Overview

• A jury found 53-year-old Shawn Cranston guilty of first-degree murder for killing Rebekah Byler and second-degree murder for her unborn child along with burglary and criminal trespass charges.
• Prosecutors presented a glove fragment containing Cranston’s DNA, matching shoe prints and tire treads, and GPS data from his vehicle to place him at the Sparta Township crime scene.
• An inmate witness testified that Cranston confessed to strangling Byler, slitting her throat and then shooting her after she screamed during a burglary.
• Byler’s two young children were in the home during the attack but were not physically harmed.
• Cranston faces a mandatory life sentence without parole when he is formally sentenced on July 28.