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The murder of Ryan Poston.
In 2012, Ryan Poston was a handsome, 29-year-old Cincinnati attorney whose career was on the rise & he was on the fast track to a highly successful life. Sadly, on a fall Friday night, Ryan’s life tragically ended. It all began with a 911 call that came through from the condo on Meadow Lane in Highland Heights, Kentucky, eleven miles southeast of Cincinnati where Ryan lived alone.
21-year-old Shayna Hubers told the dispatcher that she killed her boyfriend in self defense with her boyfriend’s gun. She explained that at some point she grabbed the gun from his hands & pulled the trigger & at that moment, the gun was on the bookshelf where she placed it after she shot him. As she spoke on the phone, she stood ten feet away from her boyfriend’s dead body.
Shayna explained that while she had been at Ryan’s condo, he lifted her up, carried her out of the house despite the fact that she told him that she needed to go back inside to get her things before she could leave. She said that he threw her across the room & since she was so startled, she killed him. As the call progressed, she went on to say that she shot him a couple more times because he was twisting & making funny noises so she wanted to make sure he was dead because she knew he was going to die anyway.
Ryan was raised in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky amongst a loving family with three younger half-sisters. He had two male figures in his life; his biological father, Jay Poston, as well as his stepfather, Peter Carter. In a gesture of love & loyalty, Ryan went on to change his middle name to Carter as a way to honor Peter. Despite his parent’s divorce, everyone worked together to co-parent together in a very healthy way.
Ryan had always been an incredibly driven young man & during high school he studied internationally in both the Philippines as well as Switzerland. As he moved on to Indiana University, he carried a triple major in geography, history & political science. Always the debater, from a young age Ryan showed a strong interest in law & legal cases which led him to a dream of becoming an attorney.
When he was finished with law school, Ryan quickly immersed himself within the Cincinnati legal community & rather than working his way up within an established firm, he made the decision to open his own practice. According to his dad, he lived & breathed work & often took phone calls from clients well beyond what was considered regular business hours. He also demonstrated his commitment to justice by his willingness to take on pro bono cases for those who were unable to afford his representation.
Despite the fact that Ryan had developed a reputation for being fierce inside the courtroom, those who were close to him recognized that his personal life was more conflicting as he often skirted away from confrontation. In the months leading up to his death, Ryan’s personal life was a stark contrast to his professional life which was flourishing. He was in the process of cutting ties from his problematic & toxic relationship with Shayna Hubers. On top of this, he was also dealing with a lawsuit from a former business partner which was adding to the stress of his life outside of work.
As October 2012 rolled around, tensions were mounting within the relationship between Shayna & Ryan. On the evening of Thursday, October 11, 2012, one day before Shayna placed her 911 call, the couple had spent the evening together watching a political debate at his mom & stepdad’s & then spent the night at his Highland Heights condo. It was clear that the night wasn’t without issues as Shayna called her mom at 3 am indicating she was suffering from chest pains after she & Ryan had gotten into an argument.
Meanwhile, Ryan woke to find Shayna & her mom sitting in the living room of his condo. As Friday progressed, Ryan’s phone was lit up from a constant stream of text messages from Shayna who was furious that he hadn’t accompanied her to the doctor to evaluate her chest pains. She went on to explain that the doctor prescribed her medication for high blood pressure yet the investigation that followed her 911 call proved there had never been a doctor’s visit or a prescription. This was her way of manipulating control over Ryan’s attention.
On what became the last day of his life, Ryan’s colleagues noticed that he was in high spirits since he was gearing up to go on a date with Miss Ohio 2012 that evening. They had plans to meet for drinks & play pool.
His colleagues had been voicing their concerns about his relationship with Shayna & urged him to have the locks on his condo changed to prevent her from getting inside, but Ryan insisted that she had no idea he was going on a date that night & assured them all would be fine. Sadly, as he left the office that evening, it would be the last time they would ever see him alive.
Eight years his junior, Shayna was in graduate school at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, about 85 miles (137 km) from where Ryan lived in Highland Heights. It had been the racy photos posted to her Facebook account that initially caught Ryan’s eye & they began dating in the spring 2011 when he was a 28-year-old practicing lawyer & she was a 19-year-old college student.
According to her friends, Shayna was a highly intelligent girl who was always enrolled in AP classes. But when it came to boys, those that knew her well saw that she had a flair for drama. If a boy wasn’t interested in her or ended their relationship, there was sure to be plenty of screaming & crying on Shayna’s end.
Ryan’s friend, Allie Wagner, saw red flags from the moment she met Shayna as her obsession for him was quite obvious. It was apparent that Ryan & Shayna had not been on the same page; since he was so focused on building his career, he wasn’t looking for a serious relationship which didn’t align with Shayna’s goals.
As the turmoil built, Ryan made several unsuccessful attempts to end the relationship. In a text to a friend, Shayna wrote, He says he’s only with me bc I make him feel so awful about it when I cry.
With this, the couple went on a tumultuous 18 month on-again, off-again rollercoaster. When Shayna was in town, she would drop by Ryan’s condo unannounced, her possessiveness only growing as time went on. In a text to his cousin, Ryan wrote, This is getting to be restraining order level crazy.. She’s shown up at my condo like 3 times & refuses to leave. He also took his frustrations to Facebook when he wrote, Literally probably the craziest f-king person I have ever met. She almost scares me.
Those that worked alongside Ryan saw first-hand just how possessive, obsessive & unrelenting Shayna was; if she was unable to reach him on his cell, she’d call the receptionist & ask for him. She’d show up unannounced, text him upwards of 100 times a day, wear him down to the point that he would just relent to her to keep the peace. From Ryan’s friends & family’s perspective, they saw Shayna as a stalker, but never fathomed it would end in murder.
Unfortunately Ryan struggled to maintain his boundaries & continued to take Shayna back. According to Ryan’s neighbor, Nikki Carnes, Shayna often told her that Ryan was emotionally abusive toward her, telling her she needed a boob job or a face lift, that she should lose weight because she was fat. Nikki felt that because Shayna was young & naive, she stuck around & often ran errands & did chores for him.
However, according to friends that had known Ryan for a decade, he was always even-keeled, super sweet & nerdy & they adamantly denied the idea that he had a darker side to him.
Because Ryan had a date planned for Friday night, he told Shayna he wouldn’t be able to see her over the weekend of October 12, 2012, leaving out the fact that he was going out on a date with Audrey Bolte, Miss Ohio USA 2012, someone he’d also met on Facebook.
That Friday night, Ryan planned to meet Audrey at a bar, but as he was gearing up to get ready, Shayna showed up unexpectedly & sadly, Ryan never made it.
As Shayna dialed 911, she told the dispatcher she’d shot him about ten to fifteen minutes earlier, something investigators found very alarming. As they arrived at Ryan’s condo, Shayna was instructed to get down on the ground. As they entered the condo, they found Ryan’s body lying on the dining room floor behind the table.
As Shayna was taken to the police station, there was no question that she had been the one to shoot Ryan to death, but had she truly done so in self defense? Immediately, investigators found her behavior to be exceptionally bizarre. As a detective began to move toward the door to step out of the room, she began to make crying, wailing noises, but once he was out of the room, the sound abruptly stopped as if a light switch had been flipped. This gave the impression that she was putting on a show.
Despite the fact that she requested a lawyer, she continued to talk, rambling about the fact that she was raised Chrisitan & murder was a sin, she wondered if she would be able to shower in jail, going on & on to the point that the detectives had to take turns sitting with her so they could get a mental break. For nearly three hours, she told anyone who was willing to listen that she’d been dealing with abuse at the hands of Ryan & she continued on with a flow of words that ended up coming back to haunt her.
As Shayna continued to blather on, her story continuously changed which started with how Ryan’s gun ended up in her hands in the first place. According to Shayna, he was screaming at her, calling her names such as hillbilly. She said he told her that he hated her.
Ryan was a licensed gun owner who had a habit of placing his handgun on the dining room table as he came back home from work.
According to Shayna, she grabbed the gun while Ryan was screaming at her, something that is in contrast to what she said during the 911 call when she told the dispatcher that she pulled the gun from his hand & pulled the trigger.
After she fired, she told officers that Ryan was laying with his face down on the table, twitching & because she knew he was going to die, she walked around the table & shot him in the head, maybe six times. He fell to the ground & at this point, his glasses were still on & he continued to twitch so she fired more shots just to make sure he was dead, going on to say, ‘cause I didn’t want to watch him die. Shayna elaborated that she didn’t want to see him suffering which is why she finished him off.
Rather than immediately calling 911 to get help for Ryan, Shayna continued to shoot & waited at least ten minutes to call for help. She went on to say that Ryan was very vain & she knew he was going to die & since he always wanted to get a nose job, she shot him right there & gave him the nose job he wanted.
Throughout the interview, the bizarre behavior continued as Shayna sang & hummed Amazing Grace & twirled around the room. She could also be seen on the video pumping her arm in the air saying, I did it, yes, I did it! I can’t believe I did that.
IThe fact that Ryan had been shot six times suggested that rather than shooting him in self-defense, she shot him out of rage. Those that knew & loved Ryan believe that she came by his condo that night despite the fact that he told her he wasn’t available that weekend, to try to convince him not to break up with her. It’s likely that this time, he stood his ground so she picked up the gun & shot him.
As investigators searched through Shayna & Ryan’s phones, they saw an astonishing amount of texts & emails unlike anything they had ever seen before. Most were from Shayna as for each message he sent, she sent about fifty.
In February 2012, Eight months before Ryan’s death, he wrote, ..you can tell people you broke up with me. In March he pleaded, Shayna STOP texting me. In April, he wrote, I NO LONGER HAVE THE PATIENCE TO DEAL WITH YOU.
Many wonder why Ryan didn’t just block her number, change the locks on his condo or even get a restraining order. In his defense, it was said that Kentucky law basically requires the two to have been living together or to have been married to get a restraining order.
In doing further research, Kentucky has two main types of protective orders: Domestic Violence Orders (DVOs) & Interpersonal Protective Orders (IPOs). He would not have been able to obtain a DVO since it’s available for those with issues with a spouse or former spouse, an unmarried couple that share a child, those living together as well as other criteria. He would have been able to obtain an IPO which applies to a dating relationship without the requirement of living together.
Ryan decided he wanted to try to take matters into his own hands & likely hoped that Shayna would just get the hint & go away.
In April, he texted his cousin, She came to my place on Sunday morning & I literally had to pick her up & THROW her into the hall. However, by summer, their relationship was back on, only to spiral downhill yet again by late August.
Ryan texted Shayna that he planned on turning off the phone & padlocking his door though she texted another one-hundred plus messages as he responded, I’m not reading any of these. Stop. Despite his requests, she came back to his condo & because she refused to leave, he left his own home to stay at his dad’s place that night.
While the prosecution painted a picture of an obsessed woman, the defense claimed Shayna simply acted in self-defense on the night that Ryan lost his life. They claimed he had been fueled with anger when referring to Facebook messages that Ryan sent his friends about a falling out with his ex-business partner. On August 16, 2012, less than two months before his death, he wrote, And I wanna rig explosives to everything I see. None of the messages proved he had any rage toward Shayna, however.
Ryan’s condo showed no sign of a struggle or any hint that violence had taken place other than his crumpled, lifeless body that lay on the floor. Photos of Shayna that were taken after her arrest did show some light bruising, but no evidence of a life or death struggle.
Those that used to be friendly with Shayna didn’t even recognize the girl depicted in her mugshot with the unfocused, bizarre expression.
Shayna remained behind bars during the two years that passed while evidence was gathered & prepared for trial. There was no question that she was a highly intelligent girl who graduated magna cum laude in only three years at the University of Kentucky where she went on to pursue her master’s degree in school guidance counseling. No one could understand why she hadn’t just walked away from Ryan’s home that night rather than picking up the gun & firing six times.
Shayna’s mom, Sharon Hubers testified about the 24 hours leading up to Ryan’s death. She spoke about how Ryan brought Shayna over to watch the vice-presidential debates at his mom & step-dad’s house & she slept over at his condo after. Ryan had already told her that he didn’t want to see her that upcoming weekend which might have been why she called her mom at 3 am distraught. By 5:30 am, Sharon was at Ryan’s place & when he woke up, he found Sharon & Shayna inside his condo after Sharon made the hour & a half drive from Lexington in the middle of the night.
Sharon fought to have her daughter released to her custody while they awaited trial, but because she was considered a flight risk based on something she said during her police interview, this was denied. She mentioned having the desire to get her keys, get into her car & leave because she knew it was her word against a dead man’s.
The judge made the decision to set Shayna’s bail at $1.5 million, a number her family was unable to afford.
According to Shayna, Ryan was obsessed with guns & always left them lying around his condo, something that had always made her feel uneasy. She claimed he would occasionally grab his gun & shoot a book on the bookcase in his condo while his friends insist that he was a responsible gun owner. However, prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass did admit that there was a book in Ryan’s condo that had some bullet holes in it.
During her police interview, Shayna indicated that she used a big hand gun that she picked up off the table & she had to release the safety before she could fire. The gun used to kill Ryan was a Sig Sauer P238 .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun. She picked it up, released the safety, pointed the gun at Ryan & shot him in the right side of the head. The fact that she released the safety was evidence of premeditation, according to Chief Birkenhauer.
Ryan’s blood was found on the gun which indicated that Shayna had likely moved closer to him for the final kill shots. After the first shot, he would have been off his feet while Shayna insisted that he was moving toward her. Downstairs neighbors recall hearing gunshots that night, but no sounds of fighting. Had they been physically struggling, had Shayna been thrown across the floor as she claimed, they believe that they would have heard it.
Two & a half years after Ryan’s death, the trial was set to begin in April 2015. During her police interview, she mentioned shooting Ryan in the middle of him doing something with his arm or saying something crazy. This conflicted with her claim of self-defense during a heated confrontation. She also admitted, I think in the midst of that my love turned to hate.
In the fall of 2012 Shayna & Ryan went to a shooting range together & right after, she texted her friend, Ryan doesn’t love or care.. He’s an evil person, she called her friend & told her that while they were at the shooting range she wanted to turn around, shoot & kill him & pretend that it had been an accident.
Ryan’s neighbor, Nikki Carnes, described his relationship with Shayna as toxic. She would often wake to the sounds of screaming & shouting outside & testified that she’d seen Shayna in tears with red markings on her arms & Shayna would tell her that Ryan slammed her arm in the door & threw her to the floor in the hallway.
However, jailhouse informants say that according to Shayna, she would cause these injuries to herself. A psychologist for the defense who evaluated Shayna diagnosed her with narcissism & low self-esteem; someone who had immense difficulty tolerating rejection.
The State believes that after Ryan left work & headed back to his condo, Shayna confronted him there because he told her he didn’t want to see her that weekend. No evidence suggested an argument like she described; she claimed he threw her against a bookshelf yet none of the items it held were disturbed. She also claimed that at one point during their fight, he locked himself in his bedroom which would have given her ample opportunity to safely leave his condo had she felt fearful of her life.
There was reference to a Google search that Shayna made about how to unlock a house door with a bobby pin. She managed to get into his locked bedroom door & the fight moved out to the dining room, according to Shayna. He was yelling at her, saying hateful things, partially standing by the table when she shot him & he began twitching. Despite the fact that she described him as nearly dead after the first shot, she went on to shoot him five more times.
Forensic expert Howard Ryan testified that the first shot was to Ryan’s head & the blood spatter on the table proved that he had been sitting & never stood up after the first shot which proved that he had not been moving toward her as she claimed. She shot him in the forehead & his head went down on the table which exposed the upper portion of his right back which he believes was the second shot. At this point, his right arm was dangling down & the third shot hit right under his arm. At this point, Ryan began to fall out of the chair to the floor where she fired the remaining three shots.
The prosecution called forward three jailhouse informants who came forward after Shayna showed no remorse for what she’d done. She indicated that she had been the aggressor that night, that she planned to plead insanity until she remembered that she had the IQ of Einstein so she would use the victim role instead. She also indicated that she was aware that Ryan had a date with Miss Ohio USA that night, something she denied after the fact.
Sharon Hubers took the stand & testified that she was uneasy about Ryan from the get-go after she first came by his condo & saw how many loaded guns he had around the house within arm’s reach. There was discussion of the eighteen hours before Ryan’s death when Shayna called her mom, complaining of chest pains & rather than going to the doctor, she & her mom went shopping. Regardless, she incessantly texted Ryan about the fact that he wasn’t concerned for her, how he hadn’t accompanied her to the doctor, that she had to be started on blood pressure medication, all of which had been lies.
The jury also learned that rather than immediately dialing 911 after shooting Ryan dead, Shayna called her mom first. Meanwhile, the defense painted a picture of a man who had reached his boiling point due to legal issues he was facing with his former law partner. There was also reference to the medications he’d been prescribed in the eight months before his death that included Adderall & Xanax & with this, a toxicologist took the stand to discuss how the combined effects could result in hostile outbursts.
On April 23, 2015, the jury broke for deliberations at 6:30 pm & they were back with a verdict five hours later, just before 11:30 pm. 24-year-old Shayna Hubers was found guilty of murder. The following day the jury recommended she be sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Three months later, Shayna was back in court for a hearing where she tried to prove that she was a victim of domestic violence in order to receive a shorter sentence. Despite the fact that she initially told police that she lived 80 miles from Ryan in Lexington, this time she tried to convince the judge that she was his live-in girlfriend while the prosecution confronted her with evidence that throughout 2012, she’d slept with 10 different men. The judge ultimately determined that they had not been domestic partners & went on to uphold the jury’s recommendation for a sentence of 40 years.
When Ryan’s father, Jay Poston, spoke with a reporter after the sentencing, he said, Rot in hell. She is going where she deserves to be & where she’s going her mommy can’t help her.
No one could have ever expected that one year later, Shayna was granted a new trial after her lawyer discovered that a member of the jury had been a felon & according to Kentucky law, he should have been barred from service.
The second trial began on August 14, 2018, nearly six years after Ryan’s death. By this time, Shayna was 27 & married during a jailhouse ceremony in June where she tied the knot with a convicted drug trafficker, Richard McBee. At times, McBee identifies as a transgender woman named Unique Taylor.
The defense maintained that Shayna was a battered woman who’d acted in self-defense while prosecutors relied on her damning statements made during her police interview. Statements that came after she told investigators she wanted a lawyer yet continued to talk on & on.
It was during the second trial when she testified about how Ryan had been sexually & physically violent. A defense psychologist indicated that she hadn’t left him because she suffered from PTSD & personality disorder from childhood sexual abuse though there are no police reports to support this claim. Her recollection of events that led to Ryan being shot dead were yet again different from the 911 call.
After the jury deliberated for five hours they once again found Shayna guilty of murder & this time, she was given a life sentence.
According to court records, Shayna filed for divorce from Unique Taylor on January 14, 2019 stating the marriage was irretrievably broken. She’s serving her life sentence at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women.
Ryan’s father, Jay, reflects on the sadness that they will never know the possibilities that his son’s life held & what he could have given & accomplished on this earth. For those who knew & loved Ryan, they’ll always remember him as the type of person you want in your life. Not only a friend but a loving son & a protective older brother.
References:
- YouTube: HLN: 911 call: ‘I killed my boyfriend in self-defense’
- CBS News: New murder trial for Shayna Hubers: Why did she shoot Ryan Poston six times?
- A&E: Sociopath or temporarily insane: The murder trial of Shayna Hubers
- Medium: Fatal obsession: The murder of Ryan Poston
- Cincinnati.com – The Enquirer: “I gave him the nose job he wanted”
- WomensLaw: Restraining orders
