable. Dan
wanted to stop it, He wanted to do something, but
the brother he knew was gone. What stood before him
was a monster lost in pure, unc controllable rage. Before
(15:02):
he could react, Edward stood up, lifted his boot, and
with terrifying force, stomped down on Katie's face. The crack
that followed was sickening, the sound of bones turning to
dust beneath his weight. Dan's stomach twisted, his mind screamed
at him to intervene, but fear one he turned and ran,
(15:23):
bolting for help. But if you were Dan at that moment,
what would you have done? Would you have stepped in
or would fear have paralyzed you? Drop your thoughts in
the comments below. Because the horror was far from over.
Edward stood there for a moment. Then, with chilling calmness,
he walked to the corner of the room, slipped on
(15:45):
his heavy work boots, and returned to his wife's shattered body.
And then he stomped again and again and again. Each
blow crushed what little remained of her skull, until her
head was no longer a head, just a mess of blood,
bone and flesh. But even that wasn't enough. Something snapped
(16:06):
inside Edward. Moving with eerie precision, he stripped Katie's body
of its clothes, then walked to the kitchen. His blood
soaked hands reached for a steak knife, fingers curling around
the handle as if it were just another tool in
his collection. Without hesitation, he plunged the blade into her
abdomen and dragged it downward, cutting through skin, muscle, and tissue.
(16:29):
Blood poured onto the floor, thick and dark, pooling around
his feet, but Edward didn't flinch, didn't hesitate, His hands
disappeared inside her, and then, in a moment so horrifying
it defied all human logic, he began pulling her apart.
One by one. He removed her organs, her heart, her lungs,
(16:51):
her liver, her kidneys, her spleen, her intestines, each one,
dripping with blood, was carefully placed in a knee methodical
pile beside her body. It was surgical, calculated, like he
was completing a task rather than committing an atrocity. When
it was over, he stood up, wiped his hands on
(17:11):
his shirt, and walked to the sink, He turned on
the water, letting the deep red stains swirl down the drain,
as if washing away all evidence of his monstrous act. Then,
as if it were just another day, he picked up
his bible, walked over to the fireplace, and threw it
into the flames. After that, Edward turned to his four
(17:33):
year old son and three year old daughter, their small
faces frozen in fear. In a disturbingly calm voice, he
told them to put on their coats, saying they were
going to their grandfather's house. Then, almost as an afterthought,
he added that he would come back to burn the
house down, but fate had other plans. He never got
(17:54):
the chance. The ambulance crew had already been warned that
the scene was unsafe. The call described a disturbed man
with whispers that Edward was inside killing his wife. Assistant
fire Chief Andrew mc laughlin immediately recognized the name. He
had been to the household about a year earlier and
(18:14):
had seen Edward in one of his terrifying episodes, howling
like a wild animal, cackling, spitting and lashing out as
his family and paramedics struggled to restrain him. McLaughlin had
been in the ambulance with Edward that day, and remembered
the chilling words he had whispered, My heart is loose,
I'm drowning on the inside. This time, the emergency team
(18:39):
braced for another violent outburst, but when they found Edward
walking calmly down the road with his two children, he
was eerily quiet. He simply told them that his father
would understand. However, when McLoughlin finally arrived at the ginger
Rich home, nothing could have prepared him for the nightmare inside.
(19:00):
Katy's naked body lay sprawled on the floor, her skull
shattered beyond recognition. Her internal organs were carefully arranged beside her,
a grotesque and chilling sight. Mc laughlin, horrified, immediately radioed
his crew, ordering them to call the police and keep
a close eye on Edward. The brutality of the scene
(19:21):
was so overwhelming that one of the e mts ran
outside and vomited. When the police arrived, Edward was promptly arrested.
He was read as rights, but he didn't resist. Instead,
he freely admitted to killing his wife as if it
was a simple fact. At the station, officers ordered him
(19:41):
to remove his boots and coat for evidence. As he did,
a piece of flesh fell from his boot, a sickening
reminder of what he had done. Even in custody. Lost
in his delusions, he muttered to the officers, for some reason,
I think we could still save her. It was only
after his arrest that doctors finally diagnosed Edward with paranoid schizophrenia.
(20:06):
A name was finally given to the illness that had
tormented him for so long. But the diagnosis had come
far too late, too late to save Katy, too late
to undo the horror he had unleashed. Neither the prosecution
nor the defense ever disputed that Edward Gingrich had killed
his wife. The evidence was clear, the crime undeniable. However,
(20:28):
the argument was never about whether he did it, It
was about why he did it. His attorney, Donald Lewis,
painted a harrowing picture of a man trapped in the
grips of severe mental illness, unable to comprehend reality, let
alone his own actions. Edward pleaded not guilty by reason
of insanity, a claim backed by chilling accounts of his
(20:49):
deteriorating mental state. Edward had begged for help again and again,
to his father, to his wife, to his brothers. He
spoke of the unbearable headaches that torre me, of his
growing fear that God had abandoned him, and of the
dark presence he believed had taken hold of him. He
was desperate, spiraling, but no one understood the true depth
(21:11):
of his suffering. No one realized the horror that was coming.
His wife, Katie, had lived in quiet submission, as was
expected in their Amish community. She was a devoted mother
and wife, but her husband was becoming more erratic by
the day. Even as Edward's mind crumbled under the weight
of his delusions, The Amish way of life rejected modern medicine.
(21:35):
Instead of psychiatric care, he was treated by a chiropractor
who for six months massaged his scalp and gave him molasses.
Hours before Katie's death, that same chiropractor had treated Edward again,
completely unaware of the monster brewing beneath his troubled surface.
Then it happened. Edward's psychosis reached its breaking point in
(21:58):
the most horrific way, way imaginable. When the fog lifted,
Katie was dead. The brutality of the murder shocked even
the most hardened individuals, But was it the act of
a cold blooded killer or was it the tragic consequence
of untreated mental illness. In the year nineteen ninety four,
Edward was convicted of involuntary manslaughter but mentally ill. He
(22:23):
was sentenced to five years in the prison ward of
a mental hospital. The Amish community and the public at
large were outraged. Many believed this sentence was far too
lenient for such a horrific crime. Mental health professionals and
even members of his own community feared what would happen
once Edward was released. Yet there were others who took
(22:45):
a different view. Some of Edward's fellow Amish saw his
punishment as just, arguing that modern medicine had restored his sanity.
They believed he was truly remorseful, that he deserved the
opportunity to repent, and that with proper guidance, he could
return to the community. Some even offered to take him in,
(23:06):
pledging to supervise him. Against public outcry, Edward was released
in the year nineteen ninety eight. He was placed in
an Amish mental care facility in Michigan, but after an
unspecified incident, he was transferred to an Indiana psychiatric unit
designated for Amish individuals. Who required constant supervision. Still, he
(23:29):
longed to return home. He wanted to see his children,
He wanted to rebuild his life. Eventually, Edward moved back
to Crawford County, but the life he had once known
was gone. Though two of his brothers and his teenage
sons had reconciled with him, the rest of the Amish
community had not. Edward was shunned, cast out, forced to
(23:52):
exist on the fringes of his former life. In the
Amish world, shunning isn't just rejection, it's a rasure. To
be shunned means you are seen but not acknowledged. You
are there, yet you do not exist. His teenage daughter
Mary was placed in the care of her grandparents and
was forbidden from seeing him. Anyone who dared associate with
(24:15):
Edward risked being shunned themselves. Even his children, innocent as
they were, were not spared. Tensions ran so high that
when some of the children attempted to attend a youth
prayer meeting, they were arrested for defiant trespass. In April
of the year two thousand seven, Edward's desperation reached new heights.
(24:35):
He and his sons orchestrated the kidnapping of his seventeen
year old daughter Mary in a last ditch attempt to
reclaim a piece of the family he had lost. According
to an affidavit from Mary's aunt Clara Gingerich, Mary and
Clara had been traveling in a horse drawn buggy when
Edward's brother Dan suddenly leapt onto the wagon, seized the reins,
(24:57):
and redirected them toward another Gingerrich brother's property. As they
neared the barn, Mary's brother grabbed the horses, leading them inside,
where Edward and his other brothers were waiting. Surrounded and outnumbered,
Mary was given an ultimatum leave willingly with her father
or the police would force her to go with him.
(25:17):
Convinced she had no choice, she went. For five days,
Mary was missing. To many in the Amish community, the
nightmare was repeating itself. A vulnerable young woman was in
the hands of the same man who had murdered her mother.
Some feared that Edward had suffered another psychotic break, that
(25:38):
history would repeat itself in blood. When Mary was finally found,
safe but shaken, Edward faced legal consequences once again. However,
his punishment was shockingly light. He pleaded no contest to
concealing the whereabouts of a child and was sentenced to
just six months of probation and a five hundred dollars fine.
(26:01):
Despite regaining contact with some of his family, Edward remained
an outcast. He could never fully return to his old life.
For an Amish man, exile was a punishment far worse
than prison. It was social death. Edward struggled with his
guilt for years. He was haunted by the reality that
his family could never fully embrace him without risking their
(26:23):
own place in the community. His depression deepened and he
became more isolated. His mental state, once stabilized, began to
decline once more. Then, in the year twenty eleven, nearly
two decades after the murder of Katie Gingrich, Edward took
his own life. He had been living with his attorney
for six months. One day, the attorney's wife went out
(26:46):
to the barn and found Edward's lifeless body hanging. He
had left behind only one final message, scrawled in the
dust on top of a bucket, forgive me please. In
a twist of irony, Edward was finally welcomed back into
the Amish community. After his death, he was buried beside
Katie in an Amish cemetery, a gesture of reconciliation that
(27:09):
sparked just as much controversy as his life had. Some
saw it as an act of mercy, a way to
finally grant him peace. Others saw it as an insult
to Katie's memory. Despite their differing views, the Amish community
gathered from far and wide to attend the funeral. They
stood together in grief, offering support to Edward's brothers and sons.
(27:32):
Now that he was gone, his family was no longer outcasts.
They could return, They could belong again, And so the
tragic chapter of Edward Gingrich finally came to a close.
As you probably already know, the Amish are known for
their simple way of life, rejecting modern conveniences and relying
(27:53):
on their faith to guide them. But in Edward's case,
their rejection of modern medicine may have sealed his faith
and that of his wife. Had he received proper psychiatric
care instead of natural remedies, Katie might still be alive.
So what do you think? Could this tragedy have been
prevented if they had just taken him to a hospital.
(28:15):
Was this a case of untreated mental illness, or was
something more at play.
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