The Shea Briar murder case ended with three convictions: his ex-fiancée E.J. Stephen and her former softball player Shelby Hiestand each received 55 years in prison for murder, and getaway driver Hannah Knapke got 10 years after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Briar, a 31-year-old Navy veteran, was lured onto a rural bridge in Jay County, Indiana, and shot in the back on January 12, 2020, weeks after he filed court papers seeking custody of his infant daughter.
Who Shea Briar Was
Briar was born on March 9, 1988, raised in Hawaii, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from the Academy of the Pacific in 2006. He trained as a military police officer, served as a Master-at-Arms at Bangor Base in Washington, worked in the Canine Handling Division, and deployed to Italy before leaving the service in 2012.
He eventually settled in Jay County, Indiana, where he worked for the Jay County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Aggregates, and later as a heavy equipment operator at the Jay County Landfill. He attended Fairview United Methodist Church in Portland, Indiana, and was a trustee for American Legion Post #211.
The Custody Filing That Triggered the Plot
Briar and Esther Jane “E.J.” Stephen had a daughter in January 2019 and became engaged. Stephen ended the engagement that fall and then denied Briar access to the child.
In November 2019, Briar filed in court to establish paternity, seek custody and parenting time, request child support, and change his daughter’s last name to his own. Stephen opposed the filing. According to Briar’s family, she warned him, “if you go through with this, you’ll be sorry.”
Prosecutors argued this filing was the direct trigger for the killing. In her police interview, Stephen admitted she “often thought her life would be better without” Briar and did not want to share her daughter with him.
The Three Women Involved
Stephen was head softball coach at Fort Recovery High School in Ohio and ran a daycare at Fairview United Methodist Church. Shelby Hiestand, 18 at the time of the shooting, was a former player of Stephen’s who had become her assistant coach. Witnesses described the two as “inseparable,” and prosecutors pointed to a power dynamic in which the younger Hiestand sought Stephen’s approval. Hannah Knapke, also a former Fort Recovery softball player, provided her parents’ van for the crime and drove.
According to trial testimony from Kristi Sibray, a former police officer who had mentored Stephen, the two women discussed ways to “get rid of” Briar for months so they would not have to go through the custody case. When Sibray told them, “you couldn’t shoot somebody,” Hiestand answered, “oh, I could.” About a month before the killing, Hiestand texted Stephen, “I’m killing that bastard with my own two hands.” There was also at least one earlier attempt to harm Briar by crushing ibuprofen into his tea.
The Night of the Killing
On January 11, 2020, Stephen retrieved Hiestand’s .22 caliber rifle and the two test-fired it in a daycare parking lot to gauge how loud it would be. Around midnight, Stephen called Briar and lured him into the van for a ride. The three women drove him to a bridge on County Road 125 West in northern Jay County.
Stephen distracted Briar while Hiestand shot him in the back. The bullet pierced his heart. Stephen took his cell phone and threw it into a nearby river so he could not call for help. The women left him on the bridge. Officers found him still alive around 2 a.m. and transported him to a Fort Wayne hospital, where he died on the operating table.
How the Case Broke
Detective Ben Schwartz of the Jay County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation. Stephen was an early person of interest. In her first interview she said she had not spoken to Briar in a week, but phone records showed she had called him near midnight on the night of the shooting. She called it a “butt-dial.”
The turn came when Kristi Sibray went to the sheriff’s office. She told investigators that Stephen had dropped her daughter off at Sibray’s home and returned around 1:00 a.m. in a “standoffish” state, saying, “I can’t tell you. But I’m sure you’ll hear about it in the paper in the next couple days.” Sibray also recounted months of conversations in which Stephen and Hiestand talked about killing Briar.
Confronted with Sibray’s account and told Hiestand was being questioned at the same time, Stephen confessed to the plan, to retrieving the rifle, to luring Briar into the van, and to disposing of his phone. Hiestand admitted she pulled the trigger, saying she had “blacked out.” Knapke acknowledged providing the vehicle. Stephen and Hiestand were arrested on January 14, 2020, Knapke later that day, and formal murder charges were filed in Jay Circuit Court on January 15.
Convictions and Sentences
Stephen went to trial first, in March 2021. Jay County Prosecutor Wesley Schemenaur called her the “ringleader” and pointed to the test-firing as proof the plan was real: “The minute you take that gun out and you fire it to see how loud it’s gonna be… that’s like, OK, now this is real.” The jury deliberated about two and a half hours before convicting her. On May 4, 2021, Judge Brian Hutchison sentenced her to 55 years, telling her, “I have not seen the first bit of remorse from you,” and noting she had recruited two younger women and created “so many victims.”
Hiestand’s trial followed in August 2021. Her defense argued the shooting was an accident; the jury rejected that and convicted her of murder. She was sentenced on September 24, 2021, to 55 years, with a formal sentencing order dated October 20, 2021. At sentencing she apologized to Briar’s family. His grandmother, Sharon Taylor, later said, “I believed her.”
Knapke pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September 2021 and received 10 years in prison followed by 7.5 years of probation. Reports indicated she could be eligible for release as early as July 2026.
Appeals and Post-Conviction Proceedings
Stephen appealed, arguing the evidence was insufficient under an accomplice liability theory and that she had only “vented” or “joked” about killing Briar. On November 12, 2021, the Indiana Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed her conviction. Judge Elizabeth Tavitas wrote that although Stephen had no prior criminal record, she “organized Briar’s killing with the depravity of a hardened criminal.”
Stephen then filed a petition for post-conviction relief in Jay Circuit Court in February 2022, alleging judicial misconduct, jury bias, and ineffective assistance of counsel. Judge Hutchison denied the petition in late May 2025.
Hiestand’s appeal challenged the admissibility of her recorded confession and certain hearsay testimony. On April 25, 2022, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed her conviction, finding any evidentiary errors harmless in light of her own confession.
What Happened to Briar’s Daughter
Briar’s daughter, Adilyn, was placed in the custody of E.J. Stephen’s family. Briar’s biological family is permitted to see her once a month. His mother, Tracy Hoevel, told CBS that Shea “really wanted to have a good relationship with his kids and be a good role model” because he had never known his own biological father. His half-sister, Sydney Hoevel, said, “My brother wanted to be there for his baby.”