There is fresh grave in the Amish cemetery, next to the one where Katie Gingerich has lain since her murder in 1993. It belongs to her killer and husband, Edward Gingerich, who was 44 when he hanged himself Jan. 14.<\/p>\n
His burial within the community that had shunned him after the killing is a gesture of conciliation that remains as bitterly disputed as his life had been. Amish were pitted against Amish over how to respond to a murderer who everyone agreed was psychotic when he killed his wife. It was the only known case of a homicide committed by an Amishman.<\/p>\n
Before his death, relatives who had reconciled with him after his shunning once again cut all contact in obedience to the leaders of the Brownhill Amish community in Rockdale, Crawford County. While shunning can be less severe, the Brownhill Amish banned almost all contact with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was depressed that he couldn\u2019t see his kids, who couldn\u2019t come see him on pain of being shunned themselves,\u201d said George Schroeck, a non-Amish friend with whom he was living.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t doubt that there might have been some guilt feelings [in the Brownhill Amish] and that\u2019s what got him into the graveyard. But this little reconciliation \u2014 to take a corpse back \u2014 it would have been much better had they taken the living Ed back and treated him with some Christian kindness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jim Fischer, a retired criminal justice professor who wrote the book \u201cCrimson Stain\u201d about the murder, is more sympathetic to the Brownhill Amish. They knew what he was capable of but their faith forbade them to defend themselves if he went on another rampage, he said. They had no phones to call for help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who have accused the Brownhill Amish of being cold-hearted and unforgiving because they excommunicated him are wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have forgiven Ed, they just haven\u2019t forgotten what he did. That violent homicide left them fearful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read the rest<\/strong>. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he\u2019s been buried beside her in an Amish cemetery. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: There is fresh grave in the Amish cemetery, next to the one where Katie Gingerich has lain since her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-1290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines","tag-amish"],"yoast_head":"\n
"He is in the hands of a righteous judge"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-24T22:29:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T21:31:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/\",\"name\":\""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-24T22:29:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T21:31:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"","description":"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"","og_description":"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2011-01-24T22:29:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T21:31:42+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/","name":""He is in the hands of a righteous judge"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-01-24T22:29:45+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T21:31:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"From Pennsylvania comes this rare story of an Amish man who, driven by madness, killed his wife;\u00a0 now, after taking his own life, he's been buried beside","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/01\/he-is-in-the-hands-of-a-righteous-judge\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":""He is in the hands of a righteous judge""}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}