How One Photograph Unraveled the Disappearance of an Entire Amish Family

oatmeal on the still-warm stove, a skin forming on top. Beds upstairs were neatly made. Laundry hung in the wash room, damp but not yet hung on the line. Jacob’s hat and Ruth’s bonnet hung on their pegs by the door.

“It looked like they’d been interrupted mid-morning,” Yoder says. “Like they’d just stood up from breakfast and walked away, planning to continue reading …