You are listening to the evidence locker.
Our cases have been researched using open-source and archive materials.
It deals with true crimes in real people.
Some parts of graphic in nature and listener discretion is advised.
Each episode is produced with the utmost respect to the victims,
their families, and loved ones.
Love is two people promising to be there for each other for better, or for worse.
When a relationship develops into a lifelong bond, there was nearly nothing.
One partner won't do for the other.
Eli Weaver was an Amish man devoted to his culture and his wife or so
it seemed this shipper sending story shares the tales of a love gone awry.
What happens when infidelity penetrates a community builds so strongly on trust and.
This case spreads, emotions of grief and jealousy and most.
The disillusionment of true love.
the Amish migrated as whole communities to the United
States as early as the mid 1700.
They're traditional Christians with origins in Germany who have
continued to maintain the same values.
Pretty much since their arrival, the Amish are closely related to the
Mennonite churches who believe in similar principles and ways of living
the Amish strongly believed in plain living, including ordinary clothing,
minimal distractions during family time, slow incorporation of technology
and a core view of self-sufficiency.
What is not needed is not.
And they truly believed the key to a happy life is to live
off the offerings of the earth.
At the ages of 16, each child is granted permission to leave the Amish
community, to see the outside world or the English world as they call it.
This Rite of passage is known as Rumspringa, literally,
meaning to go jumping outside of their community and its rules.
At this point in their life, the young adults are not yet baptized
by the church and are not held accountable for their actions.
The Rumspringa typically lasts for about two full years when they are 18.
This also means that teens are exposed to way of life.
They had never witnessed inside of the Amish community.
They can drive cars, use electronics and social media, drink alcohol and
even wear clothing that does not conform with their traditional dress code.
After Rumspringa young people are given the option to either stay
with the church or leave for good.
This is a final decision when does not get additional time to decide.
And once you've made your decision, there's no turning back.
If you choose to go, you will never be welcome back home.
If you choose to stay leaving will never be an easy option.
About 90% of Amish youths opt to stay within the community.
And we'll go on to be baptized this their home.
This is what they know.
Most of them don't have many connections outside of their religious community
and cannot bear the thought of walking out on friends and family.
They've known all their life.
Once a person decides to stay.
They are baptized, which allows them to marry someone within the church
should a young Amish person wants to marry someone outside of the community.
They will have to leave as a whole Amish.
People are obedient.
And if members choose to break the rules or straight from their principles,
they are shunned by the entire community, including their families.
Amish individuals also tend to be private people who keep to themselves
and don't venture outside of their.
Little to no information about individuals living in Amish villages
is available to the outside world is they rarely allow personal photographs
to be taken, but times have changed somewhat and communities have been
forced to adapt to the times today.
Amish communities have computers and internet, but access
is limited and regulated.
It is mainly used for business purposes.
More clearly defined.
They can have a website to gather connections outside
of their community and that.
In a community where trust and mutual respect is invaluable.
Business owners who have access to the internet are expected to
operate within safe boundaries.
But what happens when they can't choose between their fostering connections
inside their community and opportunities, learning them just a few steps down
the street in Wayne county, Ohio, there was a strong Amish community that
had been upheld for many generations.
This community was home to a young couple Eli and Barbara.
Barbara was born in Orville on February 2nd, 1979.
She lived most of her life in apple Creek, Ohio.
Uh, she and her family were all members of the old order Amish church.
As Barbara was nearing her late teens.
She always daydreamed about finding her true love and raising a family on a farm.
She knew she was going to stay committed to the Amish life and she
had no desire to live anywhere else.
Barbara was proud to be Amish and upheld her values with respect.
Who was also raised within the Amish community was not quite
as devout as Barbara was there.
Different views were perhaps evident even before their marriage, during her
Rumspringa, Barbara would spend her weekends reading romantic Christian
literature with her friends near a small candlelight until late hours in the night.
She never felt the urge to push too far past her boundaries to go partying Eli.
On the other hand, loved every minute of his Rumspringa and
embraced the new freedoms allowed.
Taking full advantage of everything.
The outside life had offered.
Eli went partying and drinking with his new friends and
experience frat house style fund.
During this time Eli and Barbara met through mutual friends.
They spoke occasionally and harmlessly flirted with each other.
And before long, a small spark turned into a serious relationship
after their some Springers.
They both chose to stay within the community and be baptized.
Barbara May have played a role in why Eli chose to stay within the church
after his teenage years, rather than choosing to leave and continue on.
As wild adventures, Barbara had always wanted to raise a traditional
family with her true love.
So to her settling down with Eli was a no brainer on March 27th, 1999,
Eli and Barbara said their vows and promise to love each other till death.
Part of them, the weavers were the poster.
Couple of what an Amish family looks like in modern times.
Eli owned a hunting and fishing store.
And Barbara stayed at home looking after their five children.
They had a big faithful family who was loved by their friends and
neighbors from the outside in Eli.
And Barbara's marriage looked perfect, but behind closed doors, the cracks in
their foundation began to show up like most Amish families, Eli and Barbara
were not immune to the influence of the so-called English or non Amish families
living around them and the criticism.
They often.
Barbara had everything she ever needed.
She lived a humble life as a loving mother to her children and
a devoted wife to her husband.
Eli was not as invested as Barbara was in fact, well, she was
distracted with the small children.
He was testing the boundaries that would soon threaten the
happiness of their family.
Eli gave in to temptations outside of their marriage temptations that were
strong enough to drive him outside of the Amish faith and go against what he had
believed up until this point in his life.
Inside of his own community.
His friend described him as being a charmer and a flirt.
Something, no wife wants to hear her husband being described
as in the Amish community.
This is even worse since it's so strongly contradicts their beliefs
of a single partner in marriage for life is the owner of a fishing and
hunting store within the community.
Eli had a computer with internet access for his business.
It was a window to the outside world and soon he began to
communicate with non Amish.
As time went on, Eli began to spend more and more time at the
store and less time at home.
He said that he had work to do, but he spent most of his time alone in
his store, chatting to women online.
All the while Barbara was home alone with five young children and the
expectation to keep a tidy home.
When Eli was home, he was disengaged and withdrawn and took
his frustrations out on his fans.
Barbara noticed that there was no more affection from Eli.
He had changed towards her.
He was no longer the loving, reliable husband.
She thought she'd married.
Instead.
He was only interested in sex and demanded it whenever he was in the mood.
Barbara had never had any sex education in school growing up nor had she been
with anyone other than her husband.
So pleasing him was all she knew.
She felt forced to comply with Eli's needs, regardless of
her own thoughts and feelings.
Arguments over their sex life became more frequent, especially when it began
to challenge their religious beliefs.
Barbara was strong in her faith and was devoted to the
church, but Eli, not so much.
He constantly asked or rather begged Barbara to engage in oral
sex activities with him, which was something he first encountered during
his Rumspringa, the Amish church.
However, believe sex is only for reproductive purposes, not pleasure.
So Barbara never gave into his proposition.
She felt increasingly upset when he kept asking, but stood
her ground as a business owner.
Eli also had a cell phone and was permitted to use the
phone for business purposes.
And during business hours, only whoever Eli overstepped his boundaries by using
the phone for much more than that.
He even used the phone when he was home at work.
He continued secretly searching for sexual partners on dating websites and apps
on top of being unfaithful to his wife.
Eli was going against many of the Amish rules and would have been in deep trouble.
If anyone were to find out, he managed to keep a sexual adventures, a secret from
his closest friends, but online, he was shamelessly advertising himself on a site
known as MocoSpace Eli referred to himself as an Amish stud and posted prompts to his
profile, like who wants to do an Amish.
Dozens of women with usernames, like too much ass and 69 smiley
girl reached out to him asking to meet him in person for awhile.
Eli was able to keep a secret life separate from his supposedly Amish life,
but to their community, it became evident that all was not well in the Weaver home.
Barbara sister became aware of the fact that Eli was very stingy with his money,
and oftentimes didn't provide his wife with enough funds to properly support the.
And the Amish community, the wife stays home to raise and
take care of the children.
While the husband is the breadwinner who brings home money.
The husband also approves expenditure, although Eli earned
a good living from his store, he kept most of the money for himself.
He wanted to control her spending, even if she needed to
buy something for their kids.
When it was Barbara's turn to take part in school activities like bake
sales, she often didn't even have enough money to purchase Greece.
For an Amish woman, bake sales or showcases of their talents, not
being able to buy what she needed was humiliating for Barbara Eli.
However, did whatever he pleased, even while watching his family eat
little food and struggled to maintain their already meager lifestyle.
The Weaver children had also seen Eli become physical with their mother
and Chevron more than one occasion.
It was common for him to grab Barbara and push her around when she
refused to listen or raised her own.
Whenever Eli was angry.
He let Barbara habit, even if she was compliant in the Amish community, women
are expected to submit to their husbands.
If Barbara had turned to the community, Bishop for comfort, he would have
most likely asked what she did to deserve such a punishment, rather than
receiving help Eli's aggressive actions.
Barbara felt like she had no one to turn to for help.
And she was ashamed, nothing she did could calm Eli down.
Once he had become.
Y then if he hated his wife so much, did Eli stay?
The thing is if he were to choose another woman over his family,
the community would ostracize him.
The Amish community was made up of his family and friends
and ultimately his customers.
If Eli left Barbara, he stood to lose everything.
He was stuck in over time.
His discontent festered as he wanted.
Then Eli met a woman who finally seemed like his perfect match.
Barbara Raber, a mother of three and wife to one of Eli's friends.
Ed was an ex Amish member who had left her community to join the Mennonites.
The group had similar values to the Amish, but with fewer restrictions on
technology and education for Barbara, it was a step towards freedom, a
decision she made for her family.
This move also made it possible for Barb to drive a car.
She started working as a courier and then a taxi driver.
Although the Amish are not permitted to drive cars, they are allowed to be inside
when as long as someone else was driving.
So Eli would often receive rides from Barb when he needed to go
somewhere far away when he could not go with his horse and cart.
Barbara knew about Barbara Webber, the taxi driver, and felt uneasy
about the relationship between her and Eli, the Amish elders.
However, had more power and wisdom than.
And they sound nothing suspicious about Eli's acquaintance with
Barbara labor after all, she was 10 years older than Eli and judging by
appearances alone did not seem like a siren out hunting for married men.
Even with her senses on high alert, there was nothing Barbara could do
about Barb and accusing her husband of being dishonest would have resulted
in much worse consequences for her, but as it turned out, Barbara
suspicions were right on the money.
From the first time Eli met Barbara Raber, he was obsessed.
Firstly Barb was someone from the outside world.
She gave him the number to her second phone and gifted him a secret cell
phone that he could use to contact her before long Barbara greed to
satisfy the oral sex needs that his wife refused to take part in.
That was all it took for him to become hooked on seeing Barb.
And he found excuses to sneak in a taxi ride whenever he could is he lied,
began spending more time with Barb.
He would leave home for days at a time.
Telling his wife and children, he needed time to himself.
He lied and said he went on hunting or fishing trips before long.
It was the norm for Eli to be away from home.
Barbara was left along with five young children all under the age of eight,
but trusted her husband and tried to crush suspicions of his infidelity.
Whenever they arose, she would never have imagined that Eli had left her
and the kids to be with another woman.
Barbara looked at life through rose-tinted glasses and firmly believed Eli was.
And that he felt the same about her, but he was often a no show for dinner
or a way on overnight hunting trips.
And Barbara kept notes of his comings and goings in her journal.
One night, Eli came home and shattered Barbara's world.
He told her that his life with her was no longer for him.
He was not in love with her anymore and wanted to end things he was done with the
marriage, with her and with the children.
He liked infested Barbara that he was in love with someone.
Someone who had been seeing on the side, Barbara was heartbroken.
Her lifelong dream had crumbled right in front of her eyes.
What was she going to do with her family?
How could she raise all of them on her own?
How could she face the community?
In April of 2006, Barbara sought out help and opened up to a religious counselor
about the tragic downfall of her marriage.
During a session with the community relationship counselor, she hand wrote
notes to Eli about her frustration.
The notes, contain comments and documented her thoughts about their
failing marriage and the effects of it.
The intention was not for Eli to read the notes.
It was an exercise to express her feelings.
One of these letters read what did my friend love trustworthy husband?
Go-to divorce is not an option for the Amish and members of
the church are expected to remain together no matter what.
Barbara continued visiting the counselor and holding onto hope
that Eli would one day change his mind and return to his family.
One night, Barbara returned home to find Eli inside, but this man was not the man.
She married.
He had a clean shaven face and was wearing modern clothing.
Eli made it clear that he was there to see his children.
Not Barbara.
Barbara was shocked.
She had never seen Eli without facial hair.
And it was like a kick in the.
Beard's for Amish men represent more than just maturity and appearance
and the Amish community, a married man, never shaved his beard.
This acts as a symbol of the relationship and the longer it grows,
the more respect is given to men who have stayed faithful for so long.
When Barbara saw Eli without a beard, it signified to her that
he had been unfaithful and had no intention of salvaging their marriage.
During this time, Eli was living with a non Amish girl.
She was kind enough to offer him a place to stay when he had
almost no money or connections outside of the Amish community.
Even during this time, he like continued to see Barbara neighbor when she was
able to get away from her family.
And they continued to foster their elicit affair.
When Barbara Weaver was invited to a wedding of a close friend
of Eli's, she hoped that he would show up at the ceremony.
Barbara thought that it would be an opportunity to talk to Eli.
She kept her eye on the back of the church and felt her prayers had.
When she saw her husband standing there, Eli was forced to remain
at the back of the church.
This is what happens.
If you walk out on your wife, family, and church, as soon as she saw an opportunity,
Barbara went over to talk with him.
There was something familiar between them and both Eli and Barbara
fell just a little bit back in love as they reminisced about what
they once had in the heat of the.
Eli made a clumsy attempt at apologizing to Barbara for the hurt and pain.
He caused her by chasing his childlike conditions and promise
to return to her and the children to atone for his mistakes.
Barbara, who had been dreaming of this moment for so long for gave Eli with hopes
that this was their chance to fix what had been broken by the end of January, 2007,
Eli was back home with Barbara and making amends to the elders in the community.
As the Amish church made the decision to forgive.
They forced Eli to turn over his electronic devices and swear
to stop his adventures with any women outside of his marriage.
He like gave his word to both his wife and the church, but less than a
year later, Eli gave into temptation.
Once more like some years before he became withdrawn and moody at
home, the only thing Eli Weaver had in his mind was saying.
So even though Eli was back home, he had checked out emotionally.
He was distant from his wife and children often leaving them alone for days at a
time and refuse to connect with them.
Although Eli had left his long-term girlfriend, he was still entangled
with taxi driver, Barbara neighbor by 2009, Barbara and Eli were
back to where they had started.
Their marriage was messy and the two couldn't keep it together
well enough to raise their children and abide by the church.
Eli had his hands on more electronics and messaged women online to
satisfy his uncontrollable urges.
This time around Eli was on a different dating site, exploring all the same
as before he was able to keep this under the radar while sneaking out to
hookup with dozens of women while still remaining a part of the Amish community.
But there was more at play than only cheating behind his contemptuous eyes.
Eli was nurturing.
Thoughts of killing Barbara.
He had been thinking about it for some time.
But the problem was doing it without being caught.
Ideally he wanted to get out of the marriage, but remain in the
community so we could continue to run his hunting store and seeing as
divorce wasn't an option becoming a widower was the best way forward.
One gloomy afternoon.
Eli had decided he had yet again, dealt with enough marriage problems and that he
was finally going to leave this afternoon.
He crushed a large amount of sleeping pills and mix it into a can of soda.
He waited patiently for his wife to return from outside, just as he had
planned, when Barbara entered, she asked him for a sip of his nice, cool drink.
He agreed and thought that that would take care of her.
Unfortunately, for him, he had used too many pills and Barbara
noticed that the taste was off.
She realized what was happening and before she could accuse him of anything,
Eli told her he was trying to kill him.
Barbara believed him.
She took pity on him and prayed with him, asking that Eli would
move past his suicidal intentions.
During this moment of closeness, he took the opportunity to admit to
Barbara that he had been sleeping with countless outside women.
Barbara did not want to lose them again and decided to forgive him not long
after admitting to his infidelities.
He like continued his correspondence with Barb Raber, Barbara Eli discussed
their family situation for some time.
Unsure of what they could do to be together.
Eli asked Barb if she would do him the favor of killing his wife.
So he could escape from the marriage without losing the
support of his Amish community.
He couldn't divorce her, of course, but she was murdered.
They would surely support him moving on to find another true love for
May 31st to June 2nd, 2009, Eli and Barb exchanged various text messages
about the best possible way to commit the murder without leaving
evidence behind or raising suspects.
Eli suggested blowing up his own house, shooting his wife,
poisoning her among other things.
Barb pointed out that if you burnt down the family home, his
kids would also end up dead.
Eli didn't seem to care and replied that he believed they would go to
heaven since they were innocent of sin.
So killing them would do them no harm.
He was willing to analyze of his own children.
If that was what it took to kill them.
Barbara thought there were other ways of taking care of Barbara.
It took her own time to search for suitable methods on the internet.
She messaged Eli to say that she believed fly poison inside a spiced cupcake
would get the job done around 8:00 AM on the morning of June 2nd, 2009, Barbara
and Eli's oldest son, Wayne wandered around the house looking for his mother.
She was usually an early riser and he found it odd that she wasn't.
He found his mother's lifeless body under the comforter in her bed covered in blood
Wayne, ran to the neighbors to find help and brought them back home with him.
Eli had left the house earlier that morning at about 3:30 AM for
a fishing trip and was away when his wife's body was discovered.
The neighbor called the police who arrived moments later and
found Barbara with a shotgun wound to her chest, almost immediate.
The police searched for Eli and requested his whereabouts at the time
of death, his friends on the fishing trip served as his collective alibi,
proven that Eli could not have been anywhere near the home that morning.
The Shakti Eli denied any involvement in the crime against his wife, but
even with his friends, vouching for his whereabouts, he remained a prime suspect.
In the case, police interviewed Barbara sister, Kristen, and
she informed investigators about Eli's Rocky past and his.
Kristen was sure that the rumors about Eli seeking out lovers from outside of
the Amish community, once more were true after the murder, you, I received an
anonymous message on his contraband phone.
On the other end of the line was a voice.
He did not recognize telling him he was the intended victim and that they
had made a mistake by finding his wife.
They told him he would be next.
Police were concerned for Eli safety and questioned him.
They wanted to know if Isla had any enemies who might have been
interested in harming him or his family almost immediately.
Eli mentioned a girlfriend.
He had recently dated from the English world, a woman named Mary.
He told police that Mary had gone as far as to joke about killing Barbara
Weaver before, and that he suspected she could have gone through with it.
Police tracked Mary down and we're not overly surprised to
hear her side of the story.
According to Mary Eli had asked her to kill his wife.
And he had even made jokes about running her over in his own
driveway if he ever got the chance, but this would not be enough to
convict Eli for his wife's murder.
And investigators knew it.
Police have limited evidence about Barbara's death.
There was no weapon at the scene and no signs of forced entry.
No one had heard a gunshot that morning, not the kids inside the
home, nor the neighbors, the lack of gunshot residue on Barbara's hands was
proved that she did not shoot herself.
The rest of the house was tidy.
Which made it unlikely that the scene was a robbery gone wrong.
There was only one conclusion to be made.
Someone had planned to kill Barbara.
The coroner could only provide a broad timeline and the time of death was
ruled as sometime between the hours of midnight and 6:00 AM not long after
the case was turned into public news, other witnesses and contacts of Eli then
came forward and offered more infamous.
A woman by the name of dandy, Heasley reached out to authorities to tell them
she had dated Eli for a brief time, not too long before they had met online.
And he had even reached out to her through a cell phone.
This was the single piece of the story that piqued interest in the police.
If he like had a secret cell phone, there must be more evidence hiding
on it somewhere, or they had to do.
Only one day after Barbara was found dead in her own house.
Eli Weaver and Barbara Raber were both arrested for aggravated murder.
Even with the lack of physical evidence, please still had no
murder weapon in no fingerprints were found inside barber's bedroom.
Barbara Raber was brought in uncontrollably sobbing claiming the
entire incident was an accident while she was going through a mental break.
She told her side of the story.
Barb claimed she had taken a gun from her husband.
But had no memory of loading it with ammunition, she then made her way to
the Weaver's family home, which she believes she entered it around 4:30 AM
and made her way through the basement and up to the master bedroom where she
found Barbara Weaver asleep in bed.
Barb wanted to scare Barbara, just pretend to hold the gun up
at her and give her a fright.
But the gun went off and Barbara was killed instantly.
As both accused individuals went to court.
Barb changed her entire.
She claimed that she had no memory at all of what happened that morning.
She could not even remember being inside the Weaver house at all.
Her attorney went as far as to argue that Eli had shot his wife before he left
for the fishing trip with his friends.
In addition to the fatal gunshot wound, Barbara was found, have multiple
other scratches and bruises across her body that went to prove she
was a victim of domestic violence.
The artifacts were used as evidence to conclude that Eli had
been violent with her before and was likely involved with them.
Even if he didn't pull the trigger during the investigation, police learned that
Eli had in fact reached out to multiple people asking for help to kill his wife.
Most of them laughed it off assuming he can not possibly mean something
so cruel, but Barbara Raber did not.
The evidence pointed to a clearly planned murder with the text messages and
search history from both individuals to.
Text messages between Barb and Eli gave him a common site into
Barbara's murder around 4:30 AM.
Barb texted Eli.
I'm so scared.
What if I get caught?
What if someone blames me Eli responds who would see you and who would blame you?
Barb Ben types, Gammy light.
I don't know if I can.
It's too scary.
He liked disregards her concerns and answers.
The bottom door is open.
Then the last desperate texts from Barb just don't want to lose.
To the prosecution.
It was clear that Barb was at the house while Eli was with his friends.
His friends testified that he acted strangely that morning and
kept looking into his pocket.
Of course not having access to cell phones.
No one thought he was communicating with someone, Barbie scared of doing something
in Eli, pushes her to go through with it.
And all of this on the hours before Barbara is found deceased
in her bed during the trial, Eli sat with the community lawyer and.
The lawyer for nearly all the Amish people in the area had quite a say
about the disgruntled couple as Eli's representative, Andy sifted, through
pages of evidence, many of which were the letters written to Eli from
Barbara expressing herself, Andy, a lawyer, nearly 20 years in the making.
Wasn't even able to keep his calm composure.
As he read through the heartfelt letters is one of the only times
in his entire career that a case affected him emotionally.
This was a case he would surely never.
Eli had been the only man Barbara ever loved.
She had no idea of the scope of infidelity that her husband had occupied himself
with over the years, not even Andy was convinced the Vilas innocence,
the trial resulted in Barbara Raber being found guilty of aggravated
murder and sentenced to life in prison.
She will be eligible for parole in 2032.
Eli agreed to take a plea deal where he exchanged a guilty charge
of complicity to commit murder for testifying against Rayburn.
And was only given 15 years, this creme of passion shook the entire community.
It even brought forward many issues that are present with the Amish
standards today, but the inability to hold domestic abusers accountable
for their actions, cases like the servers of landmark for what could
or should be changed in the future to prevent a crime like this taking place.
Eli was clearly torn between a simple Amish life with the support of his
childhood friends and family and a life.
Free from the restraints.
He felt from the church ruling over him in the more than 250
years, the Amish community has been living inside the United States.
This was only the third occurrence of a proven domestic murder.
Although this is true to some extent, the Amish prefer to keep their matters
to themselves and typically were refuse to bring in outside help.
This goes the same for help from psychiatrists and psychologists,
which explains why Barbara Weaver was unable to receive help for
what she was going through when it was early enough to do that.
If she had been able to get help, maybe her fate would
have turned out differently.
Eli has made himself available online again on write a prisoner.com.
He says, he's looking for someone to talk to.
As it gets rather lonely in prison.
He described himself as a small town country, boy, and an avid outdoorsman.
Soon he'll be out of prison in 2024 to be exact and aged 40.
He has yet to show any remorse for taking his children's mother from
them in such an unforgiving manner.
People know him as the Amish stud who convinced his lover to murder
his wife, but let's not tap into the sensation of the unusual story.
And rather remember Barbara, the embodiment of a loving wife and
mother with respect, respect.
She never received from her husband with the temporary beard and roving.
If you'd like to read more about this case, have a look at the resources used
for this episode in the show notes.
Also visit us on social media to see more about today's case we're
on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
You can also check out our channel on YouTube.
If you like what we do here at evidence locker, subscribe on apple podcast or
wherever you are listening right now and kindly leave a five-star review.
This was the evidence.
Thank you for listening.