Third trial for murder will be moved

The third woman charged with the January murder of a Portland man will have her trial moved from its originally scheduled date.

Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison this week granted a continuance for Hannah Knapke, Fort Recovery, for both the pre-trial hearing that was scheduled for July 2 and the four-day jury trial that was slated to begin July 20.

Knapke is one of three women charged with the Jan. 12 murder of Shea Briar.

Her attorneys had filed a motion Tuesday to continue the trial. A new trial date will be set during a scheduling hearing July 2.

Trials for Esther Stephen, Portland, and Shelby Hiestand, rural Portland, that were scheduled for this summer were postponed last month. Stephen’s trial is slated to run Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, with Hiestand’s set for Nov. 16 through 19.

Police arrested Knapke on Jan. 24. Stephen and Hiestand had been arrested 10 days earlier.

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 affidavits say Knapke met Stephen and Hiestand at a rural Portland church and used her vehicle to pick Briar up at his home. Then they drove to the county road 125 West bridge over Loblolly Creek, just south of county road 850 North, where Stephen distracted Briar in order to allow Hiestand to retrieve a gun. Knapke was standing next to Hiestand when Hiestand shot Briar once in the back, the documents say.

Briar was found on the bridge about 2 a.m. Jan. 12 and died later the same day Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.

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.