The Investigation Discovery (ID) channel recently premiered a 6-episode series called “Murder in Amish Country.”
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The subject of the first episode which aired Oct. 4, “Twisted Confession,” was the murder by poison of Anna Borntreger in Harrison County, MO. Horrific details about the murder were presented during the documentary.
The Borntregers lived in the Amish community northwest of Bethany where Samuel was a well-liked cabinet maker who manufactured furniture still in use at the Harrison County courthouse.
Anna, the mother of Samuel’s five children, died on Dec. 4, 2006, of what was originally thought to be liver failure following a lengthy illness.
Ten years later, Borntreger walked into a sheriff’s office in Kentucky, where he was then living, and told authorities that he had killed his wife through the use of poison while he was living in Missouri.
According to the ID channel, Harrison County authorities at first were incredulous that Borntreger, a devout man who was well known around Bethany, would have poisoned his wife.
The ID channel broadcast lengthy portions of police interviews in which Borntreger quietly admitted that he had poisoned his wife over a long period of time using large doses of Tylenol in the beginning and then antifreeze and battery acid when Anna didn’t die fast enough to suit him.
The broadcast disclosed that Borntreger had a secret life where he was having an affair with a nanny who was caring for his wife and children at a time when Anna was becoming increasingly ill.
One of the most shocking moments in the documentary came when Borntreger told authorities that he had fed his wife anti-freeze in her sweet tea and then began injecting her anally with battery acid. He was heard to complain that he had burned his fingers while handling the battery acid. He agreed with the officers that it was a painful way to die.
Despite his confession, authorities had a dilemma that they did not have any physical evidence indicating that Anna did not die a natural death. Her body was exhumed from an Amish cemetery but medical examiners could not find any traces of harmful substances.
A breakthrough came when authorities learned that Samuel had been having an affair with Mary Yoder, the nanny. The final piece came together when medical records taken during Anna’s earlier treatment at Liberty Hospital showed the presence in her blood of high levels of acetaminophen, a substance in Tylenol that could cause liver damage when taken in high doses.
When learning that he could face a prison term of up to 25 years for second-degree murder, Borntreger attempted to recant his confession. But a leader of the Amish community who conferred with Samuel at the county jail convinced him to reinstate his confession to prevent a second exhumation of Anna’s body and a trial in which children would have to testify.
In his police interview, Borntreger was asked why he used such a painful method to kill his wife.
“Why I did that I don’t know why,” he said in the interview tape. “The devil had me all wrapped up.”
Borntreger finally appeared in court to plead guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to a term of up to 25 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Additional episodes in the series “Murder in Amish Country” are titled “The Amish Serial Killer,” “The Amish Stud,” “A God-Fearing Woman,” “The Original Amish Murderer,” and “The Mennonite Mob.”
To view this series of episodes, go to https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/murder-in-amish-country/
Editor’s note: Reprinted in part from the Bethany Republican-Clipper.