Kriti Mehrotra
It was on the morning of June 2, 2009, when 30-year-old Barbara Troyer Miller Weaver was found dead in her bed in Apple Creek, Ohio, leaving the entire Amish country baffled to the core. Most crimes are relatively rare in such religious, secluded populations, so the fact that the mother of 5 had actually been killed was even more perplexing, as explored in Lifetime’s ‘Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story.’ However, thanks to the involvement of local authorities, her perpetrators were arrested and charged within days before being brought to justice by the court of law by the fall of the same year.
Barbara Weaver Was Shot to Death While Asleep in Her Bedroom
Born on February 2, 1979, in Orrville in Wayne County, Ohio, to Emma Troyer and David Miller, Barbara Weaver primarily grew up in Apple Creak alongside her big, happy family. After all, she is one of four children – she has a sister named Fannie Cristy Troyer and two brothers, Leroy Katie Miller and Michael Miller – so she grew up surrounded by laughter as well as joy. As members of the Old Order Amish Church, the family adhered to the community’s values, including a conservative, traditionalist Christian life without modern technology, which is something she genuinely adored.
Barbara’s passion for her community and her people was evident in the way she was always ready to lend a helping hand, even after she had her own household to care for. She had tied the knot with a fellow Amish man named Eli Weaver in 1999, following which they welcomed 5 adorable children into the world – three boys and two girls. They are Wayne Weaver, Allen Weaver, Emma Weaver, Marvin Weaver, and Marie Weaver. According to records, while she raised the kids and handled everything at home, her husband owned and operated a local sporting goods store right next door.
From the outside, it appeared as if the Weavers were an idyllic family, but everything changed on the morning of June 2, 2009, when one of the kids found Barbara in bed with a gunshot wound to the chest. The child immediately rushed to a neighbor’s house for help, who managed to use the community emergency phone in the outskirts of the area to call the police. By the time officials arrived at the scene, news of her death had spread within the community, but the former were able to secure the scene based on the available evidence indicating she had been killed in her sleep hours prior.
Barbara Weaver’s Husband Immediately Became The Prime Suspect in Her Case
Among the first things officials noticed at the scene was that Barbara’s husband was nowhere to be found, only to learn he had left home at around 3 am for a fishing trip at Lake Erie with a friend. Then came the canvass of the house as well as the local area, revealing nothing had been stolen from the Weagers, their shop, or their neighbors, which helped them rule out robbery gone wrong. The fact that there were no signs of forced entry also played a role in the investigations, since it led them to believe that the victim either knew her perpetrator or that they had knowledge of the Weavers’ home.
When Eli returned home, he was extensively interviewed, with police records indicating he appeared genuinely distraught over losing his wife and the mother of his 5 children. During it, he vehemently denied having any involvement in the murder, asserting he had last seen Barbara just before he walked out the front door that morning because she had woken up to tell him goodbye. However, things changed within hours as the victim’s sister came forward to tell officials that the couple’s marriage was far from steady because Eli had had multiple affairs with multiple women over the years.
When questioned regarding these allegations, Eli admitted that he had been unfaithful but added he was no longer straying from the vows he had made to his wife. Nevertheless, officials looked into the matter to ensure they left no stone unturned, which led them to uncover that Eli had a secret phone and a profile under the username Amish Stud on the social media site MocoSpace, even though it went against Amish rules. Moreover, officials discovered that Eli had previously left his wife on two different occasions to pursue relationships with other women, and although he had returned, he was allegedly still unhappy, making him the prime suspect.
Eli Weaver and His Mistress Were Convicted of Barbara Weaver’s Murder
It was while detectives were looking into Eli’s extramarital affairs that they came across Barbara “Barb” Raber, a Mennonite involved with the Amish country as a local taxi driver. In her interrogation, she admitted to having been sexually involved with Eli but claimed they had ended their relationship around 6 months prior and were now only casually in touch. However, another one of Eli’s exes inadvertently contradicted her statements by providing officials with his secret phone number, which turned out to be under Barb’s phone plan. She even told them he had recently been saying rather concerning things about his wife, which is why she reached out.
When authorities got hold of Eli and Barb’s phone records, the case blew wide open as it not only confirmed they were still involved but that they had discussed ways of killing Barbara over text messages. As per court records, the duo spoke of poisoning her or blowing up the family’s home before settling on killing her with Barb’s husband’s shotgun – she was a married mother of three. As if that’s not enough, in the hours before the murder, they had even texted about how they should hide their incriminating texts and how they could soon start anew together. With this, Eli and Barb were arrested for murder on June 10, 2009, 8 days after the fact, following which the latter confessed.
Barb claimed her boyfriend had left the door open for her when he left on his fishing trip, so she sneaked in, only to change her mind at the last minute. She added that she only intended to scare Barbara into leaving Eli, but the shotgun accidentally went off. Eli initially maintained his innocence, but mere days before he was scheduled to go on trial, he agreed to take a plea deal. Barb was offered one too, but she decided to stand trial, during which Eli testified that it was she who came up with the original idea of getting rid of his wife, and he went along with it because he didn’t think she was serious. In the end, following a 3-day trial, while Barb was found guilty of aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison, Eli was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for pleading guilty to complicity to commit murder.
Read More: Eli Weaver: Where is Barbara Weaver’s Husband Now?
