In the end, maybe the story of the Mohler family was just too much.
Too much to believe or too much to prove.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Lafayette County prosecutor dropped all charges in the incest case that more than two years ago shocked the world with bizarre stories of barnyard “weddings” of children to older relatives, rape, sodomy and secrets buried in fruit jars.
Those who had faced dozens of counts of sexual abuse were family patriarch Burrell Mohler Sr., then 79, of Independence, a sometimes preacher, and his four adult sons, Burrell Jr., David, Jared and Roland.
All were scheduled for trials later this year, including a June 4 date in Clay County for David Mohler.
“We’re just so glad it’s finally over,” said the Lamoni, Iowa, resident, the only one of the formerly accused to be reached Wednesday night. “The fact that these false charges were brought in the first place has forever changed our lives. Horrendous kinds of things were being said.
“But I never lost confidence,” he said by phone. “I assumed that we’d get this cleared up as to how they (his nieces and a nephew) might have come to believe these fantasies.”
Until the latest development, Lafayette County Prosecutor Kellie Wingate Campbell never publicly wavered, although apparently hampered by the lack of physical evidence. On Wednesday, she would only say of the sensational charges:
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