A truck driver is convicted in the fatal shooting of an Amish woman in her Pennsylvania home
A jury convicted a 53-year-old truck driver Thursday of shooting to death a pregnant Amish woman inside her rural Pennsylvania home early last year.
Shawn Christopher Cranston was charged a few weeks after Rebekah Byler, 23, was found dead in the living room of her rural Spartansburg home.
Cranston was convicted in Crawford County of first-degree murder, second-degree murder of an unborn child and related offenses. He is scheduled for sentencing in late July.
'It is hard to fathom conduct more heinous than brutally killing a young expectant mother and her unborn child in her home,' Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in an emailed release. 'Our homes are supposed to be our safe haven — this defendant violated the sanctity of home to commit these truly evil acts.'
A message seeking comment was left for Cranston's lawyer, Louis W. Emmi.
Police have said Byler's children, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, were in the home when their mother suffered sharp wounds to her neck and was shot in the head. The boy told investigators a man wearing sneakers had killed his mother. The children were not physically harmed.
Members of the area's substantial Amish community attended the trial this week.
Investigators have said they began to focus on Cranston within a day of the killing and took several items during a search of his home in Corry, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Spartansburg.
Byler's husband, Andy Byler, said during an earlier court proceeding that the children told him about the crime when he returned home from looking at possible roofing jobs. She had been doing laundry when he left earlier that day.
'I didn't really believe it,' Andy Byler testified last year. 'I walked in and saw her cap laying inside the door.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Alleged sword attacker tells of taking psychedelics and drinking own urine
An alleged sword attacker accused of virtually decapitating a schoolboy in a drug-fuelled rampage in London has told of taking psychedelics and drinking his own urine years before amid an interest in spirituality. Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, allegedly skinned and deboned his pet cat before launching a 20-minute spree of violence in Hainault, east London, while high on cannabis, the Old Bailey heard. He is accused of murdering 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin, mowing down pedestrian Donato Iwule with a van and attacking two police officers and a couple in their home on April 30 last year. Giving evidence on his background on Friday, Monzo told the court he experienced 'bullying and violence' while growing up in Brazil. He moved to London in 2013, where he began smoking cannabis and took magic mushrooms a few times, jurors heard. The defendant said he stopped in 2015 because cannabis made him feel 'unproductive' and 'lazy', but resumed using it years later. Following a mixed martial arts (MMA) injury in 2016, Monzo turned to yoga and developed an increasing interest in spirituality, the court was told. Asked what spirituality meant to him, he said: 'Exploring the subtle aspects of life — the magical, miraculous and supernatural.' Around 2017, he began following YouTube spiritual guru Sadhguru, which led to a year-long stay in India, jurors heard. Monzo said he was taught at a retreat to detach from family and friends. During a weekend trip, he took ayahuasca — a hallucinogenic brew traditionally used in South America. He returned to the UK 'looking skinnier', before travelling to a remote part of Brazil to consume more ayahuasca, the court heard. Monzo also said he took ayahuasca twice in the UK, describing it as having stronger effects during 'ceremonies'. He later travelled again to Brazil and India, and also attended breatharian festivals in Italy and Denmark, which promote living without food, jurors were told. On his return to the UK, Monzo said he argued with family members because he was 'not very clean'. The defendant told the court that he began drinking his own urine for 'cleaning' purposes. He added: 'I would use it to shower, on the hair, even using it on the nose.' Monzo allegedly used his Ford Transit to knock Mr Iwule into a garden, then slashed him in the neck with a samurai sword before the victim escaped, jurors were previously told. He then virtually decapitated Daniel, who was wearing headphones on his way to school, the court heard. Pc Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield chased the defendant through alleyways before he struck her three times with the sword that had a 60cm blade, prosecutors say. Monzo then allegedly entered a property and attacked a couple who were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with their young daughter nearby. He also struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was arrested. Afterwards, he likened events to the Hollywood film The Hunger Games and claimed to have an alternative personality of a 'professional assassin'. Monzo denies Daniel's murder and the attempted murders of Mr Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and Ms Mechem-Whitfield, as well as wounding Mr Campbell with intent. He also denies aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife. Monzo has admitted having two swords. The trial continues.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Man who stabbed wife in front of baby threatened to ‘kill her if she left him'
A man who stabbed his wife to death in front of their baby after tracking her to a women's refuge had threatened to 'kill her if she ever left him,' a court has heard. Kulsuma Akter, 27, suffered more than 25 knife injuries in an attack by her husband Habibur Masum, 26, after he confronted her in the street while she was pushing their seven-month-old son in a pram. A trial at Bradford Crown Court has heard Masum tracked Ms Akter to a refuge in Bradford, where she had been staying since January 2024 after he held a knife to her throat during an assault at their home in Oldham. On Friday, Ms Akter's sister-in-law said during their marriage that Masum had stopped her wearing make-up and checked her phone to see who she was talking to. A statement from Minara Begum read in court said Ms Akter had to ask permission from her husband before going out. Ms Begum said the couple had married in Bangladesh and moved to the UK in March 2022 so Masum could continue his studies. She said they 'both seemed happy' and Masum seemed 'quite obsessed with' Ms Akter, who started working at Park Cakes in Oldham. 'Masum was not too keen on Kulsuma working but she would worry about paying the bills,' Ms Begum said. 'I told her she could enhance her beauty even more with the right make-up … Masum would get jealous if he saw photos and told her not to do make-up any more, so she didn't.' The statement described how arguments between Ms Akter and Masum escalated to ' a more serious level' and she went to stay with her brother and sister-in-law at one point. Ms Begum said: 'He kept massaging her telling he was going to do crazy things because she was with us and not at home, and kept asking her where the kitchen knife was. 'After this happened I told Masum his behaviour was not right and their relationship should not be this way. 'Masum did not like this coming from a woman or me speaking to him this way. He did not like me very much.' Jurors heard Ms Akter returned to Masum, but arguments between them 'continued to get worse'. Ms Begum said during one argument he divorced her under Islamic law by 'saying it out loud three times', but later said she was confused and he had only said it twice. She said things 'got worse after the baby was born' and Ms Akter 'always complained he wasn't helping her with the baby and always expected his food to be prepared after work'. 'She also told me if the baby cried during the night he would get angry and frustrated,' Ms Begum said. Her statement said Masum had made several threats to kill Ms Akter, adding: 'She told me he would tell her if she ever left him he would kill her.' Jurors have heard Ms Akter was moved to a refuge after telling police that Masum had assaulted her, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her over a 'completely innocuous' message she received from a male colleague at a factory. Ms Begum said after the incident Ms Akter told her: 'He will be okay once he kills me.' She added: 'Following this assault Kulsuma asked if Masum killed her would I look after (the baby) for her and take care of him.' The court heard Masum tracked Ms Akter to the refuge through her phone location, and she had been due to move but went out walking with a friend on the day she died after Masum's brother told her he was in Spain. Masum also put photos on Facebook claiming he was in Spain. Masum denies murdering Ms Akter but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife. He also denies two charges of assault, one count of making threats to kill and one charge of stalking. The trial continues.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Murder accused killed pet cat before 20-minute spree of violence, court told
An alleged sword attacker tried to cook and eat his pet cat, but claimed to have no memory of killing a schoolboy during a rampage in London. Prosecutors say Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, skinned and deboned his cat Wizard before launching a 20-minute spree of violence in Hainault, east London, while allegedly under the influence of cannabis on 30 April last year. Monzo is accused of murdering 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin, as well as mowing down pedestrian Donato Iwule with a van and attacking two police officers and a couple in their home on April 30. At the Old Bailey on Friday, Monzo cried as he said he did not intend to harm anybody. In the days before the attacks, Monzo said he 'received guidance and communication' in his head that the cat 'was being used against me by negative forces'. He told jurors he took his pet cat to a park to get rid of it. He said the cat returned to his Newham flat on the morning of the rampage, and that he strangled it despite claiming he did not want to. Asked why it was skinned, he told jurors: 'After I strangled him he (the communication) was telling me that the cat had taken energy from me and to replenish and get the energy back I had to eat the cat.' Monzo said he tried to cook it, but became 'panicked and rushed', believing an event 'like an Armageddon' was happening. The defendant told jurors 'I didn't have time to eat the cat', so he put it in the back of his Ford Transit and picked up swords, a ball bearing gun and a backpack containing clothes. He said: 'I had this idea that the world was collapsing… something big was happening, I didn't know exactly what, I had the idea that I wasn't coming back.' Monzo said he then set off towards his parents' house. He used his van to knock Mr Iwule into a garden, then slashed him in the neck with a samurai sword before the victim escaped, jurors heard. Asked why he changed direction, the defendant said: 'That is something I have thought about a lot, every day, why just a block away from my parents house? A block later I would have arrived at their house.' He then virtually decapitated Daniel, who was wearing headphones on his way to school, the court heard. Pc Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield chased the defendant through alleyways before he struck her three times with the sword which had a 60cm blade, prosecutors say. Monzo then allegedly entered a property and attacked a couple who were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with their young daughter nearby. He also struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was arrested. However, the defendant said he had no memory of what happened until he was tasered. He told jurors: 'My memory after I left my home… gradually it becomes very vague and abstract… not very clear.' Monzo said he was smoking cannabis 'three or four times a week' before the attack, but denied doing so on the day. Jurors heard that he told an expert that cannabis was a 'major contributor' to the rampage, but he played down its effects on Friday. He told jurors he did not think it 'guided' the killing. Monzo had earlier spoken of taking psychedelics and drinking his own urine years before amid an interest in spirituality. Around 2017, he began following YouTube spiritual guru Sadhguru, which led to a year-long stay in India, jurors heard. Monzo said he was taught at a retreat to detach from family and friends. During a weekend trip, he took ayahuasca — a hallucinogenic brew traditionally used in South America. He returned to the UK 'looking skinnier', before travelling to a remote part of Brazil to consume more ayahuasca, the court heard. Monzo also said he took ayahuasca twice in the UK, describing it as having stronger effects during 'ceremonies'. He later travelled again to Brazil and India, and also attended breatharian festivals in Italy and Denmark, which promote living without food, jurors were told. On his return to the UK, Monzo said he argued with family members because he was 'not very clean'. The defendant told the court he began drinking his own urine for 'cleaning' purposes. He added: 'I would use it to shower, on the hair, even using it on the nose.' After the attack, he likened events to Hollywood film The Hunger Games and claimed to have an alternative personality of a 'professional assassin', the court heard. Monzo denies Daniel's murder and the attempted murders of Mr Iwule, Sindy Arias, Henry De Los Rios Polania and Ms Mechem-Whitfield, as well as wounding Mr Campbell with intent. He also denies aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article relating to a kitchen knife. Monzo admits having two swords. The trial continues.
