By, David Lohr
(Continued)
On March 18, 1993, Mary, 3, and her brother Danny, 5, stood by helplessly as their father beat their mother Katie, 29, so severely that her brain spilled out on the floor. Afterwards, Gingerich undressed her and used a steak knife to make a seven-inch incision in her lower abdomen. He then reached his hand up inside her body cavity and removed her lungs, kidneys, stomach, liver, spleen, bladder, uterus and heart. He stacked the organs in a pile next to her body and stuck the knife into the top of the pile. When he was finished, he threw his Bible into the fireplace and led the children outside where he was later arrested.
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| The Gingerich House |
During the spring of 1995, a jury of his peers found Gingerich guilty of "involuntary manslaughter but mentally ill." He was sentenced to a minimum term of two and one-half years and a maximum of five with credit for time served. Gingerich was denied his first bid for parole in December 1995; however, on March 19, 1998, at the age of thirty-four and having served his full sentence, he was released from the State Correctional Institution in Cambridge Springs, Pa.
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| The Murder Weapon |
Following his release, Gingerich moved to Harmony Haven in Evart, Mich., a community for troubled Amish people. He purportedly remained there until December of last year. His movements since that time are not yet clear, but English residents of Rockdale Township have reported seeing him in the area as long as six weeks ago.
Yesterday afternoon, Mary's grandparents made a move uncommon in the Amish community. They went to the Crawford County Court House and filed for legal custody of Mary. A decision in that case has not been announced.
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The Only Amish Man Convicted of Murder:The True Story of Edward D. Gingerich
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