AN OLD WAY OF LIFE
Thirty-year-old Barbara Weaver was content to live as the Amish have for centuries--without modern conveniences--but her husband, Eli, wanted a life beyond horses and buggies. Soon he gave in to the temptation of technology, and found ways to go online and meet women. When Barbara was found dead, shot in the chest at close range, all eyes were on Eli...and his mistress, a Conservative Mennonite named Barb Raber. A NEW KIND OF BETRAYAL--AND DEATH. . .
Barb drove Eli to appointments in her car. She gave him everything he asked for: a laptop, rides to his favorite fishing and hunting spots--and sex. Above all, she gave him the cell phone he would use to plan a murder. The Weaver case marked only the third time an Amish man was suspected of killing his wife in more than two hundred years in America. But the investigation raised almost as many questions as it answered: Was Barb Raber the one who fired the fatal shot? Or was Barbara Weaver dead before someone entered the house? What did Eli's friends, family, and church really know about him? And will life among the "Plain People" ever be the same?
New York Times bestselling authors Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris investigate the 2009 death of an Amish wife and mother found murdered in her own bed. At just 30 years old, with dark-blonde hair and freckles, Barbara Weaver was as pretty as the women depicted on the covers of her favorite "bonnet" stories - romance novels set in Amish America. Barbara had everything she'd ever wanted: five beautiful children, a home, her faith, and a husband named Eli. But while Barbara was happy to live as the Amish have for centuries - without modern conveniences, Eli was tempted by technology: cell phones, the Internet, and sexting. Online he called himself "Amish Stud" and found no shortage of "English" women looking for love and sex. Twice he left Barbara and their children, was shunned, begged for forgiveness, and had been welcomed back to the church. Barb Raber was raised Amish, but is now a Conservative Mennonite. She drove Eli to appointments in her car, and she gave him what he wanted when he wanted: a cell phone, a laptop, rides to his favorite fishing and hunting places, and, most importantly, sex. When Eli starts asking people to kill his wife for him, Barb offers to help. One night, just after Eli had hitched a ride with a group of men to go fishing in the hours before dawn, Barb Raber entered the Weaver house and shot Barbara Weaver in the