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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA third woman has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a man near Portland, Indiana, that allegedly arose from a child custody dispute.
Hannah L. Knapke, 18, of Fort Recovery, Ohio, was charged Tuesday in in Jay Circuit Court with murder.
Knapke was arrested Wednesday and was being held without bond Thursday in the Jay County Jail.
Esther Jane Stephen and Shelby Nicole Hiestand, 18, both of Portland, were charged last week with murder in the Jan. 12 slaying of 31-year-old Shea Michael Briar. He was found mortally wounded on a rural Jay County road and died later at a hospital.
At the time of their arrests, Stephen and Hiestand were the head coach and assistant coach, respectively, of Fort Recovery (Ohio) High School’s softball team. Knapke had been a member of that team.
Court documents said Stephen was angry at Briar, the father of her young daughter, over a lawsuit concerning child custody issues. She was alleged to have lured him to the area where he was later found, where Hiestand reportedly shot him in the back with a rifle. An affidavit says Knapke drove Briar and the other two women to the scene of the shooting.
It wasn’t clear whether Knapke has an attorney who could speak on their behalf.
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