In Pennsylvania, a 53-year-old man killed an Amish woman who was pregnant and her unborn child very badly while her two young children were in the house. He will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Shawn Christopher Cranston was given a life sentence without the chance of parole by a judge in Crawford County on Monday. He also got another life term for killing Rebekah Byler and her unborn child, according to the police.
As was already said, the jurors only deliberated for three hours earlier this month before finding Cranston guilty of killing Byler in the first degree and killing an unborn child in the second degree. Cranston was also found guilty of one count of first-degree burglary and one count of first-degree criminal mischief.
When police arrived at the Byer house on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township on February 26, 2024, they found a very bloody crime scene, according to a probable cause statement written by state police. The house is about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
The report said that Byler’s “throat had been cut” and that she was “lying on her back in a pool of blood in the living room of the residence.” There was also a “evident laceration” on the front of her neck and what looked like “a scalping type wound on her head.”
Another statement in the case said that Rebecca Byler was found lying on her back in the living room of the house and that she “displayed multiple sharp force wounds to the neck.”
There was a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy living with their mother when she was killed, but they were not hurt. The boy later told the police that he saw a man in sneakers—not something that Amish people usually wear—enter the house in a green truck, kill his mom, and then leave. Later, on the bottom of a Nike Air Force One, police found a shoe print that looked like the pattern.
During the hearing, the prosecutors called 24 witnesses. One of them, who was in jail with Cranston, told the judge in great detail how Cranston told him about the failed burglary.
He told the judges that Byler found Cranston screaming in the family’s living room. Cranston then attacked her very badly.
The prisoner said, “He turned her around and began to choke her.” “He cut her throat because she didn’t pass out.” He shot her because he thought she wasn’t going to die soon enough.
Cranston was a truck driver who worked for an Amish family that lived close to the Bylers. He drove them around because Amish people are not allowed to own cars.
The defense didn’t call any witnesses because they didn’t think there was any DNA proof linking Cranston to the crime scene. Cranston’s lawyer also said that prosecutors never made an official case for why the attack happened or found a clear murder weapon. The gun that was used to kill Byler was never found. A knife that was found months after the murder may have been used in the attack, but fingerprints and DNA were not on it.
“This defendant did something truly evil, and he is now fully accountable. He will spend the rest of his life in prison, never being able to hurt another person again in free society,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement revealing the sentence. “I commend the hardworking detectives and prosecutors for their work, as well as the jury for coming to the right decision.” My thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family. Their quiet strength has been an inspiration during this whole process.
