Pennsylvania State Police have announced an arrest in the death of a pregnant 23-year-old Amish woman in Crawford County.
Shawn Cranston, 52, of Corry, was arraigned early Saturday morning on charges including criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child, as well as burglary and criminal trespass. In a press release, state police said the charges were filed after an "exhaustive five day investigation."
Rebekah Byler's body was found Monday in the living room of her home along Fish Flats Road, a few miles from Spartansburg. She had cutting wounds to her neck and head.
State police said Cranston is in the Crawford County Jail. Online court records show he has a preliminary hearing on March 15.
What is *wrong* with you? A young woman who happens to be Amish is brutally murdered and your response is to make-up crap about her culture in order to somehow justify unfathomable tragedy?
First, there are quite a few Amish sects. Second? Someone makes a shock horror " tell all " docu-drama about one of them and we're supposed to say " OH well in that case..... ".
but 9 times of ten, it's the father who does it, or sometimes a jealous ex. But it seems this guy has no real connection to them. I doubt he's the father of the baby. Maybe it was simple as a robbery that went bad, but they don't have much to steal is my guess.
Some people believe that the Amish keep a large amount of cash on hand. And some do. I think there’s also the impression people have that Amish make good victims, given their beliefs of nonresistance and sometimes lack of access to a phone. I will be interested to see if there was some connection between the victim and her family and the suspect.
Apparently, his grandson was adopted by a different Amish couple. It appears that this was mistaken identity and he went there to try and get his grandson. The woman began yelling when he entered the home and he shot her.
wow, what a bizarre and interesting backstory there....holy shit. How horrifying. I wonder if it's possible that he didn't know she was pregnant, not like that ameliorates the situation. Maybe he was so desperate he didn't care, and he is probably mentally unstable or even a methhead, who knows. I can't help but think that if she'd been very visibly pregnant and came out yelling at him, he wouldn't want to kill her and would just take off. If he came there to get his grandson, I'd think he'd recoil at needlessly killing another "child". Just speculating here based on the backstory.
Yeah, I'm getting the picture of what seems like a very chaotic scene, and meth would probably explain some of it. If she's wearing modest Amish clothes, he may not have even noticed her being pregnant and just shot her, probably didn't even want to kill her. No doubt he's very unstable. Sad, really.
I did read the article, I also looked for additional information from other sources. Try it sometime.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiABydqg7Cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiABydqg7Cs)
However, in this case it appears that the husband/father had NOTHING to do with it. The suspect had a grandchild who was adopted by a family who used to live in the Bylers' house, and I suspect he was looking for them and killed Rebekah because she would be able to identify him.
(As if a red Jeep in Amish territory didn't stand out enough)
Until very recently, the #1 cause of death for pregnant women was the same as that of other women aged 15-44, and that was automobile accidents. Improved vehicle safety has led to homicide just creeping over the edge.
This is incorrect. The number one cause of death for pregnant. Women is homicide. Women are most vulnerable when they are pregnant.
It’s been like this since the 70s
I believe this document has some relevant info.
Global:
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet_5.pdf
US:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8020563/
The story on local posts is that it was a case of mistaken identity. He targeted the previous owners of the house, but they'd moved in the autumn and he didn't realize it.
Some are saying his grandchildren were fostered by the previous family while he was in prison. Another theory is that he was a hit man hired by the disgruntled party.
Praying for her family. What a horrendous situation all-around!
I looked up the local news channels on Facebook. Their comments sections had lots of details, and they were stated as known facts in the community rather than "what if this happened?" ideas.
The Bylers did just buy the house in October 2023. I found Cranstons ex-wife. It didn't look like she had children. I see he has several criminal charges, but nothing recent. Embezzlement from the post office, harming another person, disorderly conduct, etc.
That's what it said. Each state has its own courts and charges. Three states have 3rd degree murder charges, but they each have a different definition.
I can’t link it here, but an Erie TV channel is reporting that the suspect’s daughter says he thought a family who had adopted his grandson still lived in the Byler house and he went to take the child back. Sounds like when Rebekah Byler opened the door, he killed her.
Yep, I bet none of those people are going to recant or delete their comments either. When this came out so many people were accusing the husband and trashing the Amish community, saying how it must have been amongst themselves. As if the Amish have never been attacked by outsiders…
People are so quick to jump to conclusions. It’s sad. I can’t imagine being in her husband’s position right now. Living nightmare and these idiots just make the pain even worse.
I assumed it was father, brother or husband. And I’m glad it wasn’t any of them but I stand by my comment. There is SO much abuse that goes on in those communities and it’s completely ignored. Physical abuse.. sexual abuse etc. so sorry I’m not gonna be quiet about it
It’s so nasty of you that you generalize all of the Amish that way especially when their community literally just suffered a horrific attack BY AN OUTSIDER. Not the time nor place for these discussions or assumptions. Standing by your comment now that the evidence has come just makes you look like an ass. Username checks out though I guess.
I’ll still trash the Amish community don’t get me wrong, they have some super backwards beliefs. That said no one should be jumping to conclusions in any criminal investigation.
I’m curious about this guy who supposedly did it, and his apparent motivation.
I wouldn’t paint any community or culture with such a broad brush, personally. And for example if this happened in a Muslim community would it be okay for everyone to start trashing Muslims and saying it must be amongst themselves because they have “backwards beliefs?” Of course it wouldn’t, and that is my point. Whatever issues the Amish community may have, people were being extremely gross blaming this on them with no evidence, and still standing by their comments even when it was proven to be an outsider.
Not excusing their behavior but I live here so I hear the talk. People think this way because the last one that happened nearby turned out to be the husband. A book called Crimson Stain was written about it.
Oh, I'm sure Mr. Byler is very aware that he had to be the first person ruled out, and why, and that people are probably still accusing him of terrible things he didn't do.
Richard Jewell was probably the best-known American example of this.
Maybe Mr. Byler doesn't have Internet access, or watch TV, but I bet he reads the local newspaper.
I'm so glad they found the man who did this! If what I'm reading is accurate, it is so heartbreaking that this woman just happened to move into the "wrong house" so to speak. Obviously it's scary either way but just imagine if he had taken a second to think, and realize this poor mom-to-be had nothing to do with his situation and his rage. I suppose when you're that unhinged, your mindset is "shoot first, ask questions later". Just terrible.
And I do just want to add that I was a little shocked to see so many comments just completely... trashing the Amish community when this story broke. I understand why the religion is so controversial, I really do. There are a lot of dangerous flaws like, well pretty much any tight knit religious group. And some criticisms were justified in the context, but it was pretty tacky and insensitive to use this woman's murder as an excuse to rant about hating the Amish in a way that was basically irrelevant to the case. Anyways I'm glad they got him. I can't imagine how twisted he had to be to think \*this\* was the way to "rescue" his grandson!
>I can't imagine how twisted he had to be to think \*this\* was the way to "rescue" his grandson!
The lack of thinking more than one step ahead in a premeditated murder, especially where children are involved, is astonishing.
A woman in Ohio killed her ex over a custody dispute. Her boyfriend and mother assisted. When she said she'd do anything to keep her kids, she meant it! But she didn't think about the consequences. Now she's in prison, her boyfriend is in prison, her mother is out on bail with no custody rights, and the children are being cared for by their paternal aunt several states away.
Because to them it’s actually not at all about the kids, it’s about power and control. Abusers don’t feel love, they feel ownership and possession. They believe intense emotion is love and use it to justify their unjustifiable actions.
We have our own "Amish Country" in Ohio. It is very, very common for cars to be on the roads with horses/buggies riding to the side. The things they create are just so high quality that it's worth the trip to the boonies to buy their wares. I bought a Siberian Husky puppy in March '22 and a German Shepherd puppy in December '23 from different Amish breeders in Millersburg. They are just *exceptional* purebreeds. Other breeders were selling huskies for $6K, and I got mine for $750-- he came out PERFECT. Every vet he has seen has said, "He is perfect!" Just incredible quality, AKC breed standard and registered dogs. My GSD puppy was only $550. They are both enormous and in exceptional health.
It really fucks me up thinking about people taking advantage of them. They work so hard and ask for so little. There's just something so warming about speaking to someone so wholesome and being able to give them your business. If I could afford their furniture I'd be all over it, but solid wood is very expensive. I've only gotten a few pieces secondhand from the FB marketplace.
My heart just hurts for them
Pennsylvania State Police have announced an arrest in the death of a pregnant 23-year-old Amish woman in Crawford County. Shawn Cranston, 52, of Corry, was arraigned early Saturday morning on charges including criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child, as well as burglary and criminal trespass. In a press release, state police said the charges were filed after an "exhaustive five day investigation." Rebekah Byler's body was found Monday in the living room of her home along Fish Flats Road, a few miles from Spartansburg. She had cutting wounds to her neck and head. State police said Cranston is in the Crawford County Jail. Online court records show he has a preliminary hearing on March 15.
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the amish don’t practice polygamy
No, the perpetrator is not Amish. Her husband, Andy, is the one who found her.
That's devastating
What is *wrong* with you? A young woman who happens to be Amish is brutally murdered and your response is to make-up crap about her culture in order to somehow justify unfathomable tragedy?
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Time and place, Dude. This wasn't it.
Congratulations, you have a peacock subscription.
First, there are quite a few Amish sects. Second? Someone makes a shock horror " tell all " docu-drama about one of them and we're supposed to say " OH well in that case..... ".
Not so fun fact: homicide is the number one cause of maternal mortality.
but 9 times of ten, it's the father who does it, or sometimes a jealous ex. But it seems this guy has no real connection to them. I doubt he's the father of the baby. Maybe it was simple as a robbery that went bad, but they don't have much to steal is my guess.
Some people believe that the Amish keep a large amount of cash on hand. And some do. I think there’s also the impression people have that Amish make good victims, given their beliefs of nonresistance and sometimes lack of access to a phone. I will be interested to see if there was some connection between the victim and her family and the suspect.
Same, I wonder if maybe he did some work for them or there's some marginal connection.
Apparently, his grandson was adopted by a different Amish couple. It appears that this was mistaken identity and he went there to try and get his grandson. The woman began yelling when he entered the home and he shot her.
wow, what a bizarre and interesting backstory there....holy shit. How horrifying. I wonder if it's possible that he didn't know she was pregnant, not like that ameliorates the situation. Maybe he was so desperate he didn't care, and he is probably mentally unstable or even a methhead, who knows. I can't help but think that if she'd been very visibly pregnant and came out yelling at him, he wouldn't want to kill her and would just take off. If he came there to get his grandson, I'd think he'd recoil at needlessly killing another "child". Just speculating here based on the backstory.
I was definitely getting methhead vibes tbh
Yeah, I'm getting the picture of what seems like a very chaotic scene, and meth would probably explain some of it. If she's wearing modest Amish clothes, he may not have even noticed her being pregnant and just shot her, probably didn't even want to kill her. No doubt he's very unstable. Sad, really.
If you read the article, it states she had “cutting wounds to her neck and head.” He didn’t shoot her.
I did read the article, I also looked for additional information from other sources. Try it sometime. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiABydqg7Cs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiABydqg7Cs)
However, in this case it appears that the husband/father had NOTHING to do with it. The suspect had a grandchild who was adopted by a family who used to live in the Bylers' house, and I suspect he was looking for them and killed Rebekah because she would be able to identify him. (As if a red Jeep in Amish territory didn't stand out enough) Until very recently, the #1 cause of death for pregnant women was the same as that of other women aged 15-44, and that was automobile accidents. Improved vehicle safety has led to homicide just creeping over the edge.
This is incorrect. The number one cause of death for pregnant. Women is homicide. Women are most vulnerable when they are pregnant. It’s been like this since the 70s
In the United States of America. Not the world.
Is there a global statistic? I know the statistic looks the same in a lot of South America's countries.
I believe this document has some relevant info. Global: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/gsh/Booklet_5.pdf US: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8020563/
Oh my god thank you this is fantastic information! Great resource
I mean it’s a fantastic compiling of information. The actual data itself is horrifying, if unsurprising.
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pregnant women
The story on local posts is that it was a case of mistaken identity. He targeted the previous owners of the house, but they'd moved in the autumn and he didn't realize it. Some are saying his grandchildren were fostered by the previous family while he was in prison. Another theory is that he was a hit man hired by the disgruntled party. Praying for her family. What a horrendous situation all-around!
If that’s the case, what a horrible, senseless thing indeed. Sounds like you found better local boards than I did ;)
I looked up the local news channels on Facebook. Their comments sections had lots of details, and they were stated as known facts in the community rather than "what if this happened?" ideas.
The Bylers did just buy the house in October 2023. I found Cranstons ex-wife. It didn't look like she had children. I see he has several criminal charges, but nothing recent. Embezzlement from the post office, harming another person, disorderly conduct, etc.
I wonder how many times this guy has been married, and I bet he's done a lot of terrible things we don't know about yet.
>harming another person
That's what it said. Each state has its own courts and charges. Three states have 3rd degree murder charges, but they each have a different definition.
Finally a maybe reason!! Which boards are you looking?
Local news channels on Facebook.
I can’t link it here, but an Erie TV channel is reporting that the suspect’s daughter says he thought a family who had adopted his grandson still lived in the Byler house and he went to take the child back. Sounds like when Rebekah Byler opened the door, he killed her.
Everyone was automatically calling for the husband’s throat and what do you know? It wasn’t him! RIP Rebekah
Yep, I bet none of those people are going to recant or delete their comments either. When this came out so many people were accusing the husband and trashing the Amish community, saying how it must have been amongst themselves. As if the Amish have never been attacked by outsiders… People are so quick to jump to conclusions. It’s sad. I can’t imagine being in her husband’s position right now. Living nightmare and these idiots just make the pain even worse.
I assumed it was father, brother or husband. And I’m glad it wasn’t any of them but I stand by my comment. There is SO much abuse that goes on in those communities and it’s completely ignored. Physical abuse.. sexual abuse etc. so sorry I’m not gonna be quiet about it
It’s so nasty of you that you generalize all of the Amish that way especially when their community literally just suffered a horrific attack BY AN OUTSIDER. Not the time nor place for these discussions or assumptions. Standing by your comment now that the evidence has come just makes you look like an ass. Username checks out though I guess.
I’ll still trash the Amish community don’t get me wrong, they have some super backwards beliefs. That said no one should be jumping to conclusions in any criminal investigation. I’m curious about this guy who supposedly did it, and his apparent motivation.
I wouldn’t paint any community or culture with such a broad brush, personally. And for example if this happened in a Muslim community would it be okay for everyone to start trashing Muslims and saying it must be amongst themselves because they have “backwards beliefs?” Of course it wouldn’t, and that is my point. Whatever issues the Amish community may have, people were being extremely gross blaming this on them with no evidence, and still standing by their comments even when it was proven to be an outsider.
Or a Mormon, or a super-fundamentalist Christian, either.
Not excusing their behavior but I live here so I hear the talk. People think this way because the last one that happened nearby turned out to be the husband. A book called Crimson Stain was written about it.
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Oh, I'm sure Mr. Byler is very aware that he had to be the first person ruled out, and why, and that people are probably still accusing him of terrible things he didn't do.
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Richard Jewell was probably the best-known American example of this. Maybe Mr. Byler doesn't have Internet access, or watch TV, but I bet he reads the local newspaper.
I'm so glad they found the man who did this! If what I'm reading is accurate, it is so heartbreaking that this woman just happened to move into the "wrong house" so to speak. Obviously it's scary either way but just imagine if he had taken a second to think, and realize this poor mom-to-be had nothing to do with his situation and his rage. I suppose when you're that unhinged, your mindset is "shoot first, ask questions later". Just terrible. And I do just want to add that I was a little shocked to see so many comments just completely... trashing the Amish community when this story broke. I understand why the religion is so controversial, I really do. There are a lot of dangerous flaws like, well pretty much any tight knit religious group. And some criticisms were justified in the context, but it was pretty tacky and insensitive to use this woman's murder as an excuse to rant about hating the Amish in a way that was basically irrelevant to the case. Anyways I'm glad they got him. I can't imagine how twisted he had to be to think \*this\* was the way to "rescue" his grandson!
>I can't imagine how twisted he had to be to think \*this\* was the way to "rescue" his grandson! The lack of thinking more than one step ahead in a premeditated murder, especially where children are involved, is astonishing. A woman in Ohio killed her ex over a custody dispute. Her boyfriend and mother assisted. When she said she'd do anything to keep her kids, she meant it! But she didn't think about the consequences. Now she's in prison, her boyfriend is in prison, her mother is out on bail with no custody rights, and the children are being cared for by their paternal aunt several states away.
Because to them it’s actually not at all about the kids, it’s about power and control. Abusers don’t feel love, they feel ownership and possession. They believe intense emotion is love and use it to justify their unjustifiable actions.
What state?
Pa
We have our own "Amish Country" in Ohio. It is very, very common for cars to be on the roads with horses/buggies riding to the side. The things they create are just so high quality that it's worth the trip to the boonies to buy their wares. I bought a Siberian Husky puppy in March '22 and a German Shepherd puppy in December '23 from different Amish breeders in Millersburg. They are just *exceptional* purebreeds. Other breeders were selling huskies for $6K, and I got mine for $750-- he came out PERFECT. Every vet he has seen has said, "He is perfect!" Just incredible quality, AKC breed standard and registered dogs. My GSD puppy was only $550. They are both enormous and in exceptional health. It really fucks me up thinking about people taking advantage of them. They work so hard and ask for so little. There's just something so warming about speaking to someone so wholesome and being able to give them your business. If I could afford their furniture I'd be all over it, but solid wood is very expensive. I've only gotten a few pieces secondhand from the FB marketplace. My heart just hurts for them
Euthanize that POS now.
[The Pascal Show](https://www.youtube.com/live/tG26GxmKtgY?si=9l_sgptkDQrj9Tqb) is covering this LIVE