Post Mortem | Coached To Kill

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1:30Welcome back to Postmortem. I'm CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales, stepping in today as your host to speak with 48 Hours correspondent Anne-Marie Green about her report on the murder of 31-year-old Shea Breyer. It was on January 12, 2020, when Shea Breyer was found incoherent on a remote bridge in Jay County, Indiana. Now, it turned out he had been shot in the back with a bullet lodged in his heart, and he later died from his injuries. Now, when a homicide investigation was launched, detectives uncovered a shocking plot involving not one, not two, but three individuals. Anne-Marie is joining me now to chat with me.

2:12Hey, Anne-Marie. Hello, hello, hello, and thank you.

2:15Natalie Morales:I love it when we do it like this. It's fun being on the other side, and it's fun for me, too, being on this end of it. Now, I just want to remind our listeners, if you have not listened to the 48 Hours episode yet, you can find the full audio just below this episode in your podcast feed. So just go take a listen. They come right back for our conversation. So, Anne-Marie, it's rare that we see a woman as a killer. But in this case, we have three women who are charged with killing Shea or being involved in his death. Yeah, we start things off with EJ. She's 29 years old. She's pretty much the first person that comes under suspicion for detectives because she's the only person who's had a conflict with Shea.

2:57Natalie Morales:People love this guy. She is Shea's ex-fiancee and the mother of his child. But their relationship wasn't that kind of relationship. You know, they kind of didn't really date until after they become parents, if you will, and then became, you know, engaged. But then later we learn about these two other young women who are involved. And I say young women because they're teenagers, right? We have 18-year-old Hannah, whose parents' van was used. She was driving her parents' van that night. And then there's 18-year-old Shelby, who is the one who shot Shea. Let's talk about that age difference and who the mastermind of this was.

3:44I mean, who was the one who was sort of seen as the person who was pulling the strings on this operation?

3:51Natalie Morales:Yeah, I guess, you know, that's a bit of the question. You know, you have to understand that EJ has known these two other women for quite a long time. She's 10 years older than them. She's a softball coach. She's coached them and they basically have known her since they were children. You have to wonder about the nature of her influence over them. And you see it in the hour. A lot of people, you know, speculated as to whether or not there was more to the relationship between Shelby and EJ. No one saw EJ without Shelby being around. we also learned that EJ's name was in Shelby's phone as Bay. I know you've probably heard that nickname Bay.

4:39Natalie Morales:And it's normally spelled B-A-E. It was spelled B-A-Y. They could have just spelled it wrong. I don't know. But we all know what that means. My Bay. That's my sweetheart. Right. Of course, you know, both ladies say that there was nothing romantic between them. They were just very close friends. But the other thing is, it really was Shelby who seemed to really dislike Shea. And she's the one who shot the gun. So, Anne-Marie, let's talk about the apparent motive in this case, which is just so sad because all it is, it seems, is that Shea just wanted to be involved in his daughter's life. Now, that was something that E.J.

5:14did not want, according to prosecutors. So when Shea hired an attorney and then filed those court documents to establish paternity, a friend of E.J. said that E.J. started talking about getting rid of him. I'm curious, though, why didn't Shea already have certain rights in place? I mean, that's his daughter.

5:33Natalie Morales:Yeah. So his name was not on the birth certificate. And so then he sort of realized that he had to go a more formal legal route. And like I said, the nature of their relationship before they became engaged is kind of murky. You know, his family had never even heard of her really before. And so the impression that we get is, you know, there wasn't much of a relationship. She becomes pregnant, though. She has the child. And so they try to establish something. Shea really wanted to be a dad. He did not have a great relationship with his own father. and he wanted to kind of like correct that family story, if you will.

6:15Natalie Morales:You know, he wanted to be a father and be a good one. So what's interesting is given that whole, you know, what was going on in their relationship, on the night that Shea was killed, he had received a late night call from EJ to meet with him. And at this point, as you said, Emery, they had been broken up for a while. They didn't seem to have a relationship at all. So it seemed to be somewhat contentious, if anything. So why did he even agree to meeting up with EJ and getting in that van? That's like the million-dollar question. It's late at night. The weather was terrible. They hadn't really been talking.

6:51Natalie Morales:But I asked the same question to detectives as well, and I want to play a little sound from the interview that actually didn't make it into the hour. Why do you think Shea got into that van? I think Shea got into the van thinking that they could possibly rekindle their relationship. He wanted to raise his daughter. or he wanted parental rights, I think he would have probably done anything to do that. Even get into that van. Even get into the van. It's just so sad that, you know, he goes there with a sliver of hope, and then what happens to him happens. Yeah. Now, I know you visited Jay County, and you walked along that bridge where he was found practically dead.

7:32He then succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. But what was it like to be out there?

7:37Natalie Morales:beautiful and eerie this is you know a rural town but this area is even sort of out in the country for for them um i would say it was about a 20 minute drive outside of the center of town um there's nothing around uh i think there's an abandoned barn way off in the distance but other than that it's just fields with this creek um there's really no reason to go there and stop stop really um other than maybe to take in the scenic view but it's a road to get to somewhere else the fact that anyone found shay is a miracle in and of itself you know it is heartbreaking that no one came by sooner but i'm not surprised you just wouldn't go there by mistake really and emory as we saw you interviewed christy siber she was the one remember who called the detectives the very minute she heard about Shay's murder.

8:36But she told detectives that EJ had come to her and seemed to be venting about Shay, even talked about getting rid of him. And it's interesting because watching Christy's interview, she seems to really carry a lot of guilt about not realizing what EJ was saying and not understanding, is she just venting? Like a lot of people, I think a lot of us do that. Like, if only I was, you know, rid of him, if only there was a way to get him out of my life. Right. I think we all do that. So it raises the question, how do you tell the difference between somebody who's just venting or somebody who is actually admitting to wanting to do something?

9:15Natalie Morales:Yeah. Yeah. Because Christy, as you know, is a former police officer. Right. So she really feels guilty. But to your point, Natalie, I mean, I have friends who are going through like some challenging divorces and they say, like, I wish he would just get out of the house. I wish he would just disappear. Like you get it. And I think for Christy, I got the feeling that she recognized that for whatever reason, these girls needed a place to go to or another adult where they could sit and unload. You know, like everyone needs like that auntie or whatever. It's not your mom, so they're not going to lecture you.

9:56Natalie Morales:It's that other adult that's still going to kind of guide you. And so I think she like allowed them to feel comfortable, allowed them the space to just kind of be themselves, I think, in the hopes of nudging them in the right direction. And she would give EJ advice. She would say, like, you're never going to get rid of him. Right. So, like, now just think about how are you going to manage co-parenting? Like, she would do that. And she just never believed. I mean, even after that experiment where they threw stuff in his drink, she just never believed that they would take it this far. Yeah. I mean, that right in itself right there, chopping up pills and putting it into his drink.

10:38That's a big, you know, if you're saying you did something like that, that's one step away. And as it turns out, it was one step away.

10:46Natalie Morales:Yeah. And I mean, when EJ asked if, you know, she could babysit, that was one thing. But then she shows up really late. And then she says, trust me, you're going to read about it in the papers tomorrow. That's a problem. But it was Christy who was the first person, the minute she heard about Shay's murder, who went right to the police and told them everything that she knew and had heard. She did. She did.

11:21welcome back all right ann marie let's talk a little bit more about who shelby was and who hannah is how did these women get wrapped up in this plot i tell you um so often uh natalie i think

11:36Natalie Morales:about how in a very small moment, if people make a different decision, their life is completely different, right? Like that's the thing about 48 hours. You're like, oh, if you had just delayed that one thing that you did 30 seconds, maybe none of this would have happened. These ladies had plans in place for their life. I'm just gonna like read a little bit. Shelby, she was studying to become an EMT before she was arrested. She wanted to become a nurse. Hannah was already in college because after this incident, she goes back to college. She's on a scholarship. She also thought in the future she would be perhaps opening a nursing home.

12:13Natalie Morales:And then during the interrogation, Shelby says something which gives you a sense of maybe her understanding or lack of understanding about how much trouble that they're all in. So this didn't make it into the show, but I want to play it. I just asked one thing. Absolutely. Can I stay on Facebook? Does it have to be put up there? The seriousness of this is going to go far. It's going to be on Facebook. Everyone's going to know. Oh, yeah. I mean, do you understand the level of this? It's been on the news. His body was found. You know what I'm saying? To stay off of Facebook, I mean, oh, my goodness.

12:59That's crazy.

13:01Natalie Morales:Yeah, so that gives you a sense of the disconnect. Like not realizing just how just the amount of trouble that they're in. And also not feeling remorse or guilt in that moment because she was the one who was practicing in the parking lot and was the one who admittedly who pulled the trigger. Right. Yeah. You're right. No concept of the damage that has been done, the life, the lives that have been devastated, including her own, including her own. Yeah. Yeah. And she's worried about if it's going to end up on Facebook. Well, guess what? It's on 48 hours now, Shelby. So EJ, Shelby and Hannah, they're going to be tried separately in court.

13:46EJ goes to trial first and she's the one who then turns on Shelby when she takes the stand. And what did she say?

13:54Natalie Morales:Yeah. You know, she basically says, I was totally surprised. I had no idea Shelby was planning this sort of thing, even though even though she was there when Shelby was sort of test firing the gun. Right. I had no idea. You know, even though they put the pill in the drink, her defense, as we heard in the hour, is I just wanted to talk to Shay. We were talking about our relationship. If if if I had known Shelby was going to shoot him in the back, why would I be standing right next to Shay? I mean, that's a lot of confidence in Shelby, you know, firearms ability, if she's a good shot or not. And so that was her defense.

14:31Obviously, it didn't work. So EJ is found guilty. She's sentenced to 55 years in prison. But then Shay's family has to go through it all over again. Another trial with Shelby and to see and hear all that evidence again, which has to be so painful.

14:51Natalie Morales:Yeah. And I mean, we're talking about that video, the police body cam of Shay. You know, he's on that bridge. You can hear him. And they have to watch that again. Shea was really surrounded by strong women. His mom, his aunt and his grandmother. I love these women. They have such an incredible tight bond. They adored him. They believed in his ability to do great things, and they really supported him. And they wanted the defendants in this case to know that he was loved. Yeah. Shelby, as we heard, found guilty as well, sentenced to the same as EJ, 55 years. And she apologized to the family. So in the end, I guess maybe she felt a little bit bad about her participation.

15:47I think so.

15:49Natalie Morales:And I think, you know, in terms of the people who spoke on her behalf, they really felt like she had been manipulated by EJ. And this is actually what a family friend said at sentencing. I'm going to read it. She had the misfortune of finding comfort in a wannabe cult leader who literally destroyed several families for her own self-interest. So those are some really strong words. A wannabe cult leader, that suggests even more than, you know, a strangely close relationship, right? That is about manipulation and control. Yeah, you know, and again, it goes back to that odd dynamic and the age difference.

16:33So Hannah was the only one who got a plea deal. She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. And in the episode, we learned that Shay's family, I mean, the reason she got the plea deal is they felt that another trial would just be too much for them to bear. But there were also other factors at play in Hannah's case. Right, Anne-Marie?

16:52Natalie Morales:Yeah, certainly Shay's family felt like Hannah, out of all three of them, was the least culpable. Of course, they say, hey, you could have done something. You could have called 911. You could have done anything. Now, the thing about Hannah is she is actually from one town over, Fort Recovery. And when we talked to some of the other people, they kind of characterized Fort Recovery as a little wealthier, a little nicer, like the right side of the tracks. but they also said that the entire community rallied around hannah they were raising money for her defense somebody described kind of like one of those containers that you see on like a counter in a store you know throw throw a couple bucks in for a cause or whatever so there was she really had a lot of support from the entire town not just her family um and that may have had an impact on the deal that she got.

17:54Natalie Morales:Of course, you know, she's also spending time behind bars as well. And she was basically right about to kind of launch, you know, she finally gets a scholarship to college. She's gonna launch. And so her life has certainly been derailed significantly. Well, as you said in your reporting, and you put it so well, each one of them had the opportunity at one point in time to do the right thing. And all three did not. And so, you know, the final act, I think, is, you know, just taking the phone away from him and throwing it into the river. I mean, that tells you right there, they were basically leaving him to die, to bleed out on that cold pavement.

18:36So it doesn't get much colder than that. That is spot on.

18:41Natalie Morales:I mean, they had left and they turned back around. It is callous. And what sort of adds to the mystery is the nature of the gun. This is a small caliber gun. This is the kind of gun, Natalie, that maybe if you live in an area where people hunt, they might give this gun to a child, kind of like their first gun to learn how to hunt. This is the type of bullet that if it hits you, you're probably going to survive. Shay was hit directly in the heart and it is because of that that he was not able to survive something that probably would have been survivable but you just never know you know you don't know if if somebody had intervened a minute earlier if that would have made a difference and they had the ability to make that difference and they didn't that's right and and then at the end, we see that is EJ's family.

19:40They're the ones who end up with primary custody of his daughter. What kind of relationship, though, are his family able to have with the daughter?

19:51Natalie Morales:So it was really important for obviously for Shay's family to maintain a connection with her. And so they have an arrangement. And I believe it's come through the courts that they get to see her once a month. You know, she's still very, very young. So I don't know how both families will tackle this situation as she gets older. But right now, those three women, his grandmother, his mother and his aunt, they want to do nothing more than just sort of pour into that little girl and make sure that she feels love in the middle of this great loss. Well, once again, Anne-Marie, a wonderful episode. Thank you so much for bringing it to us and for talking with me today.

20:37Thank you, Natalie. And if you like this series, Postmortem, please rate and review 48 Hours on our Apple Podcasts and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also listen ad-free with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening.

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