July 3, 2020 at 3:25 a.m.

Trial date is set for Knapke

Jay Circuit Court
Trial date is set for Knapke
Trial date is set for Knapke

By RAY COONEY
President, editor and publisher

New trial dates have now been set for all three women charged with the January murder of a Portland man.

Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison on Thursday scheduled a five-day trial for Hannah Knapke, Fort Recovery, for February 21 through 25.

She, along with Esther Stephen and Shelby Hiestand of Portland, is charged with the Jan. 12 murder of Portland resident Shea Briar.

Hutchison had granted a continuance for the trial, originally slated for July 20, last month and set the new date at a hearing Thursday.

Trials for Stephen and Hiestand, rural Portland, that were slated for this summer were postponed in May. Those trials are now set for Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 and Nov. 16 through 19, respectively.

Knapke was the last of the three women to be arrested and changed with murder. Her Jan. 24 arrest came 10 days after Stephen and Hiestand were taken into custody.

Probable cause affidavits filed in connection with the case say Hiestand and Stephen admitted to plotting to kill Briar over a custody dispute. Stephen and Briar shared a child.

The court documents indicate that Stephen and Hiestand met Knapke at a rural Portland church and used Knapke’s vehicle to pick up Briar at his home. They then drove to the county road 125 West bridge over Loblolly Creek, just south of county road 850 North. Stephen then distracted Briar in order to allow Hiestand to retrieve a gun, which Hiestand used to shoot Briar once in the back. Knapke was standing next to Hiestand when the shot was fired, the affidavits say.

Briar was found on the bridge about 2 a.m. Jan. 12. He died later that day at Fort Wayne’s Lutheran Hospital.

All three women are being held without bond at Jay County Jail. In Indiana, murder carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years.
PORTLAND WEATHER

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