True Crime All The Time - Samuel Hochstetler

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

18-year-old Amish teenager Samuel Hochstetler was accused of killing 28-year-old Rosanna Kinsinger in an Amish community near Rutland, Ohio. Rosanna was found dead in her trailer on March 13, 2025, after being last seen the previous day. Her death was ruled positional asphyxia, and investigators determined she had been raped and murdered. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Samuel Hochstetler. This case became complicated by questions about Hochstetler’s understanding of his Miranda rights. His attorneys argued that his Amish upbringing, limited formal education, and language barriers prevented him from understanding the consequences of speaking with investigators. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 525. 525 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing great, man. Having a good week.

We just talked on our, well, would have been last week by the time this one comes out. True. But we talked about on our Patreon, I've just been in a YouTube phase. I found a new channel. and once I find a new channel, man, there's so much to binge. I get in a YouTube mindset. You're a YouTuber. I like it.

Yeah, I like it. You do. So I kind of like MeTube, you know? Yeah. You know, I don't really, or the I tube. I don't really do a lot of YouTube. There's a lot of discount things that you subscribe to. Yeah.

Sometimes I'll do We Tube. You know, it just depends. Yeah. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all righty. We're, this is a case from our home state of Ohio. It is. We're talking about Samuel Hosh Detler.

He's an Amish teenager who was recently sentenced to 25 years to life for aggravated murder. Prosecutors argued that he killed Rosanna Kinsinger during a non-consensual sexual encounter, while his defense argued that her death was accidental. 28-year-old Rosanna Kinsinger lived in an Amish community near Rutland, Ohio. Our state has one of the largest Amish populations in the world. I do. A lot of people like to go vacation there.

Yeah. And what do you call Amish country? Yeah. You go up there and get some of those meat pies and, you know, all those handmade things that they make. Yeah. Yeah. They're big on baskets. baskets, blankets.

All kinds of different things. Yeah. And it might be, you know, strange for people from other parts of the country or, you know, people outside of this country. But it's not unusual to be driving down the road and see someone, an Amish person, driving a horse and buggy. Oh, I know. They may, traffic may be piled up for a mile behind them.

If you can't get around it, you're just going to have to wait. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. There's a few up in my neck of the woods, you know, because I'm out in the... More so up towards you. Yeah. Than where I am, I don't see a lot of that here.

But when you travel up north and then more to the, like, the center of the state, there's a lot more communities. I always feel bad when I zoom past them, you know, doing 70, 80 miles an hour, you know. Yeah. And, you know, when you flip them the bird, I think that's rude. I don't think there's any call for that. It's funny when their hat blows off, you know, Because of your jet engine.

My jet engine, yes. In your traverse. You act like you got a Hellcat or something. Oh, man. So this community consisted of about 10 families who lived and worked on a farm operated by a man named Moses Troyer. Rosanna had her own trailer. So not a big community, if you're just talking about 10 families.

Sources reported that she had moved to the area from Missouri to be a school teacher. she was also making soap and other products from goats milk. That's good soap right there from goat's milk. It is. And it's kind of like what you were talking about, right? The Amish make a ton of different things. They do. Some of it is sought after and people drive to Amish country to purchase some of those things.

Rosanna was last seen alive on March 12th, 2025. At the time, she was helping her friends build a greenhouse. her friends would later report that 18-year-old Samuel Hosh Stettler, who worked at the community sawmill, was flirting with Rosanna. The old sawmills. Remember those days? Probably not. I don't.

I don't think I'm old enough for that. I don't even know if you are that much to have worked in a sawmill. Well, you know, so I had some buddies, a family. Great people. They had a bunch of kids, Walton's. And they operate this sawmill. And, you know, I'd go down there and hang out with them and we cut some, cut some logs and, you know, get some boards out of it, you know, and call it a day, you know. And it was a good family.

Always spent the night. They were always big about saying good night to you. It was really, really strange, but. They sound wonderful. Yeah. Almost too good to be true. Almost. Almost like a television script.

Kind of sounds like it, you know. Like an idyllic family. Yeah. I don't know how much you know about the. Amish. I don't know anyone who's Amish or anything like that. What I do remember from my childhood was a movie called Witness. Did you ever see that with Harrison Ford? Yeah. That's a great movie. And the girl from Top Gun. Yes. Kelly. Kelly. McGinnis. Yes. McGillis. I think McGillis. McGillis. Yeah. One of those. That is a great movie. It was. And I remember watching it when I was

young, probably too young to be watching that movie. I don't remember what it was rated. The rating system back then was a little strange. It was like, okay. But anyway, so, you know, what I know of the Amish community really comes from movies or television shows or documentaries or things like that. It's kind of hard to know much about that type of community unless you're in it. I mean, they're obviously pretty quiet, right? They're not advertising what they do and how they operate. I mean, but you learn things from like seeing that show. Yeah, I mean. There was some reality TV at one point with the Amish family, which was strange in its own, that they even allowed that to happen. Well, then you have one where they leave and go out and then come back. Yeah, around that 16 year old

timeframe, right? They get the chance to go and get crazy and either stick with it or come back and it's out of your system. I forget they have a special name for it. I'm sure they do. Are you going to remember it? No. I'm sure you are not. No.

So Rosanna and Samuel, they weren't courting, and they also didn't have any sort of casual relationship with each other. It does sound like he was flirting with her. Yeah. The following day, March 13th, a group of neighbors went looking for Rosanna after they realized no one had. had seen her all day. And I think, you know, is that going to be more evident in this very small community consisting of 10 families? And I would argue, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I agree with you.

It's, you know, a lot of the cases that we talk about, people are thought to, you know, something is wrong because a loved one calls can't get a hold of them or something like that. But it's not because they live in this very small community and they're probably seen every day, right, by a bunch of different people. So this group goes looking for her. They saw that the back door to her trailer was left open. Moses Troy was the one who entered the trailer and he found Rosanna's body in the bed. She was found nude, face down, and bent over the bed. Her goat was inside. Her goat was inside. near her body. Authorities believe the animal just kind of wandered inside the trailer through the open back door. Yeah. So, you know, we talk a lot about animals, you know, especially dogs. Dogs are

thought to be extremely loyal. And in many stories, they will sit by their, their owner. Oh, yeah. Even while that person is dead, there's some really tragic, but also kind of, kind of heartwarming stories like that. But it's not just dogs, right? There are other animals who, you know, are loyal. And maybe that's what we're talking about here. After finding the body, the group stood outside and discussed who they should call. Moses Troyer called 911.

They also decided to send a group to Rosanna's parents home two miles away. Good decisions. Yeah. I mean, all good decisions. But, you know, if you. you're Amish, do you have to have a discussion about some of these things? First of all, does everybody have a phone? Because I know sometimes Amish people don't. No, I don't think most of them. I think they have to go to a place where there is a phone. Yeah. I can't imagine many Amish people

have cell phones, right? I mean, those are some of the things that they just don't have. Yeah. But somehow he called 911. Maybe he did have to go somewhere and call. We don't know. But part of this group that was sent to Rosanna's parents' home was Samuel Hostel. He was the one to break the news to Rosanna's parents. Which is really weird when you realize he was involved.

Yeah. Because this is different, right? We're not holding back who the perpetrator is. in this one, we sometimes do. The Megs County coroner's office immediately declared Rosanna's death suspicious. Her body was taken to the corner's office for an autopsy, but the preliminary results were inconclusive. And I don't know how you couldn't rule that death suspicious.

I don't need to be a coroner to say, hey, there's something not right about this. Yeah. You know, she's found nude. Yep. face down, bent over the bed. Yeah. Could somebody have had a heart attack? Yeah, maybe.

This is a very young person, though. So it's suspicious to me all day long. Ultimately, her cause of death was determined to be positional asphyxia. And best gears determined Rosanna had been raped and murdered. And we've talked about asphyxia a lot of times in different episodes. I don't think I've ever heard. the term positional is fixia. Nor have I.

Really? Through all your Mintsa training, you're not aware of this? I'm not aware of this and this application. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. You got you. So a devastating loss, right?

Absolutely. For the community in the aftermath, they came together to support Rosanna's parents. And that's something that you often see. Sure. And, you know, it can be a, It can be very heartwarming to see all these people come together and kind of rally around a grieving family. Now, this is a close-knit community. So you would expect that.

But it happens a lot of times in other situations, sometimes including people who didn't even know the victim. And that's always, you know, kind of amazing to me. Yeah. I think that's, you know, an awesome thing that human nature does, right? I mean, they find a reason to come together, help people out. Like you said, even if they don't know, they can understand how those people might feel. Yeah. And they want to try to do something to help that out.

Yeah, whether they're volunteering for the search or in this case, you know, her body was discovered pretty quickly. Yeah. And they're just maybe there for a candlelight vigil or they've been. there to support the family or whatever it is. It's always amazing to me. Samuel Hosh Stettler volunteered to go to their farm to help with chores and prepare the barn for Rosanna's funeral. The Kinsinger's welcomed him as a guest in their home for the entire weekend.

How crazy is that, though? When you think about eventually they're going to find out. Yes. That to them, it's like letting the devil into their life, their house, right? Right. I mean, this is a guy that took their daughter's life. Yeah. But like you said, they don't know at the time. No. And my first thought is they probably couldn't even imagine that it was someone within the community. Yeah. Why would you? They had to have believed this was a stranger, somebody from the outside, because nobody within their community would have done this. And so they're treating everybody as. as though, you know, they're not a suspect. Probably the family is. He's also being very helpful.

Yeah. Right? He notified them about the death. He's offering to do chores and help out around their farm. And don't forget, he's also a pretty young guy, right? 18? Yeah. Yeah.

Over the following weeks, detectives followed up on tips, leads, and rumors. They ultimately identified Samuel as a. person of interest. And I could see how that could happen. Number one, we are talking about probably a pretty limited pool here of people who knew her. He was thought to have been flirting with her. Okay. Those are the types of things that are probably going to land you on the person of interest list. Right. You're not technically the boyfriend or the ex, but if you were flirting with her and people knew it or saw it and that comes. And that comes to the attention of the police, all right, they're going to want to maybe put a little bit of

extra emphasis on you. Yeah, they're going to take a dive into that. Yeah, definitely. Samuel was detained for an interview on May 5th, 2025. During this recorded interview, Samuel admitted to killing Rosanna, but he claimed it was an accident. He said he knocked on Rosanna's door and she welcomed him inside, he admitted to placing a blanket over her head while he had sex with her and afterward, realizing she was dead. Okay. Hmm. So number one, he admitted this very quickly.

Right. This wasn't a holdout situation, which is what we see most often, right? People deny, deny, deny. They change their story. They're confronted with evidence. and then maybe ultimately they confess. Now, he's admitting to being there. He's admitting to having sex with her,

but he's saying that he didn't intentionally kill her. But what's the strange part here? The fact that they're having sex, no, let's face it. A lot of people do. I mean, I don't know how that's looked upon in the Amish, probably not favorably, I'm assuming. Probably not if you're not married, you know. But in this scenario, not to get too graphic,

but while they're having sex, he's placing a blanket over her head? Why is that? Does he not want to see her? Is it something that he feels like it's the right thing to do because they're not married? So if we don't, we don't look at each other. If we can't see each other, it's okay.

But is she not making any vocal? protests or anything like that. It just seems very strange. Yeah. Right. And I think police thought it was as well because they arrested him. They charged him with the murder. Meggs County Sheriff Scott Fitch said in a news release announcing the charges,

this case was such a tragedy to those who knew Rosanna. She was a beloved individual in her community. Detectives have worked around the clock searching for answers and were able to get those answers. hopefully this investigation helps bring some closure to the victim's family. And on behalf of the sheriff's office, we offer our deepest condolences. Well, let's talk about closure, right? Some people think that's a terrible word. There really is no closure.

Yeah. And I get that. But how can this really change a lot at this point in time? Yeah, we know who was involved. But he's saying it was an accident. prosecutors, investigators are saying it was a murder. So there's not a lot of like real definitive closure here. Right. Because we're still in flux.

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Speaking with reporters with W-A-Z, community member Moses Troyer explained that Samuel came from an Amish community in Kentucky and had been living with him for the past few months. Okay, I think if you're this Moses Trrier guy, you're probably going to feel a little bad about that. I think there's some guilt that's going to sit in a little bit. Like should I have not allowed him to join our community and. Right.

Yeah. No, there's no way he could have known that that's what was going to happen. But still, I think that that guilt is going to set in. There's just no way around it. Troyer said it was scary when Rosanna died in March and disturbing to think that for weeks, he'd been living with the person who was charged with her murder. He wished he could ask Samuel what. Yeah.

And again, I think a lot of scary things here, right? He was caught weeks after the murder. What happened in those few weeks, he stayed at her parents' house. Yeah. He was eating dinner with him. Yeah, he was treated like a guest. Yeah, he was helping out around the farm and things like that. But then he's also living with this guy who had.

seemingly no idea that, you know, he was involved in this in any way. I think when all of this comes out, this admission by him, even though he didn't admit to killing her, it's got to be completely shocking to everybody. Number one, he's a member of the community. Sure. And I think that's shocking for them probably on its own. And then number two, this idea that this was an accidental death while the two of them were having a sexual encounter, that's got to be shocking in an Amish community, I would think,

as well. Yeah. I mean, I get it. You know, I'm trying to think it, think about it from his point of view. You know, he's saying, look, I did something, we did something taboo in the community. It was an accident. But why would you not want to come clean when the police are involved? Why would you continue the charade up to that point?

You know, that's where I have a problem believing. Well, and I always think that, right? If something really is an accident, I get it. People might get scared, but you would think most people would come forward. Yeah. Call the police and say, this happened. You know, it was an accident. You're getting out in front of it that way.

Absolutely. And if you're telling the truth, hopefully it goes your way. Now, you may not want to do that if you're not telling you. the truth. There you go. And that's what I always believe. It's like the it's an accident or here's what happened when it doesn't fit the facts really all that much. That just comes about after somebody's caught. Yeah. You know, and I tend not to believe it. And I think most people don't believe it either. On May 22nd, 2025, Samuel was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, rape, two counts of kidnapping and strangulation.

The grand jury also returned specifications of sexual motivation and sexually violent predator. Okay. So, I mean, about as serious of charges as you can get. Absolutely. In the fall of 2025, a judge heard arguments about whether Samuel's recorded confession should be allowed at trial. His attorneys argued he didn't understand his moraine. Rends. Defense attorney Kirk McVey noted that Samuel had limited formal education and his primary

language is Pennsylvania Dutch. He was confused about his constitutional rights when he confessed to killing Rosanna during what he described as a consensual sexual encounter. Samuel's Amish upbringing and language barriers prevented him from fully grasping the legal implications of waving his rights. Well, that can actually happen because if I remember right, I think the Amish, they quit sending their kids to any type of schooling, like 12 or something like that. And then their job is to work in the farm or, you know, whatever trade is to do whatever family trade there is.

And that could be in some communities. I'm sure it differs, right? Yeah. In different communities. my thinking is okay formal education is one thing i don't remember learning about miranda rights in high school no my thought is if you're not getting to watch like television shows and movies you may have no idea what miranda rights are i mean most of us learned about that probably first in on television or in movies or like your case when you got arrested sure you know

At that time, you're like, oh, that's what that is. Yeah. But we do learn a lot, right? From or did. Yeah. You know, nowadays, people learn a lot from social media, TikTok, places like that. If you don't watch any of that, if you're not allowed to, if it's kind of against your religion, and you don't even own a television, let alone have cable or electric or whatever, you may not know some of those things. Because you've never been arrested.

You've never been, you know, exposed to that. Now, the language thing, I don't know. I don't know. Pennsylvania Dutch, I get it. But it seemed like he spoke pretty good English to me. But I understand, you know, the defense wanting to make those arguments. The confession came after he was brought in for DNA collection. during questioning, he initially denied being inside Brousana's trailer,

but eventually admitted to the killing after being read his rights twice. So it sounds like they went above and beyond. They didn't read them just once. They read them twice. I also think he had to know. Let's to say there's a language bearer and say maybe you don't know what Miranda rights are, but you still know what's right and wrong. Right.

I mean, he had to know what was right. what was wrong. Yeah, but what's that got to do with Miranda rights? Well, that's true. Because with Miranda, we're really talking about, hey, you don't have to talk. You have the right to have an attorney present. You have the right to stop answering questions at any time. I get what you're saying.

Did he understand right from wrong? I'm sure he did. But also, you know, he's able to give this confession without, I'm assuming a translator. Yeah. I think the English is there, but he described entering Rosanna's trailer. She went to the bedroom, laid down and closed her eyes. He covered her head with a blanket. He also said he didn't understand the word sex and referred to the act as breeding.

Okay. And maybe that's, you know, a religious angle. They only have sex, as we would call. all it for the act of procreation. I know that that is thought of in some circles. Yeah. But again, how much of this is real. It's no different than any other case, right?

The fact that he's Amish doesn't change that fact. It's how much of this is real and how much of this is being said or a way to kind of cover his ass. Exactly. is my thought. Yeah. Let me, I'm going to say it this way. I'm going to say this happened because of being Amish. Yeah. And some of that's just going to be up to the jury at some point to try to figure out, right? Who's telling the truth? Who's lying? How much of this is the truth? Those types of things. Although Samuel claimed Rosanna didn't resist or say no. Prosecutors argued the autopsy evidence contradicted his account.

showed that the sex was non-consensual. I mean, even his story to me sounds very strange, right? She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. Yeah. So he walks up behind her and puts the blanket over her head and what? Just begins having sex with her? Right. So the first thing that goes through my mind is, I mean, is she already?

naked. She has to be right? When when she goes down to lay on the bed face first. If you believe what he's saying, I mean, maybe he, maybe somehow he does something to drug her, takes her clothes off, lays her down like that. Oh, I think it feels guilty. Yeah. It covers her head so he doesn't have to look at her eyes. Yeah, no, I think there's a lot of things that really happen. I'm talking about his version. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And does it make sense? And to me, it just, it doesn't. Doesn't pass that test.

I'm not saying that she couldn't have wanted to engage with him in that manner. It just from his story and the autopsy does not seem as though that's the way this went down. Yes, it's not adding up. No, not to me at all. A detective testified that Samuel understood his right. during the interview, he asked clarifying questions and seemed to comprehend the proceedings. He appeared relieved after confessing. And his demeanor suggested that he wanted to tell the truth.

And that's kind of what I was talking about earlier, right? Obviously, your English is good enough. You're asking clarifying questions. You're having a conversation with the detectives. It's not like they had a translator in there. So I think that the English is not your first language argument is a little tough. Now, the formal education and the lack of understanding the Miranda rights through like television or social media, I think you could make that argument. Yeah, you could.

Probably much easier than you could be than you could. English isn't your first language. Samuel initially suggested another man named Homer might have been involved and then admitted to the crime himself. I mean, when you go that route, again, it's not helping your case, right? No. If you're trying to mix in somebody else, well, Homer was here too. And, you know, Homer was the one that actually did this and that. Well, you're saying, too, as though he implicated himself in the beginning.

Yeah. I don't think he did. I think he's saying, Homer. Hey, this Homer guy might have been involved. Yeah. But then at some point, he says, well, this was a sexual encounter and then an accident occurred.

A little less likely to believe that when you just tried to blame it on some other guy. Right. So, yeah. I mean, that's just another thing, right, that a jury would have to look at. The prosecutor noted that Samuel was able to articulate his thoughts.

and participate in complex discussions about Amish dating practices and religious beliefs, he explained Amish courtship to detectives. He described how potential couples have to go through their parents and meet with family present. Doors must remain open during visits because of temptation. He also said he didn't understand what rape meant, leading detectives to use his term for sexual activity when discussing the incident. And again, I go back to the same argument I made before. Is it inconceivable that he doesn't understand what that word means?

And I would argue no. You know, if you're not taught that in school, your parents probably, I'm sure, are not talking about it. Right. Have never brought that word up. And you haven't watched movies or television shows. Where would that word ever come up? Oh, it's true.

Yeah, you wouldn't, you wouldn't know about it. But to me, that doesn't change the fact that he would have known that it wouldn't be right to force himself on some way. Now, even if he doesn't know what the word is, the action he knows is not. He has to. He has to know because he's describing all of these religious beliefs and they're so far. removed from that, you're not even supposed to be behind closed doors. Right. So obviously that part would go far beyond anything. So even though you might not know the word for it, you have to know it's wrong. Yeah. If I'm a juror, all of these things are just swimming, right? In my brain and I'm thinking,

okay, this doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense. You know, I get it. There's always a defense. Some of them make a lot more sense than others. Yeah, that's true. But let's face it, sometimes defense attorneys have a lot more to work with than other times. Yes.

It seems like the less they have to work with, the more outlandish they have to... It's like they're pulling out of their arse. Yeah, absolutely. Because they got nowhere else to pull it out from. That's true. In January, 2006, prosecutors asked the judge to reconsider her ruling,

suppressing Samuel's incriminating statements, and a written decision following the fall hearing. Judge Linda Warner ruled that statements Samuel made would be inadmissible because he didn't understand his rights. And I'm looking at that as a pretty big blow to the prosecution. Yeah, it definitely hurts their case. Yeah. So when you think about a defense,

or the defense making a motion, well, they were right to, right? Because it worked out for them. I didn't fully believe it. I still don't believe it that that was the case, but the judge ruled that, you know, his statements would be inadmissible. According to the ruling, deputy spoke to Samuel during and after transport to the sheriff's office about Rosanna's death. His relationship to her and his thoughts on what happened. These circumstances did not amount to a custodial interrogation, but officers failed to ensure he understood what was going on when they read his Miranda rights.

And I think I've talked about it before, but, you know, I do watch a lot of body cam videos, police body cam videos on YouTube. And, you know, when police decide to actually read, the Miranda rights, it's pretty interesting. You know, they can talk to people about a lot of different things. Yeah. Without reading Miranda. If they're not talking about the crime at all, Miranda doesn't mean anything.

Yeah. But there are times when the conversation kind of veers that way and they haven't read Miranda, things get a little gray. So. Dicey. Yeah. a lot of times some of the people that review these body cams are often police officers or ex-police officers and they said, you know, why not just read it up front? You know, if you're putting somebody

in handcuffs, right? Just read it. That way, no matter what happens. Now, this is a little different situation. They're saying they read or gave him his Miranda rights, but they didn't ensure that he fully understood them. That could be a difficult thing to ascertain, right? It can be because a lot of times you're reading them and you're asking a question. Yeah. Do you understand the rights that I've just read? And if someone says

yes, okay. Are you supposed to stop them halfway into... Are you sure? Yeah, are you sure? Because you're telling me right now that you did this and this. Are you sure you understand your rights? I mean, that's going to get them to stop maybe. Yeah. I mean. Well, obviously if someone says no, then you've got to take a different tact. But if they say yes, do you have to go to the extra mom? Now, does it change because you know they're Amish? And I think that might be what they're saying here. If this was a person who wasn't Amish had access to television and all that, maybe they don't have to worry about it. Yeah.

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Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services and chime card provided by Chime's bank partners qualifying direct deposits, terms and limits apply go to chime.com slash disclosures for details judge warner wrote in our amish community the omish typically do not watch television read secular or english materials have dealings with government officials the criminal justice system or attorneys lawyers this puts this defendant in a somewhat different position than the average english suspect

It's a good way to look at it. Yeah. And I don't think she's wrong, right, at all. I don't think the judge is wrong. But I do think, well, you are really putting police in a tough spot there. Yeah. If they ask the person, do you understand the rights? And they say, yeah.

And again, I don't know the exact, how the exact conversation went down. But I'm assuming at some point, he must have said he did understand. them. But maybe you're not really. Yeah. Well, what else are they supposed to do? Yeah. You know, how, to what length are they supposed to go to? Well, that's true. I mean, how are they supposed to know? He said yes. So do I not take his yes as a, you know, that he does and I have to revisit it to make sure. Yeah. I mean, it's a tough spot. And I think it's, it's part of what makes this case stand out to people, it fascinates people because you have a person who's part of a community that a lot of us know very little about and have little to know experience with. So it's harder for our,

for us to put ourselves in their position because we've never been, you know, in anything like that. She went on to say that Samuel is proficient in English, but failed to grasp concepts. such as court of law and attorney, which are critical to understanding Miranda rights. And that's actually something I didn't take into account. You know, part of that, as we talked about, right, is, you know, this can be used against you in a court of law. Right. Okay.

Well, if you don't know what a court of law is, then does it, do you really understand it? And then you have the right to an attorney. If you don't fully grasp the concept of what an attorney is, okay. it's a problem. I guess, but I'm still back to that point. If somebody says they understand, what do you do as a police officer? But I get it. I mean, there's a lot of people proficient in English, right? I'm proficient in English. Oh, very. I know, I know you doubt that sometimes. Then I just say, but, you know, the judge is saying this, right? Samuel is proficient in English, but his defense attorney tried to make a big deal out of it being his second language. Yeah.

officers apparently tried to explain these concepts to him by telling Samuel that the right to an attorney was akin to having the church bishop go forward with him in front of the church and God to ask for and anticipate receiving forgiveness. That's the same. That seems like a strange analogy to me. But the judge said, thus, the defendant's testimony that he believed confession would lead to judicial forgiveness suggests he fundamentally misunderstood that his statements would be used against him in an adversarial proceeding. So the more that comes out, the more you kind of understand the judge's take on this. Right.

Now, you find out that, you know, the police told him that, you know, that. it was similar to having the bishop go forward with him when he asked for forgiveness. Does it make sense that maybe he thought he would be forgiven? I think so. Maybe, maybe not. But you can understand where the judge is coming from. In a motion urging the judge to reconsider, the prosecution argued that because the court found Samuel was not in custody at the time of the interview,

reading his Miranda rights was unnecessary. And again, this is where the Miranda gets very strange to me. Yeah. You know, you're detained, you're not detained, you're in custody, you're not in custody. You're asking questions, but you're not under arrest. It's a very kind of, I don't want to say it's gray because it does seem to be pretty black and white. but I think there's confusion about it sometimes. I'm confused by it.

Yeah, well, that doesn't surprise my girl. You're confused by a lot of things. No, but to be honest with you, I am too. Yeah. You know, neither one of us are legal scholars. Not anymore. No matter what you say. You're not a legal scholar.

Not ever since that diploma, a piece of paper thing I got from internet fell off my wall. Was struck down. Yes. As not being worth the paper it was written on. Yeah. on July 24th, 226, now 19 year old

Samuel Hosheddettler pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in connection with the death of Rosanna Kinsinger. And one of the reasons why I've found this case is so fascinating.

Number one, it's from Ohio. Sure. Not that far from us. But number two, it's very, very current. Yeah. It's an extremely current case. With his guilty plea, he admitted that he purposely caused Rosanna's death while committing rape.

Okay. So full circle, right? Really, he's come full circle. Yeah. Well, I won't say full circle. He initially said, yeah, this was consensual. It was accidental because I put the, the blanket or whatever it was over her head. Yeah.

to now I killed her while raping her. And, you know, at this point, he obviously knows what all of those different things mean if he didn't really know him before. Right. Because he's had a lot of time with his attorney, a lot of counsel. And they must have advised him that, hey, you're better off pleading guilty. And this is exactly what all this means. And he said, yeah,

that's what I'm going to do. It was said that he made a plea deal just days before his trial, which was scheduled to start on July 27. That's just around the corner there. Around the corner? Or like about three weeks ago, as we sit here and record. It's not around the corner, but. It was behind around the corner.

I don't know what around the corner means. Back down the alley. You use that all the time in relation to time around the corner. To me, that's like a. a more of a distance thing. Yeah. But you seem to use it a lot with time. That was like back two blocks ago and to the left.

And turn left. And that's where it was. But it, you know, it's such a fascinating story. Right. And it's not over. But just to kind of recap, because you have this Amish guy who, I think, played it up that, or at least his defense team did, you know, this guy. doesn't know anything. He barely speaks English, right? English is a second language. He doesn't

understand anything you're telling him. Well, I think he did. Yeah. I think he knew what he did was wrong. I think he tried to get out from under it by confessing to some things, but not the murder. Yeah. And making it seem as though this was more consensual and then there was an accident. trying to manipulate the situation and minimize his role right in it but at a certain point I think he realized his attorneys must have told him hey buddy you ain't getting out of this yeah so your best course of action is probably going to be to to plead guilty and that's exactly what he did the prosecutor's office moved to dismiss additional charges and specifications as a result of the plea. And I'm sure that came with his defense attorney's recommendation.

Yeah. You can either move forward trial and they're going to go after you for all of these things or you can plead guilty and they're going to drop a bunch of different things. Samuel will serve 25 years to life in prison and will have to register as a tier three sex offender, the most severe classification in Ohio. And let's face it, 25 years to life, it's, it's not a slap on the wrist. That's a very serious sins. My thought is, though, without the plea agreement and without them dropping the other charges, this could have been life. Yeah, just straight life with no parole. Right. For all I know. In court, prosecutor James Stanley described how Rosanna went missing on March 12, 2025. Friends testified that she didn't particularly

like Samuel. The defendant and Rosanna were not courting. They weren't dating. They weren't together. They were not seeing each other. They were not engaged in a casual sexual relationship. Those who last saw the pair said they saw Samuel acting in a manner that was showing off toward Rosanna or attempting to flirt with her. After her body was found, Samuel took it upon himself to be the one to tell Rosanna's father that Rosanna had done. And that's so strange. It's really strange. It's not like somebody said, hey, Samuel, can you do this for us? He took it upon himself to be the one to go tell them. Was that out of guilt or was that out of, uh, he was just not that high of himself. Some morbid thing. I don't know. The prosecutor said his next actions were cruel. According to Stanley, the state

things that aside from raping and murdering Rosanna, perhaps the most cruel thing that he did happened next when he volunteered to go to the Kinsinger farm to help them with their chores and to prepare the barn for the funeral. He not only helped, but he was welcomed, as we said, as a guest in their home. Yeah. And he wasn't just a guest during the day. He was a guest during the night. And he spent the next Friday night, Saturday night. Saturday night. And he spent the next Friday night, and Sunday night there after he killed Rosanna. He's the one that killed her. Yet he's with the mom and dad when they're grieving.

And that's just messed up. Yeah. Right? Because everything that they went through, that private moment of... He was there for him. He was there. So can you ever get that back? No.

And you're never going to forget it either. Right. Rosanna's parents and siblings had no idea. that they had welcomed her murderer into their home. And he was right there with them the entire time. They mourned her loss. And like you said, that's,

I mean, that's a very vulnerable time. Yeah. And who do you want around you, right? Close family, friends. You certainly don't want to learn later on

that you shared those experiences with the person who murdered your daughter. That's like adding insult to injury somehow. Prosecutors believe the encounter between Rosanna and Samuel was non-consensual. According to Stanley, we believe the evidence would show that the defendant either held her face in the blankets or covered her face with the blankets with such force that he dislodged her lowered dentures. Wow. He also pressed on her torso and she could not breathe.

The defense agreed that Samuel killed Rosanna but said her death was a result of his lack of experience. And that is a very strange phrase to you. I think so too. His attorney said, in speaking with him, he is a great amount of remorse and sorrow. But what took place on March 12, 2025 was never his intention. intention. So, I mean, what wasn't his intention to rape this woman or for her to die during the course of the rape? Yeah. Either way. It's not great. If you kill a person during the commission of a crime. Yeah. Now, I get it. That could be a difference between first degree and second degree and

and things like that, but the fact that you didn't intend to do it, even if that was the case, and I'm not saying that was the case, doesn't excuse it. Right. But let's go back to this statement made by the defense. Her death was a result of his lack of experience. His lack of experience in what? Sex. It wasn't consensual sex.

Right. So his lack of experience and. rape? I'm very confused by this statement. Like, they're saying like, don't blame him because he didn't know what he did would cause her to die. Yeah. I'm telling you, man, if I'm a juror, I'm not buying that statement at all. Samuel also expressed remorse while speaking in court, saying, I'm sorry for everything I did. I wish I could go back to those days and make a different life.

I don't know how to fully express how sorry I am for all this. Now, some of that I think is probably true. I think people are sorry for what they did, but it's because of what the position they're in. Yeah, they're caught. They know they're going to spend a very long time in prison, if not the rest of their life. So there is a lot of sorrow. But is it for the victim? Or is it for their situation?

And I often tend to think it's for their situation. So do I. I really do. Prosecutor James Stanley said in court that he believed the state's case was strong, but part of their decision to offer a plea deal was because of the ruling regarding the confession. He said the state is hedging its bets as far as what could possibly happen at trial. That's why we're making this offer for him to plead guilty. And I understand that. I mean, they don't have the confession anymore.

Right. It was tossed. it can be used. I think that that's probably a reason why you would make a plea deal. Meg's County Sheriff Scott Fitch said in a news release after the guilty plea, while no court outcome can erase the laws experienced by the victim's family and loved ones, we hope today's guilty plea provides them with a measure of justice and brings them one step closer to healing. And as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, you know, I think ultimately it's really only Samuel Hashteller who knows exactly what happened on March 12, 2025.

Prosecutors argued that the crime was sexually motivated and that Rosanna was asphyxiated as she was raped while Samuel in his defense claimed it was an accident. But I just don't know. I try to, in these cases, I try to put myself in the, in the position of a juror. And I get it. We don't have every fact. We don't have every piece of testimony, every piece of evidence. But from what we do know, I would have a very hard time siding with the defense.

Yeah. In any kind of accidental scenario, I just don't understand it. This was not a consensual sexual encounter. No. I think that's very plain. He went there. He raped this woman. Now, he's saying she died accidentally while this was happening.

Yeah. Why they were originally saying why they were breeding. Yes, but I think he's come around to admitting to the rape by this point. But he's still maintaining that it was an. accident. How can it be an accident if you're in the process of rape? Can't. I don't see how it can. Now, you can say that's not what I went there to do. But you did it. But it happened as a part of a criminal action, so you're responsible for it. If he says, well, I put too much pressure on her, you know, abdomen while I was raping her. Yeah.

Again, you shouldn't have been doing that. You weren't raping her. That wouldn't happen. Right. So to me, all of that's, again, I don't think they had a lot of way in the way of a defense. Yeah. I think they were trying to pull out of a hat, whatever they could. And he's probably lucky that the judge ruled that his confession was inadmissible because.

Oh, yeah. I think that's probably the only reason they agreed to the plea deal. they would have went forward with trial and he would have gotten an even stiffer sense. I agree. But that's it for our episode on Samuel Hosh Stettler. It's just fascinating, you know, number one, because he's Amish. And there's kind of an element there that a lot of us are not familiar with. Different lifestyle.

It's a different lifestyle than what most of us are used to. And so then there was the whole thing around. the Miranda rights and all of that. But there's no doubt, you know, he committed a terrible, terrible act. And he's now paying the price, which he should be. Absolutely. But that's it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gabi.

Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.