329. Ride or Die - The Murder of Shea Briar

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Because the miracle bomb is basically one step, it's just so much faster. It feels so much quicker than having to do the entire routine. Because even if I'm doing like a no makeup makeup day, I will still just use the miracle bomb. If I'm going to the lake, I will use the miracle bomb if I'm going out in the sun at the pool, even just sticking around at home, not really putting makeup on, but still on my skin to look. Like, like, it's like, you're telling me a story like a case. I'm like, and then modern day makeup that is clean, strategic and multifunctional for effortless routines.

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And then after your purchase, just let them know where you heard about them, please support our show and tell them that it was our show murder with my husband that sent you. You're listening to an ono media podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Pete Moreland. Yeah, I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. How's everyone doing? What have we got going on? Anything new? Any phone plans? If you're watching on Netflix and you're like, "Wait, Garrett's phone definitely has some reflection in me."

No. There's nothing there. Be honest. Hey, look guys, the world cup's going on. I love you guys, but the world cup only happens every four years. So I didn't know that. Who in the Olympics do they think they are? Bigger.

Like legit bigger. Workup is the, you know what happens once a year? WMBA championship. So anyways, I'm currently at the Spain and Belgium game is on right here. It's almost over. We're recording right now.

Spain just scored up two to one on Belgium. They'll be over any second. So I'm being locked in for this episode.

“But yes, if you're watching on Netflix, that's what's on my phone.”

Cheater. We have any announcements? I don't think so. Bonus episodes. We have a lot of bonus episodes come this month. So if you're a paid subscriber on apple, patreon or Spotify,

we'll be getting a lot of those. Or if you're a listener and you're like, oh my gosh, I need more content. I've been just at all. Double tap.

“Yep. Go and check those out. Ten seconds.”

Oh, I just want to say everyone to anyone who's come into the bagel shop. Thank you for coming in. Thank you for saying hi. Thank you for supporting. I love talking to you guys. I love seeing you guys. I love taking pictures with everyone. So keep coming in. Keep saying hi. Sometimes I'm not there. I'm sorry. I'm currently working like 18 million jobs.

So I'm not always at the bagel shop. There's just a lot going on right now.

But I'm there a lot. But yeah, working on a lot of bagels, working on a lot of podcast stuff, working on a lot of baby stuff for those who don't know. And didn't see that thing right there. That's our baby. Oh, yeah. If you're watching on Netflix, you can definitely see or you can go to our Instagrams. But she's out. She's out. She comes out. Bellies out. Sun doubt bumps out. Sun doubt bumps out.

Sun doubt bumps out. That's what I tell Garrett. Hey, it looks very cute. She's doing a very good job.

Sometimes she's sick. Sometimes she's not, but she's doing amazing sick yesterday.

Yeah, not today. Yeah, better today. All right. Well, it's really hot outside, which we don't like sucks, but that's okay. On that note, let's hop into this week's episode disclaimer. I may be eating Starburst during today's episode. So if you hear a little bit of chance, kidding. Please. He's been a little bit of jumping.

Sorry. Not sponsored by Starburst. That was so funny. These are the only Starburst I eat the sour ones.

“If you want to sponsor me, Starburst, send me a bunch of these sour Starbursts.”

I don't know, but there's definitely a lot of, I don't know who knows. Just like, you know what's the conspiracy? These candy companies. Yeah. They all like only each other. Yeah. Like how PepsiCo owns everything. Yeah. I'm sure it's Pepsi. Owns these Starbursts.

Won't surprise me. They own a bunch of like the senda chips and the snacks. Really? Yeah. They own like Doritos and everything. I'm pretty sure. Really? All right. Let's hop into two this week's case. Our sources for this episode are the starpress.com,

caselaw.findlaw.com, primetimers.com, crime on line.com, Wayne.com, California news.yahoo.com, dailystandard.com, Mercer County Outlook.net,

people.com, CBS News, oxygen.com, lotatjustia.com, bareframe.com, and the independent.com. Write or die.

“It's a phrase we use to describe those closest to us.”

The ones that we would do absolutely anything to protect. We would go to war for, take a bullet for, maybe even bury a body for. Typically,

it means that you have a bond like no other. Usually, we don't mean those things literally. And I say usually because that's not the case for everyone. For some people,

loyalty goes beyond words. It's actionable. And it doesn't have boundaries when it comes to right or wrong. For some people, writer die isn't just a figure of speech.

It's a price they really are willing to pay for friendship. And sometimes, that price is actually their future. So for today's case, I'm taking you guys to Indiana,

to a quiet rural area called Portland.

“This is a farming town in Indiana of only about 6,300 people.”

It is here that Shae Breyer is just trying to live a quiet, respectable little life. It's actually a far cry from where Shae grew up. He was born just 25 miles away into Soto, Indiana, on March 9, 1988.

But his family actually ended up moving to Kyluahawaii, when he was around kindergarten. And so that is where he spent most of his childhood and basically where he would say he was raised. And he was raised here in Hawaii with his mom Tracy and his stepdad.

Now, growing up Tracy's mom described Shae as, "a little rascal."

But he was always polite and kind.

He was a well-manored little boy who went to church with his family and loved to play with G.I. Joes, which actually inspired his goals later in life. That was to join the military. Shae graduated high school in Hawaii in 2006,

not only with honors, but he was also the co-president of his class, and then after graduating, and listed in the Navy. He graduated from training in 2008

and was stationed in Washington. Now there he became a master of arms before moving on to deal with dogs in the K9 handling division of the military. Now, after words, he was deployed to Italy for a while

before being honorably discharged in 2012. And at this point, Shae's kind of wondering what his next moves were. And when he thought about putting down roots, it wasn't Hawaii that came to mind,

despite that being where he had lived basically. His entire childhood,

Shae had always summed with his grandparents back in Indiana,

and it was something he remembered fondly. He felt Indiana was the place where he wanted to raise his kids one day. Not to mention, Shae kind of had those farmer instincts. He was the kind of guy who loved tractors, loved the idea of living off the land.

He just wanted that quiet little life. A simple existence on a remote piece of land with little outside noise. So Indiana just felt right. Shae moved to Portland, Indiana,

close to his other family members, and ended up getting a job as a heavy equipment operator at the Jay County landfill.

he was helping out with a family member's farm.

“Now everyone who knew Shae at this point in his life”

said he was easygoing, respectful, but also fun loving, he enjoyed letting loose, having a good time, he was warm, funny, just in all around good guy. So no one could make heads or tails of what happened.

One cold night in January of 2020. On the evening of January 11th, Shae stopped by his local church for a pasta dinner. The renewed connection he had with his faith was something that made him pretty well known

around Portland.

He'd often be the first one to church events

and the last one out, which was kind of what happened during this church dinner. As he said goodbye to some of his friends, he told them that he would probably beat them all to church to the next morning.

They nodded, laughed it off, knowing it was probably true, but unfortunately, faith had other plans. About seven hours later,

“so around 158M, a call is made to a 911 dispatcher.”

The person on the other end of the line says they were driving on 125 West North, passing over a bridge when they saw someone on the side of the road. And the man appears to be injured.

Again, this isn't almost 2am. And when the dispatcher asks, "Okay, will do you need EMTs?" Their response is, quote, "You said he's injured and he's an ambulance?"

"Yeah, definitely he's an ambulance." "Who's that one?" "But he's not like he's not coherent." "You're not responding. I don't know if it's drugs.

I don't know if he's injured." So an officer from the nearby Geneva Police Department is dispatched over to the scene. Now, this road is pitch black. It's windy and freezing outside.

“It's been raining for the last several days”

in this area in Indiana. So the whole area is dealing with floods and ice. And as the officer pulls up onto this overpass, and what truly looks like the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, he sees the guy that this 911 call was about.

The man is lying on the side of the road, but there's no car in sight.

So the first thing the officer's wondering is,

"How did this guy even get here?" But when he gets out of the vehicle and approaches the man, he's a lot more questions than that. For starters, the man can't seem to get a word out. The officer walks up, he's asking him,

"What's your name? What happened? How did you get here? What's wrong?" And this guy's response is just groans and moans. So he's clearly a pain, but the officer can't even tell why.

There are some blood drops on the concrete, but apparently the guy has also been kind of hitting his head on the pavement to keep himself conscious. Okay. So as the cops stay with him waiting for medics to arrive,

he reaches into this guy's wallet. He takes out his ID, and that's when he confirms his identity. It is 31-year-old Shay Breyer, who had been at that church dinner hours earlier.

Now he doesn't have his phone with him, so the officer's not able to determine much more than this before EMTs arrive. But this area is so remote, it does take another 10 to 15 minutes.

Honestly, it's kind of a miracle anyone even found Shay on this overpass to begin with and decided to call 911. Eventually the EMTs do get there though, and they load Shay into the ambulance

and rush him to the hospital. Now based on his state, doctors believe he was out in the freezing cold, like at least outside, maybe not on the bridge,

but outside for two hours before he had been discovered by the caller. And as for the mystery injury itself, doctors discover a gunshot wound in his back, but there's no exit wound. The bullet is still lodged inside Shay's heart.

When he gets to the emergency room, doctors rush to operate, but Shay doesn't survive the procedure, and he dies right there on the operating table. Okay. Now, meanwhile,

Shay's friends and family wake up the next morning and show up to church expecting to see Shay. And when his pastor pulls into the parking lot and realizes Shay's truck isn't there, she actually senses that something bad might have happened.

Like I said, Shay is never late.

He doesn't miss Sunday services. So of course, word of Shay's absence actually moves quickly

And once his gets back to like his grandmother and his aunt,

that he didn't show up to church,

“they start calling around police stations and hospitals,”

trying to truck him down. But no one gives them any information about Shay. And it's not until later that day that the police arrive at Shay's house and break the news to his roommate. The roommate then has to be the bearer of bad news to Shay's family,

telling them I guess Shay was shot last night and actually died on the operating table at the hospital. Hey, guys. We are jumping into an ad. Dases in her cute little costume,

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Wow. That's easy. The macht fast, all is automatic. It's amazing. Now, for Shays, friends and family, this is inconceivable. They cannot think of a single person who would intentionally do this to Shay.

Police start the investigation. They speak to his coworkers. And none of them can think of anyone either.

At first, it feels like police will have to throw every resource they have at this case.

Yeah. Because of where he was shot in his back, they're like, well, it, a hundred percent sure, basically it wasn't him himself. Yeah. But less than a day after his death, clues actually do start to surface in this investigation

as do a few people of interest.

“Now, there's one person that's pretty important to Shay that police think will have some answers.”

And that is the mother of Shay's one-year-old daughter. So, I hadn't mentioned yet that he has a daughter. He does, she's one, and her mother is 29-year-old Esther Jane Steven. So, let's talk about the mother of this, his child for a second. Esther is a local high school softball coach who also runs a daycare center out of a local church.

Now, she started seeing Shay back in 2018, so two years before he was found on that bridge. But the situation was pretty casual between the two of them. But that after just a few hookups, Esther gets pregnant with Shay's child. So, it's not like they were seriously dating at the time. In fact, it wasn't until Shay called his mom and told her she was going to be a grandmother

that his family even learned about Esther. Okay, yeah. Her response was a baby. You're having a baby. I didn't even know you had a girlfriend.

And he's like, "I don't have a girlfriend." Exclusively dating wasn't even part of the conversation. And that wasn't until after their daughter was born in January of 2019. That's when Esther and Shay thought, okay, you know, we kind of got pregnant really early on. Didn't even know if we really would even be dating, but maybe we should give it a shot.

We have a child together. So, they start seeing each other more seriously. And I guess within just a few weeks, Shay asked her to marry him.

Let's do the mom dad has been wife thing for our little girl. Give her a stable home life."

“This is something he himself feels like he had never had.”

Shay never really got to know his own father.

And that stuck with him throughout life. So he wanted to make sure his own daughter didn't have the same experience. He wanted to be there. He wanted to see her grow up. Be a good role model and a consistent figure in her life.

So he felt like marrying her mother was the right way to do all of that. But easier said than done. Things didn't exactly work out. In September of 2019, just a few weeks before they were supposed to tie the knot, Esther actually calls it all off.

Now, if Shay knew the reason why he never shared it with his family, it might have been that the spark just wasn't there. Maybe Shay knew it didn't feel right. Maybe there was somebody else. But either way, Shay is actually heartbroken.

And it's not because he loved Esther, necessarily. But because he loved his daughter and he just really wanted this family life. He wanted to be part of her daily life. And now there was this giant piece of uncertainty. Would he get to stay in his daughter's life?

Would Esther even allow him shared custody? It was seeming unlikely, especially because after she called things off and was like, let's not get married, Shay was seeing his daughter less and less. So in November of 2019, Shay actually files a petition to try and establish paternity.

Basically, he's like, I'm going to establish paternity.

So I can get more time with my daughter. Yeah, I couldn't. I know. Such a thing. Because he ain't got to go to court and then you have custody battles and blah, blah.

It's just, yeah. And it's also at this point that he's hoping he could get his daughter's last name, change to his own because remember when she was born, it's not like they were even dating. It wasn't.

They didn't really try that until after. So a lot of this had more just been Esther having the baby.

“So he's like, can I at least get her last name change?”

Establish paternity, but that was easier said than done. Shay wasn't listed on his daughter's birth certificate. So because she didn't at the hospital, she didn't put him down. So this created legal. I think yes, but I think you can also establish paternity and get it put on.

You can just have to legally go through the process of being like, I'm not on her birth certificate, but I want to be so let's establish this and do it legally. Yeah, thanks. Okay.

And so this creates a lot of problems for him and court. Yet higher lawyer jumped through a lot of extra hoops. So knowing all of this, like when he gets shot in the back and the family's like, well, he's kind of had this little, this rocky situation. They think it's her.

Well, they just think they need to talk to her more. Because it's the only, like, someone. So what lead, I guess, that they really have. Yeah. Esther is someone they want to speak with.

She's called down to the station that day, January 12th to speak with the police.

“And when they ask her, okay, when did you last speak to Shay?”

She says on January 6th about a week ago, it was our daughter's first birthday.

But the police already know this isn't true. Because before this, they had gotten Shay's phone records. And the records show, not only-- No way, we're already lying. Did Esther call him the day before he died?

She was the last person to ever call him. Owers before he was then found on that bridge. But this is pretty much all they get from Esther. So they know they have to keep digging. They know she's lying.

They know that they talked on the phone. It's just crazy because if she didn't lie and she told the truth. Yeah, we have a problem together. They probably would have been like, oh, okay. But now because she lied, it becomes an entire situation.

Well, it's also like your co-parenting. It's not that weird that you guys called on the phone. It's crazy to lie about that stuff with, like the phone records and stuff these days. Like they literally had the phone records before talking to her.

Like, come on. I mean, it is a little weird that she's the last person. He called just hours before being found. And she lied about it. Yeah.

Yeah. So they're like, hey, we got to keep digging. But really, they don't because the case is pretty much cracking itself open. That same day, someone walks into the station to say, oh, I heard about this murder and I've got something that the police need to know about

Esther, the mother of his child. Now, this woman who walks into the police station is named Christi Cybre. She's actually a former police officer who also used to

So this is how she knows Esther pretty well because like I said,

“Esther is involved in the softball community.”

In fact, Christi and Esther are super close friends. They had been for years. Christi trusted her well enough to send her two kids who Esther's daycare. And they kind of had the friendship where Esther would just pop over to the house

unannounced just to say, hi, or check in. All of this to say, Christi and Esther are really good friends and Christi knows a lot about Esther's life. She knew about the custody battle and her relationship with Shebreyer and Esther told her things that she didn't tell everyone,

which was why the second Christi heard about Shea's murder. She had a bad feeling Esther was involved and being a former police officer. She willingly goes to the station to give police this information. And this is what she says. She tells them this unnerving story.

A few days ago, Saul according to Christi. Esther called Christi and asked if she could help her out. She needed her to babysit that upcoming Saturday,

January 11th, which was something Esther had never asked her to do before,

but Christi's like, okay, she's obviously in a bind. Of course, I will watch her daughter. Then Saturday rolls around.

“This is the day night early morning of the murder.”

And Christi hasn't heard anything from Esther. So she has no idea if this baby sitting thing is still happening when she needs to be available. And then finally, around 10 p.m. at night, there's a knock on Christi's door.

And it's Esther with the baby. Now, keep in mind, she hasn't heard a peep out of her all day. She's like, can you watch her on Saturday? Yes, sure. Never follows up with a time never anything.

And now she's standing at her friends door at 10 p.m. on the night of this murder with the baby. And Esther hands her daughter over to Christi and says, I'm going out. She doesn't tell Christi where she's going.

She doesn't say when she'll be back. She just leaves. Like, she's very much being weird about the situation. Like, Christi's like, okay. And she's like, I'm going out and then she leaves.

And then around 1 a.m. Esther comes back to pick up her daughter. Okay. And Christi's like, what were you going on? Like, where did you go?

But she said Esther was just very cold and deflective. Didn't share anything other than quote. I can't tell you, but you'll probably hear about it in the paper. Oh, my gosh. So then that's insane.

In two days, when she hears about Shay's murder, Christi's like, I have to go to police. Like, this is connected. I don't really know what happened. I just know this happened.

“But this isn't the only thing Christi's working off of here.”

She said Esther had been to her house a lot over the last few months. Complaining about Shay and how she was terrified. He was going to take her daughter away from her. And oftentimes, the conversation would kind of like, segue kind of joking, but maybe not into different ways.

She could like get rid of Shay or like stop this problem from happening. How she wanted him out of her life. So she wouldn't have to deal with all this. She wouldn't have to go to court.

And Christi said, at first these conversations,

just felt like one friend venting to another. Christi herself had actually been divorced twice. She admitted, I'd been there. Like, I've probably said similar things about my exes in the heat of like a nasty divorce.

So she didn't think much of it. But Esther had someone, I guess, who was aching her on a bit too much, according to Christi. Okay. Someone that had kind of been hanging out with Esther a lot lately.

It's kind of, it's kind of being another guy. Well, and like this, this friend, she had been hanging out with. It's a guy, is it a guy? Set off.

No. It's a girl. It's a girl. It's like a alarm bells for Christi. Like, when Christi found out about this friendship

and then like got more details from Esther, it's like one, you know, someone has a friend that your friends with and you're like, I don't like that person. Like, I don't think they're a good friend type thing. Okay.

That is kind of the red flag. And it's Esther's 18 year old friend, Shelby Heaston. Okay. I mean.

Now, let me remind you, Esther is 29. Shelby is 18. How did they meet? Esther used to be Shelby's high school softball coach. Okay.

I'm trying to think about this. Is it weird?

But. Illegal? No. It's illegal.

Also, I feel like it happens a lot now.

We're like, there's one year old that our friends with 30 year olds. Yeah. So I don't know if it's that weird. I think it's weird.

“Are like friends with people 20 years older than them?”

Yeah. I mean, I guess. I think it's weird. Maybe an 18 year old hanging out with a 30 year old does seem like. Well, you're just fresh out, but there's more to this story.

And, and even this next part of the story makes it even seem more. Okay. Okay. Let's hear it. Because.

So she's her coach. But then when Shelby graduated high school, she becomes Esther's assistant coach at another school. Okay. I know.

And, like, this happens all the time where there's young assistant to like just graduated or whatever. I don't think that's the help coach at a school for an older coach. They're going to hang out all the time. Like, you know, it's just more does this relationship cross over into. Toxic friendship territory, right?

We're about to find out. So on top of that, Shelby also got a job working at Esther's day care with her. So both jobs, they're working together.

“And Christie said, over the last couple months, whenever Esther showed up at her house,”

Shelby was actually right there with her. Like, Shelby becomes Esther's little 18 year old tag along. Apparently, the two did everything together lately. Like, they were becoming inseparable. The age difference, a little weird.

But Christie said, she had a feeling more might have been going on between them. She tells police, she felt pretty confident that they were a romantic couple. Okay. Well, see. Now this is now, we're getting weird.

Yes. Because like, you were her coach. She's 18. You were coaching her. When did this romance start?

Yeah. Did it. Oh, you graduate. Now just come spend all your time with me. Because we were already crossing boundaries beforehand.

And then she shoots her husband. No way. Oh, my gosh. People were, people were nuts.

“Like, people, I've gotten at the point where people are nuts.”

They're nuts. People are insane. They're insane. Christie tells police. 18 year old Shelby had 29 year old Esther in her contacts under Bay.

Like, yeah, B.A.E. Which was like a more popular word. Uh-huh. And there seems to be real tension between Shay and Shelby. So the father of the child, the victim, Shay,

also does not like 18 year old Shelby. Also thinks it's a red flag as well as Christie. So like the other people in Esther's life are like, Why are you hanging out with an 18 year old?

Why is she always around?

This seems like a red flag. Your relationship seems a little toxic. And so apparently even enemy number one, which is apparently Shay for trying to establish paternity of his daughter is having beef with Shelby.

Now, 18 year old Shelby seemed, I'm only saying 18 not to keep reiterating but to help you guys keep characters clear. So Shelby seemed to hate Shay just as much as Esther did towards the end. But it's these two against him trying to get custody of his daughter

and Shay definitely noticed. Shelby acted very protective over Esther and her daughter and it was because of Shelby's hatred and this closeness between her and Esther that Christie felt and his time police now

maybe they were capable of doing something like this after all. They hated him. Like they had kind of fed off each other's toxicity. It was bad, like it was getting weird, it was getting bad. So now the police realize, okay,

we've got to get Esther back in for questioning. And while we're at it, let's pick up Shelby he's stint too. Now this time, detective's tell Esther point blank. We know you were lying about the last time you spoke to Shay because we have his phone records.

We can see that you called him on January 12th. The morning he died around 12 or two. Did you imagine just getting called like it? What do you think she said? No, she deny it, that's crazy.

You can deny it. It was a butt dial. Oh my gosh, get out of here. Get out of here.

Now the police don't buy this for a second,

so they keep applying pressure. Until eventually she gives in and says, okay, yeah, we talked that night, but it was super quick. And I swear I didn't even see him in person that night.

But again, police aren't buying it. Like Esther, you've got to tell the truth. Like none of this is making sense. We know that you dropped her off. Your daughter off at Christie's house.

We know you weren't home. We know you were out doing something.

And she says, okay, have I thought about killing my ex before? Sure, but who doesn't?

“Have I thought my life would be better without him?”

Yeah, did I joke about it with friends? Of course. But when they tell her, joking about it with friends, okay, but he's actually dead. And we're in the process of questioning Shelby

who we think you have a relationship with maybe and might be involved in this. And they also say Shelby's also talking, like she's only 18 years old. She's beginning to talk to us.

She's not going to keep your secrets. And Esther starts to panic. Of course. Who knows if Shelby was even talking at this point? No, but it's such a good negotiation tactic because.

Especially with an 18 year old because you're like, you really think this young girl.

Because here's the thing.

Have you ever just been moving fun with Dick and Jane? Nope. Okay, anyways. Little off topic. So I'm going to ignore that for a second.

But what's just paint a scenario scenario quick, okay? Okay. Paint an eye. Is it a little. It's kind of about fun with Dick and Jane.

Paint an eye. Go and broke. Don't know what else to do. Boom, paint an eye. Go boom.

Okay, we're going to rob a bank. We need some money. Okay. Paint an eye. Rob a bank.

Boom. Say we both get caught.

“They both end up in the police station and different negotiating rooms.”

Do would you believe that I'd be quiet? Yeah. Would I believe that you'd be quiet? No. No.

I just think you'd crack. I wouldn't crack. I think you'd crack. Because I hate lying. I know.

You'd paint one crack. So like instantly. But writer died. I'd rather die. I would.

If they came to me and they're like paints talking. I'd be like, yeah, of course she is. Yeah. Like of course she's talking. You were 100% believe them.

Yeah. I would. I would. No. I would.

You take it on the chest. I would. Yeah. I would not. You'd be like, I'll all go to prison.

If it caught me a deal. I don't know. But I'm just saying that. It's pretty easy. Do you believe you would turn on me?

You would turn on me first.

Because you talked first. Yeah. But. I love the scene. But anyways.

So what I'm trying to say is. That would be such a hard thing to. Is that what happens in Dick and Jane? Not really. But kind of.

Oh. If you know the movie, it's kind of what I'm getting at to its sense. But anyways. We keep going. I also think it's like.

It's a little different because like I participate in the crime with you. But we don't know if they haven't. Right. I think it would be different. Like if I found out.

You did a crime without me. Yeah. Okay. I would get a lawyer. But I also wouldn't lie.

I see. Yeah. If you participate in a crime together. I might try to lie. Okay.

Like I don't know if we had come up with like a real good story.

That's my girl. Like if you had sat me down and put it out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

This is what you're going to say. This is how you're going to answer. Yeah. I might try to stick to it. I might.

We're not getting any crimes. Okay. By crimes. We mean. Stealing the neighbor's trees.

Yes. But that's something we would do. We would steal somebody's trees. That's probably the only crime we've ever committed. If you were here a crane in the middle of the night.

Yes. It's not us the tree. Yes. No. That's probably the only crime we've ever committed.

“Can you imagine we go to prison for stealing trees?”

You have nice big trees in your yard. You better tie those suckers down because I'm coming to get them. Because every time we've driven past your house we've gone. Yeah. Should we steal that tree?

I don't like dang. Those are nice trees. I think they would know. I just if they were gone. Okay.

What does it give back to the episode? Sometimes I do drive past places. I'm like we could take that. I know. I want the trees.

That's funny. Anyways. Okay. So they're like yes. She'll be talking.

And so what does Esther do? She starts talking. And here's the account that she offers. Okay. On the night of January 11th,

she dropped her daughter off at Christie's. While Shelby was in the car waiting. From there they went to the church where her day care is located. And they met up with another friend of theirs. A third accomplice.

According to Esther's story. Another 18 year old named Hannah. No way. Cannot be. No way.

Esther had also been Hannah's softball coach. And she also worked some shifts at the day care. So these three, they got a little life going on here. Okay. And at the time, Hannah was in college on a scholarship.

But presumably was home for winter break. Here's where things get a bit murky. And Esther's story, though. Esther says the three of them are in the teenagers. Met at the day care where they all work because she needed their help.

Rearranging furniture around the day care. Which mind you. It is 10 30 to 11 p.m. on a Saturday night. So this is already a little bit weird of a time to drop your daughter off at a babysitter. It's just to go a range furniture at a place that you all three already work.

But she said, while they were doing that, the conversation turned into a joke about how

“they could get rid of Shay if they wanted to.”

Because again, they absolutely despise him for wanting to have a part of his daughter's life. Now, what doesn't seem like a joke to detectives, though, is this earlier that day. Shelby and Esther had gone to Shelby's house to get something. A rifle. But Esther made it seem like it was purely a coincidence.

She's like, no, no, no, that just happened to happen on the same day. How did it pick up the gun? Either way, the three women went out to the parking lot that night. She says jokingly get the rifle that they had bought like got earlier that day. That wasn't premeditation.

It's happening at the rifle. And they shoot it to see how loud it was. They happened to hit him. And then they got into Hannah's car, which happened to be her parents van.

And they drove around for a while as this conversation about killing Shay becomes more serious.

Turns into us, should we really do this? And eventually lands on a, yeah, let's do it. So around midnight, Esther makes that final call to Shay's cell phone. The, the butt dial, originally.

“She asked him if you want to come over for a little joy ride with her and her friends.”

And Shay said, sure, they went and picked him up at his place in Portland. And headed out to that remote area to that bridge on 125 West. Apparently they then stopped the van, had him get out and that's when Esther said, She'll be got out and shot him once in the back with the rifle. And then they got back in the car and drove away, leaving Shay to die in the freezing cold.

That bridge in the middle of nowhere. That's actually, like I said earlier, people are nuts. That's insane. That's actually evil. I just, I know a lot of you disagree with me and that's, it's fine. I'm okay to disagree with people. It doesn't bother me.

I still love it. I'm still friends with you. But there's no reason in my mind that we, those people, shouldn't then be, I don't throw them on an island in Alaska and be like, Good luck. Let's see how long you live. Number one, how do you get three people on board?

Number two, you picked up the rifle earlier that day. This didn't happen that night. How number three people on board? That's crazy. I mean, that's why.

Look, packing gang mentality is a really real thing. It's just like. It's sad. It's a very real thing. Hating a guy. Those two girls don't even know him.

They only know what she said. Absolutely horrible. And even then, like, even then, you don't kill someone. But also, to just purposely lure him out of his house. Yeah, I can't.

And then drive out to the middle of nowhere where you, you know, and just leave him there bleeding. Yeah. Like, huh? That makes, that breaks my heart.

It's, it's like, it's discussed. It's not to make matters even worse. Apparently Esther realized something as they started to drive away. So she had Shelby stop the car and her and around. They get back to Shay.

Keep in mind. They've just driven away from him. Imagine this scenario. He's still alive, but dying, bleeding out. They get back to him.

Esther gets out. She's probably like, oh, she changed her mind. No, she gets out. Rommages and finds Shay's cell phone. And then throws it in the river and gets back in the car.

See, I just, I can't. These people deserve so much more than just prison time. That is, honestly, just mind blowing. She's afraid he's going to call 911. Mind blowing.

And survive. Yeah. Now, after that confession, 29 year old Esther is arrested and charged with murder.

Meanwhile, Shelby's basically confirming the story in another interrogation room.

And while they are pretty consistent, Shelby does admit, yeah, I was the one who shot him. So that's the same as Esther's story. She also tells investigators that she pretty much blacked out and can't remember much of what happened. And then Shelby says something so incredibly odd.

“And I think it just proves she hasn't even processed how much trouble she's in yet in this interrogation room.”

Because she asked the police if they have to, quote, put this out there. She's like, is it going to be in the news? Like, is it going to go on Facebook? Are people going to be able to find out that I shot and killed this man? Okay.

And police are like, girl, it's already hit the news. Like, you're going to prison forever. Like, people are definitely going to hear about this. This is your entire future. Like, you've just written your life.

And I guess maybe it starts to hit her.

“Shelby's arrested that same day in charge with murder.”

But they also have Hannah. So that afternoon, police fly out to Iowa because I guess she's already gone back to school for the next semester after doing this little murder in her hometown. And she's arrested and brought in for questioning. She tells police, I was a completely innocent bystander.

I had no way day what was happening that night when I met up with Shelby. She's like, I really thought we were moving furniture at the daycare where we worked. And then suddenly I'm in the car and we're picking him up. And this is a murder plot. She said, yeah, we're going to have a hard time with this.

Because then why not tell anybody? Well, they asked her and she's like, I, I couldn't stop them in the moment. I was too afraid to tell them no. She said, I, like, tried to voice my concern.

But she didn't want to become their second victim.

What about after? I don't know what her excuse is for not immediately going to police or getting home and calling 911 and being like, there's a guy dying on a bridge. Like, I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know the chance that maybe you could have saved him. Not sure how I feel. And again, Garrett's not wrong. Like gang mentality could this happen where she was. No.

Can you tell the truth? 100%. And then gets there and is scared. And like, guys, are we really doing this? But is it brave enough?

But then afterwards, we got to take some action here. I mean, either way, it's not enough or police to drop the charges. Like you didn't, you didn't do anything to stop it. So even if you had no idea this was happening, your lack of action is chargeable.

Yes. Like you're still an accessory to murder. She was also booked for murder mainly because. Remember, it was her parents car. Yeah.

That was being driven. Yeah, true. So your car, you are the one in the story who's driving to and from the scene. Like, police are like, you could have just stopped. You could have just said no.

And of course, she's like, well, they had a gun. Like, what was I going to do? But the key now was trying to find out how well planned out this crime was. Again, is it something they decided on that day or night? Had this been something that they'd been planning for a while?

Well, as you may have guessed, picking up that gun that afternoon was not a coincidence. There was a lot more going on behind the scenes. At least for Shelby and Esther. According to Christie, there was one time when she recalled Esther complaining about She at her house and Shelby, who was also there because she was attached at, like,

“to Esther's hip, said, well, I could easily shoot him if you want to.”

So she had already brought up shooting him for Esther. And then there were the text messages exchanged between Shelby and Esther in the weeks leading up to the crime, where Shelby in text before the crime tells Esther she wanted to kill Shay for him. She's a full on little girlfriends, full on and many not want to kill him for you. And not just over text, she also admitted it in front of Christie.

And apparently, six days before the plan was executed the murder on January 5th, Shelby and Esther went out driving around town and they drove to that bridge. They drove to other secluded places. They're looking for potential murder sites. They're a week before they're driving around going where could we shoot him and, like,

not have anyone here, not have anyone drive by, but, like, easy enough to just get him out of the car shoot him and leave, not like, go somewhere. So you have all of these very clear signs of premeditation here,

especially because police learn, this was not the first time they had actually tried to kill Shay.

And all of this starts coming out. Christie said Esther and Shelby had once talked about crushing up IB profile and putting it in Shay's tea. They actually tell Christie he consumed it, but nothing happened to him. They were like, oh, they didn't necessarily say they were trying to kill him, but they poisoned him. They fully admitted to poisoning him, but nothing happened and they were bummed out.

“But Christie was like, when police are like, well, why didn't you call the police then?”

She's like, I didn't believe them. Like, who thinks that these two girls are actually cutting up IB profile and putting it in some string? They hated this guy. They joked about hurting him all the time. Why would I think that this time was any different? But now looking back on the whole thing, Christie is devastated. She's like, I could, like, I missed all of the signs.

She claimed as a former police officer, she should have known better than to brush Esther's claims off as frustration. She felt that if she had gone to the police earlier with the knowledge that these girls were jokingly talking about killing him, Shay might still be alive today. But Christie wasn't the only one manipulated in the situation.

I mean, you have two young girls, not even in their 20s, who looked up and respected Esther as their coach initially. She was a role model.

What an absolute mess. And I mean, that is that is grooming to a degree.

“I just really thought about that their kid is well.”

No, has no parents horrible. And this was something the jury would have to take into consideration when it came time for the individual trials because this is nuanced. Meanwhile, each of them pleaded not guilty. They were held without bond.

Esther was up first and her trial began in March of 2021.

Esther Stevens was found guilty as charged and she was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Why only 55 years? Well, the state of Indiana has a specific sentencing law that murder carries a fixed term of 45 to 65 years. And it should be 90 years old.

And 55 is where judges usually start from. But justice wasn't done being served in August of 2021. Shelby's trial. Okay. She was also given 55 years in prison.

Wow. At the sentencing hearing, one of Shelby's friends read a statement out loud saying Shelby, quote, had the misfortune of finding comfort in a wannabe court leader who literally destroyed several families for her own self interest. And again, that trial had more nuance because of the way they had met

the relationship dynamic. And she tried she got 55. Now as for Hannah, she sees the writing on the wall.

She's like these two got charged.

I'm next. She pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter and is given 17 years and six months behind bars with all but 10 years suspended. It made sense that jury did decide Hannah didn't conspire with us. Shelby, like she was not a part of the previous plan.

So how many years total all middle confused? Sorry.

“So seven years since 10 got suspended or did I understand that wrong?”

Yeah, so essentially 10 years. Okay. Now, there's still kind of one loose end many people question. Why did she even agree to get in the car that night? Like if they're in this not good situation, she's with her friends that he hates apparently.

Like how did this even happen? It's a valid question. I don't think they're blaming shit. That doesn't. Honestly, that parts aren't even deep for me.

Like it's you have a baby with this person.

Like that part doesn't even stuck. That is even like, yeah, of course. I probably something I would do. Well, this is exactly what detectives say as well. And she's friends.

They said he has a baby with a little child with her. He's trying to smooth things over. He wants solid ground between him and Esther because he's just trying to do that. He's trying to do that.

And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that.

And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that.

And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that.

And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that. And she's trying to do that.

“And she's trying to try to smooth things over to try to make their relationship dynamic.”

A little better so that things could move forward more smoothly. So when this question is brought up. His friends family and even detectives are like. It's a valid question. But it's actually when you know who she was.

Is not that strange because he was that good of a guy. Yeah. Like even if he didn't like these friends. He would have been willing to go just to try to make this child's life easier. Yeah.

Esther's parents were the ones who ended up getting. Primary custody of Esther and She's daughter. And thankfully She's family has been granted visitation rights. But it is only once a month. Has it even makes sense?

He's not on the birth certificate. They were still going through the whole battle. Okay. But escalate that. She's.

Right. Like that's actually that's that's not okay. I'm not okay with that. That's ridiculous. So they do get to see her.

Once a month, but according to both families, Esther and Chase family, they have one priority. And it's making sure that the little girl feels love admits all of this chaos that she did not sign up for. And that is the murder of Shea Breyer. And honestly, like. Or I just.

Can. Can we can we start being nuts? It's also just absolutely horrible. You know, every single case is horrible, but. I don't even know.

Maybe once a month. I don't even know. Every every little bit. I'll have a certain case that I'm just like. I wish I didn't have this job.

I because what do you mean?

What do you mean this happened? This is disgusting. This is horrible.

“Like how can this brutality and level of humanity exist?”

And it's just not it. It keeps happening. Exactly. And it's just like. It keeps happening.

It gets to the point where like I'm frustrated. I know. It's it's very frustrating. It's part of the reason why I say I don't like true crime. Because I'd so frustrating.

Like are you. Are you kidding me right now? Like are you. Are you actually kidding me? Like what's wrong with you?

I don't know. What is wrong with you?

“Hopefully she has 55 years to ask herself the same question.”

And I guess we can hope she does. Put her in Alaska. Tire up, chain her to a tree in Alaska. She can freeze the death like the person she killed did. It's just heart-wrenching.

Horrible. Anyways. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here. Not to be a downer.

But that's kind of the moral of the moral of the podcast. I guess.

“It's like at the end of the day, the reality is these do suck.”

Like it's not. It's horrible. People need to stop killing each other. Not good off. You know what?

I am more than happy to completely never do podcast again.

And lose this as our jobs if people stop killing each other. A billion percent. Do it. Prove me wrong. Do it.

Honestly. I'll make bagels until I die. I just am like. It's like come on guys. It's just incomprehensible.

Yeah. All right. Listen.

As always, we will see you next week.

Sadly with another one. I love it. Not hate it. Goodbye.