A 53-year-old Pennsylvania man will spend the rest of his life in prison after brutally killing a pregnant Amish woman and her unborn child in front of her two young children.
A Crawford County judge sentenced Shawn Christopher Cranston to life in prison without parole on Monday, plus an additional life sentence for the murder of Rebekah Byler and her unborn child, according to authorities.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, a jury deliberated for only three hours earlier this month before convicting Cranston on one count of first-degree murder in the death of Byler and one count of second-degree murder of an unborn child. Cranston was also convicted of one count each of first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal trespass.
A probable cause affidavit prepared by state police revealed a particularly gruesome crime scene inside the Byer house on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township when authorities arrived on February 26, 2024. The home is about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Byler’s “throat had been cut” and she was “laying on her back in a pool of blood in the living room of the residence,” according to the document. There was also a “evident laceration” on the front side of her neck, as well as what appeared to be “a scalping type wound on her head.”
“Rebekah Byler was discovered laying on her back in the living room of the residence,” another affidavit in the case stated, adding that she “displayed multiple sharp force wounds to the neck.”
The two Byler children, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, were home when their mother was killed, but they were unharmed. The boy later told authorities that he saw a man wearing sneakers, which are not common among Amish people, enter the house and kill his mother with a green truck. Investigators later discovered a shoe print that matched the design on the bottom of a Nike Air Force One.
The prosecution called 24 witnesses during the trial. One of Cranston’s prison inmates described in graphic detail how Cranston confessed to him about the botched burglary.
He told jurors that Byler discovered Cranston in the family’s living room and started screaming. Cranston then brutally assaulted her.
“[He] spun her around and started choking her,” the inmate said. “She did not pass out, so he slit her throat. He said she didn’t die quick enough, so he shot her.”
Cranston, a truck driver, worked for an Amish family living near the Bylers, driving them around due to Amish community prohibitions on personal use of motor vehicles.
The defense did not call any witnesses, relying instead on a lack of DNA evidence linking Cranston to the crime scene. Cranston’s attorney also stated that prosecutors never presented a formal motive for the attack or recovered a specific murder weapon. The firearm used to murder Byler was never recovered, and a knife discovered several months later may have been used in the attack but lacked fingerprints and DNA.
“This defendant committed a truly evil act, and is now held fully accountable as he will spend the rest of his life behind bars without the opportunity to ever again harm another person in free society,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement announcing the sentencing. “I commend the dedicated investigators and prosecutors for their work, and the jury that reached an appropriate verdict. My thoughts are with the victim’s family, whose quiet strength throughout the ordeal has been inspiring.”
