Latest news with #RebekahByler
CBS News
a day ago
- CBS News
Man convicted of fatally shooting pregnant Amish woman inside Pennsylvania home
A man has been found guilty of murdering a pregnant Amish woman inside her Pennsylvania home last year, authorities said. Shawn Cranston was convicted on Thursday of first-degree murder, second-degree murder of an unborn child, and related charges in connection with the death of 23-year-old Rebekah Byler, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said in a news release. A Crawford County jury found Cranston guilty after four days of testimony, the AG's office said. He will be sentenced next month. Shawn Cranston convicted in killing of Rebekah Byler The attorney general's office said Cranson targeted Byler's home for a robbery and killed her after encountering her alone in her home home on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township on Feb. 26. He slit her throat and shot her, officals said. An autopsy previously showed the 23-year-old victim died of sharp force injuries and a gunshot wound to the head. A pregnant Amish woman was found dead inside her home in Crawford County. (Photo: Provided) "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 the news release. "Our homes are supposed to be our safe haven — this defendant violated the sanctity of home to commit these truly evil acts." Authorities said investigators tied the man to the crime with key pieces of evidence, including a piece of a glove found at the home with Cranston's DNA on it. Police said during the investigation that Byler's two young children were home at the time of her death. They were not physically harmed. Officials had said Cranston was a truck driver who lived in Corry, about 8 miles from the Byler home.
Toronto Star
2 days ago
- Toronto Star
A truck driver is convicted in the fatal shooting of an Amish woman in her Pennsylvania home
MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) — 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.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Washington Post
A truck driver is convicted in the fatal shooting of an Amish woman in her Pennsylvania home
MEADVILLE, Pa. — 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.
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
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.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
Jury selection starting soon for PA man accused of murdering pregnant Amish woman
Erie, PA (WJET/WFXP)– The case for the man accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman in Sparta Township a year ago will soon be heading to trial. Shawn Cranston, 53, will face a jury in little over a week and that jury will go on to decide if Cranston is guilty of the murder of Rebekah Byler and her unborn child on Fish Flats Road in February of last year. According to Crawford County Common Pleas court officials, jury selection will start on March 11. The case is now being prosecuted by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. That change was made in October due to a lack of staffing in the Crawford County District Attorney's Office. Cranston has been in prison without bond since he was taken into custody. 2024 Amish murder case transferred to Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office Man accused of killing pregnant Amish woman appears in court 'Absolutely heartbroken': Spartansburg community reacts to Amish woman's death Daughter of arrested suspect reacts to pregnant Amish woman murder case New information takes center stage in Rebekah Byler murder trial Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
