MEADVILLE,HAI Community Pa. (AP) — A truck driver accused of killing a pregnant Amish woman in her rural home in February was expected to be in court on Friday as a Pennsylvania judge considers whether investigators have sufficient evidence to advance the charges toward trial.
Shawn C. Cranston, 52, is accused of killing Rebekah Byler and her unborn child inside the Byler home near Spartansburg on Feb. 26.
District Judge Amy Nicols is scheduled to preside over the preliminary hearing in the Crawford County Courthouse to decide if there is enough evidence to support those charges, as well as accusations of burglary and trespassing.
Byler, 23, had suffered head and neck wounds when her husband and a family friend found her in the living room. The couple’s two young children were home but unharmed, police said.
Byler’s defense attorney, public defender Gary Alan Kern, did not respond to requests for comment this week. Crawford County District Attorney Paula C. DiGiacomo declined to comment.
In court documents filed for a search of the murder scene, state police said they recovered guns, ammunition, knife parts and other items. Authorities have not indicated a possible motive.
Cranston lives in Corry, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Spartansburg. He has been in the county jail without bond since being arrested March 2.
Byler appeared to have cutting wounds to her neck and head, police said, and the criminal complaint accused Cranston of “shooting her in the head and/or slashing her throat.”
2025-05-07 05:362870 view
2025-05-07 05:061533 view
2025-05-07 04:58539 view
2025-05-07 04:5658 view
2025-05-07 04:01876 view
2025-05-07 03:221485 view
LONDON -- An American overnight airstrike in Yemen killed at least 68 people at a migrant detention
A Kentucky lawman stepped down Monday as sheriff of the county where he’s accused of walking into a
Texas is set to execute Garcia Glen White for the murder of 16-year-old identical twin sisters on Tu