Police: Arrest in Amish woman's killing aided by community cooperation in Spartansburg, Pa. area
Shawn C. Cranston was no stranger to the Amish community in eastern Crawford County.
The Corry man was known by certain members of the community in the Spartansburg area, said Lt. Mark Weindorf, crime section supervisor for Pennsylvania State Police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township.
He said it was unknown if Cranston knew Rebekah A. Byler and her husband, who lived with their young children on property along Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township, west of Route 89.
Cranston's familiarity with the community adds another layer of mystery to why, as state police allege, Cranston entered the Byler home sometime on the morning of Feb. 26, shot Byler and cut the 23-year-old pregnant woman's throat as her two toddler-age children were also inside the home.
"It's still very perplexing," Weindorf said.
Few details and multiple theories
Information on what led state police to accuse Cranston of killing Byler is being held close to the vest. Scant information was released during the five-day homicide investigation and following Cranston's arrest in Corry on Friday night. The criminal complaint state police filed against Cranston did not include an affidavit of probable cause, and the affidavits filed with search warrants for the Byler home addressed only the discovery of Byler's body.
The charges Cranston faces indicate he was not invited into the Byler home that morning. In addition to criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child, Cranston is being held in the Crawford County Correctional Facility without bond on burglary and criminal trespass charges.
Weindorf said investigators are continuing to search for a motive in Byler's death. Troopers involved in the case are still actively investigating the killing, he said.
"We want to uncover why this happened," Weindorf said.
Troopers have investigated multiple possible theories in the case, and nothing is being discounted at this point, he added.
Hard work and community assistance
The information and evidence that led state police to charge Cranston was developed through intensive work on the part of investigators and with cooperation from members of the community where the killing occurred, according to Weindorf.
The troopers who investigated Byler's death worked the case extremely hard, starting from "absolutely nothing," Wendorf said.
"Just a lot of diligent hard work for those guys, painstakingly developing leads and following leads," he said.
Troopers also conducted numerous interviews as they worked to develop a rapport with the Amish community.
Everyone in the community was shocked by the crime, and everyone state police spoke to was very forthcoming and cooperative, Weindorf said. The Amish tend to be quiet and more private, and state police had to work to build trust, he said.
In addition to searching the Byler residence over two days following Rebekah Byler's death, state police searched Cranston's residence in the 400 block of East Main Street in Corry, about 10 miles north of the Byler home, on Friday night and into Saturday.
State police are not commenting on evidence they found at the two residences, including any weapons.
Cranston is tentatively scheduled to appear before Titusville District Judge Amy Nicols on March 15 at 2 p.m. for his preliminary hearing. A lawyer for Cranston was not listed on his online court docket sheet Monday.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PA state police still seek motive in Amish woman's killing in Crawford
