Abandoned Prayers

Dear Reader:

The book you are about to read is the latest bestseller from the St. Martin’s True Crime Library, the imprint the
New York Times
calls “the leader in true crime!” Each month, we offer you a fascinating account of the latest, most sensational crime that has captured the national attention. St. Martin’s is the publisher of perennial bestselling true crime author Jack Olsen, whose SALT OF THE EARTH is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence; Joseph Wambaugh called it “powerful and absorbing.” Fannie Weinstein and Melinda Wilson tell the story of a beautiful honors student who was lured into the dark world of sex for hire in THE COED CALL GIRL MURDER. St. Martin’s is also proud to publish two-time Edgar Award-winning author Carlton Stowers, whose TO THE LAST BREATH recounts a two-year-old girl’s mysterious death, and the dogged investigation that led loved ones to the most unlikely murderer: her own father. The book you now hold, ABANDONED PRAYERS, by acclaimed writer Gregg Olsen, takes you on an odyssey from a man’s humble beginnings through a bizarre cross–country journey to a conviction for murder.

St. Martin’s True Crime Library gives you the stories
behind
the headlines. Our authors take you right to the scene of the crime and into the minds of the most notorious murderers to show you what really makes them tick. St. Martin’s True Crime Library paperbacks are better than the most terrifying thriller, because it’s all true! The next time you want a crackling good read, make sure it’s got the St. Martin’s True Crime Library logo on the spine—you’ll be up all night!

Charles E. Spicer, Jr.

Executive Editor, St. Martin’s True Crime Library

“A tough new voice rises in the ranks of true crime writers. Even the reigning giants of the genre are taking notice and offering praise.”

—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

ACCLAIM FOR THE TRUE CRIME CLASSICS OF
GREGG OLSEN

ABANDONED PRAYERS

“An absorbing, sobering, disturbing book.”

—Omaha World-Herald

BITTER ALMONDS

“Absolutely fascinating . . . One of the most devious female minds in crime history. Stella Nickell has won her dubious spot in the annals of crime—thanks to Gregg Olsen’s research and reporting.”

—Ann Rule

“[A] truly remarkable book. The trailer-park babes of
Bitter Almonds
leap off the page, fingernails sharpened and aimed for your eyes . . . meticulous reporting and engrossing, vivid detail plunges the reader into a world of schemes and dreams. This is one of the best true crime books of the ’90s.”

—Jack Olsen, author of
Son: A Psychopath and His
Victims
and
“I”: The Creation of a Serial Killer

“A real page-turner . . . a compelling and fascinating tale of family psychopathology taken to the extreme.”

—Jonathan Kellerman

“Masterfully written . . . a tale of intricate suspense.”

—Rod Colvin, author of
Evil Harvest

THE CONFESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN BLACK WIDOW

“More interesting than the crime itself is Olsen’s portrait of Nelson as a brash, trashy, manipulative sexpot . . . watching Nelson as she almost gets away with murder will fascinate long after the last page.”

—Publishers Weekly

“This time Gregg Olsen has given us a very sexy book that is as disturbing as it is seductive. One reads it compulsively and wonders afterwards, ‘Why did I like this so much?’, as if one had not so much read it as had a very destructive affair with it. A dangerous and informative book, as irresistible as its painfully, wonderfully vicious heroine—or villain, whichever she is. This book might make some moralists more humble.”

—Darcy O’Brien, bestselling author of
Two of a Kind:
The Hillside Stranglers
and
Murder in Little Egypt

“Gregg Olsen’s standing as one of America’s finest crime journalists will rise even higher with
The Confessions of an American Black Widow
. Here are all the ingredients of a great crime story—murder, infidelity, greed, nymphomania. But the main element is Olsen’s skill at describing and explicating human misbehavior. A must read!”

—Jack Olsen, bestselling author of
Doc
and
Predator

“What a combination! God, Mammon, carnality, all rendered vividly under Olsen’s assured touch.”

—Stephen Michand, bestselling author of
The Only Living Witness
and
Murderers Among Us

“Gregg Olsen introduces the reader to a character so mesmerizing, so frightening and so evil that one has to keep reminding himself that this amazing fast-paced story is true.”

—Carlton Stowers, bestselling author of
Careless Whispers

“This brilliant true crime story deserves acclaim and thunderous applause.”

—Elizabeth Loftus, co-author,
The Myth of Repressed Memory
and 1998 President of American Psychological Society

“That rare book that is at once a page-turner and an important chronicle of true crime. An enlightening and devastating read.”

—Steve A. Eggar, PhD., author of
Killers Among Us:
An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation

“This is probably Gregg’s best work yet. Sharon Lynn is the kind of woman—and this is the kind of book—that people will talk about. Gregg Olsen shows us just how chilling it is to realize what might be going on in the house next door.”

—Clark Howard, bestselling author of
Love’s Blood

IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG

“Gregg Olsen’s
If Loving You is Wrong
is a wonderfully researched book that makes the tabloid stories about Mary Kay Letourneau and her forbidden love sound like comicbook stuff. Everyone who wants to understand the back-story of the child-woman and her overwhelming passion for a man-child must read
If Loving You is Wrong
. Olsen’s book is both gossipy and sympathetic, searing and brilliant. If Mary Kay is the Humbert Humbert of the female sex—and she is—this book is her
Lolita
. A must-read for both true crime aficionados and students of abnormal psychology! I read until 3 a.m.!”

—Ann Rule

ALSO BY GREGG OLSEN

Bitter Almonds

Mockingbird

Starvation Heights

The Confessions of an American Black Widow

If Loving You is Wrong

GREGG OLSEN

ABANDONED PRAYERS

Copyright © 1990 by Gregg Olsen.

Cover photograph of Eli Stutzman by John Mikolaskek, Lifetouch National School Studios Inc.; photograph of barn by Helen D. Gunderson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

ISBN: 0-312-98201-1

Printed in the United States of America

Popular Library edition / December 1990
St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / June 2003

St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

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For Gary and Danny

The Amish do not wish to be involved with the modern world—yet many helped me because of their desire to see the truth come to light. I thank the many whose names do not appear in this book, but who were vital to the development of this story.

I owe considerable thanks to the Gingerich family, whose courage and love for their daughter and grandson were strong enough to allow them to open their homes and hearts to an outsider looking for the truth. In addition, I am exceedingly grateful to Liz Chupp, who made her personal diaries available, thus clearing up much of the haziness of Stutzman’s past.

After a little more than two years of work, there are many others to whom I owe a debt of appreciation:

Ohio:
Dennis Webb, the Canton
Repository
reporter, for his enthusiasm for the story; Lyndon Spigelmire, who provided much background from the archives of the Wayne County Public Library; Wayne County sheriff Captain Jim Gasser for his encouragement; and researcher Suzanne Myers for her help and interest.

Nebraska:
Thayer County sheriff Gary Young, the Reverend Jean Samuelson, and state patrol investigator Jack Wyant, who shared personal observations and details of the investigation; court reporter Don McIntyre for his precise
hearing transcript; and the people of Thayer County—all of whom are a part of this story.

Colorado:
detectives Tony Archuleta and Bill Perreira of the Durango Police Department for the information they shared on their murder investigations; and
Louise Hanson
, for her courage in telling what she knew about Stutzman and his relationship with Danny.

Texas:
David Alvarado, supervisor of criminal courts, Travis County District Clerk’s office; reporter Kellye Norris; and Travis County assistant district attorneys Marianne Powers and Carla Garcia and defense counsels Connie Moore and Debra Hunt.

I am also indebted to my perceptive editor, Charles Conrad, whose guidance with the book’s structure and content was invaluable; and literary agent David Black and his associate David Means for the support and encouragement they gave a first-time author.

Closer to home, much gratitude to Tim Burns and Karen Palmer and others at
Trailblazer
; and Rudy Yuly, whose support in 1988 kept this story alive.

As for Eli Stutzman, who declined my many requests for interviews, I still ask the question muttered by Gary Young and others countless times:
Why?

Gregg Olsen

July 1990

I have attempted in this book to reconstruct actual events by relying on police reports, grand jury testimony, court transcripts and trial evidence, as well as more than three hundred interviews conducted over a two-year period.

To protect the privacy of many people who played a part in this story, I have used pseudonyms. All names which appear in italics when first used in the book are pseudonyms. All other names are real.

The early morning was as dark and arctic as the inside of a locked freezer as Eli Stutzman’s AMC Gremlin came down U.S. 81 through Thayer County, Nebraska. Wind cut through the car and snow scuttled across the road.

The season was frigid. Indeed, winters in southeast Nebraska can be exceedingly cold and drawn out, with snowfall often lasting into March. Forecasters had predicted an especially cold winter that year, but Eli Stutzman didn’t care. He had no intention of staying in that region, which locals boast is the exact geographic center of America.