Murder trial to start Monday

The first of five murder trials scheduled for this year in Jay County will begin next week.

Esther J. Stephen, 30, Portland, will go on trial in Jay Circuit Court for the Jan. 12, 2020, murder of Shea Briar. The proceedings are slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

Stephen and Shelby N. Hiestand, who is also charged with murder with a trial set for August, were both arrested two days after Briar was found fatally wounded on a bridge in northern Jay County.

Hannah Knapke, 19, Fort Recovery, who is also charged with Briar’s murder, was arrested eight days later. Her trial is scheduled for September.

Hearings are also scheduled for the end of the day Monday — 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. — for Hutchison to rule on potential witnesses. Stephen’s attorney Jill Gonzalez has subpoenaed Hiestand and Knapke as witnesses for her defense. Their attorneys are fighting those subpoenas.

According to probable cause affidavits filed in connection with the case, Stephen and Hiestand, a 19-year-old rural Portland resident, admitted to police that they plotted to kill Briar over a custody dispute. Stephen and Briar shared a child.

The documents offer the following details of the incident:

The three women picked Briar up at his Portland home with plans to “hang out” and proceeded to drive in Knapke’s vehicle to the county road 125 West bridge over Loblolly Creek, just south of county road 850 North. There, Stephen distracted Briar to allow Hiestand to retrieve a gun from the vehicle.

Hiestand then shot Briar once in the back. Knapke was standing next to Hiestand at the time of the shooting. Briar was found on the bridge about 2 a.m. Jan. 12 and died later the same day at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.

Stephen, Hiestand and Knapke are all being held in Jay County Jail without bond, pending their trials.

In Indiana, murder carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years.