The Tragic Murder Of Ryan Poston

A promising young lawyer from Kentucky, Ryan Poston was found killed in October 2012. As per a Yahoo piece, he was murdered by his former girlfriend, Shayna Hubers. Poston died after Hubers shot him several times in his apartment. What followed next was a bizarre series of events that eventually led to Hubers being sentenced to jail for life. 

But what exactly happened on that night? Why did Poston get murdered in the first place? As far as this case was concerned, things weren't simple or straightforward on the outside. It's particularly important to consider the fact that Hubers tried her best to change her narrative and make it look like she was the victim in the case. 

The case is tragic and was the subject of a CBS documentary called "Obsessed." One of Poston's friends, Matt Herren, reflected on the incident and spoke about his regrets later. Herren said, "You don't think something like that is ever going to happen to someone you know. Is there something I could've done that could've prevented that?" He added that he knows that there are many folks from Poston's life who feel the same way and often think about their friend's tragic death.

Ryan Poston was much-loved. His father, Jay Poston, said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer that everyone in their family adored his son. Even though his parents decided to separate at some point, they ensured that the entire family stayed connected. Moreover, Ryan shared a healthy relationship with his siblings. The family always got together for major celebrations and holidays.

According to Jay, his ex-wife and her second husband loved Ryan as much as he did and looked after him well. In a statement, Jay wrote, "Ryan enjoyed the love and pride of two good families that watched over him with every step he took. He was brilliant, he was beautiful and above all, he was kind."

Also, Ryan was a well-traveled kid who was raised in several parts of the world, including the Philippines and Europe, when he was in high school. Despite the physical distance, Ryan maintained a strong bond with his father and stayed in touch with him. 

For Jay Poston, losing his son was a loss that was unlike any other. He made some incredibly moving statements (via the Cincinnati Enquirer), "Since Ryan's birth, I gauged my well-being by his. My plan in life was always, I would be with my son. I would be a doting grandfather and that was my whole focus."

Unexpectedly losing Ryan meant that Jay didn't even know what to do next. He was at a loss and focused on simply doing what he could do to get justice for his son. The father mentioned that he was very close to Ryan and often stopped by his son's apartment to help him out on a daily basis, taking care of mundane chores such as making sure all that his clothes were ironed. The duo also didn't let go of opportunities to sit together and simply chat, dissecting world news and shooting the breeze on politics. 

Occasionally, they would also discuss romance, and Jay would do his best to guide his son in the right direction.

According to multiple accounts, Ryan Poston was not in a healthy relationship with Shayna Hubers, who was a graduate student at the time. Their relationship began when Poston spotted Hubers' pictures on Facebook and reached out to her. As per CBS News, the couple could've possibly come across as normal on the outside but things were far from okay between them. 

In fact, they ended up parting ways many times and rekindling their relationship. Hubers, according to ABC News, even texted a friend of hers about Poston and wrote, "He says he is only with me [because] I make him feel so awful when I cry. My love has turned to hate."

As per statements from Poston's friends, he was convinced that the relationship was not for him early on and tried to initiate a break-up more than once. His friend, Tom Awadalla, spoke about the rocky affair. He said, "He [Ryan] just wasn't able to [break up.] He was too nice, didn't want to hurt her feelings." Another friend agreed with this sentiment and said that Poston was trying to go easy on Hubers.

Shayna Hubers, as far as Ryan Poston”s close friends were concerned, was obsessed with him and quite unwilling to let go of the relationship. As reported by CBS News, one of Poston's good friends, Allie Wagner, said that the relationship seemed strange to her from the beginning. 

She realized this when she got a chance to meet Hubers for the first time. Wagner said, "She was so cold. You could just immediately tell that ... she was just obsessed with him." Wagner added that she believed that Hubers seemed like she wanted to marry Poston and would do whatever she could to make that happen. 

Poston's friend, Matt Herren, said that Poston didn't have time for something very serious in his life, and work was keeping him occupied. Herren said, "He didn't want to hurt her feelings. Unfortunately, she just refused to take no for an answer."

Poston and Hubers went back and forth for 18 months. 

Things between the couple kept getting chaotic (via CBS News.) In fact, at one point, Ryan Poston even reached out to his cousin and texted, "This is getting to be restraining order level crazy ... She's shown up at my condo like 3 times and refuses to leave each time."

Additionally, as per the the Cincinnati Enquirer, Ryan Poston even decided to spend the night at his father's place on one occasion. He arrived with his laptop and a bag, explaining to Jay Poston that Shayna Hubers was in his flat and wasn't going away. Jay told him that he was welcome to spend the night at his place and also advised him to end the toxic affair. 

Jay recalled that Hubers kept disturbing Ryan throughout the night with a series of texts. She was also known to stalk Ryan on social media and hound him with messages. Jay said, "Peter [Ryan's step-dad] and I told him over and over: 'This girl needs to go, but be nice.' Always be respectful, always be nice because it speaks to who you are as a man." However, confrontation was one thing that Ryan wasn't very good at.

On that fateful October night in 2012 when Ryan Poston was murdered by Shayna Hubers, he was planning to go on a date with a beauty queen. According to People, the woman in question was former Miss Ohio, Audrey Bolte. Before Poston could leave his home, Hubers made an appearance.

According to CBS News, the duo probably had an altercation at that point. During the trial, Bolte said that she believed that Hubers was aware of her date with Poston. She said, "We were going to meet at a local bar and grab a few drinks and play pool and just have a low-key fun time." When asked how Hubers reacted after finding out that Poston was going on a date with her, Bolte simply said, "That was her breaking point. She picked up a gun and stopped him."

Hubers said in court that she didn't know anything about Poston's date with Bolte. In fact, she came up with a story of her own and said that Poston was abusive towards her. She claimed, "He was throwing me around the room, like picking me up and like had my face and stuff." Her story was unconvincing, and prosecutors pointed out that her narrative was full of loopholes. For example, she said that Ryan locked himself in a room during the argument at some point. They asked, "If someone is assaulting you, why are they the one to escape?"

After shooting Ryan Poston, Shayna Hubers picked up her phone and made a 9/11 phone call herself. According to Yahoo! News, Hubers was hysterical when she made the emergency phone call. She said, "He was right in front of me and he reached down and grabbed the gun, and I grabbed it out of his hands and pulled the trigger."

Post that, Hubers tried to build her story and said that it was completely an act of self-defense (via WCPO.) She made disturbing remarks and said that "he didn't have to suffer" because she knew that he wasn't going to make it, so she shot him again. She maintained that it was done to protect herself from Poston.

As far as the prosecutors were concerned, it was simple — Hubers couldn't accept the fact that her ex-boyfriend was moving on from their relationship. She decided to stop him in a moment of anger and chose to kill him.

After her 9/11 phone call, Shayna Hubers was taken into police custody, where she proceeded to act in the most unusual manner. According to the WCPO report, her behavior was rather erratic. She joked about giving her ex-boyfriend a nose job, saying that he was vain and wanted to change his nose. She added that this is why she shot him there. She also said, "I don't think I deserve to [go to prison.] I feel like my character should be looked as by people who know him and know me and be able to say, 'Shayna is a good person.'"

Hubers even sang "Amazing Grace" on video and ended up dancing by herself. She went on to ask cops whether she would be permitted to take a phone with her if she went to jail (via ABC News.) She also asked, "Can you shower there? Or do you just get really dirty? ... I have to shower in front of people?"

That's not all. Hubers ended up having a conversation with herself in the room, wondering whether she'd be able to find someone later in life who would be willing to marry her. 

The court trial was a confusing one. It started more than two years after Shayna Hubers shot Ryan Poston. According to CBS News, Shayna Hubers was kept in jail throughout, and her mother was certain that her daughter wasn't capable of killing someone. Sharon Hubers said, "Shayna Hubers is not a child, a girl, a person that would murder someone; that would wake up and say, 'OK, I'm going to shoot somebody. And I want the world to know who Shayna is. And I want them to hear it from her mother."

When the trial took place, prosecutors worked hard to establish that Shayna had made up her mind to murder Poston. They pointed out that for her to choose to release the gun's safety catch was a clear sign that she did think this through and made a conscious decision to hurt him. However, Shayna said that Poston was out to get her, and she only chose to shoot him because he was a threat to her. She told the police, 'He would've killed me. It was scary. I was scared. Oh, my God. That was frightening. I was scared. I could have died."

Additionally, during the trial, it was revealed that Shayna had called her mother first before reaching out to emergency services. Her mother said that her daughter was scared and "in shock," which is why she chose to contact her first. Sharon Hubers advised her to call 9/11 and explain the situation.

In April 2015, Shayna Hubers was found guilty by the court. As reported by WCPO, it was declared that she would have to serve a 40-year prison sentence. The court trial had lasted for a period of two weeks. The judge who was in charge of the case, Fred A. Stine, said, "It's probably as cold-blooded an act as I've been associated with in the criminal justice system." A psychologist who was a part of the proceedings said something insightful — according to their analysis, Hubers was definitely a narcissist. Stine agreed with that statement.

Hubers stuck to her not-guilty stance and maintained that she'd been physically hurt by Ryan Poston. She also said that she had suffered from "domestic violence" and requested an early parole. Stine didn't believe her and also added that there wasn't evidence to indicate that the couple was in a live-in relationship or that Poston hurt Hubers. 

After the court's decision was announced, Poston's father said that it took the family three years to get any kind of justice and that they were grateful to everyone who worked hard to help them through a tough time. He also said that the Postons and the Carters continued to feel their son's absence. He further added in his statement, "We now move forward with our lives, with our memories and our grief."

As per ABC News, Shayna Hubers managed to get a retrial in 2016. It was revealed that a member of the jury who was involved in her case was found to be a felon. As per Kentucky state law, jurors cannot be felons, a loophole that allowed Hubers to get access to a new trial. The juror said that he messed up over two decades ago when he failed to keep up with child support payments. He added that he couldn't recall the details of the case and didn't know that he was a felon who had been convicted.

A lawyer who was a part of Hubers' case was the one who realized this when she revealed that she had, in fact, represented the juror herself in 1992. Legal expert Dan Abrams said back then that this didn't make things better for Hubers. He said, "Since there was a conviction in the first case, the defense can now review their strategy and try to fine-tune it, possibly make some changes, but in the end there is still a lot of evidence against her."

According to Yahoo! News, Shayna Hubers was found to be guilty once again in 2018. This time around, she was told that she would be imprisoned for life. The lawyer representing Hubers tried to a make a case for her and said that she could be rehabilitated. They suggested that she should be jailed for 20 years instead. This request was denied. 

Additionally, Hubers never apologized for her actions. According to CBS News, all she said was, "Not getting away from him before October the 12th was the gravest mistake — was my gravest mistake that I'll regret for the rest of my life, and for that I'm very sorry." The prosecutor said that Hubers didn't apologize for killing Ryan Poston. 

For Jay Poston, a life without Ryan has been a tough ordeal. He told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he found some respite by turning to his late son's belongings. Whenever he missed him, Jay wore Ryan's clothes and watch. He said, "You try to fill a void that cannot be filled. You have to do it. It's either that or you don't get out of bed for the rest of your life."