Hiestand guilty

A rural Portland woman has been convicted of murder.

Shelby N. Hiestand, 20, was found guilty of killing 31-year-old Shea Briar by a Jay Circuit Court jury about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. Jurors deliberated for a little less than three hours before reaching a verdict.

Her sentencing is set for 3 p.m. Sept. 24. In Indiana, murder carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years, with an advisory sentence of 55 years.

“I’m happy for Shea’s family,” said Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur. “This is very difficult for them –– this is the second time that they’ve had to sit through this.”

Briar’s family members wiped at fresh tears as they exited the court room. Tracy Hoevel, Briar’s mother, walked to the front of the public seating area and hugged prosecutors Zech Landers and Schemenaur.

Hiestand was one of three women charged with the crime. Thirty-year-old Esther J. Stephen, the mother of Briar’s child, was sentenced in May to 55 years in prison after a Jay Circuit Court jury found her guilty of murder in March. Another woman involved with the case, 20-year-old Hannah Knapke of Fort Recovery, has a murder trial set to begin Nov. 15.

Schemenaur and Landers presented 12 witnesses and more than 20 pieces of evidence to the jury this week in an effort to prove Hiestand was involved in planning and carrying out a plot to kill Briar. They alleged she, Stephen, Knapke and Briar drove to a bridge over Loblolly Creek in rural Bryant, where Hiestand shot Briar. Prosecutors said the women then left him to die. Probable cause affidavits indicated Stephen distracted Briar while Hiestand retrieved her .22-caliber rifle and shot him. 

The defense argued such a plan never existed and that Briar’s death was an accident.

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday morning. Hiestand’s attorney, John Quirk, presented no witnesses or evidence. In closing statements, both sides again argued similar messages to their words in opening statements Monday. 

Landers argued Hiestand hated Briar and made plans with Stephen to kill him. He referenced a text message sent by Hiestand to Stephen –– she wrote, “Nope, I’m killing that bastard with my own two hands” –– and Landers said she followed through with that statement.

“What bothers me about this case, folks,” Landers said, “is that at any time … the defendant (could have reconsidered) … even when she got the gun out, she didn’t have to pull the trigger.”

Quirk described the scene as an accident. He reminded jurors they have to believe without reasonable doubt Hiestand knowingly or intentionally killed Briar.

Less than three hours later, jurors convicted Hiestand.

In a video of Hiestand’s interrogation that was played Monday, she admitted to shooting Briar in the back. She told investigators she wanted to shoot guns with Briar but instead accidentally shot him.

According to testimonies at Stephen’s trial, after Hiestand shot Briar, Stephen tossed his phone into the water and all three women left. Briar wasn’t found until at least an hour later. He died that day at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.

Hiestand admitted later in the interrogation that she and Stephen made plans to kill Briar within a few days. They stopped at Loblolly Creek, she explained, because “nothing was around that bridge.”

Prosecutors also called local officers, Indiana State Police staff and Kristi Sibray, the woman who babysat the daughter of Stephen and Briar the night of Briar’s murder, as witnesses.

Sibray said the pair revealed plans to put crushed pills in Briar’s drink or to hire a hitman. Hiestand had also told her she would shoot Briar, Sibray said.

Two metal fragments were found in Briar’s heart during the autopsy, according to state police officials. Stacey Hartman of the state police Fort Wayne Regional Laboratory’s forensic firearms identification unit said the larger fragment found in Briar’s heart appeared to be a .22-caliber bullet, but she noted there was not enough evidence to tie the fragmented bullet to Hiestand’s gun. (Her rifle and gun magazine were discovered in her bedroom after she told police where to find them.)

Forensic pathologic Dr. Scott Wagner, who performed Briar’s autopsy, ruled the bullet wound as the cause of his death.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Schemenaur said. “It’s a long process, and it takes a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice by everybody to get to this point. …

“I mean, we’re kind of a two-man band,” he said, referencing himself and Landers, “and there’s still other cases that need to be handled and resolved … It’s a lot. It usually is.”

Stephen was transported to Jay County Jail last week in connection with the case, but she did not appear in court this week.