Cranston Convicted For Murders Of Rebekah Byler & Her Unborn Child: Guilty On All Counts
Shawn C. Cranston has been found guilty:
Meadville, Pa (WJET/WFXP)– Guilty on all charges — That’s the verdict in the trial of Shawn Cranston, the man accused of murdering a pregnant Amish woman last year in Sparta Township.
It took the jury less than three hours to find Shawn Cranston guilty on all charges in the murder of Rebekah Byler and her unborn child.
Rebekah Byler, age 23 and with child, was found murdered in her home in February 2024. Corry, PA resident Cranston was identified as a suspect and arrested after a five-day investigation.
After several delays, the trial began this past Monday, and wrapped up this morning with a final witness and closing statements. The jury was excused to deliberate and returned with their verdict several hours later.
Now, 16 months after Rebekah Byler was murdered in her Spartanburg home, justice was served.
A Crawford County jury found 53-year-old Shawn Cranston guilty of criminal homicide in the first degree, criminal homicide of an unborn child in the second degree, burglary in the first degree and criminal trespass in the first degree.
The prosecution put 24 witnesses on the stand, including Rebekah’s husband, who found her body two hours after the murder, his driver, who made the 911 call, dozens of forensic experts and a prison inmate who claimed Cranston admitted to killing the 23-year-old pregnant Amish woman during a burglary.
Justice has been done. Cranston is scheduled to be sentenced July 28th. The conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.
guilty!
Too bad they don’t have capital punishment–this guy needs to go for what he did
Shawn Cranston Verdict
Wait a minute. While I’m thrilled the jury did their due diligence in finding this man guilty, I feel like much of this story is in some way missing: Whatever happened to the train of thought investigators first had in this case?? That Cranston went to the Byler home to confront people he believed had custody of his young grandson?? When did THAT go out the window??
Distraction tactic
That probably went out the window about the time they realized he was throwing out some B.S. story to try to save his sorry butt!
That idea came up at one point last year, but didn’t seem to “stick”, for whatever reason. Maybe it just wasn’t accurate. They seemed to be most confident in the idea that he was robbing places to get cash for drugs.
Justice served
So happy for the conviction of Cranston!! My heart goes out to the family and the Amish community that lost Mrs Byler to such a heinous crime. The only downside is he is now a burden to taxpayers.