Showalter, Christina (1988-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Jul 16 p. 15

Birth date: 1988

text of obituary:

Five killed in accident on Virginia farm

By Mennonite Weekly Review staff

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Poison gases that built up in a dairy farm's manure pit led to the deaths on July 2 of four members of a Mennonite family and a farmhand.

Dairy farmer Scott Showalter, 34, entered the manure pit on his Pine Grove dairy farm near Briery Branch when a drain pipe became clogged.

While attempting to fix the clog, Showalter was overcome by methane gas and possible hydrogen sulfide, another lethal gas that can be present in manure pits, authorities said.

Because the Showalter family ruled out having autopsies performed on the victims' bodies, authorities said they could only theorize that hydrogen sulfide was involved, but that evidence indicates it was.

When a farmhand and other family members entered the pit and attempted to rescue Showalter, they also perished.

Killed were Showalter's wife, Phyllis, 33, and two of the couple's four daughters, Christina, 9, and Shayla, 11.

The farmhand, Amous Stoltzfus, 24, of Christiana, Pa., also died when he inhaled the gases.

Authorities said hydrogen sulfide, which acts much like cyanide gas, can kill instantly.

Two other Showalter children, Brooklyn and Alyssa,both under age 7, were not involved in the incident and are in the care of extended family, according to news reports.

A funeral for the Showalters was held July 5, at Bank Mennonite congregation near Dayton. A funeral for Stoltzfus was to be held in Pennsylvania.