00:00:01
♪♪ -I was working the
5:00 p.m.-to-5:00 a.m. shift. It was mid-January,
Northeast Indiana.
00:00:43
It's cold.
It's windy. We've had some rains
for several days, so we had a lot
of flooding in the area.
00:00:49
The only thing
that dispatch put out was that there was a man
down in the roadway.
00:00:53
-So you had no idea
what you were getting into. -I had no idea what
I was coming on.
00:00:59
When I first got to the scene
here that night, this is kind of
how I approached it.
00:01:05
-This almost sort of seems
like a road to nowhere, really. -Yeah, there's
really nowhere else to go.
00:01:13
-And, so,
what can you see? -So, at 2:00 in the morning,
you see absolutely nothing.
00:01:21
There was a vehicle that was
pulled off the side of the road, which was
the people that had found him.
00:01:26
And then, as I came up
onto the bridge, he was laying right around here. We were able to remove
his wallet out of his pocket,
00:01:39
and then I see the name
on the I.D., which was Shea Briar. -[ Sighs, mumbling ] -The only thing
I'm really getting out of him,
00:01:47
as far as a response,
is just moans and groans. There was a little bit of blood
underneath his head,
00:01:53
but he'd been, you know, hitting
his head on the concrete. It was probably another
10, 15 minutes
00:01:57
after I got on scene
before medics even arrived. They took him straight
to the ambulance.
00:02:02
-What happens with Shea
after that? -He's immediately transported
by ambulance to Adams Memorial Hospital.
00:02:11
It was at the hospital
where they ended up finding the bullet wound in his back.
00:02:16
There was no exit wound.
It was actually in his heart. He passed away. -I got a phone call
from our sheriff, who said,
00:02:26
you know, we had a murder. -My name is Wes Schemenaur. I'm the elected prosecutor
in Jay County.
00:02:32
The first thing you do
is you start talking to family, those close to him. Who is this person?
00:02:38
-He was one of a kind. He was the best brother
I could ever have. He was fun, very sweet,
very caring.
00:02:46
-Fun-loving and goofy. -[ Laughs ] -He was a good kid.
He had a kind heart. -Everybody that we talked to,
00:02:55
we asked
if they would have any idea of who would want Shea dead. -Shea didn't have enemies.
00:03:05
-We talked to his co-workers,
probably six or seven of them, and not a single one
of them could think of anyone
00:03:12
that would want to do
him any harm at all. -You start investigating and you end up arresting
not one person, not two people,
00:03:22
but three people. Is that
how you expected this to go? -No, not at all. The three individuals
that were involved --
00:03:30
that would have been
the last thing on our mind. -Normally,
when you have a case like this,
00:03:35
they've at least been
on the radar, and these individuals were
not on the radar at all.
00:03:42
-Did you think,
"When this goes public, this town's
going to be shocked"? -Absolutely.
00:03:48
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -On Sunday,
January 12, 2020, when 31-year-old Shea Briar
didn't show up for church,
00:04:43
Pastor Angela Smiley
knew something was wrong. She had just seen him
the night before.
00:04:50
-We served a noodle dinner. He's there walking
the old ladies out. We were the last ones
in the church.
00:04:56
He said, "I'll beat you here
in the morning." I'm like, "You always do." And when I came up over the hill
and didn't see his truck,
00:05:02
I'm like, "This isn't good." For weeks and weeks
and months and months, he was always the first one
at the church.
00:05:10
Always. Shea Briar was not late. -In Jay County, Indiana,
word travels fast. It wasn't long before
Shea's aunt, Tiffany McLaughlin,
00:05:20
and his grandmother
Sharon Taylor heard Shea was missing. -I started calling
the hospitals,
00:05:26
the sheriff's department,
everybody, and nobody would give me
any information. Nobody.
00:05:33
-But then Shea's
roommate called Tiffany, letting her know police
were there. When Tiffany arrived
at Shea's home,
00:05:40
an officer told her
the unthinkable. -He said
that Shea had been shot. And I said,
"Well, is he okay?"
00:05:50
And he said,
"No, he... died on the operating table." -Shea's mother,
Tracy Hoevel,
00:06:00
was living all the way in Hawaii
at the time. Her sister and mother
called her to deliver the news.
00:06:08
-I'm like, "No!" I mean, I think I must have
screamed so loud. We're in shock. -Sydney Hoevel,
Shea's half-sister, was only 17.
00:06:19
-I remember my mom
just fell over on the couch, basically, like,
crying and screaming.
00:06:26
I still can't believe it
to this day. It doesn't even seem real. -At that point, did anyone have
any idea what happened to Shea?
00:06:34
-No. We had no idea
what happened to Shea. -Ben Schwartz was one
of the lead detectives
00:06:39
assigned to the case. -Jay County is a
very rural farming community. It's certainly
not like working in a big city,
00:06:47
where it's back-to-back calls. And as soon as this happened,
it was a pretty big deal.
00:06:52
It's isolated,
where he was found. We wondered how he got there. And we just had to start
from ground zero.
00:07:00
-Ground zero meant
digging into who Shea Briar was and what he had been up to. He was born in Indiana,
00:07:07
but was raised in Hawaii
by his mom and stepdad. What sort of kid was Shea? -A little rascal.
-[ Laughter ]
00:07:16
He was very polite. He would open doors. He was fun. He loved his G.I. Joes. He always wanted to be
in the military
00:07:24
from a really small age. -So it was no surprise when,
after high school, Shea joined the Navy.
00:07:30
And it was also
no surprise when, after he was discharged, he
returned to live in Jay County.
00:07:37
-Shea was always
an Indiana boy. He loved the tractors. He loved all the land. -And that's where
he wanted to put down roots.
00:07:47
-He really wanted to
have a girlfriend, get married,
and have a family. -But things didn't
quite happen in that order.
00:07:55
In 2018, Tracy got
a phone call from her son. -He's like, "Hey, Mom.
Guess what.
00:08:01
You're going to be a grandma."
And I was like, "What? I didn't even know
you had a girlfriend."
00:08:05
-The future mother of his
child was Esther Jane Stephen, a local high-school
softball coach,
00:08:12
who also ran a daycare
and went by the name E.J. -I don't think they were
boyfriend and girlfriend.
00:08:19
You know, I think it was just
one of those things. -In January 2019, Shea and E.J.'s daughter
was born.
00:08:27
It was only after her birth that
the two decided to start dating. They soon were engaged,
00:08:34
but Shea's family felt
it was forced. -They weren't all
lovey-dovey for, you know,
00:08:40
the lack of a better word. -I tried to tell him -- "Is this how you
want to live your life?
00:08:47
With someone that's really not
who you're meant to be with?" -You felt that?
-Oh, definitely,
00:08:52
because they did not
have a connection. -They must have sensed
something, because in September 2019,
just weeks before the wedding,
00:09:02
E.J. called it off. Was he disappointed? -Yes,
because he wanted a family. -It was around that time
00:09:12
that Angela says
Shea began coming to church. -He needed God
and he needed a friend.
00:09:19
He started hanging out
with men in our church that were active fathers, and
he wanted that for his daughter.
00:09:26
-But Angela
and Shea's family say, for reasons unbeknownst to them,
E.J. made it difficult.
00:09:33
After the engagement
is broken off, what sort of access
did Shea have to his daughter?
00:09:38
-He doesn't.
-None. He went quite a long time
without seeing her. -And he was
trying to see her and --
00:09:44
-Yeah. -That's why
he finally got a lawyer. -Shea told his mother
that when E.J. found out,
00:09:50
she wasn't happy. -He told me
she said to him, "If you go through with this,
you'll be sorry."
00:09:57
-But that didn't stop Shea. In November 2019, he filed this court document,
seeking to establish paternity
00:10:06
and to provide custody,
support, and parenting time. -He wanted to provide for her
00:10:11
and he just really
wanted to have some visitation. -He also wanted his
daughter to have his last name,
00:10:18
something E.J.
had decided against. Why was it important for Shea
to be in his daughter's life?
00:10:24
-Shea really
did not know his dad. He just did not want to be
a biological dad. He wanted to have a good
relationship with his kids
00:10:33
and be a good role model. -But two months later, before
the case made its way to court,
00:10:41
Shea was murdered,
and Tracy and Tiffany suspected E.J. may have had
something to do with it.
00:10:48
-Because there wasn't
anyone else. -But, as it turns out,
there would be other suspects.
00:10:54
♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Less than 24 hours
after Shea Briar died... Detective Ben Schwartz
and his partner called
00:11:20
E.J. Stephen, Shea's ex-fiancée
and the mother of his child, into the sheriff's office.
00:11:28
-We talked to her and told her
about what happened to Shea. She really didn't have
a whole lot to say.
00:11:46
-Did you find
her reaction curious? -Yeah. I would have
expected a little bit of emotion
00:11:52
out of her, but that didn't happen. And I would have expected
a lot more questions,
00:11:58
but she really didn't ask
too many questions at all. -And Detective Schwartz
says that wasn't
00:12:05
the only thing that stuck out. -She said that the last time
she talked to Shea would have been the week prior.
00:12:12
-But he knew she was lying. Shea's phone records
revealed she was the last person
00:12:18
to call him,
at around midnight, within hours of
him being found on that bridge.
00:12:26
-That was a huge red flag. -A red flag, but
not proof she committed murder. Detectives chose not
to confront her
00:12:36
about the phone records
that day. There was still a lot of work
to be done, a lot of questions
to be answered.
00:12:54
And the next day, a call from this woman
would help investigators out. -She unloaded and told
us a lot of interesting stuff.
00:13:05
-Kristi Sibray has known
E.J. Stephen for years. She used to umpire softball
games that E.J. played in
00:13:13
and took her kids to
the daycare that E.J. ran out of this church. How would you describe her?
00:13:19
-Very quiet.
Great with kids. She's very involved
in the community activities. -Over the years,
00:13:25
Kristi says she became
a mentor of sorts to E.J. -She always would
just stop by here and there,
00:13:32
say hi, or just stop in
if something was bothering her. -Kristi had never met
Shea Briar,
00:13:38
but she knew he was
the father of E.J.'s daughter, and when she learned he was
murdered, she started to panic.
00:13:46
-I just dropped everything
and I just started screaming. I was like, "Oh, my God.
Oh, my God."
00:13:50
And then I contacted a friend that was still
in the city police department and I said,
"I need to talk.
00:13:56
Pick me up now at work." -Kristi,
a former police officer, soon found herself inside a
Jay County Sheriff's Office
00:14:05
interview room. She began
by telling Detective Schwartz and his partner that she
received a call from E.J.
00:14:15
a few days prior
to Shea's death. She said E.J. asked her
to babysit that weekend,
00:14:22
something she had
never asked her to do before. -And I'm like,
"Yeah, not a problem."
00:14:27
So, all day Saturday,
I'm like, "Okay, what time
am I getting her?" I had not heard anything.
00:14:33
We were, like,
getting down for the night. About 10:00, 10:30,
here she comes with the child.
00:14:40
-It was Saturday,
January 11, 2020, just hours
before Shea was found shot. -She goes, "Okay,
I'll be back in a little bit."
00:14:50
And I'm like,
"Okay, what are you doing?" And she goes,
"Oh, we're just going out."
00:14:53
She came in by herself. -Kristi says E.J.
didn't return until around 1:00 a.m. -I had heard her open
the back door,
00:15:01
so I got up
and I met her there. And I said,
"E.J., what were you doing?" She goes, "Nothing,"
and she was real standoffish.
00:15:09
I said, "Come on, E.J.
What were you doing?" And she goes,
"I can't tell you, but I'm sure you'll
hear about it in the paper
00:15:15
in the next couple days." And she left. -You must have been
thinking about that all night.
00:15:20
-Yes. -But that was just
the beginning of what Kristi told police. She said that in the months
leading up to Shea's murder,
00:15:30
E.J. came over a lot,
and she wasn't alone. -Shelby was always
in the car with E.J.
00:15:36
-"Shelby" is
Shelby Hiestand. She was 18 years old. E.J. was 29 and used to be her
high-school softball coach.
00:15:46
After Shelby graduated, she became E.J.'s
assistant coach at another
nearby high school...
00:15:52
[ Crowd cheering ] ...just over the border,
in Fort Recovery, Ohio. Shelby also worked
at the daycare with E.J.
00:16:03
Did you think it was odd that here's E.J.
hanging out with Shelby. -Mm-hmm. -There's a good 10 years
between the two.
00:16:09
-Mm-hmm. I think everybody
thought it was odd. -From what I have been told, they were pretty
well inseparable.
00:16:14
-Detectives had heard
Shelby's name before. Shea's family
had mentioned her. -Shelby was always
around in the picture.
00:16:23
I think there was
some major jealousy between Shelby and Shea. You know,
he never came out and said it,
00:16:29
but he kind of
insinuated things. -What did he insinuate? -He thought maybe
there was something
00:16:35
more going on. -More than a friendship?
-Possibly. -And Shea wasn't the only one
who suspected something.
00:16:43
-I just assumed
that maybe they were a couple. -E.J. and Shelby would later deny being
anything more than friends.
00:16:51
Kristi told investigators that the two began
stopping by shortly after Shea filed that court
document to establish paternity.
00:17:00
-Shelby pretty much stayed
with the child, and E.J. would sit with me
at the kitchen table.
00:17:03
-And she said
E.J. wanted advice. -She just asked me,
"What do I do?" Because I have been divorced.
00:17:10
She didn't want to
share the baby. That was her baby.
That was her child. Some of the conversations
at the table would be,
00:17:16
"How can we get rid of him so
we don't have to go to court?" And I'm like,
"How do you get rid of him?
00:17:21
You're not gonna
get rid of him." -Kristi insists she didn't
think anything at the time.
00:17:27
-Anybody
who goes through a breakup, don't think they didn't say,
"Oh, I wish he was gone"
00:17:31
or "I wish he was dead,"
but do we act on it? And that's what I'm thinking.
I've been divorced twice.
00:17:36
I'll tell you,
I probably said it. -And Kristi says
she had that same mind-set when, over time, the
conversations grew more detailed
00:17:45
and various
methods were discussed. -I just really thought
she was venting. I did not think
this was for real.
00:17:51
-But when Kristi heard
Shea was murdered, she says she immediately viewed
all those conversations
00:17:58
in a different light. At that point, do you think E.J.
is involved in this somehow?
00:18:03
-Yes. -And she knew
she had to go to police. -I didn't even think about it. As a police-officer standpoint,
I felt like I failed,
00:18:13
because how did I miss this? How did I miss these signs? I could have prevented this
00:18:20
and I didn't because I didn't think
she could. -And this was your
opportunity to do something?
00:18:26
-Yeah. Sorry. -It was just
kind of unbelievable. -After Kristi
was done talking,
00:18:36
Detective Schwartz says
there was one thing on his mind. -We've got to get
E.J. back in here.
00:18:42
-So you say,
"Come on in, E.J." -Yep.
We just want to know the truth and what happened to Shea.
00:18:50
♪♪ ♪♪ -On January 14, 2020, just two days after
Shea Briar was murdered, E.J. Stephen was back inside
the Jay County Sheriff's Office.
00:19:15
Detective Ben Schwartz
and his partner first confronted her
about those phone records,
00:19:21
which revealed she called
Shea shortly before he died, something she had
previously been dishonest about.
00:19:36
-She said that
she butt-dialed Shea. -Did you believe her?
-No. We kind of pressed her
on that a little bit,
00:19:44
and then, finally,
she said, "Okay, yeah, we talked,
but it wasn't for very long."
00:19:49
-E.J. insisted she didn't see
Shea that night, but detectives
didn't believe her.
00:19:59
And soon, they told her
her friend Shelby Hiestand
was also being questioned. -Okay,
this is not a game.
00:20:08
-Her demeanor
kind of changed a little bit, and that was
the turning point. -In a cool-and-calm tone,
E.J. cracked
00:20:17
and began to tell detectives
what happened that night, starting with
how she dropped her daughter off
00:20:23
at Kristi Sibray's. She told them Shelby was
in the car waiting. From there, we retrace their
steps based on E.J.'s account.
00:20:34
How does she tell you
the night unfolds? -From there,
they came to the church. At the time,
it was a daycare also.
00:20:42
-It was the daycare
where E.J. and Shelby worked. E.J. said they had to move
furniture before church
00:20:49
the next day
and that another friend, 18-year-old Hannah Knapke,
met them there.
00:20:55
Hannah also sometimes worked
at the daycare, and E.J. used to coach her
in softball, too.
00:21:03
-So, this is the daycare. -What do they do here
after they move that furniture? -After they
moved the furniture,
00:21:10
they were
planning on how to get rid of Shea,
basically. -She said, earlier that day,
she had picked Shelby's
00:21:26
rifle up from Shelby's house and that, while
in the daycare parking lot, Shelby got the gun out
and fired a round.
00:21:38
According to E.J.,
after Shelby fired that shot, all three of them
got into Hannah's parents' van
00:21:46
with the rifle in the back. So, where do they go
from the daycare? -From the daycare,
they drove around,
00:21:54
still discussing whether or
not they should follow through with killing Shea. And somewhere along the line,
E.J. called Shea.
00:22:08
-After they picked Shea up,
with Shelby driving, E.J. said they
headed to that bridge.
00:22:15
So, about what time
do they get out here? -I think it was right around
1:00 in the morning.
00:22:21
They stopped the van
right over here. E.J. and Shea
get out of the van. There was no tears
or any remorse that I saw.
00:22:47
-She's talking
about the father of her child being shot in the back
next to her.
00:22:51
-Right.
Yeah, it was shocking. -E.J. told detectives
she didn't know Shelby was going to shoot Shea,
00:23:00
despite conversations
they had had earlier. But detectives believe
E.J. knew exactly what
00:23:23
was going to happen that night. They believe she
cold-heartedly planned it and that the cruelty continued
after Shea was shot,
00:23:31
because when
police located Shea, his cellphone was nowhere
to be found. E.J. said that after they began
driving away from the bridge
00:23:58
that night,
they turned around. -They're driving right past him,
through here, and they stop right there,
where my car is sitting,
00:24:06
and E.J. and Shelby
get out. -E.J. said she knew
Shea was still alive. He would lay on that bridge,
helpless, for about an hour
00:24:25
before he was found
clinging to life. E.J. Stephen was arrested
and charged with murder.
00:24:38
Down the hall, only after being confronted
with what E.J. told police, Shelby Hiestand
admitted pulling the trigger.
00:24:56
Shelby was arrested
and charged with murder. Later that day,
detectives flew to Iowa,
00:25:03
where Hannah Knapke
had returned to college. She, too,
eventually admitted involvement.
00:25:17
Hannah told detectives
she didn't know what she was getting into when
she met up with E.J. and Shelby
00:25:23
that night, but that
the conversation took a turn. Hannah was also
later booked on a murder charge.
00:25:52
The case soon hit the news. -A third person has been
arrested in the fatal shooting
00:25:57
of a 31-year-old
Jay County man. -And even though Shea's family had suspected
E.J.'s involvement,
00:26:04
they were horrified
to learn the details. -To find out
that there were two other people
00:26:09
that were involved,
it was like, "What?" -It was shocking. I think it really did shock
the community.
00:26:16
-But despite those
three taped interrogations, the case was far from over, because E.J., Shelby, and Hannah
would all plead not guilty,
00:26:27
and it would be up
to prosecutors to secure convictions,
starting with E.J. -I felt like, going into it,
that it was,
00:26:36
"Okay, you know,
she's guilty. She's going to be found guilty." And then I'm like,
"Wait a second.
00:26:42
What's happening here?" I was scared. ♪♪ ♪♪ -In March 2021,
E.J. Stephen was first to go on trial for
Shea Briar's murder.
00:27:05
Wes Schemenaur and Zec Landers
prosecuted the case. -It was intense. It was standing room only
most days.
00:27:13
We had lots of interested folks just wanting to come and see
what was going on. -Shea's mom, Tracy,
traveled from Hawaii to attend.
00:27:25
-That was my first time really
ever being in a courthouse. -It was also her
first time hearing
00:27:31
and seeing much of the evidence,
including that dash-cam video. -It was horrible.
It was just this long car ride.
00:27:39
I think I had bruises on my legs because I just was
squeezing my legs so bad. And then, when he pulls up there
to the bridge, I could hear him.
00:27:49
-[ Sighs, mumbles ] -I would love to have been
there and hold his hand. You know?
00:27:55
I wish. [ Sniffles ] -Even though
E.J. didn't pull the trigger, prosecutors sought
to convince a jury
00:28:07
that she orchestrated
Shea's murder. -This was all for her benefit. I think she saw this as a way to
eliminate a problem in her life.
00:28:17
-They told the jury
about that court petition Shea filed and they argued
it infuriated E.J.,
00:28:24
so much so that she
and her friend Shelby Hiestand devised a plan to kill him. They pointed to
E.J.'s own words.
00:28:32
The jury heard
her interrogation in full. -She didn't want
Shea involved in her life
00:28:44
or in her daughter's life. -The prosecution's
star witness was Kristi Sibray. She testified
about those visits
00:28:53
she said E.J. and Shelby
made to her house. One discussion, she said, was particularly alarming
in hindsight.
00:29:01
-I go, "You couldn't
shoot somebody." I think that's what
I said to E.J. And Shelby goes,
"Oh, I could."
00:29:06
-And Kristi testified
about another conversation that she had also shared
with police.
00:29:13
-They did talk about how they, one time,
did put pills in his tea and tried to O.D. him.
00:29:20
They crushed up ibuprofen,
I believe, and he did drink
the whole glass, but nothing happened to him.
00:29:24
-Did you say to her,
"What are you doing?" -Yeah. I'm like,
"Are you serious?" I didn't even believe her,
00:29:29
because I just could
not see her doing that. -Prosecutors argued Kristi's
testimony was proof of planning.
00:29:36
-They've discussed it. They've even maybe
tried to kill him before. This wasn't just a thing
that happened on a whim
00:29:44
without, you know,
E.J.'s knowledge. -But the defense countered
that prosecutors had it all
00:29:52
wrong and put E.J.
on the stand. She declined our request
for an interview, and her trial attorney
has since died.
00:30:01
What did she tell the jury? -That she was
essentially shocked and surprised
that Shelby did this,
00:30:08
that all of this talking
and planning had been done as a joke. -As for those pills
in Shea's drink,
00:30:16
E.J. testified
that it was Shelby's idea and that she only
went along with it because she thought it was an
innocent chemistry experiment.
00:30:26
The defense placed
all the blame on Shelby and alleged that,
unbeknownst to E.J.,
00:30:32
Shelby wanted the baby and E.J.
all to herself and that Shea was in the way. Shelby had told detectives
how much she disliked him.
00:30:49
The defense claimed E.J. had
no reason to want Shea dead and said that E.J. and Shea
were talking
00:30:56
about getting back together
that night on the bridge. Prosecutors rejected that.
00:31:01
-She's the one who went and
got the gun from Shelby's house. They took the gun with them
to the church.
00:31:09
They test-fired the gun
at the church. To me, you can say you thought
it was a joke all you want.
00:31:16
In my view of it,
the minute you take that gun out and you fire it to see
how loud it's going to be,
00:31:21
that's like, "Okay,
now this is real," right? -But E.J.
offered an explanation. She said Shelby
would often go hunting,
00:31:29
so she didn't think
anything of it when Shelby fired that round
in the church parking lot.
00:31:35
But what about what E.J.
did after the murder? -E.J. retrieved
this guy's cellphone
00:31:41
and threw it in the creek for the sole purpose of him
not being able to call for help.
00:31:47
-Remember,
she admitted that to police. -His only lifeline
was that cellphone, possibly.
00:31:57
Who knows whether he
could have had the wherewithal to call for help at that point.
00:32:02
And you left him there
to die in the cold. -But on the stand, E.J. said she only threw Shea's
phone in a moment of frustration
00:32:10
after being unable
to unlock it to call 911. She told the jury
her own phone was dead.
00:32:18
-It's just nonsense. There were
two other girls with her. You're not going to convince me
that their phones were dead.
00:32:24
You're not really going to be
able to convince me that Esther's phone
was dead either.
00:32:28
And, on top of that, they passed so many
different places that were open that they could have stopped in
and called for help.
00:32:34
-As the defense wound down, E.J.'s attorney maintained
E.J. had no idea Shelby planned to shoot Shea
00:32:43
and drew the jury's attention to where E.J. told police
she was standing at the time.
00:32:52
The defense argued if E.J. knew
Shelby was going to shoot Shea, why would she put herself
in the line of fire?
00:33:00
Shea's family worried jurors
would be swayed by E.J.'s testimony. -I thought we were going
into this and it's a no-brainer.
00:33:09
I mean, she did it.
She's going to be found guilty. And, yeah, I mean,
it was scary.
00:33:15
-The trial spanned three days, and then the case
went to the jury. -"Nerve-racking"
is an understatement.
00:33:22
We were in the office Monday-morning-quarterbacking
ourselves, you know, like you always do.
00:33:27
-One hour of deliberations
passed, then two. -The longer the jury is out, the more of that second-guessing
comes into play.
00:33:36
-Then they received a call. A verdict was in. -The heart rate goes up
to about a million.
00:33:44
The palms start sweating. You're just on pins and needles. -We were, all three,
holding hands
00:33:50
and just holding our breath
to see what was going to happen. ♪♪ ♪♪ -As a prosecutor,
you grow close to these people.
00:34:10
You see just the
unbelievable amount of suffering that they're going through
as a family,
00:34:15
and you want to do
your best for them. You want to get them
justice for Shea. -After nearly 2.5 hours
of deliberations,
00:34:25
Shea's family finally heard the
word they were waiting for -- guilty. What is that feeling like?
00:34:36
-Like a big relief. -That that much is over. -E.J. Stephen was later
sentenced to 55 years in prison,
00:34:48
the recommended sentence
for murder in Indiana. Shea's pastor, Angela Smiley,
was there
00:34:54
when the sentence
was handed down. -You would think that you would
see some kind of repentance.
00:35:02
I didn't see it at all.
Nothing. -Three months after that,
in August 2021, Shelby Hiestand
went on trial.
00:35:12
Shea's mom, Tracy,
was in court again, sitting through all
the evidence for a second time,
00:35:19
including that dash-cam video. -Tracy sat right there
and watched it again. -And didn't cry.
00:35:29
She said she didn't want
them to have the satisfaction that they had hurt her so badly.
00:35:36
-You were really
thinking that? -Yeah, I was --
No, they're not going to -- I'm not letting my head hang.
00:35:42
I'm holding it up
as high as I can. This is for Shea. It was hard, but... -This is the boy
you gave birth to.
00:35:53
-Yeah.
It just makes me... so mad. He didn't do anything wrong. ♪♪ -At Shelby's trial,
the defense called no witnesses,
00:36:15
but argued Shea's
death was unintentional. Shelby, her parents, and her attorney
chose not to speak with us.
00:36:24
-Her defense was more of a
"It was a mistake, it was an accident," that
her intent to kill wasn't there.
00:36:31
-How did they go about trying
to prove that? -Well, if you look at
what she said in her interview,
00:36:38
they tried to keep
pointing to this "I blacked out"
type of language. They tried to just
essentially characterize
00:36:49
what she said is not
technically admitting to murder, not technically admitting
to shooting at Shea,
00:36:55
but simply just pulling
the trigger. -Is there any way that this
could have been an accident?
00:37:01
-No. You don't take out your gun
and point it at anybody if you're not intending
to kill them.
00:37:08
-And to prove
this was no accident, prosecutors pointed to
this text message that Shelby sent E.J. about
a month before Shea's murder.
00:37:18
It reads, "I'm killing that
bastard with my own two hands." -They've talked about this
together for a long time.
00:37:26
-And one of the things
that was odd to me, if you look at
that text message, is E.J.'s name
in Shelby's phone is "Bay."
00:37:35
-Bay, as in a
term of endearment. -Right. -Why do you think
Shelby was willing to do this?
00:37:42
-You know,
it's speculation. She had a lot of animosity
towards Shea, as evidenced by what she said
in her interview about him.
00:37:53
And she was
very angry at Shea over his attempts
to interfere with or insert himself
into the daughter's life.
00:38:01
And so, you know, I think that that
sort of fed into that maybe power dynamic
with E.J.
00:38:10
-What do you mean by that? -Well, there's a
huge age difference you know,
between E.J. and Shelby.
00:38:16
I think it's clear
that Shelby looked up to E.J. and, you know,
wanted her approval.
00:38:21
I think she had
her own feelings. I think she had maybe some
manipulation there, as well.
00:38:29
-At the end of her
three-day trial, Shelby Hiestand
was also convicted of murder.
00:38:36
At her sentencing hearing, unlike E.J.,
she apologized to Shea's family. -Shelby was looking right at me
and she said she was sorry,
00:38:46
and I believed her. I mean, it didn't change
anything, but I believed her. You know,
she had the chance.
00:38:54
She had the chance. -Shelby Hiestand received
the same sentence as E.J. Stephen --
55 years in prison.
00:39:04
For Shea's family, the thought of a third trial
was too much to bear. -I didn't want to go to
another trial.
00:39:11
-Well, I don't think my mom
could have handled another one. -I don't think any of us
could have.
00:39:16
I mean, it was awful. -They approached prosecutors,
and, ultimately, a plea deal was reached.
00:39:22
Hannah Knapke and her attorneys
also declined our request for an interview. In September 2021,
00:39:30
she pleaded guilty
to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for a sentence that could see her released
as early as July 2026.
00:39:40
At her sentencing, she also
apologized to Shea's family. -I remember telling her,
in my impact statement,
00:39:49
that, "You know,
you weren't the mastermind, you weren't the shooter, but you were
still involved in it.
00:39:54
You were still involved
in Shea's murder." -And I said, "You could
have made a difference.
00:40:00
You could have said, 'No.' You could have said,
'Let's get out of here.'" -But not one person,
00:40:07
but three people made
the decision to murder him. -Right. Three opportunities
for someone
00:40:14
to do the right thing. -Yeah.
-Yes. -And none of them
took that opportunity. -Very well put. Very well put.
-Yeah.
00:40:24
-Shea Briar's grave
sits next to the little white church
that he loved. His gravestone says
"Daddy"...
00:40:33
a role his sister says he was
so looking forward to fulfill. -My brother wanted to be
there for his baby.
00:40:45
He loves her so, so much, and he has the best view
right now of her. Even though he's in heaven,
he is laughing,
00:40:55
he's probably giving
her wind tickles, and he's keeping
an eye out on her.