An arrest has been made and charges filed in Pennsylvania slaying of pregnant Amish woman
SPARTANSBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man was arrested Saturday and charged with the murder of a pregnant Amish woman whose body was found last week.
Shawn C. Cranston, 52, of Corry, has been charged with criminal murder, murder of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass, Pennsylvania State Police said.
He was denied bail during a preliminary arraignment Saturday morning and is being held in the Crawford County Jail. Online court records show a preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 15; they don’t mention an attorney.
Calls and emails to state police, the district attorney and public defenders were not immediately returned Saturday morning.
Crawford’s arrest comes less than a week after authorities found the body of Rebekah A. Byler, 23, in the living room of her home a few miles from Spartansburg.
Police said she appeared to have lacerations to her neck and head.
The killing shocked the rural community in northwestern Pennsylvania, where people say the Amish get along well with their neighbors in the area.
Police began their investigation on Feb. 26 after Byler’s husband, Andy Byler, found her body in the home shortly after noon.
Officer Cynthia Schick told the Associated Press on Thursday that the investigation and autopsy have given police an idea of what murder weapon may have been used.
Two young Byler children in the home were not injured, Schick said.
The Bylers’ home is located along a dirt road in a very remote agricultural area. Dozens of Amish stopped by a home in the community Thursday evening. Many arrived in buggies illuminated by headlights along the narrow country roads.
Residents said the Amish have been in the area for a long time and blend well with the surrounding community. Amish and non-Amish visit each other’s homes, and the Amish work for the non-Amish and attend events such as the fish fries, they said. Neighbors have raised money to help the Byler family.
According to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, the Amish generally follow basic Christian beliefs and practices, but are not homogeneous. They are known for their simple clothing and for relying on horses and buggies for transportation. Local municipalities have a variety of rules and restrictions regarding dress, use of technology, and participation in American society.
The total Amish population consists of nearly 400,000 people in hundreds of settlements in 32 states, Canada and Bolivia. Pennsylvania has one of the largest concentrations of Amish.