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Arrest made in connection to the killing of a pregnant Amish woman in Pennsylvania

By Patrick Damp

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    SPARTA TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A suspect is in custody days after a 23-year-old pregnant Amish woman was found with cuts to her head and neck earlier this week.

According to Pennsylvania State Police, 52-year-old Shawn Cranston was taken into custody following a five-day investigation.

He is now facing charges of criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary, and criminal trespassing.

On Monday, state police were notified of a woman dead at a home on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township, Crawford County.

When troopers arrived, they found the 23-year-old woman with cutting wounds to her neck and head. She was identified as Rebekah Byler and troopers ruled her death a homicide.

Her husband, Andy Byler, found her body “a short distance inside” the home shortly after noon on Monday.

The two young children inside the home were not harmed at the time of Byler’s death.

Cranston is now being held at the Crawford County Jail.

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