Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - NO SUSPECT in Murder of Pregnant Amish Woman, 23

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

It’s just afternoon when Andy Byler and a friend arrive at the Byler home. He shares the home with his pregnant wife Rebekah, and their two children. At around 12:15 p.m., Byler walks into his living room finding his wife dead on the floor. After checking on his wife, Byler starts looking for his children and the friend calls police. The children are in the home, and unharmed.   Police cars lined Fish Flats Road, outside the Byler home.  Rebekah Byler's death has been ruled a homicide. Authorities have not yet revealed how Byler was killed.  Police say the crime does not look like a robbery as there’s no evidence that anything was taken from the home. For now, there are no suspects or a motive.   UPDATE:  The day after our broadcast, a suspect was arrest. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Jarrett Ferentino – Homicide Prosecutor in Pennsylvania and Host of, “True Crime Boss” Podcast; Facebook & Instagram: Jarrett Ferentino Dr. Jorey L. Krawczyn -  Psychologist, Fmr law enforcement, Faculty Saint Leo University; Consultant Blue Wall Institute, www.bw-institute.com, Author: Operation S.O.S. Robin Dreeke – Behavior Expert & Retired FBI Special Agent / Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program; Author: “Sizing People Up: A Veteran FBI Agents Manual for Behavior Prediction;” Twitter: @rdreekeke Dr. Michelle Dupre – Forensic Pathologist and former Medical Examiner, Author: “Homicide Investigation Field Guide” & “Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide”, Ret. Police Detective Lexington County Sheriff’s Department Jennifer Borrasso - Reporter for KDKA-TV, a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh; Xr: @JenBorrasso See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous, young, Amish mom, just 23 years old and pregnant, is murdered in her own home in Amish country. What? In her own home. Now according to many people that are familiar with the Amish lifestyle they are deeply religious. They issue modern entrapments. They don't drive cars much less flashy cars. Many of them don't even use zippers to zip their clothing. They use buttons. They dress very plainly and try their best to emulate their Lord Christ by being humble and loving the Lord. So how in a community where there are not even zippers, much less guns, where everyone has a vow of pacifism, does this young pregnant mom end up dead?

Right now, only one clue to who did this deed. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to Lieutenant Martin Windorf. PSP Corey got a call through 911 of a deceased female that was found at the scene here. We responded. female that was found at the scene here. We have responded at this point. We have confirmed the identity of the female, that she is deceased, and it looks like suspicious circumstances.

Right now, the police in Amish country are holding everything very tightly and close to the vest. We have managed to get the name of the victim, 23-year-old Rebecca Byler, 23 years old, and her unborn baby, both dead. We understand in the family home. We also understand two little children were in the home at the time of the murders. The murders, all of this is unfolding now. We are trying to confirm everything that we are learning. But right now, the hunt is on and the investigation is on for Rebecca's killer. Tip line 814-663-2043. Repeat, 814-663-2043.

Again, this has occurred in Amish country, Pennsylvania. With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but to Trooper cindy schick pio pennsylvania state police listen the death is currently being investigated as a criminal homicide we are aggressively investigating all available leads we want to solve this just like the community wants us to solve it so any information that's out there we want people to come forward and help us resolve this issue joining me an all-Star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but I do know this,

typically when LA law enforcement is begging the public for help, that means they really do need help in solving the murder of Rebecca Beiler, just 23 years old and her unborn child. Again, All-Star panel joining me. First, I'm going to go to Jennifer Brasso, investigative reporter, KDKA-TV. Jennifer, first of all, tell me where this happened. I lived in Pennsylvania for a good bit of time and traveled to Amish country. When you go to Amish country, the plats on which the homes are situated can be three, four, seven acres. They're big. There's very low population. Tell me about the area, Jennifer Barrasso.

So, Nancy, as you mentioned at the top of this report, that this Crawford County is a very, very rural county. It is about 25 miles southeast of Erie, Pennsylvania. There is a fair amount of Amish in the area. Where this murder happened, the house was on a dirt road. So it would not be unusual if you drove through that area that you may not see your next door neighbor. It's spread apart. And that is a challenge for law enforcement right now. You know, sources telling me that this happened on a dirt road. So you're not going to have a lot of people driving there. That's not a lot of people, not a lot of witnesses, basically.

Jennifer Brasso, that's exactly where I'm headed. You read my mind. Now, you know, in a lot of big cities, they think the world ends at their city limits. But FYI, for your information, everybody knows I grew up on a red dirt road in rural Georgia, the vast majority of the U.S. is rural, right? So we need to address the realities of investigating a murder in a rural area. And yes, this has been deemed suspicious circumstances. It is considered a homicide. This young 23-year-old mom has been shot dead. A pregnant mom, which I'll go into later with Dr. Jory Crawson, the single most dangerous time for a woman is during pregnancy. Murder, homicide being the number one cause of death amongst pregnant women. But hold on Dr. Jory, before I get into the whole psychology of pregnant

women ending up dead, I want to get these facts down. Joining us right now, in addition to Jennifer Barrasso, KDKA, and Jory Croson, who have already introduced you, Dr. Jory, psychologist, former law enforcement, now faculty at St. Leo University. And by the way, you can find him at drjorie.com. I want to go now to Jarrett Farentino, homicide prosecutor in this jurisdiction of Pennsylvania at jarrettfarentino.com. He's also the host of True Crime Boss podcast, wildly popular, I might add. Jarrett Fiorentino, down to the brass tacks. Okay. When I'm in court prosecuting a homicide case, very often, except for their probative value, what they proved to me, I try to remove myself and my emotions from the case so I can move forward.

Jarrett Fiorentino, this is very difficult. A young mom, just 23 years old, pregnant. I'm not sure how pregnant she is. I think I know, but I don't definitely know. So the fact that this young mom has been shot multiple times in her home with her two and three year old child in the home, those are the facts we have so far, is unheard of. Jared Fiorentino, how do you remove yourself from the emotion of prosecuting a case, investigating a case where a young mom is slaughtered, a pregnant young mom? Nancy, it's damn near impossible to do that. You take those

emotions and you let them motivate you in the investigation and the hard work you have to do, as you well know, in prosecuting these cases. You have a young 23-year-old mother. You have two children left without a mother and a little baby inside of her that will never have a chance at life. This is a tragedy all the way around and extremely difficult to prosecute. But that's the work of a prosecutor, as you well know. You have to put your emotions aside, consider the evidence and move forward. I know this. It took us a long time to just get the name Rebecca Byler. And then we learned we believe that she was six months pregnant, the baby viable we know we think we know right now that she was

shot dead in the living room of her own home Jerry Fiorentino we've heard nothing about a forced entry no sex attack and no robbery what do you make of that well those things are as you know are very telling I've said before when I've been with you, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. You have certain things that didn't happen here. Two children that survived. You have no forced entry. It would suggest to investigators it's someone with familiarity of the property and someone who felt the need not to harm those other two children. Those are certain things that will jump out at investigators. And I know we were talking about how rural this is. Nancy, there is rural and then there's Amish country. This is a throwback to a pre-technology time, which presents so many unique challenges to investigators and prosecutors in assessing what happened here.

Hey, you know what? I'm glad you said that, Jared Fiorentino. Could you explain what you meant by that? A throwback to a time without technology. Sure. I mean, the Amish beliefs are an Anabaptist belief where technology is viewed by Amish people as almost like an interference in their community and just a way to ostracize themselves from one another and Christ, quite honestly. So any type of technology that usually assists investigators, like a cell phone, would not be present in Amish country. It would be an outlier to have a cell phone in Amish country unless it was related to the work one of the members of the community was engaged in. So as we said, you don't have cars passing by, you also don't have this

unique tool of a cell phone, typically in Amish country, to assist in an investigation like this. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. You know, I'm just thinking about another aspect of this, and I want to go back to Jennifer Barrasso, who is actually joining us in the Pennsylvania jurisdiction. She's with KDKA-TV. She's out in the field joining us. Jennifer, it's bad enough in my mind that a 23 year old is basically a girl. She's 23. Yet this girl is a grown woman with two children, a husband, a home, and about to give birth to her third child. Even if she didn't have the two children and the baby on the way, claiming somebody's life, murdering them at 23. I mean, I remember my fiance was about this age when he was murdered just before a wedding. And just the taking of a life before you can even really start your life.

A young girl, I mean, the community has got to be devastated because I am, and I've never known Rebecca except in death. Tell me about how this has affected them and are they willing to come forward with information because I'm not sure anybody on the panel helped me out because I don't know. Aren't Amish aren't they against judging anyone making a judgment on another person? I mean would they be willing to break ranks and come forward if they knew anything? Nancy, I just looked this one up before we started the show. And yes, they typically don't report crimes before they happen or obviously

before they happen. They typically don't report crimes proactively, you know, right in the moment. But they do cooperate with law enforcement once a crime has happened because they tend to try to insulate themselves from the outside. And so I'm hopeful that they will be cooperating much more than they would before this happens. In other words, if there is a domestic violence issue. Guys, this is Robin Drake speaking, behavior expert, former FBI special agent. That's the part I like. And listen to this. Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. Repeat.

Chief of the FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. I feel like I should just go home right now after saying that. Author of Sizing People Up, a Veteran FBI Agent's Manual for Behavior Prediction. Robin Drake joining us. Robin, what further light can you shed on this? Because right now police are begging for help. And I'm about to give you the one clue. Actually, let me give you the clue right now. Take a listen to our friend at CrimeOnline.com, Dave Mack. Sparta Township, Pennsylvania has a population of less than 2,000 people. This area, about 35 miles southeast of Erie, is Amish country. And in Amish country,

horse and buggies are the preferred mode of transportation. So when a red Jeep is parked in the driveway at Andy and Rebecca Beiler's home, family and friends take notice. It's around 10 a.m. on Monday. Some members of the community report seeing the red Jeep driving up and down their road earlier that morning. Okay, a red Jeep. A red Jeep. And also when I researched this, I got 18,000 population in Sparta Township. Jennifer Barrasso, is it less than 18,000? Because my research said 18,000, but I just heard Dave Mack say 2000, which is even more on the point I was making of a low population.

Jennifer, what's the answer? You're correct. It is about 2,000 in terms of population. Once again, making it very arduous for law enforcement. Wow. Okay. Robin Drake, she's right. I want to get back to you on the one clue that we've got so far.

A red Jeep driving up and down their road earlier that morning. We think that she was killed before lunchtime and after the husband went to work. So that could be crucial. On the other hand, Robin Drake, people tour. They go visit, as I did when I was living with my sister in Philly. They go tour Amish country. So what does the red Jeep really tell me? And does that mean riding up and down the road or up and down their driveway? Let's just start with the red Jeep, Robin. Yeah, well, it's an outlier. And that's what we're looking for in cases like this. This community is a community of massively established baseline normal behavior. So I agree with Jared wholeheartedly.

You know, I spoke earlier that we don't have a lot to go on. And but what we do have to go on is a profile. The likelihood of her knowing her murderer is really, really high when you're looking at stats. And when you have outliers of behavior like this red Jeep, you're immediately going to zero in on it. The challenge, as has been highlighted, is the distance between people. But at the same time, though,

if you're looking at the fact that she most likely knew her murderer, if we're looking at stats, and it's a really, really small, tight community, even though they're spread out, the likelihood of other people in that community knowing or at least being able to provide leads is really high. And then when you can kind of triangulate a red Jeep on that, I'm the glass half full kind of guy in the sense of, hey, we just got to work the problem. And I think they hopefully will have enough just because this person, whoever it was, felt very, very safe in committing this crime in broad

daylight in a home with two other children. Another issue, Jennifer Barrasso, KDKA, is while we're getting conflicting reports, we're also getting a report that the red Jeep was actually in their driveway. What do you know? So police are not saying much about that red Jeep. But they do tell me sources that they have people of interest, but no suspects. They checked out the husband there. They they tell me that they are fairly confident his alibi checked out the husband. They tell me that they're fairly confident. His alibi checked out. One thing I wanted to point out, Nancy, is that my source is telling me that they've had some burglaries of Amish residents in that area, not specifically saying on that dirt road.

But that's one thing they pointed out to me right now who was in that red Jeep they're not really elaborating much more than that guys for those of you just joining us a beautiful young 23 year old woman practically a girl six months pregnant with two children two tots ages two ages two and three, we believe, in the home at the time mommy is murdered. You know, Dr. Jory's going to have to figure out for me what effect this is going to have on them. But to Dr. Michelle Dupree joining me, renowned forensic pathologist, medical examiner, former detective with Lexington County Sheriff's Department, author of Money, Mischief, and Murder, the Murdoch Saga.

In fact, she shot toward the forefront of the national consciousness when Alex Murdoch was prosecuted in her jurisdiction of South Carolina. But what interests me the most about Dr. Dupree is she is the author literally wrote the book Homicide Investigation Field Guide which I have relied on many times Dr. Dupree. Dr. Michelle question to you do you remember when Alex Murdoch arranged his own shooting I mean he's just a pain in my rear end even now on a rural road by his drug-dealing buddy and relative and there were there was no surveillance cameras around and you and I were on air analyzing one day and we came up with the theory that the cameras at the far end of that rural road that intersected with a bigger highway should be checked.

And in fact, there was an old Baptist church there with cameras that showed Murdoch and any other cars going onto that rural road. Now while I know none of the Amish homes themselves have ring cameras, I really believe that step number one outside the processing of the crime scene in the home should be going to those locations where people would turn off to go to Amish country and review all the video, see if they can find the red Jeep turning in because nobody in that neighborhood owns a red Jeep. I can promise you that. And catch it turning in from all points, all angles going to that location. It may be one, two, five, 10 miles away, but they had to get there somehow.

That's exactly right, Nancy. And that's an excellent idea. If we had cameras at either end of that road that might pick up a red jeep and we could get the license plate number, that would be an excellent investigative tool, absolutely. Dr. Dupree, have you ever performed an autopsy on a pregnant lady? I have, Nancy. There was a motor vehicle accident and we were actually able to extract the baby and the baby did live, but the mother did not. You know, Dr. Dupree, an ironclad rule, cross-examination or direct

is to never ask the question, you don't know the answer. I just did that. I thought that's what you were going to say with all of your thousands of cases you've worked. Tell me about the death of Rebecca. She endured, we believe, multiple gunshot wounds in her own home, in her living room. And her unborn child died as well. Nancy, I can't fathom this. I am sure that she was scared to death, not just for her life, but for the life of her unborn child.

I don't know where on the body she was shot, but I'm sure that it was terrifying and painful as well. And again, just thinking of her dying and her child dying must have been horrifying. How long would it have taken her to bleed out, either externally or internally? Of course, all that depends on how many times she was shot and where she was shot. But it could be as little as a few minutes to even longer, just again, depending on where she was shot. And regarding the baby, how long would the baby live after mommy was shot? Well, it would not be very long. She would have to have received almost immediate medical care

and to have the baby probably removed by cesarean section, providing that none of the child or the placenta or anything was actually injured. So it would have been minutes, really. You know, I can remember Dr. Dupree when I had an emergency delivery. I was to a point where I couldn't breathe very well at all. And they were just trying to get the twins out quickly, you know, to make sure that they survived. I'm just imagining all this family is going through now Now the community is rallying around this family. The local residents are raising money, food, anything to try to help the family. Guys,

I want to go now to Dr. Jory Crawson, who I've mentioned several times to make sense of what we know. But first, Dr. Jory, I want you to hear more facts from Sydney Sumner from Crime Stories. It's just afternoon when Andy Beiler and a friend arrive at the Beiler home. He shares the home with his pregnant wife, Rebecca, and their two children. At around 12.15 p.m., Beiler walks into his living room, finding his wife dead on the floor. After checking on his wife, Byler starts looking for his children, and the friend calls police. The children are in the home, unharmed. The children in the home, unharmed. To Dr. Yu, Dr. Jory Croson, what effect will this have on them?

Because so often we hear misinformed individuals say, oh, they won't remember. They will remember one way or the other, Dr. Jory. Yeah. Let me start off with, you know, you're born with just two fears, the fear of falling and loud noises. The gunshots are going to be recorded in the memory, even of a two-year-old. That fear factor is initiated with that loud sound, that explosion. So they're going to remember this. It may start to be buried, of course, as they develop.

The other factor you have to consider is the loss of their mother. They're in the stages now where they bond and attach. And that's where, you know, their self-confidence, their self-esteem, their identity, all of that is built on that attachment to the paternal figures, both mother and father. You know, very often to you, Jarrett Fiorentino, we immediately looked to the husband, but I'd like to hearken back to a case that I investigated and covered the case of Pastor Davey Blackburn, who left one morning to go to the gym to work out really early in the morning. He came home to find his pregnant wife shot dead in the foyer, the entrance hall to their home, his wife Amanda. And everyone immediately assumed he was somehow involved.

He wasn't. As a matter of fact, the perps were part of a burglary robbery crew that had been canvassing the neighborhood and came in the home when Amanda was there with her child and shot her dead for no reason they could have just left but they didn't they killed her so I think everyone should proceed with caution before the finger is pointed at the husband way in Jarrett I agree Nancy all options have to be on the table. We cannot come at these kinds of cases with a prosecutorial bias. It will inhibit the investigation. It will

cause investigators to look away from what could be relevant and important evidence. So as you said, there have been many cases where it has been the husband, but at the same time, there are those other cases where a third party was introduced or it was a burglary gone bad. All options right now appear to be on the table. And that red Jeep really throws the possibility that there was someone from outside this community entering into that Amish community.

And that's exactly how investigators have to look at it. A family left struggling to understand what has happened to a beloved wife, a young woman, just 23, and a mother to two. To Jennifer Barrasso joining us, I understand that the time of death has been now estimated to be between 8.30 a.m. and and 12 15. i'm assuming they're getting the 12 15 because that's the time the husband came home with the friend i don't know if 8 30 is the time he left or if they're somehow determining that time from the state of her body so we were trying to ask police more about that. They are staying tight-lipped. Just what I was told that, like other Amish families, this mother would get up and she would do the laundry, make breakfast. The house was very clean. And what the, when the husband actually left for work

and what he did that morning, what brought him home around 12, police just aren't saying. I know that they have interviewed the husband and basically sources telling me that his alibi at this checks out. They have people of interest, but no suspects in this case right now. But really trying to get those details about what made him come home. We're still waiting to hear from police on that. Oh, okay. So that's making me wonder, did he not normally come home for lunch?

So when you say they're trying to figure out what made him come home, now I want to know why he came home. Robin Drake joining me, behavioral expert, formerly chief of FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program, now author. Robin, again, thank you for being with us very often you'll hear a lot of pushback wow you're looking at the husband yeah i always look at the husband the boyfriend the lover the ex because statistically they did it bam there you go those are the statistics i didn't make them up They are gathered from thousands and thousands

and thousands, tens of thousands of examples. That's why statistically you look at the husband. That does not mean the husband did it. And in fact, in this case, he seems to have an alibi. Yeah. And that's why they call it profiling because you create an ideal resume of someone that would typically commit this type of crime based on research and data that you can then take and create an overlay. So when you have all these leads coming in, hopefully there's lots of leads coming in. You can start creating a filter based on that ideal resume or profile. And again, this community is a community of pattern. They've done the same thing for a couple hundred years.

And so hopefully the people are going to notice a deviation from that pattern, both with individuals, vehicles, obviously. I really hope that there is cameras at the ends of the road when they enter the main highway. Maybe the individual, if they were from outside. Again, you've got to go where the leads and the evidence takes you without that presumption. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We know that Amish are pacifists. That's very well documented. We know that from every single war that the U.S. has been involved in.

But weapons are not forbidden. Guns are not forbidden amongst the Amish. Are you surprised? I was. I really wouldn't consider, but when you kind of do that overlay of self-reliance and resilience in a more rural kind of life, hunting would be appropriate. And so you would have a firearm for hunting, but violence against others that is abhorrent to them, that is against all things. And so it's just, boy, this is a real curious one,

just because there's a lot of small data points that are kind of standing out from that. Firearms is a huge one that's standing out because of the type of community, but the red truck is also standing out. Again, I'm really looking forward to see what law enforcement says next when they finally do

let some information out there, because I think it's going to have a lot of details in it that will hopefully be helpful. Well, the Amish are so dedicated to pacifism, they don't even celebrate holidays that laud, honor, or glorify the military or any military victory. They don't even do that. But guns apparently do not fit into their definition of technology. I'm not sure exactly why, but I do know now because of this case that guns are allowed in Amish communities. At first, I thought, wait a minute,

a gun, that means nobody in their neighborhood or community did it. That's not entirely true. However, just as you said, Robin Drake, the red Jeep is the fly in that ointment because the perp may have not only had it, well, we know the perp had a gun and yes, it is a he, count on it, but they may have been driving a red Jeep. What more do we know? Take a listen to what we know about the autopsy. This is Sydney Sumner, Crime Online. Investigators aren't to what we know about the autopsy. This is Sydney Sumner Crime

Online. Investigators aren't releasing information from Beiler's autopsy, but they do say the findings helped determine when Rebecca Beiler was killed. And that has investigators asking for the community's help. They're looking for information on Beiler's movements from 8.30 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. on Monday, as that was when Beiler and the two children were at the home alone. And more from Rachel Bonilla, Crime Stories. Police cars lined Fish Flats Road outside the Beiler home. Rebecca Beiler's death has been ruled a homicide. Authorities have not yet revealed how Beiler was killed, but according to CBS News, Beiler was shot multiple times. Police say the crime does not look like a robbery as there's no evidence that anything was taken from the home.

For now, there are no suspects or a motive. The fact that nothing was taken from the home, Jarrett Ferentino, I find probative. It proves something to me that robbery was not the motive. However, in the case of Pastor Davey Blackburn, his wife Amanda was killed. As I recall, nothing was taken from that home either. The perps had intended to burglarize it, but I don't recall if anything was actually taken. So the fact that we can't find anything taken does not mean the motivation was not robbery. I agree, Nancy. This is something where Rebecca could have happened upon someone that entered the home, the killing occurred, and that person fled the scene, although it was ultimately their intention

to commit the robbery when they entered the property. So that is an option that has to certainly be considered. Well, yeah, I think you're right. Dr. Jory Krause, and you're the shrink, think about it. She was shot dead from what we know, fully clothed, in the living room, which means to me, did she hear somebody coming in the front door when they weren't supposed to be? Like, I know what time my children

are gonna walk through the door, what time my husband's gonna walk through the door, what time my husband is going to walk through the door, what time my mom is going to come out of her room. I know that. And when I hear it, I know what it is. Did she hear the front door open and went, whoa, who's that? And went to go explore because she was gunned down right there in the living room. Looking at the suspect, whoever it may be,

you know, with the behavior pattern, he may have come into like Rob or burglarized, got startled, shot her, saw the two children, and then just abandoned that plan. Like, I gotta get out of here now. So now the survival mode kicks in and he just, he takes nothing, he wants to get away, he wants to get out of there.

I'm just trying to figure out what police, as if they need our help, but what should police be doing right now? What about it, Robin Drake? I'm looking at everyone from past relationships. I used to watch a show, Breaking Amish. And when you look at the average age of the population of this small Amish community, it's in the 40s, which means that the younger people are leaving in droves, not droves necessarily, but it's a decreasing population. I looked at this particular area, which means that there could have been someone in this woman's background that has left the community and maybe come back.. It's a hypothesis and we're going to go where the data and the leads follow us and the evidence follows. But when I

see a red Jeep, when I see, I mean, it can be anything, like you said, a burglary gone bad, but man, it's in the middle of nowhere. They kind of knew when to go to the house, when the husband's going to be away and nothing was taken. I mean, like you said, when you look at all the statistics and you create that overlay in that profile, it's kind of leading you down the path that most most likely the high probability that she knew who murdered her. So I'm looking at interviewing everyone in that community that knows each other really, really well. And who from the past should we have a conversation with, especially if they might not be part of the community anymore? interviewing everyone in that community that knows each other really, really well and who from the past should we have a conversation with, especially if they might not be part of the community anymore. Jackie Howard, what do you know? Nancy, we just learned from the search warrant filings for the Beiler home that Rebecca Beiler appeared to have suffered cutting wounds

to her neck and head. Now, this is obviously physically different from the reports of the gunshots that we had before, but the neck and head are areas of the body that bleed the most. So it's easy to see why that was the initial conclusion from witnesses at the scene. Trooper Adam Black, who filed the search warrants, wrote the victim's husband, Andy Beiler, found the body a short distance inside the home. A woman previously described by police as a family friend called 911. Police say so far the investigation and autopsy have given investigators an idea of what the murder weapon may have been, but it is not in police custody. The warrants are for knives, blades, cutting instruments, and other items. Again, police have not said how Rebecca Beiler

was killed. So far, there are no suspects, and police are asking for the public to report any tips or suspicious people, vehicles, or activity in the area of Fish Flats Road. Pennsylvania Crimestoppers say there's a $2,000 reward for information. If you know or think you know anything about the brutal murder of Rebecca Byler and her unborn child, please call 814-663-2043. Repeat, 814-663-2043. There is a GoFundMe online right now where funds are being gathered to help the family of Rebecca Byler. We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.