Pennsylvania Amish murder: No motive in pregnant woman’s slaying, but witnesses saw suspect’s car at scene

A Pennsylvania judge rejected the defense’s request to drop the case against a man accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman and her unborn child and sent the case to a trial court at a preliminary hearing Friday after witnesses shared damning evidence.

Shawn Cranston, a 52-year-old trucker, is accused of barging into the home of Rebekah Byler, 23, and killing her. She was six months pregnant.

The defense argued that prosecutors did not provide a motive or murder weapon and asked the judge to dismiss the charges.

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However, witnesses spotted Cranston’s red Jeep at the scene, and Byler’s supporters in a GoFundMe campaign suggested she had been killed in a case of mistaken identity over a grudge against the previous resident at her address.

Magisterial District Judge Amy Nichols found enough evidence at Cranston’s preliminary hearing Friday to send the case to the Crawford County Common Pleas Court, a trial court, for further proceedings.

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Search warrants show police recovered a broken knife and two spent casings from different firearms in the victim’s home.

Byler had been shot in the head, stabbed in the neck and suffered a “scalping type wound,” according to authorities.

Her two children were home at the time of the slayings, and a family friend found them playing with toys in another room before leading them outside and calling 911, witnesses said in court Friday.

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The friend, Julie Warner, said she could not check for a pulse but that Byler’s body was cold by the time she arrived with the victim’s husband, Andy Byler.

Andy Byler testified that he left that morning to check on roofing jobs while his wife was doing laundry and returned with Warner and found her on the floor. 

“I didn’t really believe it,” he testified. “I walked in and saw her cap laying inside the door.”

Cranston, wearing a bulletproof vest, did not speak during the hearing. He faces charges of criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and trespassing. He is being held without bail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.