Amish in the News Special Edition: Murder in Missouri, Gourmet in Maine, and Tragedy in Minnesota

By Kevin Williams

There's enough "Amish in the News" to necessitate a second installment this week of this feature.

The first is just a tragic and baffling story out of Missouri and Kentucky.

Samuel Borntreger confessed to poisoning his late wife...

MURDER IN MISSOURI: An Amish bishop in Kentucky is now confessing to murdering his wife when he lived in Bethany, Missouri 10 years ago while he was running a popular cabinet shop.  He poisoned his wife by spiking her drinks with anti-freeze (it was diagnosed at the time as "liver failure").  It sounds like the bishop's  conscience caught up with him because were it not for confession he probably would have gotten away with murder.  It's just a tragedy all the way around, especially for the children caught up in all of this.  This story also provides a cautionary tale that the Amish are just like the rest of us, there are good souls and troubled souls among them also.  I'll keep following this story.  Click here, though, for the latest.  The Daily Mail also offers a story with a bit more details, perhaps too much detail, here.

FIRE IN MINNESOTA:  A 58-year-old Amish bishop and his 18-year-old son are believed to have perished in an early morning house fire. This tragedy took place in the growing Amish community around the town of Canton.  This is a real loss for the Amish in this area, but, as they are wont to do, they'll pull together as a community and church and get through it. Click here for the latest.

BIG CITY CHEF TURNS AMISH:  This is a fascinating story and a bit more of an upbeat one after these first two. Matthew Secich, age 45, and former chef at Charlie Trotter's renown Chicago restaurant, and his family have joined the Amish community in Unity, Maine.   The Amish settlement at Unity is very open to outsiders, far more so than most others, so I am not surprised that someone like this would  pick here.  There's a lot of information that the article didn't cover that I would have liked to have learned, but maybe I can catch up with Mr. Secich sometime and find out more.  In the meantime, you can read this fascinating piece in the Bangor, Maine paper here.  And, wow, those potluck church suppers I imagine are all the more delicious with the Secich family there!