4/21/07 — ROCKDALE TOWNSHIP — Two hours before 17-year-old Mary Gingerich was reported missing Wednesday, she and her aunt apparently had been locked in a barn by her brothers.

Pennsylvania State Police were are still searching for the teen Friday with nothing new to report.

Details of Wednesday’s alleged incident are outlined in a petition for emergency or special relief filed by Mary’s grandparents, Dan and Mary Gingerich, who sought custody of the teenager.

Pennsylvania State Police said Thursday that Mary is believed to be in the company of several family members, including her father, Ed, and two brothers and a female cousin. She has lived with her paternal grandparents since her father killed her mother, Katie, on March 18, 1993.

The murder received widespread media attention at the time, as have reports of this week’s alleged incident, because Ed Gingerich has been ordered by the court to have no contact with the local Amish community. Convicted of involuntary manslaughter but mentally ill in March 1994, he served a prison sentence of five years and one day, the maximum sentence allowed by law.

If details outlined in the petition are true, they would confirm that Mary was with her father and brothers — at least on Wednesday.

In the petition for custody filed Thursday against her father, it’s reported that Mary was riding in a buggy with her aunt, returning from her uncle’s home about 6 p.m. Wednesday when the teen’s brother, Dan, jumped from the road onto her buggy. He grabbed the reins of the horse and wouldn’t let the women stop the buggy. It’s alleged that Dan then drove the buggy to his uncle Atlee’s home where another brother, Enos, was waiting.

The court papers said Enos led the buggy into the barn, closed and locked the doors, trapping the two women inside. Uncle Atlee, Ed and Ed’s brother, Joe, then began speaking with Mary, trying to convince her to go away with them. They said if she didn’t do it voluntarily, the police would be called and would make her go with them and not let her return.

The two Gingerich sons have previously been sentenced for trespassing and were under court order not to be on Amish property unless invited in writing.

“She did not want to go, according to her aunt,” says the written complaint, but eventually she gave in. Her father reportedly took her away to an undisclosed location by automobile.

Fearing for the life of Mary, her grandparents have now filed for custody.

Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Judge John Spataro granted the request, giving the grandparents custody and ordering Ed to return Mary to them immediately.

Any law enforcement officer is authorized to enforce the court order, take custody of the girl and return her to her grandparents.

Further, the order states the father is to have no contact with Mary pending further hearing of the court.

In the initial missing person report filed Wednesday, police referred to custody as “an unresolved issue.”

Court papers recount the chain of events the grandparents say led to their granddaughter leaving the home she has shared with them for the past 14 years. According to Barbara Mountjoy, attorney for the grandparents, Mary went to live with her grandparents after the death of her mother and has remained there since. “They had ‘possession’ of her for 14 years,” Mountjoy explained. “You get ‘custody’ once you get an official court order.”

The court order Spataro signed Thursday awarding custody to the grandparents was in response to their first formal request for custody.

The court papers report that the grandparents are fearful for the safety and well-being of Mary in light of their son’s mental health.

“The manner in which this child has been taken from the family who has cared for her indicates that the father is not interested in complying with the laws of the commonwealth,” the grandparent’s petition alleges.

There are no documents showing whether Ed Gingerich received notice of the court order to return Mary to his parents.