Trial date postponed for Corry man charged with murder of woman

MEADVILLE — A Corry man accused of killing a young Amish woman and her unborn child in February in Crawford County will not go to trial until early 2025.

The trial of 52-year-old Shawn C. Cranston, scheduled for November, has been postponed until March, Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo said Friday. The trial was postponed after Cranston's Pittsburgh attorney, Louis Emmi, requested a continuance this week. According to court records, Crawford County Judge Francis J. Schultz granted a continuance in an order issued Thursday.

Cranston now faces trial, a little more than a year after Pennsylvania State Police say he killed Rebekah A. Byler, 23, on Feb. 26 at her home on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township, Crawford County . Authorities said Byler was at that time. I was six months pregnant. Two small children, ages 3 and 2, were also at home at the time but were uninjured.

The trial of a 52-year-old Corry man accused of killing a young Amish woman and her unborn child in their home on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township, Crawford County, in February has been postponed until March.

Pennsylvania State Police charged Cranston on March 2 with criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and trespassing in the killings. Cranston was arraigned on all charges after a lengthy preliminary hearing March 15 at the Crawford County Judicial Center.

Authorities allege Cranston went to Byler's home sometime on the morning of Feb. 26 after Byler's husband left the house with others to scout possible roofing work in the area. According to testimony at the hearing, Byler's husband found her dead when he returned home later that day.

A possible motive for the killing was not revealed by state police or through witness statements at the preliminary hearing.

Newly unsealed arrest warrants in Amish mother's murder reveal more witness statements and evidence The defendant may have been at Byler's home weeks before the murder of an Amish woman, the husband says At the time of the preliminary hearing, here is what we learn about the killing of a pregnant Amish woman State police are investigating the death of an Amish woman at a home in Sparta Township as a homicide Police: Pregnant Amish woman found dead in Sparta Township, Pennsylvania home, injured in neck and head Police: Pregnant Amish woman shot, throat slit, leading to arrest of Corry man Police: Arrest in the killing of an Amish woman with the support of community cooperation in the Spartansburg, Pennsylvania area State police seize broken knife pieces and spent shell casings while searching the home of a dead Amish woman The goal of the fundraiser is to help the husband and children of an Amish woman killed in Crawford County Spartansburg, Pennsylvania: Amish and non-Amish cultures meet in the district where the Byler attack occurred