Amish Mom Murder Case Twist: New Witnesses Claims Girlfriend Suggested Targeting Byler Home & Cranston Had A “Meth Issue”. Trial Postponed For 3rd Time

The trial of Shawn C. Cranston in the killing of Amish mother Rebekah Byler and her unborn child was set to commence this month. Jury selection was scheduled for next Tuesday, March 11th, with the trial to being immediately afterward.

That will have to wait. In a surprise, news has just broke that the trial will be postponed AGAIN – until June. The reason? New information has emerged from two witnesses – allegedly directly connecting Cranston to the crime.

From goerie.com:

MEADVILLE — The trial of a Corry man accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman during a burglary attempt at her rural eastern Crawford County home in February 2024 has been delayed for a few months to give the defense time to digest new information revealed by state prosecutors.

That information includes statements to police by two witnesses that allegedly directly connect Shawn C. Cranston to the crime, according to the most recent court filing in the case.

New Info Emerges – Witness: Cranston Had a “Meth Issue”, Was Burglarizing Property

This new info is very fresh – in fact, just four days ago, two witnessed were interviewed by PA State Police. Note before reading on: some of this is disturbing.

According to information in the amended motion, two witnesses recently came forward with information in the case, and were interviewed by the Pennsylvania State Police on March 3.

One of the witnesses stated Cranston had a “meth issue” and was “shed hopping,” or breaking into sheds, garages and houses to take items, according to information in the motion.

The witness describes how Cranston ended up at the Bylers’ home:

According to the witness’s statements, Cranston reportedly went to Byler’s residence because his “girl” told him there was money there, and after arriving he slammed his car door so anyone inside the house would hear it and come out.

Byler did not come out and Cranston entered the house, where he reportedly encountered Byler and a struggle ensued. Cranston reportedly got behind Byler and sliced her throat first and then shot her in the head, prosecutors outlined in the motion from the witness’s alleged statements.

Cranston’s “girl” led him to the Byler home, in this telling.

This leads to more questions. Who is his “girl”? Is his “girl” one of the new witnesses? Why would she direct him to an Amish home?

A second witness provided similar details:

The second witness, according to information in the amended motion, said Cranston admitted to getting high on meth and burglarizing places, and was reportedly told by his girlfriend that money was in the house and no one would be home.

Again, why was his girlfriend encouraging him to go the Bylers’? And how would she know that no on would be home? Does her involvement in this way mean she could be considered an accomplice?

But when Cranston went inside the house there was a “lady” inside and a fight occurred between the lady and Cranston, “wherein Defendant said he had to ‘bleed her out,'” the motion reads.

This is simply stomach-turning. There are really no words for this kind of brutality. Whenever the trial does happen, I hope this new info helps lead to a swift conviction.

Cranston allegedly also asked for advice about a glove with his DNA that was found at the Byler home.

Cranston’s Burglary Connections?

Another part of this is that the prosecution apparently wants to try to link Cranston to other burglaries, which I suppose would lend credence to the testimony of the two new witnesses that he was involved in burglaries to support his “meth issue”:

In addition to the witness statements, prosecutors are seeking to enter at trial evidence concerning other burglaries in the area where the homicide occurred, according to information in the state’s motion and the defense’s response to the initial motion in limine.

In one burglary, which occurred Feb. 9, 2024, at a residence on Firth Road in Centerville, data from Cranston’s GPS tracker on that date showed coordinates matching the Firth Road residence, according to information in the state’s amended motion.

New Questions and a Third Delay – until June

So as it stands now, there are a number of new questions here – especially with the emergence of Cranston’s “girl” or girlfriend into the picture.

A continuance was requested by Cranston’s lawyer Louis Emmi, and it was granted.

The continuance was granted after Emmi said an amended motion in limine that prosecutors filed on Thursday would require additional investigation by the defense and may require an amendment to its response to an initial motion in limine filed in February.

A “Motion in limine”, according to Wikipedia, is:

a motion, discussed outside the presence of the jury, to request that certain testimony be excluded. A motion in limine can also be used to get a ruling to allow for the inclusion of evidence. The motion is decided by a judge in both civil and criminal proceedings. It is frequently used at pre-trial hearings or during trial, and it can be used at both the state and federal levels.

So it sounds like it can be used to attempt to either exclude or include evidence. In this case, it was filed by the prosecutors so the defense wants more time to investigate and prepare a response.

This was the initial motion in limine by the prosecution seeking to include Cranston’s prior behavior:

In the initial motion, filed on Feb. 21, prosecutors stated their intent to use “prior bad acts” as evidence against Cranston. The prosecution sought to call witnesses to discuss Cranston’s prior thefts/break-ins and threatening use of firearms, according to information in that motion.

The new time frame for the trial will be the “June trial term”.

Though with this being the third delay, I now hesitate to put so much confidence in that new time frame. In any case, the main thing is to get things right.