The predominantly Amish community in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania, is left stunned and scared after a 23-year-old pregnant Amish woman was found dead this week, a community member told ABC News.
“Everyone is stunned, this doesn’t happen here,” Charleen Hajec, a pharmacist who was born and raised in Spartansburg, said. “Everyone is talking, it’s scary and frustrating.”
On Monday afternoon, police responded to a home in Sparta Township, where they found Rebekah Byler dead, Pennsylvania State Police said.
Police are investigating the murder of a 23-year-old pregnant woman found dead at a home in Spartansburg, PA, Feb. 26, 2024.
ABC News/WJET
Byler’s death is considered a homicide and “police are aggressively investigating all available leads,” police said.
On Wednesday, Pennsylvania state police told ABC News there is no new information to release at this time.
Sparta Township is a small township in Crawford County, just outside of the borough of Spartansburg and about 35 miles southeast of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Police are investigating the murder of a 23-year-old pregnant woman found dead at a home in Spartansburg, PA, Feb. 26, 2024.
ABC News/WJET
When Hajec heard what happened to the young Amish woman she said she couldn’t believe a murder would happen in Sparta Township, which she called a “tight-knit community.”
“This is a tight-knit community, the outside world doesn’t get in,” Hajec said. “To have something this tragic… it doesn’t happen here.”
In the wake of Byler’s death, police have asked the public to report any suspicious people, cars or activity in the area of Fish Flats Road to the authorities at 814-663-2043.