POMEROY, Ohio (TCN) — A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to aggravated murder.
On March 13, 2025, deputies responding to a report of a suspicious death found 28-year-old Rosanna Kinsinger dead inside her home, according to a press release from the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office.
A member of the local Amish community, Mose Troyer, said community members became concerned when no one had heard from Kinsinger, so he went to her home to locate her. Inside the home, he reportedly found her dead alongside her goat.
Samuel Hochstetler, now 19, was identified as a suspect and detained following an interview with detectives on May 5, 2025.
WOWK reports Hochstetler was indicted in May 2025 on charges of aggravated murder; two counts of murder; rape; strangulation; and two counts of kidnapping.
Hochstetler and Kinsinger were acquaintances who had been working together as part of a group building a greenhouse, Court TV reports. According to the prosecution, the two were not in a relationship of any kind and Kinsinger reportedly did not like Hochstetler. In court, prosecutor James Stanley said Hochstetler volunteered to tell Kinsinger’s parents she had died.
Stanley said, “The State thinks that aside from raping and murdering Rosanna, perhaps the most cruel thing that he did happened next when he volunteered to go to the Kinsinger farm to help them with their chores and to prepare the barn for her funeral. … He not only helped, but he was a welcome guest in their home,” Court TV reports.
“And he wasn’t just a guest during the day; he was a guest during the night and spent the night Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night after he had killed Rosanna. Rosanna’s parents and siblings had no idea that they had welcomed her murderer into their home, and that he was right there with them the entire time that they mourned her loss,” he continued, per Court TV.
On July 24, Hochstetler pleaded guilty to aggravated murder to avoid a trial, Court TV reports. He will be eligible for parole after 25 years and must register as a sex offender if released. According to the outlet, a plea deal was offered because of a previous ruling that deemed Hochstetler’s confession was not admissible. Judge Linda Warner ruled that any statements that Hochstetler had made to detectives could not be used in trial because he did not understand his rights at the time.
Court TV reports Hochstetler said at his sentencing, “I’m sorry for everything I did. I wish I could go back to those days and make a different life. … I don’t know how to fully express how sorry I am for all this.”
MORE:
