Shayna Hubers is behind bars for murdering her on-and-off boyfriend, Ryan Poston, right before he was supposed to meet up with another woman, a former Miss USA contestant, for a date night in Highland Heights, Ohio.
In 2005, Poston, of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, graduated from Indiana University with a triple major in political science, history, and geography. Three years later, he earned a law degree from Kentucky University’s School of Law.
Eventually, he opened his own law firm in downtown Cincinnati, where the company focused on personal injury.
His colleague stated that he had a fervent desire “to help people who didn’t have access to the legal system or who might have been steamrolled by the legal system.”
In March 2011, Poston was strolling through Facebook when he stumbled upon Hubers’ profile. He sent her a friend request, and the pair began dating shortly thereafter.
Hubers, of Lexington, Kentucky, was 19 years old at the time. She was a sophomore at the University of Kentucky, where she was studying psychology.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in 2012, she went on to graduate school and began studying to become a school guidance counselor.
By that time, she and Hubers were going through a rough time in their relationship, which Poston’s friends and family described as “tumultuous.”
They also claimed that he wanted it to finally be over after he and Hubers had broken up at least three times during their 18-month relationship.
In a text message to his cousin, Poston wrote, “This is getting to be restraining order level crazy… She’s shown up at my condo like three times and refuses to leave each time.”
He would also complain about Hubers’ obsessive behavior on Facebook, saying she was the craziest person he had ever met and that she “almost scares” him.
On Oct. 12, 2012, Poston tried to end their relationship for good when Hubers showed up at his condominium, despite telling her that he didn’t want to see her.
He was already chatting with another woman, the former Miss USA runner-up, and they were going on a date that night. Poston was going to meet up with her at a local bar, where they were going to have drinks and play pool, but he never showed up.
At around 9 p.m., Hubers called 911 and confessed to killing Poston. The then-21-year-old assured the operator that she wasn’t a murderer because it happened in self-defense.
About 10 or 15 minutes before the call, Hubers claimed that Poston was beating her. She said afterward he picked her up and carried her out of his home.
When she went back inside to retrieve her belongings, Hubers asserted that he stood in front of her and grabbed his gun.
As soon as he began moving his arm and saying something out of line, Hubers said she snatched the gun out of his hand and shot him on the side of the head.
Poston fell to the floor. He began shaking and making odd noises, which led Hubers to believe that he was dying.
She shot him again.
Hubers called her mother and said, “Momma, what did I do? Ryan and I got into a physical fight, and I killed him.”
According to E! Online, her mother told her to call 911 and “tell them where you are and exactly what happened.”
When officers arrived on the scene, they found Poston, 29, dead on his dining room floor.
He had been shot six times.
Hubers was transported to the police station for questioning. Although she requested an attorney, she spoke with detectives for nearly three hours without one present.
During the interrogation, Hubers told detectives that she and Poston got into an argument, during which time she said he called her a hillbilly.
She claimed he threw her across the room and into a bookshelf and a television, but according to detectives, none of the items appeared to have been disturbed.
There were bruises on her hand, but detectives didn’t believe they were consistent with a violent fight, as she was describing.
Hubers told detectives that she retrieved the gun from the dining room table, but in her frantic 911 call, she said she snatched the gun from his hand, then opened fire.
After the first shot, Hubers said she “didn’t shoot again for a while. I was watching him die. It was so painful to watch him die.”
“I shot him a couple more times,” she said. “I knew he was gonna die or have a completely deformed face.”
“He’s very vain…and wants to get a nose job. Just that kinda person and I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job he wanted.”
When the detectives were out of the room, Hubers was exhibiting odd behavior. She danced, twirled, and sang “Amazing Grace.”
At one point, she snapped her fingers and said, “I did it. Yes, I did it!”
Despite her self-defense claim, Hubers was charged with one count of murder. She was booked into the Campbell County Jail, where she was held on a $5 million bond.
The judge later revoked her bond during a preliminary hearing at the Campbell District Court.
In December of that same year, she was indicted by a grand jury.
During the trial in 2015, it was revealed that just days before the killing, Hubers sent one of her friends a text message about killing Poston. She said she was going to shoot Poston at the gun range and make it look like an accident.
After reading through thousands of text messages between Hubers and Poston, detectives said they “painted a picture of a woman scorned.”
Hubers claimed her relationship with Poston was abusive. She told one of Poston’s neighbors that he would call her fat and tell her that she should get a facelift and breast augmentation.
The neighbor said she believed Poston was playing mind games with Hubers. She went on to say that Hubers would do everything for him, including get him food, take his dog outside, and do his laundry.
“I feel like I was led on,” Hubers told the judge. “I feel like I was manipulated, used, and abused. And no, Ryan didn’t beat on me every day…I’m not gonna sit up here and exaggerate and lie and say that he did.”
“But he did put hands on me a handful of times.”
On April 25, 2015, a jury deliberated for nearly five hours before finding Hubers guilty of murdering Poston.
As the verdict was being read, it was reported that Hubers didn’t show any emotion as she sat in her chair, chewing on her fingernails.
Before she was sentenced to 40 years in prison, she apologized to her friends and family.
The following year, her murder conviction was overturned after it was discovered that one of the jurors was a convicted felon.
She was granted a new trial and convicted again of murdering her on-and-off boyfriend.In 2018, Hubers was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.