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CHAPTER 17

We got up late on Sunday morning. However, we were at Ervin's place by eleven fifteen a.m. in plenty of time for dinner. As soon as we pulled in the driveway, Ervin ran out of the house. I knew right away something was wrong. Ervin had a worried look on his face, and he was quick to tell me all about it. His brother Peter had been due to arrive on a Greyhound Bus in Mt. Eaton, Ohio, at nine forty-five that morning. Peter's wife Edna was in Mt. Eaton waiting to pick up her husband. The Greyhound was on time, but Peter wasn't on it.

Consoling Dan, I said, "Relax. Peter has your phone number and we'll eat lunch and wait." About eleven forty-five, we received the phone call from Peter. Peter said that he'd missed his bus out of Cleveland, Ohio that morning. Peter stated that a lot of things were going to come forward in this child abuse case that no one else was aware of.

He said, "Everything that happened in this family the public will know about it." Ervin told his brother Peter to make sure to be on the next bus to Wooster, Ohio, and hung up. Ervin said that Peter wasn't making much sense when he was talking and we were all deeply concerned about Peter's mental state. Fran and I had ridden our Harley to Ervin's house, while our daughters had taken the car.

After lunch I asked Debra if I could borrow her car to go look for Peter. She gladly let me use it. At one p.m. Ervin and I left for Wooster, Ohio, arriving there at about two o'clock. Peter's bus was supposed to arrive in Wooster at one forty-five. But again, Peter wasn't on it. Ervin and I waited around.

At about two-thirty p.m. a Greyhound Bus arrived from Columbus, Ohio. I talked to the driver and told him about my concern about Peter. Coincidentally, this was the same bus driver whose route was from Cleveland to Massillon to Canton to Mt. Eaton to Wooster, and his turn around point was Columbus. The driver was sure that Peter hadn't been on his bus at all. Now, I was certain we had a major problem on our hands.

I said, "Ervin, the best thing we can do is go to your house and wait for further word." As we were heading south on U.S. state route 250 about three miles out side of Apple Creek, Ohio my pager went off a 911 flashing across the pager screen.

As soon as I spotted a pay phone at a convenient store parking lot, I pulled up next to it and Ervin jumped out and called his house. Ervin motioned me to come over to the phone. As I picked up the phone I could tell immediately by the tone of Fran's voice (she'd answered the phone) that there was definitely something wrong.

I said, "Fran, stop, and take a deep breath. Everything's okay, I'm here."

While elaborating, Fran said, "Sheila from the Greyhound Bus Station from Cleveland, Ohio had called, and is looking for Ervin. She told me that Peter was there and lost his bus ticket and has no money on him, and asked if someone could pick him up. David, you and Ervin need to pick up Peter as soon as you can."

After giving me directions to the bus station and a contact phone number, she said, "When I spoke to Peter he couldn't complete a sentence, and he was talking in complete circles. I told Peter to stay put, Ervin and Uncle David would be there to pick him up and it would take close to two hours to get there, and for him to please stay close by that contact phone number." Before I hung up the phone with my wife, I told her to be calm and not to worry about it, that things would be all right, and that we'd be back as soon as we could.

Peter's wife Edna, who is Ervin's wife's sister, was also invited to dinner at Ervin's. Ervin and Peter's wives are both first cousins to my wife Fran. As I got back in the car and started driving off, I filled Ervin in on what had happened. I could tell he was deeply concerned for his brother and so was I, but I tried hard to get it off my mind and talk about the good times we'd had. We arrived at the Cleveland Bus Station, at about six-fifteen or six-thirty. We were quick to discover that Peter was gone.

Ervin got in line for ticket information while I went to check in the rest rooms and the Bus Terminal to see if Peter was wandering around. I met Ervin back at the counter as he was receiving his information. The clerk said that Peter has been acting mentally imbalanced and that they had called the Cleveland Police. We asked to speak to the Security Officer.

The officer said, "I just came on duty, but I knew about the Amish man who was hauled off in the Police Cruiser." From there he took us up back into his office trying to find a record of it. He placed a call to the local police station, and discovered that Peter had been taken to St. Mary's Charity Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The hospital was about twenty blocks from the Bus Station. We also spoke to the manager of the bus station. The manager said he was willing to send Peter home on the bus for free, that he'd done all he could to get Peter on the bus and headed home. He gave us directions to St. Mary's Hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital it wasn't too long before we met with the doctor who'd admitted Peter.

"I'm concern about Peter's state of mind. He is unable to stay focused to the point where he is unable to complete a sentence." she said.

I said, "Is he really that far gone mentally that he can no longer focus?"

"Yes, apparently Peter has been severely traumatized in the past," she answered. They were in the process of committing Peter to the mental hospital. However, they were willing to release him to us if we agreed to get him help closer to his home. We assured the Doctor that we would.

When we checked Peter out of the hospital we discovered that Peter did have his ticket, wallet and checkbook intact. There is only one reason Peter didn't make it home: due to the abuse in his past, he could no longer focus. On the way home from Cleveland, Peter laid down in the back seat of the car and we played some music.

It was about eight-thirty that night when we arrived at Ervin's place. Ervin's brother James, who had been beaten by the harness tuck, was there. We stayed for about forty-five minutes. I had Ervin, Peter and James sign documents concerning some of the abuse that went on in the Miller residence. Peter still wasn't speaking much, and when he did he was still talking in circles.

I felt sorry for him, but also had a nagging feeling that there were important things I didn't know. Fran, the girls and I arrived home at about ten forty-five p.m. We had a hand written letter from Ervin which was also going to be a part of the document of June 27,1997. I was preparing a cover sheet to Judge Dale Skelley. In the meantime, Katie was typing up the hand written letter we'd had received from Ervin. It was around midnight by the time we went to bed.

On June 30,1997, we awakened at around eight o'clock to a heavy downpour. Soon the electricity went off and stayed off for about an hour. This was the day we were going to take a trip to New York to check on our nieces and nephews. We were originally to ride our Harley up there, but the rain changed our plans.

Eventually, we decided to take Fran's car. It was one forty-five in the afternoon before we got to leave Cambridge, Ohio. It was a good ten-hour drive to New York. We called Jack and Donna Wayner, the Miller children's neighbors from Rochester, New York around 8:00 p.m., and got some information we didn't like. From out of nowhere, late that evening, Social Services notified my nieces and nephews that they had to have a meeting with their parents the following day at 2:00 p.m.

On July 1, 1997, when we arrived at the Miller residence the children were all sound asleep. Michelle woke up and came down to meet us. Soon after Rachel, Kevin and Paul also came down. We all sat in the kitchen and talked about the case. After a couple of hours Fran got tired and sat on the rocking chair and fell asleep. Katie and Becky had also gone upstairs to sleep. Now it was only Michelle, Rachel, Kevin, Paul, and myself, we all sat around the table and continued our conversation.

By five-thirty a.m. we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. Paul laid his head down on the table. I stretched out on the bench behind the table. Kevin lay down on the floor at the end of the table. We slept for about an hour and a half. Then it was time for them to get up and do chores. After they finished with the chores, we went in for breakfast. Just as we were ready to eat, Jack Wayner showed up.

I set up the video camera to take pictures. Jack told me that Ervin from Ohio had called, and I needed to call him back. I rode with Jack to his house in his truck, to call Ervin. As soon as I got Ervin on the phone he told me that Peter was no better. Ervin also advised me that he had an appointment in New Philadelphia, Ohio at two p.m., to see if he should admit Peter to the Mental Hospital. Ervin wanted my opinion on that.

I said, "Sure, Ervin, if that's what it takes." Shortly thereafter I hung up the phone. I stayed down at Jack Wayner's place and had a cup of coffee, then went back up to be with my nieces and nephews.

For a couple hours I played with my nieces and nephews, and tried to get their minds off what might happen that day. By ten a.m. Jack Wayner showed back up at the Miller residence.

Jack said, "I'm going to town. Do you need anything?"

Giving Jack fifty dollars, I said, "Yes, I do need a few things. I need twelve pounds of hamburger, three packs of hot dogs plus ketchup and couple loaves of bread, if you don't mind." In the meantime Michelle was getting the children ready in case they had to go see their parents.

By eleven o'clock Donna Wayner showed up, and said that the children's attorney had called concerning the unexpected visitation. Social Services had set this visitation up while the children's attorney was in Ohio, taking statements from the rest of the Miller children.

The attorney was on his way home, but this didn't give him any time to oppose the visitation, because he had a court appearance that afternoon on another case. I believed Social Services was aware of this, and had set the visitation up intentionally. Fred Bundy, the caseworker in the Andy Miller case had been anything but on the side of these children, all because of the Amish religion.

Fred had denied the children benefits from the beginning. At about eleven fifteen a.m. Jack arrived with the groceries. In the meantime, Michelle was down at Jack's house talking to her attorney . When she came back, Michelle looked pretty unhappy.

She said, "I just spoke to my attorney. He says we have no choice all the children who are under the age of 18 had to show up. Somebody from Canton driving a white station wagon will be here to pick us up at 1:45 p.m.” When Michelle finished speaking, everything got very quiet. I'd never seen so many sad faces in one place.
The little ones were concerned about their parents beating them again and the older ones looked disbelieving and betrayed. I said to all my nieces and nephews "Don't you worry. I'll follow the white station wagon with my video camera. Also, a car from WWTI, channel 50, a local TV station out of Watertown, will be right behind me. This should keep anything bad from happening to you Uncle Dave is going to see to it." This brought a smile to the younger ones' faces.

Michelle got busy trying to get the girls dresses and make them look neat. The boys filled up the large iron kettle in the washroom with water and fired up the furnace to heat the water. This was done so that there would be enough hot water for all the kids to take a bath and wash their hair. For a hot bath they fill up a bucket with warm water and lay a towel on the floor. If the bucket is big enough to stand in they bathe themselves that way. If you're an Amish child, you're lucky if you get to do this once a week.

At 11:45 a.m. I was cooking hamburgers and hotdogs for the children. Around 12:00 p.m. Fran took over cooking so I could go down to Jack Wayner's to call WWTI TV to make sure that they'd be at the Miller residence before 2:00 p.m. While I was at Jack Wayner's a van pulled up to pick up Rachel. Rachel was having a difficult time staying mentally focused at this point due to the past child abuse and the present extreme amount of pressure. Rachel and her brother Kevin are both over 18 so they didn't have to go to the visitation to see their parents. By 1:00 p.m., all the children had eaten lunch, taken a bath, and had on clean clothes.

Fran, Debra, Becky, and I went down to Jack Wayner's place. Fran called the TV station again. Jack said that Debra and Becky were welcome to go swimming in their pool. Debra and Becky didn't have a bathing suit, and Jack said he'd take them to Ogdensburg to get one. I handed Debra my credit card and told her to buy her and her sister a bathing suit. This put a big smile on their faces, and gave them something to do to pass the afternoon.

Jack's wife also had something to do that afternoon, so she couldn't be home. Jack asked if Fran would stay and watch one of his children while he took Debra and Becky into town. This worked out beautifully because I needed someone to stay by the phone in case the TV station called. By 1:40 p.m. the TV station's car showed up at the Miller residence. They had time to take a video shot of the water cistern in the basement before the white station wagon showed up from Canton, New York to pick up the children. By 1:45 p.m. the white station wagon had arrived. The children were smiling as they piled into the car but within 45 minutes tears, cries, and screams would replace those smiles.

We arrived at the Canton Square at 2:30 p.m., and my brother-in-law Andy Miller and my sister Emma were sitting on a park bench. They appeared to be happy to see their children, but a split second later when Emma spotted me pulling in behind the station wagon, her eyes lit up with fire. Within seconds the TV camera and crew were there trying to get a statement from them but Andy and Emma, both refused to comment. As sister Emma took little Malinda, Catherine grabbed onto her sister Malinda's hand trying not to get close to her Mother.

They both were scared and crying. Stephen, Raymond, and Clara were also crying. I also had tears in my eyes too. It was so sad that I just couldn't shoot the video. At one time Andy and Emma were running and grabbing their children. Later Malinda, age 4, and Catherine, age 6, said they were afraid their Mom and Dad were going to steal them and beat them again. They said they wanted Uncle Dave and Aunt Fran to be their new parents, because they were so nice.

Right after the meeting started, in the church behind locked doors, Jeena, who was the reporter from the TV station and I took off to interview Bishop Jacob Miller. When we arrived at Jacob Miller's residence I pulled in the drive way and Jeena parked on the opposite side of the road.

Bishop Jacob Miller is in his middle 60's, and has a little retirement home behind the main house. Also, he has a vegetable stand beside the road. There was an Amish lady in there trying to sell vegetables. As soon as Jeena put the camera across her shoulder and walked across the road, the Amish lady ran as fast as she could to the main house from the vegetable stand.

Jacob's youngest son Amos lives in the main house and does all the farming. Amos appeared out of nowhere and said harshly, "Take yourself and the video cameras out of here now. You're not welcome here."

In return, I said, "I'll move my car out into the road and I apologize if I offended you."

Amos said, "That isn't good enough. Go on down the road, because you're not welcomed here."

"Well, Amos, it's going to have to be good enough for the time being, because I want to speak to the Bishop. I mean no harm," I declared.

Still, Amos flagged down the first car that came down the road and told the driver to call the St. Lawrence Sheriff's Department and tell them that there is a David Yoder here and I want him arrested. In the meantime, Jeena lowered her camera then sat it on the ground. She tried to talk to Amos to get a statement from his Dad, the Bishop. Amos refused to get his father. He was stalling for time until the law arrived.

I said, "Amos, I'll go sit in the car or do whatever you want so your Dad can explain this child abuse case."

Jeena said, "I assure you, Amos, it'll be done off the camera if you like."

Amos said, "Jeena, it really doesn't matter, I don't think my dad wants to talk to you about this child abuse case."

"I would just like to know why he stood by and let the Miller children be severely abused by their parents," Jeena said.

"That is one thing we're not going to explain," Amos said seriously.

About 45 minutes later the law arrived. Amos got very excited and insisted that he wanted me arrested. A few seconds later a detective from St. Lawrence also arrived, but right after the first patrol car arrived Jeena started rolling the film.

About thirty minutes later or more the Deputy arrived at my car. He advised me that Amos had made some awful statements against me and that they claimed to be afraid of their lives.

He said, "David, we're on your side. Just keep your cool and don't get yourself arrested. We need all the help that we can get on this case."

"Don't worry officer, I understand the system," I said.

"Good deal," he said, and walked away with a smile on his face.

I pulled my car around behind Jeena's vehicle. About fifteen minutes later the detective walked across the road smiling.

"You must be David Yoder," he said and shook my hand. He stated that the Amish made a lot of bad statements against me.

The Detective said, "I advised the Amish that the reason David Yoder has taken the steps he has, was to make sure that justice would be done and that the case was not covered up." I was sitting directly across the road from where they were doing the interview.

The detective's final words to me were "Keep up the good work." He turned to walk away. He was half way across the road when he stopped and made a half turn right in front of the Amish and with a smile on his face said "yeah", but not loud enough so anyone else could hear him. Then he gave me a thumbs up.

Jeena got a good interview from Amos and his wife. After the interview, Jeena said, "I honestly believe the Amish, or should I say most of the Amish are actually afraid of you. It's what Jacob Miller and his preachers want them to believe."
"This is one way that Bishop Jacob and his preachers can assure total control of their members," I said.

We must have been out at Jacob's house close to two hours. The interview ended peacefully. Jeena followed me to Heuvelton, New York and there I tried to explain to her how to get back to Watertown. She was having a hard time focusing on my directions, because of the ordeal we'd gone through that afternoon.

I said, "No problem. Just follow me into Ogdensburg, New York."

Jeena said, "Are you sure David, you don't have to do that."

"Don't worry I'm happy to do it. I want to take this time to thank you on behalf of myself and my nieces and nephews, for all you've done for us."

"David, you're all welcome. I'm just glad I could help," Jeena said.

I got back in my car and she followed me into Ogdensburg, New York. I pulled up on State Road 37 intersection and headed her south and waved good-bye to her.
As I turned around and headed back toward Heuvelton, I met the same Deputy who'd been out at Bishop Jacob Miller's house. He was going back in to Ogdensburg. He waved at me and I waved back. By this time it was already 4:45 p.m.

When I arrived at the Miller residence, my nieces and nephews couldn't speak fast enough to explain what went on behind the locked doors at the visitation with their parents. After awhile the children asked me if I got to speak to Bishop Jacob. I explained in detail how the Amish tried their best to have me arrested.

When I got done talking to the oldest children I went down to Jack Wayner's to see him. my daughters, and the young Miller children. Jack and Donna had gathered up some bathing suits and given them to Clara, Stephen, Raymond, Catherine, and Malinda. You couldn't tell they were Amish.

They were laughing and carrying on, saying, "Uncle David look what I got, look what I can do." When the children had come back from their family visit, Jack Wayner had invited the five youngest children to come down to his house after they ate supper and jump in the swimming pool, hoping it would help them forget the bad experience they had that afternoon. I spent about forty-five minutes at Jack Wayner's house.

After that we all went back to the Miller residence, where our daughter Katie took the five youngest children plus Rachel to Ogdensburg to get a large container of ice cream. I never seen Fran's car ever loaded down so much. Katie picked up a large container of vanilla ice cream, and took all the kids to the McDonalds. Katie said wherever she went, her cousins got a lot of attention, and the kids seemed to be having the time of their life. As soon as they got back from the store we had ice cream and fresh strawberries. One of Jack Wayner's children was also up for the feast.

After the ice-cream party it was time to go to bed. Before Catherine and Malinda went to bed, they grabbed my hand and said, "Uncle David, we have stolen you, you can never leave without us anymore. You have to stay here tonight. When you go back up to Ohio you have to take us with you."

I promised them that I would be there in the morning when they woke up. That was all they needed to hear. They were ready to go to sleep after that. Betty, Clara, Stephen, and Raymond also went to bed at that time. But Betty and Clara lay in bed and cried for hours, finally crying themselves to sleep. There was absolutely nothing we could do for them, and it broke our hearts. I felt totally helpless.

On July 2,1997, Fran and I slept in till 9:00 a.m. As soon as I walked out of the bedroom door, I saw that the children were already up, including Malinda and Catherine. They sure were glad to see us. When I went out to the barn, they went out to the barn. When we ate breakfast Catherine sat on one side of me and Malinda sat between Fran and me. They said this way Uncle David couldn't leave without taking them. Little Catherine even tried to feed me breakfast. After breakfast when we had to leave, Malinda began to cry. I told Catherine and Malinda that we'd be back. I wanted to gather them all up in my arms and just take off.

Before we left my wife and I had a private meeting with Michelle, and told her to have Rachel, Betty and Clara checked out by a doctor. All three girls were having a very hard time staying focused. I just hoped my gut feeling is wrong. We had a beautiful ride back home. We arrived at home about ten forty-five p.m. and went to bed around midnight. It was good to be home.