Murder In America - EP. 56 PENNSYLVANIA - The Amish School Shooting

Episode Date: March 8, 2022

In 2006, a brutal school shooting took place in Pennsylvania that shocked America to its core. The perpetrator, the victims... they were all so random. And the master plan for the massacre was filled with unspeakable, horrific details. This is the story of the 2006 West Nickel Mines School Shooting, and you're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Get delicious ingredients and meals delivered weekly TO YOUR DOOR with HELLOFRESH! Go to https://hellofresh.com/STATE16 to get up to 16 FREE MEALS and 3 FREE GIFTS when you sign up! - BetterHelp online therapy works for us, and it will work for you. Sign up today at https://betterhelp.com/MIA and get 10% off your first month of therapy. - Do YOU want to be a detective? Well, download JUNE'S JOURNEY today on the Google Play or Apple App store and you can! - Research & additional writing provided by Laryn Gardner. Editing assistance provided by Joseph Pietz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash America for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash America. Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Usually we hop right into our episodes, but since this is our return to murder in America, we just wanted to make a couple of announcements for those of you who couldn't get them the first time. Well, first of all, Courtney and I are married now. Courtney has now Courtney Brown, and we had a beautiful wedding here in Austin, Texas.

All of our friends and family came in. That's why we took these weeks off so we could enjoy. This truly monumental and special moment in our lives, We also went on our honeymoon. We went to Hawaii. It was an absolutely amazing and much-needed vacation. If you want to see the live stream that we did of the wedding, you can go to my YouTube channel, The Paranormal Files.

Our wedding is on there. It was so beautiful. Everyone was crying. I was crying. Courtney was crying. But yeah, we are so excited that we are legally Mr. and Mrs. Brown now. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy.

But without further ado, I want to make the announcement that we are changing our release schedule fully to Tuesdays so every single week there will be a new episode of Murder in America posted on Tuesday. We've had to play around with our release schedule ever since, you know, creating the show and starting it because I also have a release schedule on YouTube. So sometimes it's conflicting on when we can get our time and our work in. But we've finally found a pattern that works. And every Tuesday consistently, we're going to be bringing you all these episodes. So look forward to all of that.

There are some very, very big stories we're going to be getting into soon, some big. things that we're going to be doing with our show, and this year we're going to make murder in America bigger and better than ever. And also just one more time, if you're listening to our show, make sure you take a screenshot of your screen and upload it to Instagram,

Twitter, Facebook, wherever you have friends that you can share our show with because it's that organic growth that is helping make murder in America, the show that it is today with the family that we have with us listening now. Courtney and I love you, and we're happy to have you all here listening.

and now that we're back. Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.

This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. Today's story brings us to Bart Township, Pennsylvania. It's a small town with a population, of around 3,000. But within Bart Township is an even smaller community called Nickel Mines. Here, there are miles and miles of rolling hills, dirt roads, and farms. The people that live here are kind and keep to themselves. Nickel Mines is a town that doesn't usually get a lot of media attention, not because it's unimportant, but because it's the heart of the Amish country.

As many of you know, the Amish live very different lifestyles than you and I. focused on faith in their community. They use horse-drawn carriages instead of cars. They don't have cell phones, television, computers, or any technology for that matter. It's almost as if they live in a time frozen around the 1500s. Throughout time, as the rest of the world continued to adapt to modern technology, the Amish didn't feel the need. In fact, to them, these modern advancements took away from what's really important in life.

God, family, and community. And although most of the world doesn't understand their way of life, one thing we can all take away from the Amish is their ability to love and care for the people around them. The Amish community of Nickelmines, Pennsylvania, were good people, and all they wanted to do was live a peaceful life that honored God. But one day, in 2006, their community would face an unfathomable tragedy when someone from the outside world stepped into their village with a desire to kill. This is the story of the Amish school shooting.

I'm your host, Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. October 2nd, 2006 was a beautiful fall day in the quiet farming village of nickel mines. The sky was a vibrant blue, and leaves were rustling on the early autumn trees. As the sun peaked through the horizon that morning, many people in the Amish village were already awake starting their chores. Some were milking their cows, others were feeding livestock, and the children of the village were getting ready for school.

There were about 28 children between the ages of 6 to 13 that attended the West Nickel Mine's school. But this wasn't your average school, like the one you probably have pictured in your head. They didn't have a plethora of teachers, a big lunchroom, or a gymnasium. The West Nickel Schoolhouse was a small one-room building. It was white with a bell on top of the front entrance. The school had two outhouses. baseball field in the back for the children to play. And around the school was a white picket fence.

It looked just like a school from the little house on the prairie. And as all the children stepped inside that day and sat down at their desks that morning, they had no reason to believe that today would be unlike any other. Just before the school day was set to start, 20-year-old Emma May Zook walked inside of the building and welcomed her students. She was a young teacher who loved children and she dedicated her life to caring for the young people in her community. And Emma was the perfect fit for this job. Not only did she love it, but the children in the village absolutely adored her. Emma's family was also really proud of her decision to become a teacher. And on this day, she actually brought her mom and her two sisters who were visiting into the classroom to watch

her teach. One of her sisters was pregnant and the other was caring for an infant, but Emma was happy to have them there that day. Sitting among Emma students were the Miller sisters. Eight-year-old Mary Liz and her seven-year-old sister Lena were attached at the hip. The bright blue-eyed sisters were a special part of their community, and because they were so close in age, they did everything together. Next to the Miller sisters was another group of siblings. The Stalphases, eight-year-old Sarah Anna and her 12-year-old sister Anna May were the only two girls amongst their six brothers, and like the Miller girls, they were extremely close. Now, because this community is so small, some of the people in the classroom have the same last

name, but they aren't related. So there was another group of siblings with the last name Staltzvist as well, one girl being eight-year-old Rachel, who walked to school every single morning with her three school-aged brothers. One of the oldest girls in the classroom was 13-year-old Marion Fisher and sitting next to her were her two sisters, 11-year-old Barbie and 9-year-old Emma. The sisters often walked to school with their younger brother, cutting across the cornfields to avoid the road. Another small child in the classroom that day was 7-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol. Naomi had five brothers, and she absolutely loved her family.

It's been said that although she loved school, Naomi would cry every morning when she had to leave her parents. And lastly, the youngest of the class was 6-year-old Rosanna, can. who had just started school that year. Rosanna loved going to class every day and she often walked to the schoolhouse with her relative 13-year-old Esther King who was one of the oldest in the class.

Now, we only mentioned about 12 people in the classroom, including the students, the teacher, MMA, and her relatives. But there were around 30 people filling the small schoolhouse that morning. And if you noticed, we only mentioned the girls of the classroom. There were plenty of boys. in Ms. Sukk's class that day. But they aren't the main part of this story.

Because a man named Charles Roberts IV wasn't interested at all in the Amish boys at the West Nickelmine School. Instead, he had his eyes set on the little girl. Ms. Zook started the school day like she did every other, singing a song with her students. And as she did, an eerie sign hung above her on the chalkboard. The sign read, welcome visitors. but the visitor that was about to burst through the door of the little schoolhouse would be far from welcomed.

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luxurious experience, or even add protein to a veggie meal. Go to Hellofresh.com slash state 16 and use code state 16 for up to 16 free meals and three. free gifts. That's HelloFresh slash State 16. Go sign up. We promise y'all will enjoy. Just about a mile away from the schoolhouse at around 8.45 a.m., a. 32-year-old family man named Charles Roberts and his wife Marie put two of their three children on their school bus. As Roberts said goodbye to his kids, a neighbor, Paula Derby, heard Marie Roberts say, Hey, kids, come back here. Dad wants to give you a hug. The children then excitedly ran back to their father and gave him a hug that lasted a little longer than their usual hugs. And before

sending them back on the bus, Charles tells his children, remember, Daddy loves you. His children would have no idea the horrors that their father would go on to commit later that morning. In fact, no one saw it coming. Charles Carl Roberts IV was a respected member of his community. He was the local milkman in town, and many of the Amish families in the village knew him. They referred to him as one of the many English who lived in the area, which is a term that the Amish used to refer to the non-Amish. Now, typically, Amish people don't really interact with a lot of people outside of their community because of their different lifestyle. But because Charles was the town's milkman, he was one of the few English people that came around the village. By 2006, Charles and his wife Marie had been

married for 10 years, and they had three children together all under the age of six. The family lived in a small house in Georgetown, Pennsylvania, with a sandbox and a trampoline in the backyard. If you were to pass their home, you would think that a loving and happy family lived there, which was partly true. One of the main things that people said about Charles was that he was a great father. He was kind of shy and quiet, but his children were his entire world. He would always step up and willingly change diapers, help out around the house. He attended every birthday party and would always cheer from the sidelines at his kids' soccer games. But the Roberts family life wasn't always so cheerful.

You see, years earlier in 1997, Charles and Marie were pregnant with a little girl. And like any couple, they were excited. They spent time picking out names, buying clothes and toys for the nursery. But suddenly, in September of that year, their baby was born three months premature. And unfortunately, she would only live about 20. 20 minutes after birth. This unexpected loss was the worst thing either of them had ever experienced, and it seemed to have the biggest effect on Charles. Throughout his grief, he faced many periods of depression and also extreme anger. He was angry that God, who is supposed to love his children,

would take one of them away. Throughout the years, Marie said that Charles would fall into these stages of grief, but he always seemed to pull himself out of it. Over time, Charles did what he could to be a good dad to his other children. Years would pass after the death of his newborn, and it seemed like his wounds were healing. That was until the summer of 2006. Charles' coworkers always thought of him as cheerful and outgoing, but in the months before October of 2006, they said he started to act differently. He seemed off, more quiet and distant. But they weren't too worried about him because a week prior to October 2nd, his attitude

actually had started to improve, and he seemed to be his old cheerful self. But as we have seen in cases before, sometimes the biggest monsters show spurts of improvement before they commit heinous acts. And that's what seems to be the case here, because even though he seemed to be improving, records would show that in the months prior, Charles had made multiple purchases stocking up on his guns and ammunition. Now, we aren't 100% sure of when Charles started planning his attack on the Amish. But according to Colonel Jeffrey Miller of the Pennsylvania State Police, Charles always bought in small quantities so that no purchase would set off any red flags or alert anyone to what he was planning. He was careful, meticulous, and it wouldn't be long until his

dreadful plan would come to fruition. Morning of October 2, 2006, after sending his children off to school, Charles would go back inside of his home and write four suicide notes. And then, he talked about how the death of his daughter, nine years earlier, caused him unbearable grief that was too much for him to handle. This grief fueled an unrelenting anger at God, and he wanted revenge. After signing the note, Charles would fill his truck with all of the supplies he had gathered for his attack, including two handguns, a rifle, over 600 rounds of ammunition, gunpowder, a stun gun, knives, chains, wires, plastic flex ties, nails, bolts, and lumber. Not exactly your everyday milkman supplies.

And in a disturbing twist, these aren't the only things that Charles wanted to use during his attack. He also brought along sexual items of nature, like candles, two tubes of lubricant, a change of clothing, and a board with 10 large bolts on it. Now, one can assume that maybe Charles'all. Charles already had those sexual items in his truck, and they weren't a part of his attack. But a checklist that investigators would later find proved otherwise. These sex toys were on his checklist, right underneath all of the guns and ammunition. Once Charles read through the list and made sure everything was there, he got inside of his truck

and made his way to the Amish country. This podcast is sponsored by Better Help Online Therapy. Over the last few years, when dealing with the pandemic, stress levels have been pretty high. Even getting married last month and weeks leading up to our wedding, we're super stressful, which is why Colin and I both signed up and have been getting online mental health help with better help.

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month at BetterHelp.com slash M-I-A. That's B-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash M-A. Once Charles arrived at the village, he parked his truck across the street from the schoolhouse at a local business called Nickelmine Auction. A local recalled seeing Charles just sitting in his truck and watching the Amish children run around outside playing at recess. It's safe to assume that he was waiting for them to go back into the schoolhouse because, after all, it's easier to target people when they're trapped inside of a small room.

It was around 10.20 a.m. at this point, and as recess ended and each of the children started making their way, back into the schoolhouse, Charles grew more and more excited for what was to come. Just before 10.25 a.m., Charles pulls out of the local business, drives across the street, and backs his truck right up against the school. Then, empty-handed, Charles walks through the front doors interrupting the class. There was a brief pause as everyone watched the strange man enter the room. Charles then turned to the teacher, Emma May, and asked her if anyone had seen a cleavis pin, which is a large bolt used in construction.

M.M.A. was confused and politely told the man that no, she hadn't seen it. And then Charles exited the schoolhouse. No one really knows why Charles did this. Was he overwhelmed by what he was about to do? Or was he checking out the classroom to see how things were laid out? Maybe he wanted to know how many kids were inside or if there were any threats he wanted to be aware of. No one really knows.

What we do know is that after Charles walked back out to his truck, he grabbed his 9mm handgun and re-entered the schoolhouse. I always wonder what those brief seconds are like when a gunman first enters a room. I'm sure for a lot of people, there's a moment of confusion, followed by immense terror. And I'm sure the children in the room weren't able to fully grasp what was happening. As soon as their teacher, Emma May, saw the gun in Charles's hand. She grabbed her mother and made a run for it out of the back of the building. Seeing this, Charles became enraged in order to group of boys in the room to chase out.

after them. He told the boys that if you don't bring them back, I'm going to kill every last person in this room. Now, before you think poorly of MMA for leaving her students in the room with the gunmen, you have to think of the situation they were in. MMA had a split second to make a decision. Stay in the classroom with her students or run and get help. A heartbreaking part of this case is that the Amish don't have cell phones. There wasn't a landline in the classroom or any way that they could have alerted people that they were in danger. So once M.MA and her mother exited the back of the schoolhouse, they started to run as fast as they could,

and they knew they needed to find someone with a phone, someone outside of their village. As M.MA and her mother ran the long distance to their neighbors, Charles forced the boys in the classroom to go outside with them. He needed their help in carrying in his arsenal of deadly supplies. One by one, the young boys carried Charles' guns, ammunition, lumber, and sex toys inside of the room. And once he had everything that he needed,

he ordered all of the children to line up execution style in front of the chalkboard. As you can imagine, the children aged 6 to 13 were terrified. Some were crying, others were confused. Lydia Zuck, Emma May's pregnant sister, was still in the room with the children at the time, and she was doing her best to try and keep everyone calm. One of the youngest students' 7-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol

was especially terrified. and Lydia did everything in her power to reassure the seven-year-old that everything was going to be okay. Based on witness accounts, at this point in the story, Charles was panicked. When he planned this attack, he never anticipated that M.MA would escape, and now his plan was ruined. As he stood there and watched the crying children, he quickly ordered the pregnant Lydia Zook and all of the boys in the room to leave. As they all hurried out of the back door,

nine-year-old Emma Fisher also managed to escape by sneaking out behind Lydia. But Emma's older sisters, Marion and Barbie, remained inside with the gunmen. Charles was now alone with ten young schoolgirls, and it was here when Charles ordered all of them to lay on the floor facing the chalkboard. Of course, the girls obeyed. Charles then grabbed a bag of zip ties and wrapped them tightly around each of the girl's legs. Once he was sure that they wouldn't be able to move, he started to board up all of the windows of the schoolhouse with the lumber that he had brought along.

Around the time Charles finished boarding up the windows, MMA had finally reached the neighboring farmhouse and was able to call 911. This was at 10.35 a.m., 10 minutes after Charles entered the classroom. It would take the police another 10 minutes to arrive at the schoolhouse, and we weren't able to find out exactly what happened inside of the room during that time. But once Charles was aware of the police presence outside, he became even more panicked. And at 10.55 a.m., he placed a call to 911 and told them to send the police

away. Police fire or ambulance. Hello, your cell phone's cutting in and out. Do you have an emergency? Yes. Okay, what's the address of the emergency? It's on White Oak Road. I just took 10 girls hostage and I want everyone off the property or where else. Okay, all right. Hold on a second. Hello? Okay, what's the problem there? Don't try to talk me out of it. Get them all off the property now.

Sir, I want you to stay on the phone with me, okay? I'm going to let the state police down there and I need to let you talk to them, okay? Can I transfer you to them? No, you tell them and that's it. Right now or they're dead in two seconds. Hang on a minute. We're trying to tell them, okay? Two seconds, that's it.

Listen to me. Listen. And then the line goes dead. After a few moments, it's clear to Charles that his plan is a plan and it's clear to Charles that his plan is ruined, so he decides to place a call to his wife, Marie. She had just gotten home from a prayer meeting at church when she saw that her husband was calling. Marie had no idea what was happening a mile down the road from her house, so when she answered

she was jovial, but the moment she heard her husband's voice, she knew something wasn't right. Marie would later say, I had never heard Charlie's voice sound like that before, not in almost ten years of marriage. Something was horribly wrong. Charles proceeded to tell his wife that when he was 12, he had molested two to her husband. young relatives, aged 3 and 5, and lately he had been dreaming of doing it again. Marie sat on the phone, wide-eyed and confused.

What was happening? She had never heard her husband say anything like this before. In the investigation afterwards, all of Robert's relatives denied this story. It was determined by the police that this disturbing claim about his having molested his relatives was untrue. So why was he telling her this? Before Marie could even gather her words, Charles started telling her about the suicide notes that he left. In one of those notes, he referenced his anger and the impact of losing

their baby daughter, saying, it changed my life forever. I haven't been the same since. It affected me in a way I never felt possible. I am filled with so much hate, hate towards myself, hate towards God, an unimaginable emptiness. It seems like every time we do something fun, I think about how Elise, their baby, wasn't here to share it with us, and I got right back to anger. Charles then told his wife that he wasn't going to come home, that the police were already there and that he would never see her again. The line then went dead, and Marie's life was forever changed. At 10.58 a.m., a frantic, confused and terrified Marie Roberts called in to 911 herself. In that call, she tries to find out more about what's happening. It's clear that

she's only worried that Charles is going to hurt himself, not that he could be planning to heard others, and Marie had no idea that he was holding 10 Amish girls hostage a mile down the road. Master County 911. Yes, my name is Marie Roberts. My husband just called me on his cell phone and told me that he wasn't going to be coming home and that the police were there and not to worry about it. And I have no idea what he's talking about, but I'm really scared. And I wondered if, how I find out what's going on.

Okay, where are you calling from? I'm calling from my home. Okay, and your husband didn't tell you where he was? No, he didn't. He called you on his cell phone? Yes, he did. Okay, and all he said to you was that... I'm not coming home.

He was upset about something that happened 20 years ago, and he said he was getting revenge for it. I don't think he was getting revenge on another person, but I'm worried he might be trying to commit suicide. When Marie got off the phone, she was horrified. Her entire life had changed within minutes, and she was especially shocked because Charles had no criminal history, no diagnosis, or any obvious signs of mental illness, despite his occasional stages of depression.

Marie wouldn't find out later what the actual circumstances were regarding her husband, but before we take you back to what's happening inside of the schoolhouse, we want to discuss what investigators believed Charles's plans were for that morning. He had clearly planned to be in the schoolhouse for a long time that day. Otherwise, why the candles and the change of clothes? Why all the supplies? The fact that Charles told his wife that he had been dreaming of molesting children, it's clear that he had intended on sexually assaulting the young girls. This theory was even further confirmed when police found the sexual lubricant

and the board with the bolts on it. Investigators believe that Robert's original plan had been to board up the windows so no one could escape and then tie the girls to the board and molest them one by one. Luckily, because M.MA ran out of the school that morning, Charles wasn't able to sexually assault any of the young girls. And interestingly enough, a horrible event occurred less than a week earlier that some believe may have given Charles this disturbing idea, the idea of taking children hostage and molesting them.

You see, a few days prior, there was another tragedy that occurred in Bailey, Colorado, when a 53-year-old gunman named Duane Robert Morrison entered a public high school with two guns and a backpack full of sex devices. On that day, he took six girls hostage, lined them up against a blackboard, and sexually assaulted them over a period of three hours. Duane ended up releasing four of the girls.

A fifth escaped during a SWAT team rescue attempt, and he horrifically killed the sixth girl before killing himself as the SWAT team descended on him. Now, obviously, there are a lot of similarities between these two cases. Both involve a school and all-girls hostage situation, and both involve disturbing sex toys. There was never any definitive confirmation that Charles was copycating this Colorado tragedy, but it's hard to ignore the similarities and the fact that they happened within days of one another.

Did Charles see the news coverage about the Colorado show? and decide that that's what he was going to do to the Amish school down the road? We don't know. But back at the Amish village, police have surrounded the schoolhouse trying to form a plan on how to get inside. They used a bullhorn on multiple occasions to try and convince Charles to give himself up. News spread quickly through the Amish village of the gunmen holding their children hostage, and before long, nearly everyone in the community gathered near the schoolhouse.

Among the crowd was M.M.A. Zook, her relatives, and all of the boys that had been set free. All that they could do was huddled together and pray that their kids would make it out safely. Inside the schoolhouse, Charles is agitated. This is not what he had planned. He was growing more and more confused and he was losing his composure. He even started ranting to the tied-up girls about how his baby girl died, even though he had prayed she wouldn't. And he said he was angry with God because she died and that he needed to get revenge.

He then asked the girls to pray for him. Some said they would, and how terrifying it must have been for them. Here was a disturbed man, waving a gun around, screaming about needing to get revenge on God, and yet they still comforted him, telling him that they would pray for him and his family. Marion Fisher, age 13, was one of the oldest among the hostages. According to witnesses in the classroom, Marian negotiated with Charles and told him, Shoot Me First. It's unknown whether or not Marion was trying to distract Charles, or leave a little more time for the

police to maybe break down the doors and rescue the girls. Or maybe she thought, if he killed her, then the other girls could live. But either way, a heroic statement from a 13-year-old girl in such a traumatizing situation. After Marion said, shoot me first, her sister, 11-year-old Barbie, said, me second. Then, 12-year-old Anna May said, me next. The oldest girls of the group were literally offering their lives so that they could save the younger girls. And it was at that very moment when Charles walked up to 13-year-old Marion, who asked to be shot first, and he shot her, point-blank execution style.

In the next few moments, Charles unloaded his gun on the group of girls. Once the shots rang through the quiet Amish country, police began to pull. bused through one of the boarded-up windows. But just before they got inside, Charles turned the gun on himself. And inside of the classroom, police find a gruesome scene. Near Charles's body, 13-year-old Marion Fisher and 7-year-old Naomi Rose Eversall were immediately declared deceased. Many of the other girls lying around the classroom were barely clinging on to life, one being 12-year-old Anna Mae Staltzvice. First responders immediately took her in an ambulance, but tragically, she died en route to the hospital. The Miller sisters, Lena and Mary Liz Miller

made it to the hospital, but they both eventually succumbed to their injuries as well. The five other girls in the classroom were all hospitalized but ultimately survived. Six-year-old Rosanna King suffered severe brain injuries and has required constant care since the attack. Rachel Ann Staltzvus, Barbie Fisher, Sarah Staltzvus, and Esther King all had varying degrees of injuries, but have made full recoveries. Do you never get tired of a who-done-it? Then you'll love June's Journey. As you play June Parker, an amateur detective

investigating a series of mysteries, full of twist and turns around every corner. If you like murder in America, you will love June's journey. You'll put your powers of observation to the test, sharpen your sleuthing skills, and relish the thrill of solving the case. Now, I think a lot of you,

people out there listening, we'll be able to connect with this statement, but when I watch true crime, TV shows or listen to podcasts, I feel like I could be a detective and I could solve this mystery that's at hand. And that's basically what you do in June's journey. You go back to the roaring 20s and you can let your inner Sherlock escape as you solve a mystery across thousands of vivid scenes. I'm telling you, it is a very, very engrossing story. The graphics are great.

And that's what I think I like the best about June's journey is the actual story. It's like you're playing through a novel, a true, mystery. And it's a mystery that you can solve and we've both solved it. And let me tell you, it's totally worth the play. June's Journey is a phenomenal game made by a phenomenal developer. So yeah, we can't talk highly enough about it. There's a detective in all of us. Find your inner detective and download June's Journey for free today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. And once again, whenever you download an app or sign up for a product using our codes, you're helping out our shows. So go check out June's Journey today.

And now let's get back to the ending of this horrific story. The Amish community of Nickel Minds faced an unfathomable tragedy that morning on October 2, 2006. In the days after the shooting, their village prepared the five girls for burial. The women in the community made five small white dresses for each of the girls to be laid to rest in. And the men of the village dug up five small graves by hand. The horse-drawn carriages pulled the... tiny caskets down the road to their final resting place, a route that took them right by Charles Roberts home. It was a sad day in Bart Township, Pennsylvania, and as news spread across

the country about the massacre and the small Amish schoolhouse, it shocked the nation. The Amish are pacifist, they're kind people who live simple lives. They keep to themselves, and they don't want their lives to be intruded upon by modern conveniences. They have a deep faith in God, and they care deeply about their community, a community that was now shattered by the acts of an evil man from the outside world. shootings like this are always tragic. But the idea of a gunman stepping into an innocent community that's basically from another time, it just seemed unfathomable. But as shocking as this tragedy was, the response of the Amish people of Nickel Mines was even more shocking. That very afternoon, after the shooting, the grandfather of one of the

girls who had died was overheard telling others, quote, not to think evil of this man, end quote. Then, that evening, hours after the families were racked with grief, worrying about their injured daughters, their traumatized sons. That very evening, members of the community paid a visit to Charles' wife, Marie Roberts, her children, and even her parents. The Amish made Marie and her family dinner. They comforted her in the midst of her grief. Then, they even brought food to Charles' parents. While there, Charles' father cried uncontrollably because of his son's actions that A day, an Amish man in the group comforted him by holding Charles' father in his arms for over an hour while he wept. How beautiful that in the midst of their grief, they're able to show compassion

to the killer's loved ones. This love and forgiveness that the Amish showed to Charles' family is a testament to the kind of people they are. They care about everyone, not just the people in their community. Two days after the murders, the West Nickel Mine Schoolhouse was demolished. Police officers who had been on the scene said there wasn't a desk or blackboard that hadn't been splattered with blood. The walls were pierced with bullet holes, and the building was a terrible reminder of the horrors that occurred within its walls. So they built a new school in the village in a different location called the New Hope School. The community built this school as differently as possible from the old one so that the children of the village could go back and not be as traumatized.

The school opened in April of 2007 with many of the children who had been there during the tragedy in attendance and notably missing those who were not. There has been a lot written about the forgiveness that the Amish offered in the wake of this tragedy, but they did want people to know that they were angry, that they were heartbroken, that they were grieving, but they put their faith in the idea that it wasn't their place to judge, that God was in charge. Charles Roberts would have to stand before God, and when he did, he would receive his punishment. Aaron Esch, Sr., whose sons had been in the schoolhouse that day, said that forgiveness was the one good thing that can come out of the tragedy. Aaron also said that seeking revenge or retribution will eat you up.

Forgiveness is so ingrained in our heritage that it is part of our character. Jonas Beiler, the founder of the Family Resource and Counseling Center, says that there was a misconception that forgiveness meant that they had moved on from what had happened or had gotten over the tragedy. He counseled many people in the community after the shooting and says that the grief, anguish, pain, and trauma were all still very real to them. Many of them had PTSD, startled if they hurt a helicopter. Other survivors, including the other students, were racked by guilt thinking they could have stopped the shooting. Biler would later say they're all dealing with this one day at a time the best they can. There are still nightmares. Some of the schoolchildren are dealing with what we would call emotional instabilities,

and this will go on for years yet. But the Amish used this grief and trauma to help others that have been in their same situation. In fact, many of the Amish and Nickelmines actually worked with the families of Sandy Hook. Another tragic story similar to this one. In another act of compassion, when the Roberts family came, gathered to bury Charles Roberts, the man who killed the five children. About 30 members of the Amish community attended his funeral in support of Marie and her children. The amount of love that they showed to her and her family shocked everyone.

And even further, after $4.3 million was donated to the Nickel Mine's Children's Fund to help with medical costs. The Amish decided to divert some of that money to a separate friend. fund that they set up, a fund called the Roberts Family Fund. For the benefit of Marie Roberts and her family, Marie would later write them saying, quote, your love for our family has helped to provide the healing that we so desperately needed. Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world.

And for this, we sincerely thank you. End quote. When I first heard of this story and I heard of all of the kindness that the Amish gave to the Roberts family, I was in tears. They gave food to the killer's wife. They consoled his grieving father. They attended his funeral. And they set up a fund to support the wife of the man who came onto their land and murdered their children. And it goes to show just how kind the Amish really are. In every tragedy, people want to place blame. It could have been very easy for them to be angry with Charles' family, to be angry with the outside world in general. But instead, they decided to show love and forgiveness, because that's what the Amish do. They care for people, not just within their little community, but for people on the

outside as well. And to end this story, I want to highlight one fact about this case that I've always found to be interesting. Because the Amish don't use technology, there aren't any public pictures available of the children that were murdered that day. When you hear a story like this, it's nice to be able to put a face to the victims, but when you're dealing with this specific story, there are no pictures to put to faces. The memories of the children are all that's left, but they still live on in family members and friends' minds. And even though we don't know what the children looked like, I'm sure that the people in nickel minds will never forget their names. And by telling their stories, we help those around the world to remember them as well.

Memorial of the Lives that were lost that day in 2006, the Amish of Nickel Mines planted five trees near the area where the old school once stood, one for every life lost on that tragic day. And nowadays, on a warm summer's day, the tree is green, healthy, and a potent reminder that even in the face of uncertain tragedy, life always goes on. Hey, everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you again for tuning in to this week's episode of murder in America. What a crazy couple of weeks, Courtney and I have had. We got married, like we said, here in Austin, Texas, where we live.

We're planning our move to Philadelphia now, which we're moving in May. So that's coming up really fast. It's not like our lives are slowing down at all. But the wedding was beautiful. It went exactly according to plan. The weather was great. Our families all flew in. It was so just beautiful.

And our honeymoon was great. Thank you to everyone who helped. Everyone who sent gifts. We love all of you online. so much. And in the next couple of weeks, we actually have, I'd say, some of our biggest episodes to date coming, some really, really dark cases and really just kind of, yeah, sad stuff. But it'll be really, really well done. And we can't thank you all enough for joining us. We can't believe that we've hit so many millions of plays. We have so many thousands of you all out there listening

every week. It was, it was honestly crazy to see the amount of DMs that we were receiving in comments when we weren't posting because of our wedding break. So yes, here we are. We are back and we're going to be on that consistent Tuesday release schedule now. Like we said, we actually have hired a couple of team members that have been helping us put all these episodes together. Shout out to you guys. Yeah, the machine is working now. So once we've put all these puzzle pieces in place, the puzzle is starting to finally take shape and we can see the bigger picture. But it's all at the end of the day, thanks to you people online listening. We cannot thank you enough from bottom of our hearts. Yeah, this has been a crazy journey, but it's about to get even wilder.

So buckle up for the ride, everybody, and keep asking that question. The dead don't talk, or do they? See you next week, everybody.