On a cold January night in Northeast Indiana, 31‑year‑old Shea Briar was found unconscious and later died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to the heart. The case stunned the small Jay County community: Briar, a Navy veteran and devoted father, had few enemies and was known for his kindness. Detectives Ben Schwartz and others started from scratch to understand how someone ended up shot on a remote bridge.
Briar’s troubled relationship with his ex‑fiancée, Ester Jane “EJ” Stephen — a local high school softball coach who ran a daycare — became an early focus. Briar had filed a paternity petition in November 2019 seeking custody and visitation with the couple’s infant daughter. His family said EJ threatened him and later blocked his access to the child. When Briar failed to show up for church, family members feared the worst; soon they learned he had died.
Investigators quickly questioned EJ. Phone records showed she called Briar around midnight, hours before he was found. EJ at first lied about having made the call, but detectives withheld that confrontation and continued the probe. The next day, a former police officer and friend of EJ’s, Kristi Sibray, came forward with a detailed account that shifted the investigation.
Sibray told police that EJ had asked her to babysit on Saturday, January 11, 2020. That night, EJ, Sibray said, returned briefly alone and acted strangely, claiming she couldn’t explain what had happened but hinting it would be in the paper. Sibray recalled that EJ frequently visited and was often accompanied by Shelby Hiestand, an 18‑year‑old former softball player and assistant coach who was close to EJ. Kristi said EJ and Shelby had once discussed “getting rid” of Briar and had even tried to poison him by crushing pills into his drink — an attempt that failed. Kristi later testified she thought EJ was venting; after Briar’s death she felt compelled to tell police what she’d heard.
When police brought EJ back in and pressed her about calls and whereabouts, she eventually began to give an account. EJ said she drove that night with Shelby and another young woman, Hannah Knapke, to pick up Briar for a ride. According to EJ’s statement to detectives, they drove to a bridge where Shelby drew a rifle and fired, hitting Briar. EJ told investigators she did not know Shelby intended to shoot him and claimed earlier threats and conversations were joking. Detectives did not accept that explanation.
Shelby later admitted to pulling the trigger; Hannah also acknowledged involvement. EJ told detectives she had picked up a rifle from Shelby’s house earlier that day, that Shelby fired the gun in a parking lot to test the noise, and that the three of them discussed ways to “get rid” of Briar. EJ admitted she took Briar’s phone and discarded it in a creek because she feared he would call 911. Detectives said she returned to the scene and watched Briar lying on the bridge helpless as the group drove away; Briar would lay there for about an hour before being found by motorists who called 911.
Prosecutors charged EJ Stephen, Shelby Hiestand and Hannah Knapke with Briar’s death. The three all initially pleaded not guilty. Kristi Sibray became a key prosecution witness, testifying about the conversations where methods and motives were discussed and the earlier attempted drugging. The prosecution argued EJ orchestrated the murder, recruiting Shelby — her former high school player and close companion — to carry out the killing so Briar would no longer be involved in her life or their daughter’s life.
EJ’s defense maintained she was shocked that Shelby shot Briar, that talk of killing was mock talk, and that she did not intend for Briar to be killed. EJ told jurors she thought the rifle testing and discussions were jokes and that she would never have put Briar in danger. She claimed she only disposed of Briar’s phone because she couldn’t access it to call 911 and her own phone was dead. Prosecutors countered that EJ retrieved Briar’s phone to prevent him from calling for help, describing it as evidence of planning and cold disregard for Briar’s life.
In March 2021, at EJ Stephen’s trial, the jury found her guilty of murder. She was later sentenced to 55 years in prison, the recommended sentence for murder under Indiana law. Prosecutors described EJ’s actions as deliberate — laying out testimony about planning, the attempted poisoning, the purchase or retrieval of a gun, the test fire in the parking lot and her role in removing Briar’s ability to call for help.
Three months later, Shelby Hiestand was tried. The defense argued Shelby’s actions were unintentional, claiming she “blacked out” when she fired the weapon. Prosecutors presented texts and other evidence they said showed premeditation: Shelby had written a month earlier that she intended to “kill that bastard” and used a pet name for EJ in her phone, suggesting a close relationship and possible influence. The jury convicted Shelby of murder. At sentencing she apologized to Briar’s family and was given the same 55‑year sentence.
Hannah Knapke — the third defendant — accepted a plea deal to voluntary manslaughter in September 2021, avoiding a third trial. She was sentenced to a term that could see her release as early as mid‑2026, a result that Briar’s family called painful and insufficient but that also spared them additional court proceedings.
Briar’s family remembered him as devoted and eager to be present in his daughter’s life. At his graveside, near the little white church he loved, relatives spoke of his kindness and his hopes to be a father. His half‑sister said he wanted to be “Daddy” and had been looking forward to building a family.
The case drew attention not only for its brutality but for the dynamics it revealed: a tangled relationship with the child’s mother, a close bond between the mother and a much younger former player, and three chances for someone to stop the violence. Prosecutors framed EJ as the instigator — a woman who saw Briar as a problem and recruited others to remove him — while the defense painted a picture of talk and juvenile posturing that spiraled tragically out of control.
In interviews, law enforcement described the investigation as starting from “ground zero” in a rural county and growing into a complex case that included phone records, recorded interrogations and witness testimony that linked all three women to the scene on the bridge. Detectives said phone records placed EJ with Briar shortly before he was found and that admissions in interrogation rooms helped construct the narrative of planning and execution.
For Briar’s family, the convictions brought a measure of relief but not restoration. In court, they watched surveillance and dash‑cam footage of Briar’s last moments and listened as jurors weighed the evidence. Prosecutors said the sentence offered some justice for a senseless killing of a man who, his relatives said, “didn’t have enemies” and simply wanted to be a father.
The case closed with EJ Stephen and Shelby Hiestand each serving long prison terms and Hannah Knapke serving a shorter sentence after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. Investigators and prosecutors emphasized the multiple missed opportunities for intervention, noting that friends and family later recalled troubling remarks and attempts, including an alleged prior effort to drug Briar. The story remains a stark example of how a domestic dispute and a web of relationships can escalate to lethal violence and how multiple people’s choices on one night led to a tragic outcome.