Shawn Cranston has been charged with the murder of Amish woman Rebekah Byler
According to police reports Rebekah Byler was shot and killed at her home in Sparta Township Pennsylvania earlier this week. Byler was six months pregnant at the time of her death
Police in Pennsylvania announced today that they have arrested and charged Shawn Cranston with criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass.
Rebekah Byler body was discovered by her husband and her two young children were inside of the home when she was killed. Along with a gunshot Byler also had trauma to her neck and head
This story is still breaking so information is limited
Shawn Cranston News
Police have announced an arrest in connection to the death of 23-year-old pregnant Rebekah Byler that has shaken an Amish community in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania State Police announced early Saturday morning that Shawn Cranston — a 52-year-old man from Corry, Pennsylvania — has been arrested in connection with the murder of the Amish woman and is now facing multiple charges, including criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass.
Cranston was arraigned Saturday morning and is currently being held without bond at the Crawford County Jail.
On Feb. 26, police responded to a home in Sparta Township, where they found Byler dead, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Byler’s cause of death has not been released.
Sparta Township is a small township in Crawford County, just outside of the borough of Spartansburg and about 35 miles southeast of Erie, Pennsylvania.
“Everyone is stunned — this doesn’t happen here,” Charleen Hajec, a pharmacist who was born and raised in Spartansburg, told ABC News. “Everyone is talking. It’s scary and frustrating.”
Hajec said she couldn’t believe a murder would happen in Sparta Township, which she called a “tight-knit community.”
“The outside world doesn’t get in,” Hajec said. “To have something this tragic … it doesn’t happen here.”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/arrest-made-murder-pregnant-amish-woman-found-dead/story?id=107740010
Shawn Cranston More News
The five-day investigation into the death of a pregnant Amish woman in Crawford County has ended with the arrest of a Corry man on charges that he killed her and her unborn child after breaking into her home Monday.
The suspect, Shawn C. Cranston, 52, was charged Saturday in the death of 23-year-old Rebekah A. Byler, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release. He is charged with homicide, homicide of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass.
Titusville District Judge Amy Nicols arraigned Cranston at 4:24 a.m. Saturday and ordered him held without bond at the Crawford County Correctional Facility because he is charged with homicide, according to court records.
Nichols scheduled Cranston’s preliminary hearing for March 15.
Byler was found dead Monday afternoon at her residence in the 21800 block of Fish Flats Road, west of Route 89, in Sparta Township, Crawford County. Her husband and a friend returned to the residence and found Byler lying on her back in the living room and called 911, according to case documents.
Byler had wounds to her neck and head, according to investigators. Two toddler-age children were also inside the home were not injured, state police said.
Details on what led police to identify Cranston as a suspect in Byler’s death, and information on a possible motive in the killing, were not immediately available Saturday.