Murder With My Husband - 334. The Amish Murder of Barbara Weaver

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

On this episode, Payton and Garrett explore a rare murder in the Amish community. When a peculiar 911 call leads police to the home of Barbara Weaver, investigators are left wondering who could have wanted her dead. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: AETV.com - https://www.aetv.com/articles/amish-stud-eli-weaver TheSun.com - https://www.the-sun.com/news/11835685/amish-affair-lifetime-eli-weaver-true-story/ NYPost.com - https://nypost.com/2016/07/09/the-sex-crazed-amish-man-who-plotted-to-murder-his-wife/ People.com - https://people.com/where-is-eli-weaver-mistress-barbara-raber-now-11888861 TheDailyRecord.com - https://www.the-daily-record.com/story/news/2009/09/19/eli-weaver-paints-picture/19594218007/ Cleveland19.com - https://www.cleveland19.com/story/11181682/amish-man-sentenced-to-15-years-to-life-in-prison-for-wifes-murder/ Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-news/eli-weaver-amish-man-murders-wife-with-barbara-raber AllThatInteresting.com - https://allthatsinteresting.com/eli-weaver SupremeCourt.Ohio.Gov - https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/9/2010/2010-ohio-4066.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garo Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. I love late people.

I'm just kidding. Welcome back. Thank you for being here. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for supporting us. What do you got, baby?

You got anything? It was just pouring rain outside. It was beautiful. It was pouring. It was. was pouring right outside. Who's nice? Love it for the trees, the grass, the earth.

Daisy got a haircut. Daisy, show everybody your haircut. Daisy got a haircut. Honestly, I feel like I don't really have anything super interesting for my 10 seconds. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'll think of something controversial between now and before we start. We've been recording.

We've been working in the bagel shop. And we've been, what else? That's it. Nesting. Nesting. We built a, not a crib, a bassinet last night.

There you go. I know all the lingo. Yeah. We put a bass in it last night. That's it. We're ready. Ready for baby to come. Oh, yeah.

Get out here. Let's go. How are you feeling? You know, just pregg. Just pregnant. I'm just not trying to be the main character or anything, but like,

I don't know how everyone on our came from a woman. I truly, I truly don't comprehend how women have been carrying this on their shoulders. I mean, that's why I said a million times. Like, if guys had to have babies, there would be like 10 babies in the world. There'd be no babies. I don't care what anyone says. There'd be no babies if guys had to have babies.

Like. So what you want? I disagree. I don't really don't care. You know, I know everyone's pregnancy is different. but I'm just since getting pregnant have been like whoa yeah I thought I had heard like oh you know the warnings but I am just so shocked that so many women have so many kids yeah and don't hit me with that it'll be worth it of course it'll be worth it but it just doesn't take away from the fact

that like this is insane. I would say probably, I don't know, I want to say probably maybe 50% of women have really good pregnancies and 50% don't. You think? I think so. I was talking to two women today that were in the bagel shop. One had six kids, five kids. They had eight kids.

And I was just like, oh my eight kids, eight kids. I'm like, there's just no way that you have horrible pregnancies and you have eight kids. Right. It's just you don't do that. to yourself that many times if they're truly horrible pregnancy. I was thinking, I think even like quote unquote easy. I don't like the easy versus hard pregnancy. Yes.

But in reality, there is like your pregnancy was filled with less complications than your pregnancy, right? So the quote unquote easy pregnancies still got to be freaking hard. Yeah. Like your body's still going through changes. No, 100%. Yes. You have the, you know, there's others who have difficult pregnancies, complications.

Yeah. The abnormalities, but you know what else I think about eight kids? What? Like, you have the baby and then it's just the rest of your, like, it's a full-time job rest of your life after that, eight times? Yeah. That's, so we'll probably have like two kids. Good for us, you know?

Two each their own. I don't care. I think it's impressive that people can have that many kids because couldn't be me. And, yeah, that's a lot of kids. Can you imagine having eight kids? I can't imagine. I couldn't see myself being a dad to eight kids. Like that isn't...

You know what? It's not my... Eight sets of braces. Eight times of a first heartbreak. Eight first cars. Oh my. Well, I mean, you don't have to get a car. Yes, I know.

But like... It's expensive. Like, like, that's all I think about. Every time I think about like a big thing for it. Like eight kids that you have to be a big thing for it. Like eight kids that you have. have to go through their first heartbreak with them. Eight kids that you have to worry about the pain they're in and their life and their journey.

Anyone out there have eight kids? I feel like by the time you get close to the youngest one, you just over it. They're like, ah, they have their first heartbreak, whatever. Oh. I know it sounds sad, but I bet you that's what happens. Maybe not. I don't know. You tell me, I don't have eight kids.

I hope not. I hope not, too. I'm just saying. I hope Ms. Caboose still gets emotional support. Yeah. Anyways, enough of being parents. We're just entering that stage of life, I guess.

And here we are. About to be parents. Also, you know what? I'm not going to address it with you guys right now. What? I'll pick the bone another day. What? No, we'll have to just wait and see.

I'll pick the bone another day. Okay. All right. And you guys ready? Let's hop in two. That was my 10 seconds, by the way. It was our 10 seconds this week. Woohoo.

Let's hop into this week's episode. Our sources for this episode are AETV.com, the sun.com, New Yorkpost.com, people.com, the daily record.com, Cleveland19.com, oxygen.com, all that's interesting.com, and supremecourt. Ohio.gov. Imagine a world without technology. No cell phones, no social media, no television, no cars, no refrigerators. It's hard to conceive. But there are people out there right now, right here in America, that live without this stuff because of their religious beliefs. And I am talking about certain Amish communities. They usually avoid these things because they want to preserve their values of simplicity,

self-reliance, modesty, and because they want to prevent their lives from sinful traits like pride, vanity, and worldly attachments. But at the end of the day, they are still human, just like the rest of us. Temptation exists for everyone. Discipline is hard to maintain. And the world gets more and more difficult to resist. I think for some, it's easy to follow the path that your ancestors have laid out before you.

But for others, it's just as easy to stray. So while many of these communities have upheld their values and morals for centuries, which, I mean, that is extremely hard. Not everyone who is born in these communities grow up and want to continue in these communities. Sometimes, I think when someone is suppressed long enough, those consequences can become deadly. So today we are going somewhere. We haven't really gone before to an area called Wayne County, Ohio. This is about 60 miles south of Cleveland.

This is home to the largest Amish community in the United States of America. You know, I don't know too much about the Amish culture. I mean, all of what I know is what I've seen on TikTok, to be honest. On TLC? No, it's like on TikTok. Like, there's always them like making food or just, there's always videos of them, like online, like always. Yeah, but they're not supposed to have technology. I think that's a misconception in some areas.

You think some subgroups. How it works? I just think it's, it could be a misconception. Are you getting that confused with like trad wives? No, no, no, no, definitely Amish. Okay. I've seen some Amish people on my free page that have cell phones. Maybe they're not supposed to.

Didn't we go to like this Amish store once? Yes, we went to the, yes. And they made donuts? In Wyoming. Yes. And they were good. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm.

Okay. So among the residents here, there are four different subgroups of Amish. The older order is one. the new order, the beechy Amish, okay, this is named after a man, not the love for the ocean, and the Amish Mennonite. So there in Wayne County in the little town of Apple Creek is where we meet Barbara Miller. Okay, she is a part of the old order Amish. More specifically, a group of the old order known as Andy Weaver Amish. just there's a lot of branches, okay? It's like a tree and there's a lot of different ways in groups

you can follow. She's a part of the old order known as Andy Weaver Amish. Barbara spent her entire life here living amongst this religious group. This is very normal for people born into this religion, meaning she'd also spent her entire life without a cell phone or internet. And she traveled mostly using horse and buggy in her specific sect. She had never had a photo taken of herself. But the other interesting thing about this community is they are very pacifist, which means there's little to no conflict or violence in this community. To some people, it's kind of like this little slice of life might seem like utopia.

At least that's what Barbara thought growing up. up. She seemed to have a happy childhood, reading Amish romance novels, going to sleepovers with her friends, people who knew her said she was pretty, she was soft-spoken, she was demure, and everyone seemed to love her. She had pretty simple goals for herself later in life. While she really wanted was to grow up, get married, and then have a family, which started to come to fruition when she eventually met Eli Weaver. Now, Eli was the same age as Barbara and had grown up in the same area in the same Amish community. The two started dating in the mid to late 90s when they were both still teenagers. And I mean, I guess they balanced each other out well. Unlike Barbara, Eli was very outgoing.

He was sociable. He was charming. Though there was a point during their relationship when Apparently Barbara wasn't sure Eli was the right person for her. It was when they were around 16 years old and Eli went on something called a Rumspringa. It's a tradition in some Amish cultures that before they get baptized, they go out on the weekend outside of their parents and church's authority. So it's like a little traditional sneak away. They sneak out. It's kind of like a bachelor party because they go out and they see what the real, world is like. But it's also a tradition that they like all know about. And on this little

outing, they can wear non-traditional clothing. They can drive a car. They can use technology. They can get to wherever their heart desires as long as they can get there. And while this isn't for a fixed amount of time, it's basically just like, oh, go see what the real world is like before you get baptized. For some people, they're almost like, go out and decide if you really want to make this decision. Like, do you really want to live practicing under the Amish faith? Or do you want to leave the community? Do you want to escape and go out and see the outside world? Now, while Barbara seemed to know without going on this little expiration that she wanted to stay put, Eli, her boyfriend, was like, I kind of want to go out and do this. But by the time they turned 20, I guess Eli had made his

decision to stay. He wanted to marry and spend his life with Barbara in the community that they grew up in. So the two tied the knot on May 27, 1999, and they immediately get to work building their family, which is kind of ironic considering what we talked about. Over the next seven years, they have five kids in seven years, two girls and three boys. Eli managed a small sporting goods store right by their house. house, which sold things like firearms for hunting and fishing supplies. And then Barbara stayed home and fulfilled her dream of being a mother while she also took on a bigger role in their church. She also ended up being the one responsible for most of the things around the house. The cooking, the gardening, making clothes, because again, they don't have any technology. They don't really go shopping.

to make their clothes, she mows the lawn. But in June of 2009, the weaver's quiet, simple little life in what seemed to be this perfect utopia suddenly imploded. Around 3 a.m. on June 2nd, 2009, 30-year-old Eli wakes up to go meet his friends for a fishing trip on Lake Erie. He says goodbye to Barbara. She's still half asleep.

And he sneaks quietly out the door, not wanting to wake their kids. But a few hours later, one of Barba's children wakes up for the day and comes into her bedroom. And the next thing you know, this child is running to the next door neighbor's house completely distraught. They tell the neighbor that they went in to check on their mom this morning and they had found her in her bed, covered in blood, and she wasn't breathing. Okay. So the neighbor runs over to the week. Weaver house and sure enough, Barbara is in bed and not responding. So this is when she goes over to like a community building in the area that has a phone and she dials

911. They send first responders to the house in the Amish community and the neighbor who is waiting outside points them in the direction of Barbara's bedroom. It's pretty clear to them right away when they go in that Barbara was not alive. After checking her pulse, she is declared dead at the crime scene in her own bed. Interesting. But it doesn't take long for them to figure out what killed her. Underneath her nightgown is a gunshot wound to her chest.

They quickly rule out suicide. They realize Barbara doesn't even have any gunshot residue on her hands and there's no gun at the crime scene. But this also doesn't seem like a break-in to them either. There's no signs of forced entry, and there's cash sitting out in several parts of the house that, like, no one's taken. They also realized that whoever shot Barbara actually appeared to do so from pretty close range. There was powder burn on the blankets that were over Barbara, which said the weapon was in close proximity when fired. So to the detectives, this looks like a very deliberate attack. It doesn't look like someone fired a gun in here by accident,

which is why police decide we are definitely dealing with a homicide. There's a murder case in this little Amish community. Interesting. I mean, obviously, right, your first thoughts are husband, but apparently he left fishing, so I guess we'll see. All right, you guys, we are getting into an ad, and Amazon Music is your one app for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. You can get access to audiobooks included with your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. So in simple terms, your Amazon Music

Unlimited subscription does more for you now. Again, music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. And if there is one thing about me, it is that I love to put an audiobook on at night right before I'm about to fall sleep. I will literally just kind of play games on my phone, listen to an audio book as it puts me to sleep. And they have everything. Okay. If you're a court of thorns and roses, girly, you know, and you can listen to all of their books on Amazon music. And it really brings them to life. It is such a fun way to go about reading. And I know Garrett, you just watched Project Hail Mary. Yeah, it was crazy because I watched the movie, but I also listened to the audiobook. So when Amazon music wanted to sponsor us, I was pretty excited because I don't read many books, but I will listen to audiobooks.

And I think the thing that's so fun about audiobooks is that they can really bring a story to life in a way that like maybe isn't happening when you're reading. So it is one of my favorite ways. Well, it's almost like a podcast where you can do it wherever you are. So if you're driving somewhere, if you're cleaning, like kind of like how a lot of people are listening now, they're doing a bunch of different things. Also, you need to listen to Project Till Mary. If you haven't listened to it yet, it's amazing. Via Amazon music. Yep. Yeah, like Garrett said, a lot of us now are multitasking, and that is what's so amazing about Amazon music, is audiobook, podcast, music, whatever it may be. You can do both at once. Music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. Go check it out.

didn't you listen to a core of thorns and roses on amazon music or via audiobook i read it first and then listen because if you know you know you have like reading it was one experience and then listening to a court of thorns and roses was an entirely different experience they also have like verity verity by calling hoover is really popular you can listen to that one as well they have so many whether you're looking for like self-help romance also the voices are good. Like they're not, they're not, they're not like cheesy. Like they're good. They intrigue you. It gets you interested. It keeps you intrigued in the book and what's going on. And I don't know, for me, I feel like that's something that's pretty important because

like if a voice is boring or like monotone, I'm like, nah, I'm done. Get me out of here. Not doing it anymore. One of my dreams is actually to voice an audiobook one day. I think that would be so fun. So hey, Amazon Music. Maybe one day it won't be just a podcast. You're listening to my voice on Amazon Music on. It will also be a book. That's true. One of Peyton's dreams, she actually does want to do a...

An audio book. She wants to do an audio book. Not even when I wrote. I just genuinely want to be the voice, like a voice actor. You've talked about this before. You're like, I want to just read a book. Yeah. That'd be cool.

Like bedtime stories or something? Yeah. It would be so cool. All right, you guys. Music, Podcast, audiobooks, audio books all in one app. love Amazon music and you will to go check it out right now. Well, just like Garrett said, the police immediately are like, there's something missing from this scene. And it is Barbara's husband, Eli. When police speak with the neighbors, they learn, oh, we don't really know where he is,

but he owns the sporting goods shop across the street. But the store is closed that day. And with no sign of Eli, they begin to wonder, okay, did he do this and then go on the run? Because of Remember, no one knows he's fishing. Or is he possibly a victim himself? Like, do we have a little kidnapping going on here? After a little more digging, they do and talking to the community. They eventually find out about the fishing trip that he went on earlier that morning. And thankfully, one of his buddies he's with actually is an Amish.

Ah, okay. He's got a cell phone. So he has a cell phone. So when they learn this, they get the number and the officers call that cell phone asked to speak to Eli and they're like, hey, you might want to cut your fishing trip short. We just found your wife of 10 years dead inside your home. That's horrible.

If he didn't do this, that's horrible. Also probably so confusing to get a call on a cell phone that's not even yours. And then it's the cops that you don't typically interact with. Yeah. So after hearing the news, Eli makes the hour and 20 minute drive back to Apple Creek. And that day, he meets with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, who is investigating his wife's murder case. Now, to police, Eli seems genuinely distraught over the situation. And he also tells them he doesn't have the slightest clue on who the suspect may be. He also denies having any

involvement in her murder. And he's like, I was with my friends. Like, I have an alibi. He says he came home the night before around 11 p.m. from another fishing trip. He saw his son asleep on the couch, so he tucked him in, and then he went to bed himself. He said he actually overslept for his fishing trip that morning. So when he woke up, he was in a rush. He did say goodbye to Barbara. She was like half asleep, he says, but he left the house around 3 a.m. to leave for this trip. And that was the last time he saw her. So obviously police are like, okay, we understand you say you have an alibi, but this could have happened any time between 11 p.m. when you say you came home and 3 a.m. when you left again. So we need to check your hands for gunshot residue. He agrees. The results

come back negative. And his alibi is confirmed that he did leave at 3 a.m. to go on the fishing trip. So police are like, hey, maybe it happened within these hours. But, there's still a chance it happened after he left. They don't cross him off the list yet, but they keep their options open. It's a little confusing because a gunshots are loud. Like what, none of the eight kids heard it? Like, I don't know. Okay.

Well, I wish I could answer that question for you, but a lot of times if they've asked questions like that and it's not applicable to the news, the journalists won't always include it because it's minors. So I'm assuming if they had, we would know about it. Now, meanwhile, news about Barbara's death is obviously spreading fast in the Amish community. This was the kind of place where crime was virtually unheard of, especially a murder. So before long, Barbara's story is also making national news. However, there is one person who seems to know more about Barbara's life behind closed doors.

and this is her sister. So when news is spreading, police are talking to everyone, Barbara's sister decides to go to police with her information, her knowledge about her sister and her sister's life. She tells detectives, listen, things were not exactly smooth sailing with Barbara and Eli, despite their commitment to their faith and how their life looked on the outside.

Turns out, Eli had been doing things like withholding money from Barbara. I guess at one point Barbara had to visit a doctor, but Eli wouldn't give her the money to pay the bill, even though they were apparently doing just fine financially. So it was more like a control thing or just him not, or him thinking it's a waste of money. There was another time when Barbara was asked to bake some pies for the church.

But Eli was like, no, I'm not giving you money to go buy the ingredients to bake pies for other people. What? This is financially abusive, but this is also something that really embarrassed Barbara. But for Eli, like I said, it was more about control than money. And even worse than that, Eli thought that despite living in the Amish community and like taking on that identity and raising his kids in it and continuing to be a part of it. He was not a fan. He just doesn't really apply the rules of the Amish to himself, but like expects everyone else.

to live that way, if that makes sense. Because he had had several affairs during their marriage. Okay. This was something that actually started back when he took his little rendezvous to the city, when they were dating when he was 16. He had actually, you know, experienced a rendezvous out there. According to some sources, this is when he kind of started also experimenting with women outside of the Amish faith.

and he always had a bit of a wild streak making the most of his partying days, if you will. Now Barbara's sister said, even though he returned to the Amish community, that Pandora's box had already been opened for him a little bit. And if you're thinking, okay, these words like the way this story is a little weird, you have to remember where this information is coming from, someone going to the outside world to see what it's like is very scary. Like that's very scary. It feels like sin.

It feels like temptation. So for her, she's like once he got a taste of it, he couldn't stop. And she said, Eli wanted the best of both worlds. So after he and Barbara got married, apparently Eli continued his ways.

He had not one but two affairs. Both times he apparently left the marriage and the Amish faith. to let go do this, but then obviously it's temporary. He comes crawling back after both flings are over. And this is something that's not very easy to do, by the way, when someone wants to return to the faith like this, they have to ask for permission from church elders to be let back in when they have like voluntarily left.

This is a very shameful situation to be in like the going and coming back and going and coming back. And the community doesn't always welcome you back with open arms. takes a while to win over everyone's trust again, but it wasn't just the affairs that made Barbara's sister suspicious of Eli. Apparently, she tells police, Eli had also physically shoved

and grabbed Barbara in front of their kids. But for Barbara, walking away wasn't an option. Divorced strongly went against their religion. She loved her children. She quietly suffered instead. I will say in the investigation, though, they do find a letter she wrote to her church counselor at one point asking quote where did my friend love trustworthy husband go to he hates me to his core gosh okay and apparently in the weeks leading up to her death barbara had confided in her sister that she thought eli was once again starting to stray from the community going out maybe even seeing other women she sensed him repeating the same old patterns and behaviors.

She knew he had been growing distant and was leaving the house a lot more than usual. But Barbara also said something strange to a different friend at this time. She tells this friend, yes, I know like he's been physically, financially, he's cheating. But I'm not afraid of him. She said, instead, I'm actually more worried about the women that he sees on the side. that maybe one of them would want to be with Eli so badly, but know that he has this like family and wife back home that maybe they would try to do something to remove Barbara from Eli's life.

So this is like, you know, a friend comes forward and said, well, she said this. So police are digesting all of this, taking it all in, learning it. And then the morning after Barbara's death, police get a new lead. It's one that kind of throws them for a bit of a loop. Barbara's next door neighbor had called the police to say, she went to check the messages on the community phone that morning, and she had heard something terrifying. It was a man's voice saying something along the lines of, quote,

Eli, you can run, but you can't hide. Okay. Jeez a wheeze. What is going on? We got the wrong person last night. Wait, what? as in like inferring maybe that it was supposed to be him who was killed in bed and not Barbara

and this was the day after the murder. She calls police and says this message was left on our community phone. That's insane. So now detect us have to wonder. Okay, was this a hit and it was actually supposed to be Eli? Was there more going on outside of his marriage than just infidelity?

Did this have nothing to even do with Barbara? So the police bring Eli back. in for questioning later that day. They tell them, you know, what they know. And they ask him. And this time he admits, okay, yes, I have a history of cheating. But that is all in the past. Like, yes, I've come and gone. Everything you've heard is true.

But the police keep pressing to see if there's anything else Eli isn't telling them. There's got to be something else. And eventually he throws his hands up and says, I don't want to talk anymore. I'm going to get an attorney. But the police don't need Eli's help in putting together the pieces. they had been receiving a lot of tips from people in the Amish community over the last 24 hours. And there was one name that just kept coming up over and over again in all of these tips. Someone that Eli was supposedly spending a lot of his free time with recently.

A woman referred to mostly as, quote, the taxi lady. And again, you have to remember it's because in the community. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it. So they've, they've created a nickname for this girl that they've seen. I will say her real name was also Barbara.

Okay, so he's married to Barbara. No way. But the taxi lady is Barbara. Oh my gosh. Her name is Barbara Raber. Okay. And I will just use both names

when talking about her as not to confuse anyone. Okay. A little bit about 39-year-old Barbara Raber. She was born and raised, in a stricter part of the Amish community. But after she met her husband, Ed,

they left for a looser subdivision of the faith called the Mennonite Amish. Basically, Mennonites are kind of what Garrett was describing. Oh, they can use... They can use cell phones, cars, computers. It's just like a way more relaxed version and modern version of... So that's what I've been seeing.

The religion. Yeah, you're probably seeing the... men and nights. I'm seeing all the menonites. And I know, what's up guys? Also the, I know at least the Amish communities primarily like, uh, in the areas we've been are Mennonite Amish communities. Yeah, I'd probably, I'd probably say so as well. And Barbara Raber had found a way to use this to her advantage financially. Or her and her husband run away. They leave the strict one and they go to the looser one. And she begins a taxi service that offered rides to others in the Amish.

community. Smart, though. I'm not going to lie. Because while other subgroups weren't allowed to own or operate a vehicle, they are allowed to be a passenger in one. So she was like, oh my gosh, I can kind of take advantage of one of the ways they live. I don't know if it's taking advantage. I feel like it's a good business.

Robert Raber is like, I'm an entrepreneur and I'm going to give all my friends in the stricter parts of the Amish community rides. And now they got a taxi lady. Now they got a taxi lady. So whenever someone needed a ride outside of your typical horse and buggy jurisdiction, they would call their taxi lady, Barbara Raber. She was pretty well known around those parts. And Eli apparently had been using her services a lot.

Okay. She'd take him all around town on fishing trips out of state. and whenever the locals saw them together, they sensed there was something more between the taxi lady and Eli. So the police look Barbara Raber up, and they find she'd been living 20 miles away from Apple Creek in a town called Millersburg, Ohio, with her husband and three children.

They give her a call to say, hey, would you be willing to come down to the station, answer a few questions about Barbara Weaver's, murder. And she immediately goes, am I a suspect? And so the police are like, well, maybe with that response, we really want to talk to you now. Look, I would say the same thing. You'd immediately think you were a suspect? Yes, like, if the police called me for something random, would be like, why are you calling me? Like, are you blaming me for something? Yeah, I get that. You know what I'm saying? So they get her in a room and she admits, okay, you guys caught me. Me and Eli Weaver are having an affair.

Okay. The taxi lady and Eli have been. messing around. And she tells them, though, but this affair ended six months ago. We didn't want to jeopardize our marriages anymore. Our faith. She said, we are still in touch, but we've kept it platonic. We only see each other when he needs a ride. So the police are like, sounds great. Where were you at the time of the murder? Can you account for the 24 hours around Barbara Weaver's death? She says, well, actually, I drove Eli and his friends to and from his fishing. trip the day before the murder, I was the one who dropped Eli off at home at around 11 p.m., which lines up with his story.

But she said after that, I just went straight home, and I was actually in bed with my husband, Ed, for the rest of the night. And he could vouch for that, too. The officers are about to make arrangements to speak with Ed when something else comes across their desk. Another woman, this time, named Dandy Heasley. she walks into the station with information about Barbara's murder

okay let's hear this information she's like I too had an affair with Eli Weaver and I have some dirt on him so they're like hey Barbara Raber Barbara Raber taxi lady and her husband

Ed were putting it on pause because now we have a woman Dandy walking in saying she's also had an affair so 20 25-year-old dandy says she actually met Eli on a dating site a few years ago. Apparently, he had a secret laptop and cell phone and he'd been using it. She said his profile advertised him as, quote, an Amish stud with the tagline of, quote, Who wants to do an Amish guy?

You're lying. Nope, that's his bio. That's crazy. You know, I don't know. Not kind of smart, but absolutely horrible. All I'm saying is the Amish side of Eli's feeling a little performative at this point. Very, but also, I mean, it must have worked. There's got to be people out there who want to hook up with Amish people.

Good for you guys. Maybe. Bad for Eli. It feels like not in Eli's case, but like maybe in other cases where people are wanting to, to do that, that feels like a little predatory because, you know, anyways, I don't think that

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details. So the two started chatting. She learned he ran the little sporting goods store. So she would go there to hang out and have coffee with him. Dandy said he was different from the other Amish men she knew. Oh my gosh. He was outgoing. He was opinionated.

He was charming. She said the sexual part of their relationship was brief. They'd never actually spent a night together. And eventually, she said they just decided to be friends. But even she knew there were issues in his marriage. And that's why she had come in when she found out his wife. was murdered. I see.

Okay. She said, Eli would complain about his wife a lot. But at one point, the conversation between him and Dandy took a dark turn. He apparently asked her if she knew of any clever ways to kill someone. No way. She says he would pretend to joke,

like to joke about it saying if you drove by and saw Barbara walking outside, would you just hit her with your car? And he said it as a joke, but obviously that's a weird thing to say. No, it's nuts. There was another time when he asked Dandy if she knew which mushrooms were poisonous. I mean, this was someone who was really talking a lot about

or joking a lot about murder and poison and ways to kill, but then also inserting his wife into these conversations. Because I try to think, like, I guess if one of my friends said something jokingly about their significant other, maybe I wouldn't notice it until it got like really weird. Well, and here's the thing. This is exactly what Dandy tells police. She's like, no, listen, this wasn't like a one-off.

I'm mad at my wife situation. She's annoying. I'm going to kill her. Okay. This was pretty consistent. Conversations happening consistently at different times throughout our relationship. Okay. Him also asking, there's a difference between being like, oh my gosh, my wife is pissing me off.

I'm going to kill her. And oh, my gosh, my wife is pissing me. me off, do you know of any ways to kill someone? And then the next day being like, do you know if mushrooms are poisonous? And then the next time being like, if you see her, do you want to just run her over with your car? Yeah. That is very different.

100%. Again, I'm not condoning one or the other. I'm just saying, Dandy explains this to police. She's like, this isn't you're just typical. I'm so annoyed with my spouse type conversation. Which is why she'd gone to police after she heard about Barbara Weaver's death. To her, this was no coincidence. She's like, something happened here.

So the police are like, would you be willing to help us? Maybe you can talk to Eli. And Dandy comes up with an idea. She says, listen, I haven't spoken to Eli for some time. I've actually since deactivated my dating profile, but she thinks if I create a new one, Eli will respond. So kind of working with the police, this is what she does. She gets back on this site.

She messages Eli on her new profile saying, what's going on, I'm worried, call me, and she leaves her number. Sure enough, minutes later, she gets a phone call and it's Eli. He tells her, yep, my life's crazy right now. Yep, she's dead. I've been staying at my parents' house ever since his home became a crime scene. Not, I've been staying at my parents' house because my wife was murdered. Yeah, true. But the way he tells the story to her is just, weird again just little to know emotion in his voice every single thing is phrased as like an inconvenience to his life and not that like his wife has been murdered yeah the conversation is brief eliz like i can't really talk about it much like it's an ongoing investigation and after

they hang up dandy doesn't hear from eli again however this gives police one very big thread to follow because they now have the number to his secret cell phone because that's what he called dandy on. So they file a subpoena to get that cell phone's records. Because remember, when they go to him, he's like, I don't have a cell phone. I'm Amish. So now they have proof of it. Meanwhile, the police are hearing from more women.

Eli met through this dating app. Okay. And a lot of these women that come forward are telling very similar stories about Eli. Turns out he was kind of talking like this with a bunch of the women about ideas on how to kill his wife doing the like run over. Like if you see her with her car, will you run over? A lot of the time he said he was joking. They hoped he was joking. But there's now been multiple women who have come forward and said like this was a pretty common theme in our conversation. So the police know it's not true. But when the data on his cell phone comes back, it shows something interesting. Eli,

might have actually gotten one person to really help him with his plan. Because that cell phone was not paid for by Eli Weaver. It was on a family plan. And the family plan belonged to Taxi Lady, Barbara Raber. Turns out, she was the one who had gotten him his secret cell phone and computer. And when they start looking through his text messaging records, They see that most of them are to Barbara Raber. And a lot of them are complaining about his wife, talking about ways to get rid of his wife on both ends.

Like he's actively saying this to Barbara Raber, our taxi lady. And she's not like, oh my gosh, stop kidding around. She's engaging in the conversation about ways to also kill Barbara, the why. Okay. They spoke about crushing up sleeping pills. Oh my gosh. flipping it in her drink, putting rat poison in a cupcake, maybe carbon monoxide. Maybe he could just blow up his house when he wasn't home.

You know what's kind of scary? There's a lot of ways you can kill someone. Like without like a gun or stabbing someone, there's like a lot of ways you can kill someone. Also, I just need to tell you. Kind of creepy. Such an insane part of this conversation. Okay. When he's like, maybe I'll blow up my home when I'm not home.

So it's like looks like every like. She said, what about the kids? She says, okay, well, what about what about your kids? Yeah. He says, quote, again, text message, quote, well, the kids will go to heaven because they're innocent. I mean, honestly, to be honest, this guy just sounds like a very stellar guy. Can I just say again, the Amish thing being performative, in my opinion, that was just him taking the responsibility off himself and being like, well, come on, we're Amish. We know the kids will go to heaven.

When in reality, he should have basically said, I don't care about my kids. I don't care about my wife. I mean, I think it's pretty obvious at this point. He doesn't really care. Now, from reading those messages, police found that the two landed on, like, the end of the plan was a shooting. They're like, let's just shoot her. And they did start to devise a plan together on the secret cell phone. And then the night before the murder, Eli gave Barbara Raber directions on where to park.

And he told her, take a flashlight, leave your car behind. How do you convince somebody? how do you how how does that happen love triangles that's how just crazy to me he says like i i i don't think i can be convinced to do anything but here's the thing and this is like kind of the wild part and i think it's what you're insinuating it's not like he said come over and we'll do this together he said i need an alibi so you have to do this for me yes i'm saying it's crazy so he said park your car leave it somewhere it won't be seen. I will leave the door unlocked when I leave at 3 a.m.

for my fishing trip. And then you can come in. The final text between them was sent 24 hours later when Barbara Raber texted him and said, do not give this cell phone to the police. I will get you a new one. What's crazy is he probably wouldn't have been caught if what's your name didn't come forward and his number got leaked.

Because I think... Also, she just told you, destroy the phone. Yeah, he obviously didn't. No. I'm glad he didn't. Yeah, no, of course. Now, these messages are obviously more than enough to get an arrest warrant for Eli and Barbara Raber because they literally have proof of them planning this entire murder out.

And on June 10th, eight days after the murder, both are taken into custody. So this whole entire case from time of murder to them arresting these two was only eight days long. Detectives also sees Barbara's devices, including her computer, which shows even more evidence of her guilt, basically her being the accomplice, because, you know, this can go to trial and she can be like, he was abusing me, he was manipulating me, I was groomed, you know what I mean, but they find on her computer over 840 different searches on how to poison someone. Oh, gosh.

So they were like, eh, that's, you doing your. your research on your own. So after Eli's arrest, he still refuses to speak without a lawyer, but he insists he's innocent. Meanwhile, Barbara Raber is a little more willing to defend herself. She tells police, I fell in love with Eli. He said the only way for us to be together was if his wife was out of the picture completely. She's like, I agreed to help him. I helped him figure out an alibi, setting him up on that fishing trip for the day of the attack. And, on the morning of June 2nd, she said she left her house with her husband's shotgun. She went over to the Weavers and threw the unlocked door that Eli had left open for her.

She goes inside, but then she tells police, once I got inside, I got cold feet. She said, I suddenly did not want to kill Barbara Weaver. So she's like, I decided instead of killing her, I'm just going to scare her. Then she said, I was standing in the doorway of Barbara's bedroom, getting ready to scare her. And the gun went off accident. The phrase she cried to the police was, it was an accident. It was all a horrible accident.

800 searches on how to poison someone, by the way. No, she's nuts. This person's nuts. They're like, okay, if you were just kind of like, again, groomed into this, you were scared, you showed up with the shotgun, and you got too scared to do it, and the gun accidentally went off.

Why were you planning this whole thing? Why were you searching on other ways to kill her? She's like, oh, it was just a joke. Like, we were just joking around. It had always just been a joke. Police obviously are not buying any of this. Forensics and the pathologist said the blast was fired at close range. Remember, she doesn't know that they know this, but they know this.

There was no accidental shot that happened from the doorway of the bedroom. This gun was pointed directly into the bedding. The tricky part was, unless, like, okay, she's admitted she was there. But there's no evidence tying her to the scene. There's no eyewitnesses. There's no fingerprints. There's no DNA. I mean, it's not that hard because of her story,

but maybe if she goes to trial and her story changes, they're just like we wish we had some physical evidence as well. But we do have the text messages. We do have her somewhat confession. Later that month, both Eli and Barbara Raber were indicted for aggravated murder. Barbara was also charged for using a firearm. So the two are to be tried separately. But as Eli gets ready for his day in court,

The big question being asked is, as always, why not just divorce your wife and leave? Get out of the Amish community. Just leave. Run away and be done. But the answer is rooted in his faith. Eli had stepped out on his marriage publicly at least twice. He had to beg and claw his way back in. Divorce was frowned upon and his ego and pride was just a little too big to get hurt.

That eagle will get you every single time. So instead of having to leave the Amish faith, he really doesn't even want to be a part of. He's like, maybe I can just get widowed. Well, that would come with hugs and tears and condolences. His kids would likely be sent to live with other family members, so they would be out of his hair. And Eli would then get to go off and live his life without judgment or responsibilities because people would be like he's just a grieving widow. Now, apparently, Eli saw this as his way out.

Obviously, this doesn't explain why he was so dumb, like, about this whole thing, how he thought he would get off so easily. He clearly underestimated the system, which was something his lawyer advised he not do again. So in August 2009, just a few weeks before his trial kicks off, he takes the advice of his attorneys and he accepts a plea deal. his attorney's like dude you're screwed what's the plea deal his charges were conspiracy to commit murder the plea deal gave him 15 years behind bars oh mom i i mean he deserves that 100% deserves more but sometimes i feel like when you're not you're not the one that does it it's like five years or something see i'm kind of like we've seen cases that the husband gets someone else to kill and he still gets life in prison.

Yeah, true. So for me, 15 years, granted, it was a plea deal. 15 years just seems incredibly light. She obviously got life. Well, and it's, right? Yes. Like 100%. There's no way she...

She doesn't get life in prison without the possibility of parole. But she does get years to life. And my thing is, is like, I understand she's the one who killed her. But it was so very clearly he was involved and was the motive. I don't know. Anyways, he also in his plea deal has to testify against taxi lady. That's crazy. So he has to get up and say, yep, she did this.

Meanwhile, Barbara is also offered a plea deal, but she turns it down. Ooh, not a good idea. So on September 16th, 2009, her trial begins. Prosecutors tell the story of a desperate, love-sick woman who was willing to do anything to be with Eli Weaver. Which is not a bad idea. They also call a witness to the stand who says on the morning after the murder, Barbara Raber came to him asking for a favor. He wanted her to call a number and say,

Eli, you can run, but you can't hide. We got the wrong person last night. She was hoping that this would, like, deflect blame off of her. And then Eli takes the stand. He tries to downplay the entire thing while also still, like, testifying for the state. He's like, yeah, we talked about it. never thought she was actually going to do it, though. I thought we were kind of just like casually chatting about murdering my wife. Obviously, the defense tries to pin the entire thing on Eli.

They speak about how there's actually no evidence at all that Barbara Raber was alone in the house, or that she was even in the house. There's no shoe prints, fingerprints, or weapon left behind. The only thing that puts her there was her own words, which she confessed to trying to protect the love of her life. I mean, from a defense standpoint, like, not a bad argument. They're like, how can you guys even say for sure it was not her taking the blame for him because she was so love struck and under his spell. Like obviously, I disagree, but they're doing a good job. Now, I will say they say this, but the defense had a little bit of something.

They say the shotgun pellets found at the scene were consistent with the weapon. that the ravers own. So they're like in her, in her confession, she said she brought her husband's gun. The bullets at the scene were consistent with those. And so that is more likely means

she probably was there. So despite the fact you guys are saying, you're putting doubt maybe she wasn't even there. Maybe it was him and she took the fall. They're like, well,

the bullets were consistent. So after three days of testimony, the jury finds... Yeah, but I think they're saying that like, well, he could have had the gun. Yeah. And I'm sure that, you know, that they pointed that as well. The jury finds Barbara guilty of aggravated murder.

She's sentenced to 23 years. Sheesh. To life in prison. I mean, deserved. Barbara Raber is still serving her time in prison at Ohio Reformatory for women. Okay. She'll be eligible for parole in June of 2032. As for Eli, he's been moved around a few times over the years.

He was up for parole in 2024, but was denied. Wow. So his next hearing is set for 2032. So they could be getting out at the same time. Now, since his incarceration, at least two of his children have publicly said they've gone to visit him in prison. This is the hard thing that I think of is the children. It's like you, like, so the mom's dead because of your actions. and now they don't have a dad as well because of your actions.

You just let one of your kids find their mom dead. Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? I'm not, I will never go into detail unless, like, they've publicly said it. But they have gone to see him in prison. The Amish community, however, would not be as forgiving. Chances are, Eli will definitely not be welcomed back after he's released. No, there's no way.

But his late wife, Barbara Weaver, seemed to forgive him before the, the damage was even done. In one of the last letters she wrote to her church counselor just before her murder, she wrote this of Eli, quote, I often think of Christ's words in reference to Eli. Forgive him or he knows not what he does. How sad is that? That is so incredibly devastating that she had such a forgiving and empathetic heart. Her husband has treated her absolutely he's been cruel to her, their entire marriage, cheating on her, doing horrible things. And she's seeking guidance in her church counselor saying, I miss my husband. I'm so sad.

And in the last letter she wrote, she says, I will take Christ's stance and just forgive him. And then she dies because of a girl that he convinced he planned out to kill her. That's horrible. Disgusting. Honestly, they don't deserve, they both should rot in prison the rest of their lives. there's no way you let them out. That's horrible. I mean, he got his parole denied, which low-key. Good. If I had heard this voice and was on that parole, I would be like, you got off easy.

Yep. We're absolutely not letting you out on parole. No. But that's just me. That's crazy. All right, you guys, thank you for listening to or watching today's episode. And we will see you next time with another one. I love it.

I hate it. Goodbye.