EGN NEWS DESK
The foster daughter of a Pennsylvania man who allegedly gunned down a pregnant Amish girl in her personal home reportedly stated she couldn’t consider her father was the sort of “cold-hearted monster” who may commit such a heinous crime.
Shawn Cranston, 52, was arrested early Saturday morning for allegedly murdering Rebekah Byler, a pregnant 23-year-old mom-of-two, in her remoted farmhouse late final month, authorities have stated.
But Cranston’s foster daughter instructed JET 24/FOX 66 in Erie that she thinks the gory killing was a case of mistaken identification — the Amish household who lived within the Byler house a couple of years earlier had adopted Cranston’s grandson, she stated.
Cranston, of Corry, wished him again.
“Like, I may by no means image my dad being that cold-hearted monster,” stated Cranston’s distraught daughter, whom the community solely recognized as a lady in her 20s. “Never in 1,000,000 years.”
“Supposedly she began yelling at him, coming in, then that’s when increase, all it took,” his daughter stated. “It’s simply horrifying to suppose that … As far as I do know, he simply wished his grandson again.”
The Pennsylvania State Police arrested the truck driver exterior a Dollar General retailer subsequent to his house, the community stated.
“It was loopy,” Julie Purpura, a Dollar General worker, instructed the station. “I’ve by no means seen a lot regulation enforcement without delay. Never as soon as.”
Cranston has been charged with prison murder, prison murder of an unborn baby, housebreaking and prison trespass, police stated.
Cranston was arraigned early Saturday morning and is being held with out bond on the Crawford County Jail.
Cops went to the Byler house Feb. 26 after Rebekah’s husband, Andy, and a household good friend discovered her unconscious inside their Sparta Township house, which sits about 40 miles from Erie.
Cranston allegedly slit the six-months-pregnant girl’s throat earlier than capturing her within the head, the station stated.
The household’s two different children have been nonetheless within the house, however unharmed.
“Everyone is surprised — this doesn’t occur right here,” Charleen Hajec, a pharmacist from Spartansburg, instructed ABC News. “Everyone is speaking. It’s scary and irritating.”
“The exterior world doesn’t get in,” Hajec stated, including that Spara is a close-knit group. “To have one thing this tragic … it doesn’t occur right here.”
