Murder Visits an Amish School House

A funeral procession of horse-drawn buggies makes their way down Georgetown Road in Georgetown, Pa. Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, to bury Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, one of five girls killed Monday, in a shooting at an Amish school. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke - AP)

Inside the classroom, Roberts was calm. He knew some, if not all, of these children. Their family dairy farms were on his route. He told the 15 boys and 11 girls to lie down in the back of the classroom. He told the remaining women, some of whom had children with them, that they could leave with their kids.

The women stood outside, unsure of what to do. Roberts separated the boys from the girls. It was the girls he wanted.

He ordered the boys out. Nine-year-old Emma Fisher slipped out with her brother. Two of her sisters stayed behind. Marian, 13, would be the first to die. Police have not named the other sister, age 11, who remains in critical condition.

From the truck, Roberts unloaded boxes containing his arsenal _ including the shotgun and buckshot. At the bottom of the box were two tubes of sexual lubricant.

Then he started hammering. He barricaded the side door with a two-by-six attached by flex-ties, and pushed a foosball table against it. At the front, he secured one of its double doors with a slide bolt. He barred the other with a two-by-four and slid desks against it.

He lined the 10 girls before the blackboard. He lashed their feet with wire and flex-ties. Some girls were bound together.

Nine minutes after the 911 call, two state troopers arrived. Within moments, there were eight more at the bottom of the lane leading to the school.

Marie had just gotten home from her prayer meeting. She wondered where her husband was. She called her own cell phone, which Roberts had taken that morning. He didn't answer.

Five minutes later, he called the house. He was upset, rambling. He wouldn't be coming home. The police are here, he said. Marie had no idea what he was talking about. Then he admitted to sexually molesting two female family members, who were between the ages of 3 and 5 at the time. This was 20 years ago, he said. He would have been 11 or 12. It tortured him. It angered him.

As did the death of their first daughter, Elise, who lived only 20 minutes after being born prematurely in 1997.

He told his wife where he to find the notes he had left for her and their children.

Then he hung up, and dialed 911. If you don't get these cops out of here in 10 seconds, he told the dispatcher, I'm going to start shooting.