Red Barn Murder

The Amish, or Pennsylvania Dutch, a religious community in the Anabaptist tradition, reside primarily in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Eschewing most modern conveniences in favor of an ascetic, devout existence, the Amish are easily recognizable by their plain dress and non-motorized methods of transportation (particularly horse-drawn buggies).

In recent years, the Amish tradition of rumspringa has entered the popular American consciousness through such documentaries as The Devil's Playground. Teenagers participating in rumpsringa routinely gather for large parties reputedly fueled with large quantities of alcohol and drugs. On July 17, 2002, in an incident known as the Red Barn Murder, three non-Amish (or, in Amish colloquial parlance, "English") teenagers were discovered dead on the property of an Indiana farm the morning after a massive party estimated to have drawn nearly 1000 Amish teenagers.

The bodies of the three teenagers were discovered found under an overturned hayrick in a corner of a large barn on the farm's property. All three died of blunt force trauma to the head. The killers have never been identified as no useful forensic evidence was recovered from the scene. Interviews with party attendees yielded no useful information as detectives' reports indicate that every identifiable witness was under the influence of alcohol or narcotics on the evening in question.