Chapter 68: Murder in Amish Country-The Murder of Barbara Weaver

Eli Weaver was an Amish man who could have had it all. He had a kind, loving wife named Barbara, and 5 beautiful children. However, Eli wasn't satisfied with the life he had. Over his 10 years of marriage, he would leave his family more than once to...
Eli Weaver was an Amish man who could have had it all. He had a kind, loving wife named Barbara, and 5 beautiful children. However, Eli wasn't satisfied with the life he had. Over his 10 years of marriage, he would leave his family more than once to live the English way of life before crawling back,m begging for forgiveness from his wife and the leaders of his community. Eli wasn't sorry though, because he had multiple women on the side, one of whom would do just about anything to make him happy, even if that meant killing for him.
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Cleveland 19 News. (2009, September 23). Amish man sentenced to 15-Years to Life in Prison for wife’s murder. https://www.cleveland19.com. https://www.cleveland19.com/story/11181682/amish-man-sentenced-to-15-years-to-life-in-prison-for-wifes-murder/Cross, S. (2023, March 8). How MocoSpace works. HowStuffWorks. https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/mocospace.htmFisher, J. (n.d.). The Eli Weaver/Barbara Raber murder case. http://jimfishertruecrime.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-eli-weaverbarbara-raber-murder-case.htmlHoltz, H. R. (2023, October 4). Eli Weaver, the “Amish stud” who plotted his wife’s murder. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/eli-weaverHomepage. (2023, December 14). A+E Networks EMEA. https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/amish-stud-eli-weaverMorris, R. (2016, July 9). The sex-crazed Amish man who “plotted” to murder his wife. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2016/07/09/the-sex-crazed-amish-man-who-plotted-to-murder-his-wife/State v. Raber. (n.d.). Justia Law. https://law.justia.com/cases/ohio/ninth-district-court-of-appeals/2010/2010-ohio-4066.htmlStrusnik, B. (2022, October 20). Types of Amish. Amish Baskets. https://www.amishbaskets.com/blogs/blog/types-of-amishVan Sambeck, B. (2023, December 15). Self-Described “Amish stud” plots with married mennonite lover to murder his wife. Oxygen Official Site. https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-news/eli-weaver-amish-man-murders-wife-with-barbara-raberVanapalli, V. (2023, December 8). Barbara Weaver Murder: Where are Eli Weaver and Barbara Raber Now? The Cinemaholic. https://thecinemaholic.com/barbara-weaver-murder-where-are-eli-weaver-and-barbara-raber-now/Vega, A. (2023, September 30). Who was Barbara Weaver and what happened to her?. . . The US Sun. https://www.the-sun.com/news/9216583/barbara-weaver-murder-amish/Williams, K. (2023, September 26). Eli Weaver, aka “Amish Stud”: Is Murder Among the Amish Common? Amish 365. https://www.amish365.com/amish-stud-amish-and-murder/
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Hi guys. I'm Courtney and I'm
Lisa, and welcome to the next chapter
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in the Book of the Dead,
brought to you by Dark Cast Network Indie
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Podcasts with a Twist. Hello,
Hello, Welcome to another chapter. Lisa
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is not with me today. She
is prepping for a Christmas party, so
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it's just gonna be me. But
that's okay. Today's chapter is going to
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be on like one we've done before
in the sense that it deals with a
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topic that we've never covered, and
that topic is the Amish. So before
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00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.079
we jump in, I'm going to
give you a general background of the Amish,
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although I think most of you will
have some semblance of an idea of
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what Amish is. So according to
Amishbaskets dot Com, the first Amish people
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came to North America from Germany in
the seventeen hundreds, and they were members
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of a strict Mennonite sect led by
Jakob Aman, which is where the word
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Amish is derived. The common misconception
is that the Amish is a cult or
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a religion, but they're actually a
strictly devout sect of Christianity. Now,
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Amish law forbids violence in any form
and anything that promotes aggression like sports.
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They also strictly forbid against military service, so they are seen as pacifists and
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they prefer to forgive acts of violence, and because of this, there is
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rarely any punishment seen in response to
violence. And they believe in responding to
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injustice by doing good, and they
strive for harmony in everything they do.
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Modesty is incredibly important to them,
which is why most people in Amish communities
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are usually dressed in simple clothing,
in muted colors or in only black and
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white, and they don't take pictures
to avoid promoting ideas of vanity. They
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live traditionally and earn their money by
farming, carpentry, basket making, and
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things like that. Their primary form
of travel is by horse and buggy,
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and most members of the Amish community
don't use electricity, they don't have phones,
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and they don't use the internet.
They have strict rules around courting,
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and the Amish is broken up into
four main groups, with separate subgroups branching
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off of them. Typically, when
someone hears the word Amish, the group
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that naturally comes to mind is Old
World Amish. They are the most strict
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in their values and rules, and
while again not a cult. This strictness
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is why people believe the Amish community
is one. While one is free to
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leave the Amish us community, it
depends on a lot of factors whether or
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not the person will be allowed back, and their biggest form of punishment is
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called shunning, which means other members
of the community will completely avoid the person
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being shunned. Quote. This occurs
when a member willfully violates Ordnung and is
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out of concern for the well being
of the individual as well as to protect
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the flock. And Ordnung is the
order, the order of things, how
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they do things, the rules by
which they live by. The next group
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is New Order Amish, and they
are a bit more progressive. They allow
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more modern farming technology, telephones in
the home, and some other forms of
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technology, although the Internet, automobiles, television, and radio is still all
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prohibited. They also allow Sunday school
and missionary work in more brightly colored clothes.
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Then there is Beechy Amish Mennonite,
and they are very different from the
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other two groups. They don't require
private worship, they have meeting houses,
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Sunday school and Bible school. They
don't require anyone to speak German, and
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they allow cars and filtered internet use. They also support missionary work and they
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don't practice social shunning. They still
prohibit television, though and radio, and
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women still have to cover their heads
and married men must have a beard like
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in the former groups. Finally,
there is Amish Mennonites. Although they have
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dropped Amish from their name to separate
themselves from the old world and its traditions.
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They still have a heavy emphasis in
faith in doing good, but they
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are more lax in how men dress
and style their beards, and they allow
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the use of cars and electricity in
the home. Now, this is just
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a very general overview of the Amish
and the culture, but I wanted there
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to be a better understanding of what
being Amish means. I also wanted to
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emphasize the fact that violent crime is
not something that is often seen in Amish
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communities, which makes this case such
a big deal. This is the murder
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of Barbara Weaver. Barbara Weaver was
born on February second, nineteen seventy nine,
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in Apple Creek, Ohio, and, according to a neighbor, Mary
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Aiker, who was a Mennonite taxi
driver for the Amish and would provide rides
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for those in the community, if
they needed to travel farther distances or pick
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up items they needed. Said Barbara
was quote a very friendly, sociable person.
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She was kind of laid back,
but super nice, a gentle soul.
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In May of nineteen ninety nine,
Barbara Mary's an Amish man named Eli
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Weaver, and they go on to
have five children together. The Weavers are
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part of a subgroup of Old World
Amish called Andy Weaver Amish, and this
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group was very conservative. According to
A and E. They didn't allow computers,
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the Internet, or cell phones,
and the Amish also in general,
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does not believe in divorce. Divorce
is not accepted at all, and if
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a couple did pursue divorce, it
would usually immediately lead to excommunication from the
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community, which will be important later. Now. By the time Barbara was
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thirty, the Weavers were married for
ten years, and in the beginning it
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seemed like they had a good marriage
and they were happy. Eli owned a
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successful hunting store and he was described
as very outgoing. Mary Aikers said quote,
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he would often come over fairly late
in the evening and ask for a
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ride, and he was very considerate. He would apologize for interrupting me.
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He had charm. However, the
Weavers started to have problems and it seemed
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like Eli started changing in a way
that really upset Barbara. According to The
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New York Post, in a letter
that Barbara wrote to a counselor, she
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said, quote, where did my
friend, love, trustworthy husband go?
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He hates me to the core?
And Eli had changed twice. He had
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left his family to live the English
way of life, but had returned both
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times begging for forgiveness, which was
accepted, and he was welcomed back into
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his family and the community. Rebecca
Morris, the author of a Killing,
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an Amish Country, sex Betrayal and
A Cold Blooded Murder, said Eli found
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that life outside was hard. He
had to figure out how to make a
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living. I think he wasn't mature
enough to handle life and responsibilities and marriage,
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and he had no conscience. Clearly
he was also withholding money from his
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wife. Barbara's sister, Fanny Troyer, said that Eli wouldn't give his wife
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money to care for their children,
even though his business was doing well.
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An Amish friend said that Barbara had
been humiliated when Eli refused to provide her
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with money to buy ingredients for pies
she needed to bake for church, and
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Mary Aiker said that he wouldn't even
provide her money to go to the doctor.
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This Mary found out when she had
given permission for Barbara to use her
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phone number as a point of contact
for the doctor, and Mary overheard Barbara
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telling the doctor or more likely the
receptionist, that she would pay the bill
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as soon as possible. So clearly
there's starting to be this disconnect in the
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Weaver marriage. Eli is becoming controlling. He's not giving Barbara money for things
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that she needs money for. And
you know, in the Amish way of
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life, it's very traditional in this
sense that men and women own their traditional
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roles. The man is the provider, he's the worker, and the women
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stay home, they take care of
the children, they cook, they bake,
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that kind of thing. So there's
obviously some discourse in their relationship now,
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and Barbara is confused because this is
not the man that she thought she
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married. You know, in the
beginning of their relationship, Eli wasn't like
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that, yes, and you could
shock it up to immaturity that Eli wasn't
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ready for marriage when he got married. But the fact of the matter is
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is that he is married and he
has certain responsibilities to his wife and his
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family that he's not doing. There
was also allegations of abuse that were witnessed
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by the Weaver children of Eli shoving
Barbara and grabbing her. But again in
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the Amish community, there was nothing
Barbara could do. According to the Post,
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an Amish leader said that if she
reported this behavior, she would have
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been asked, quote, what did
you do that your husband would treat you
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like that? Which is interesting to
me, at least considering the Amish don't
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believe in violence, it's interesting that
that would have been the response to any
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acts of violence performed by Eli.
Now, this was only the beginning of
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the crack surfacing in the Weaver's marriage, and it would eventually come to a
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head. Not only was Eli clearly, as I said, controlling and allegedly
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abusive towards Barbara, he was also
actively seeking out women to sleep with.
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Now. One of the rules of
his community was that cell phones were forbidden,
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but Eli had a cell phone,
and with this phone, he was
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an active member of different social sites, one of which was moco space,
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where he went by the screen name
Amish stud Now. According to how Stuff
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Works, mocospace is a social networking
site similar to Facebook or MySpace, but
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it is specifically designed to primarily be
used through a mobile device. When you
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set up an account, you can
set your name, age, sexual preferences,
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your relationship status, and post pictures
and customize your profile and moco Space
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also includes chat rooms where you can
speak with other members and use forums and
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run classified ads, so it's a
little bit more involved than other social media
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sites. And Eli was using it
to find women to meet for the purpose
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of sex. And there was no
denying what Eli was using this for because
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his bio on this site said,
quote who wants to do an Amish guy.
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According to oxygen dot Com, Barbara
eventually came to find out about these
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affairs, but she also knew she
couldn't divorce Eli due to Amish law.
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According to Rebecca Morris, Barbara quote
told a friend she wasn't afraid of Eli,
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but she was afraid of Eli's girlfriends, and that somebody would be so
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jealous and wanting Eli so much they
would harm Barbara. And according to a
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blog post written by Jim Fisher,
the leaders of the community were also aware
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of these affairs with English women and
he would be thrown out of the community.
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More than once, but they always
welcomed him back when he repented.
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Everyone knows that Eli is unfaithful to
his wife, he's having extramarital affairs,
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and the general consensus is, well, Barbara, there's nothing you can do
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about it. You're stuck with him
because if you leave him, you're out
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of the community. And when it
came to Eli, every time they kicked
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him out, it was well,
I'm sorry, and they let him back
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in. So I think it was
just handled poorly by the people that should
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have been there to help in some
way, meaning the leaders of the community.
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Because Barbara's clearly stuck. There's not
a lot she can do because they
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won't allow her to get a divorce. If Eli is aggressive towards her,
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violent towards her in any ways,
well what did you do to deserve it?
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And Eli clearly has some sort of
addiction to sex. I mean,
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I'm not a doctor. I can't
diagnose him with anything, but this man's
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going out and having affairs with all
sorts of women, looking for women to
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sleep with. You know, clearly
he has a problem. And the consensus
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is will get out and all he
has to do is say he's sorry and
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they let him back in. So
it just it's created this situation for Barbara
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where she can't really do anything,
and she's now fearful that potentially one of
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Eli's many flings can come and harm
her because they want Eli for himself,
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which is not a situation that anyone
should be in now. In two thousand
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and three, Eli enters into a
relationship with a woman named Barbara Raper,
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who was ten years Eli's senior.
At this time, Eli was twenty three
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and Raber was thirty three. According
to Oxygen, Raber was a man in
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a taxi driver who drove the Amish
in the community around when they had to
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go far distances, just like Mary
Iiger. She was also a married mother
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of three. Eli and Raber would
go on to have a sexual relationship that
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went on for close to six years, and it was by two thousand and
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eight that Eli really started to complain
about his marriage. According to All That's
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Interesting, Eli started talking to people
about killing his wife in the fall of
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two thousand and eight, but no
one was taking him seriously, that is,
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except for Raber. According to Eli, Raber took the idea of murdering
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Barbara and quote ran with it.
Over the course of the next few months,
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Raber performed over eight hundred and forty
internet searches for poisoning gases and quote
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ways to get rid of someone,
according to the Daily Record, and she
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and Eli debated on different methods of
killing Barbara. At around seven am on
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June second, two thousand and nine, one of the Weaver children ran to
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the neighbor's house yelling for help.
At that point, Eli was fishing with
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friends on Lake Erie, so he
wasn't home now. The neighbor runs to
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the Weaver's home with the young boy, and in the bedroom, under blood
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soaked covers, was the body of
Barbara Weaver, dead from a gunshot wound
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to the chest, according to that
post by Jim Fisher. At eleven thirty
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am, Wayne County Coroner doctor Amy
Joliff pronounces Barbara dead at the scene,
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and doctor Lisa Kohler, the Summit
County Chief Medical Examiner, performs the autopsy
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and confirms the cause of death was
a gunshot wound to the right side of
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Barbara's chest. The time of death
was estimated to be between twelve and three
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am, and the time of death
was confirmed by Jolf to be an estimate
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and the murder could have happened anywhere
from twelve to seven am, according to
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the Daily Record. Now, on
Barbara's death certificate, they did list time
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of death as being two AM,
and Joliffe did clarify that the only reason
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they put in exact time was because
the death certificate required in a exact time
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of death, not an estimate.
But they believed that she could have been
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dead anywhere from twelve to seven It
could have happened anytime within that window.
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So I just wanted to make that
clear because there's a bunch of different times
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that I just said, and the
only reason that there was ever an exact
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time even given was again because the
death certificate required one. Now, a
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firearms expert with the Ohio Bureau of
Criminal Investigation identified the recovered shotgun pellets as
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most likely belonging to a four to
ten gage shotgun. So they have a
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description of the weapon. Now they
need to find the weapon. Detectives with
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the Wayne County Sheriff's Department then sees
two shotguns matching the description of the murder
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weapon from Eli's hunting shop and recover
a box of matching AMMO from the Weaver's
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home with one shell missing. They
also find some sitting out, which led
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them to believe that this was not
a robbery gone wrong. It's also worth
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mentioning that they didn't find any fingerprints
except for those belonging to the Weaver family,
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and they never found the actual murder
weapon. They found weapons that could
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have been the murder weapon or match
the description of the murder weapon, but
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nothing that they were able to definitively
say was the gun used to murder Barbara.
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So then Eli comes home and the
police question him. Now, Eli
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denies any and all involvement in his
wife's murder, and according to Eli's friend
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David Yoda, they loved to go
fishing at around three am the morning of
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the second According to all that's interesting. While Eli had an alibi, he
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definitely wasn't home from three am on. Friends and neighbors of the Weavers pointed
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police in the direction of Raber,
who did not have an alibi for the
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night of the murder, now spoke
to her. She admitted to having the
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affair with Eli, but she told
police that it had actually ended six months
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prior and she was home with her
husband on the night of the murder.
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Then someone very interesting came forward,
a woman by the name of Dandy Heasley
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contacted police and told them about the
relationship she had had with Eli. She
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also told them about how they had
met on the internet and about Eli's secret
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phone. She also told police about
the comments he had made about Barbara and
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how he was unhappy in his marriage
and suggested that he wanted to know how
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to kill someone and get rid of
his wife for good. Then other women
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started coming forward with the exact same
story, so police really want to find
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this phone. According to oxygen dot
Com, Dandy makes a new profile on
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a dating site and sends Eli a
message asking for him to call her,
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and he does so. Now police
have Eli's phone number, and with this
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they can start looking into his text
and call records, and these records tell
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00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:15.240
quite a story. First of all, the phone is registered under Raber's name,
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and once they get the phone records, police learn that Raper lied about
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their relationship ending. Not only did
the phone log prove that they were very
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much still a couple, but it
showed messages between the two discussing the murder
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of Barbara Weaver. According to All
That's interesting, some of the messages read
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quote, I thought if we could
get that fly poison stuff in a spice
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cupcake. She might not detect it, and that was from Raber. Eli
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responds with, quote, maybe you
could blow up the house. Raber says,
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quote what about your children, and
Eli responds with, quote, they'll
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go to heaven because they're innocent.
So, according to Eli, if his
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kids died in the process of killing
his lid wife, well they're just collateral
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damage. On June tenth, both
Eli and Raber are arrested for Barbara's murder
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and charged with aggravated murder. According
to court records, and this will be
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important later. Raber is arrested outside
her home in the early hours of the
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morning of June tenth. She has
read her Miranda rights and she asked for
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counsel now. When Detective John Chewey
asks if she wants a lawyer, she
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says no. She is brought to
the Wayne County Sheriff's office, where she
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confesses to killing Barbara, but she
refuses to write a written statement. The
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next day, she is interrogated to
clarify some of the details of the crime,
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where she asserts her right to counsel
and the interrogation is stopped. Now
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in her confession According to the Post, Raper said that Barbara's death was an
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accident. She just meant to scare
her. She said she took the gun
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from her husband's gun cabinet and arrived
at the Weavers around four thirty am.
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She went in through the basement door
and went to the bedroom. She said,
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quote, I never intended for anything
to happen, but when it did,
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it was like, oh crap.
However, Raber later recanted this confession
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and claimed she had no memory of
going to the Weaver home. According to
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A and E, on August seventeenth, Eli agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy
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00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.680
to commit murder in exchange for his
testimony against Raper, and he was sentenced
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to fifteen years in prison. Raber
goes to trial on September sixteenth, two
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00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:37.880
thousand and nine. Now, unfortunately
for Raber and her trial, she did
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00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:42.240
a lot of talking to her cellmate
in jail while waiting for the court proceedings
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to begin, and her cellmate was
called to testify. Dina Unengst, Braver's
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00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.640
cellmate, told the court how Raber
purchased a four to ten gage shotgun,
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00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:59.519
which again is the gun determined to
most likely be the murder weapon, although
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00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:03.519
they never found it. After Eli
had consistently told her he didn't love his
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00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:08.519
wife and wanted her dead. She
also allegedly asked Dina if she knew how
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00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:14.279
long fingerprints would last on a gun, and Larry Miller, the owner of
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00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:18.240
a local gun store, testified that
Raber had purchased the shotgun matching this description
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00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:25.240
in November of two thousand and eight. Then Eli takes the stand. Eli
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00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:29.039
claimed that Raber took the idea of
killing his wife and ran with it,
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and had even given him pills to
poison his wife at one point, which
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he backed out of doing. He
then said how on the day before the
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00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:42.319
murder, he informed Raber that he
would be leaving to go fishing at three
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am, to which Raber, according
to court documents, said that that would
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00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:52.279
be the perfect time to kill Barbara
as Eli would not be home. So
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Eli said he would leave the basement
door unlocked for her, and at three
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twenty five the next morning, Raber
texted e Eli, saying she was scared
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and asking where he was, to
which he replied that he was in Wooster
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fishing and to make sure she didn't
leave any evidence behind. He then went
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00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:14.759
on to say that they had a
conversation in his barn the day before their
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00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:18.759
arrest, where Raber told him what
happened the day of the murder and apologized
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00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:22.680
for everything. Eli then said that
Raber asked him how to clean a gun
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00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:30.039
so it would look as if it
hadn't been fired. Additionally, Eli testified
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that after the murder, Raber suggested
they change their phone numbers so they wouldn't
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00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:41.000
be traced, and she had actually
had Eli's number changed, according to these
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00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:44.880
court records. A David Weaver,
not related to Eli, said that he
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00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:48.119
had been asked by Rape to leave
a voicemail for Eli that said quote,
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00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.599
Eli, you can run, but
you can't hide. Obviously we got the
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00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:57.680
wrong person last night. Now.
I'm assuming this voicemail was left to try
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and throw police off off of maybe
her trail, Eli's trail, But it
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00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:12.119
clearly didn't work because they got to
Eli and Raber anyway. But she got
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00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:21.160
someone else involved in this plot by
leaving the message. Although he was not
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00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:27.319
charged with anything, David Weaver and
I believe that was in exchange for testifying
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00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:30.440
that she had asked him to do
this. They weren't going to charge him
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00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:34.920
with anything. It was also discovered
that Raber had access to another four to
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00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.119
ten gate shotgun once she had borrowed
from a friend a few years before that
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she had never returned. So not
only did she have access to the four
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00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:52.000
ten gate shotguns through Eli's store,
she purchased one a few months prior,
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00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:59.400
and she borrowed one years prior that
she never gave back. Now again,
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00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:03.279
they ever found the murder weapon,
so I don't know what she did with
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00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.759
them. No one knows what she
did with either the gun she purchased or
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00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:11.839
the gun she borrowed. They I
guess, never found them, or if
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00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:17.640
they did find them, they weren't
necessarily the guns used to commit the murder,
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00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:23.880
so it's interesting that they went to
trial anyway. Technically is circumstantial.
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00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:29.119
You know, she had access to
these guns. She had purchased a gun,
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00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.599
she had borrowed a gun, but
they never found the gun, so
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00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:37.680
it's circumstantial she could have used one
of these guns to kill Barbara. Now,
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00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:40.519
even though the defense did what they
could to try and prove that Eli
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00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:45.759
was really the one to kill Barbara, the jury ultimately found Raybor guilty of
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00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.759
aggravated murder and she was sentenced to
twenty three years to life, with the
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00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:55.720
eligibility of parole in twenty thirty two. Now, Barbara did appeal the conviction
308
00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:59.599
in twenty ten, and the basis
for the appeal was that she felt her
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00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:03.480
testimony to police should be thrown out
because she didn't have a lawyer present when
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00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:08.240
she confessed. However, if you
remember, she initially waived her right to
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00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:14.559
counsel and when she asserted that right, the interrogation was stopped, so this
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00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:18.400
was dismissed. She also said that
the text messages and computer records should be
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00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:22.039
thrown out, but there was no
basis for that, so that was thrown
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00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:27.240
out as well, and her appeal
was denied. In the end, Barbara
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00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:32.279
Weaver lost her life because her husband
would rather she be dead than be looked
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00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:36.920
down upon by his community, and
the Weaver children lost both their parents.
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00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.240
Now they were taken in by Barbara's
sister and according to Mary Eiger, they
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00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:45.799
are doing well but want nothing to
do with their father, which I fully
319
00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:49.960
understand. And Eli's parents have also
allegedly washed their hands of him, and
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00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:55.720
he used to be shunned by his
community upon his eventual release, which could
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00:26:55.720 --> 00:27:00.839
potentially be next month because that is
when he is eligible for per So this
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00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:07.440
case was very sad in the sense
that Barbara Weaver by all accounts, and
323
00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:12.920
unfortunately there's very little information about her
because of the community in which she was
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00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:18.240
a part of, you know,
not believing in photographs and technology and things
325
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:25.319
like that. There's no physical idea
of who she was, what she looked
326
00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:30.599
like, you know, it's just
the reports that she was a very kind,
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00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:37.480
loving woman and she was unfortunately stuck
in a marriage with a man that
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00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:42.359
didn't love her. Wanted to be
free to sleep with who he wanted and
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00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:47.480
do the things he wanted to do, couldn't commit to whether or not he
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00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:52.279
wanted to live the English way of
life or lived the Amish way of life,
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00:27:53.160 --> 00:28:00.359
and instead traded his wife terribly and
got involved with the woman that decided
332
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:07.720
she would kill for him. And
this was really because, at least according
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00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:18.680
to court records and attorneys that because
Amish is against divorce, Eli figured that
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00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:22.480
if he pursued a divorce, he
would be shunned, but if Barbara died,
335
00:28:22.599 --> 00:28:26.359
he would essentially be patted on the
back, like, you know,
336
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.079
I'm so sorry for you. Your
wife died. You're a widower, now
337
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:34.039
I'm so sorry. You know,
you have to raise these children by yourself.
338
00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:40.480
So that was essentially the motive.
I mean, you could argue,
339
00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:42.640
because the time of death was between
twelve and seven, that Eli could have
340
00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:51.920
killed Barbara himself, but I don't
think he did. It seems based on
341
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.720
what Barbara said or what Raber said, that she did it. Now she
342
00:28:56.079 --> 00:28:59.799
took it back. You know,
it could be that she was covering for
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00:28:59.880 --> 00:29:03.559
him, but I don't think that's
the case. I think Eli said that
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00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:10.119
she want that he wanted his wife
to be dead, and Raber said,
345
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:14.920
I'll do this for you. It's
sad, and unfortunately he got I don't
346
00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:19.279
think he got enough time because he
took the plea deal and he got only
347
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:26.640
fifteen years. He could be released
next next month, and yeah, he
348
00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:30.559
will be shunned by his community,
but he just gets to go on with
349
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:34.559
his life. And Barbara's life was
taken from her. That was the murder
350
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:40.440
of Barbara Weaver. A very sad
story, one that's again a little bit
351
00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:47.440
different than the ones we've covered.
The first one in Amish Country and that's
352
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:52.880
about it. Lisa should be back
in the next one. We may or
353
00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:00.920
may not be back next week.
But because next week is Christmas Eve and
354
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:07.880
I work retail, we'll see what
happens. You'll have an episode either way,
355
00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:14.079
just it'll either be a re release
of an older episode. It'll either
356
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:21.680
or it'll be a look at a
Patreon episode, or it'll be an episode
357
00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:26.240
from one of our friends over at
dark Cast Network, which you should go
358
00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:30.240
check out all the pods there.
But either way you'll get an episode.
359
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:36.000
It just may not be one that
has been you'll get a new episode either
360
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:42.279
way. But either way, I
will see you in the next chapter and
361
00:30:42.359 --> 00:30:45.759
Lisa should be back as I said, and we hope you have a wonderful
362
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:52.319
week, have a wonderful holiday.
Happy Hanukkah to those that celebrate. I
363
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:56.839
know I believe Hanka had just ended
for you, but happy Hanukkah and Marry
364
00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:04.240
Christmas to everyone that celebrates, and
we will see you in the next one.
365
00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:08.880
Bye, guys, Thank you so
much for listening to this chapter of
366
00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:14.279
the Book of the Dead, and
don't forget that you can always connect with
367
00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:18.920
us on Instagram, you can connect
with us on Twitter, and you can
368
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:23.319
absolutely connect with us on Patreon.
We also have a merch store as well
369
00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:29.000
that we have frequent discount codes coming
out for so that you guys can get
370
00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:33.839
merch hand you're on by myself at
a better cost. We hope you have
371
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.279
a lovely rest of your week and
just remember, please be kind and don't
372
00:31:38.319 --> 00:32:04.680
forget to always stay safe, stay
curious, and stay vigilant. Bye guys, Bye,













