Stutzman, Daniel (1976-1985)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1987 Dec 31 p. 2

Birth date: 1976

text of obituary:

Nebraskans Learn Victim’s Identity

Former Amishman Arrested in Case Of Mysterious 'Little Boy Blue'

CHESTER, NEB. — The two-year-old mystery of "Little Boy Blue" — the child whose frozen body was found here on Christmas Eve 1985 — has been solved in part by the positive identification of the boy and the Dec. 21 arrest of his father, former Amishman Eli Stutzman.

Clad in blue pajamas, the boy had been discovered by a passer-by in a ditch along U.S. highway 81. When no one claimed the boy, people in Chester and nearby Hebron raised the money to bury him. Nearly 300 people attended the funeral, held at Easter 1986. They inscribed the name "Matthew" on a headstone but left room for the real name to be added later.

The story of the Nebraskans' compassion prompted an article in the December 1987 Reader's Digest. That in turn led to a call from Wyoming by a couple who recognized the boy's description as that of a foster child they had cared for.

WHEN THE BODY did turn out to be that of 9-year-old Daniel Stutzman, Texas authorities placed Eli Stutzman under arrest on charges of felony child abuse.

Stutzman grew up in the very conservative Swartzentruber Amish community at Dalton, Ohio. He and his wife, Ida, farmed two miles south of Dalton until a barn fire killed Ida in 1977. He left the Amish church in 1979 and had been shunned by the Amish since then. He later moved with his son from the area.

Ohio investigators were reopening their probe of the barn fire, which had officially been attributed to lightning. Texas authorities also wanted to question Stutzman about the shooting death of a roommate, who died in 1985.

OHIO NEIGHBORS SAID Stutzman had been devoted to the boy after the death of his wife. He even took the child in for inoculations, which was highly unusual in that Amish community.

In 1985 Daniel was placed in the Wyoming foster home, but Eli Stutzman picked him up in December to visit his grandparents in Wayne County, Ohio. He later told friends and family that Daniel had died in a car accident in Utah, but authorities in that state had no such death on record.

Nebraska officials have not revealed the cause of death.

After his arrest, Stutzman was extradited to Nebraska to face the child abuse charges. They carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He was being held on $500,000 bond.