Ryan Poston's Murder By His Girlfriend — And Her Strange Conduct in Front of Cops

Northern Kentucky University is where Fort Mitchell, Kentucky-born attorney Ryan Poston obtained his law degree. Poston would die at the hands of his lover Shayna Hubers in Highland Heights, Kentucky, the place where his alma institution is located.

The crime happened on October 12, 2012. Hubers was charged in December of the same year but was not released from jail. She was not found guilty of the crime until late April of 2015. Following Poston's death, the murder and subsequent trial received widespread media coverage. While originally claiming to have killed Poston in self-defense, Hubers finally received a 40-year jail term, in part because of the odd behavior she displayed in front of the police.

Ryan Poston's Story

Attorney Ryan Poston had three brothers and one son. He was rumored to have helped those in need throughout his professional life. For 54 years, James Poston Sr., his grandpa, practiced law. Poston's uncle, James Poston Jr., was a lawyer as well.

According to his biography, Poston's education throughout his youth enabled him to travel to a lot of different locations. Poston had the opportunity to attend the International School Manila in the Philippines and the International School of Geneva in Switzerland while in high school.

The lawyer earned a triple major in political science, history, and geography while completing his undergraduate education at Indiana University. Poston started practicing law in Cincinnati, Ohio after graduating from NKU's Salmon P. Chase College of Law with a Juris Doctor.

Poston, a 28-year-old lawyer with experience, first connected with Shayna Hubers on Facebook in 2011. Hubers was Poston's step-buddy cousin's and was 19 years old at the time.

Prior to continuing the conversation, Poston "liked" photographs of Hubers wearing a bikini. Hubers was a psychology student at the University of Kentucky when they first met.

For one and a half years, the pair dated. Hubers' preoccupation with Poston persisted the whole time, bordering on alarming at times, according to his friends and relatives. According to reports, Hubers established routines that included sending between 12 and 100 SMS every day and paying a surprise visit to Poston's condo.

Poston’s Relationship With Shayna

Shayna Hubers was a talented student who approached her academics with pride and skill, just like Ryan Poston did. Hubers usually took AP classes and was a standout student who was said to be "obsessed" with her education.

In just three years of college, she received her degree from the University of Kentucky, and she immediately began working on her master's. Both Hubers and her peers at school thought she had genius-level intelligence.

Upon his death, a large number of Poston's close friends supported the late attorney, claiming that Poston had desired to stop things with Hubers but was unable to do so. He was far too kind. Tom Awadalla, a friend, claimed, "Didn't want to upset her feelings.”

In an interview with CBS News, another acquaintance, Matt Herren, echoed the allegations. Poston was described by Herren as the "kind of guy you want in your life." These accounts would play a significant role in Hubers' homicide investigation.

According to Nikki Carnes, a Poston neighbor, the older boyfriend was violent during the relationship and frequently insulted Hubers' size and looks. According to Carnes, Hubers took care of Poston's household duties, including cleaning and cat care.

In conversations and chats that were found, it was discovered that Poston had started telling acquaintances about Hubers' anxiety, telling one person that she "nearly frightened" him. Poston's pals started to agree, and further texts revealed that Hubers had once considered killing Poston when the pair had been to a gun range.

Poston started to display considerable discomfort with the relationship in the days before his murder. But, nothing changed up until the evening Hubers fired the shot.

After killing Ryan Poston, his girlfriend sang "Amazing Grace"

Six rounds fired one after another were Ryan Poston's cause of death. Poston apparently had a date with Audrey Bolte, Miss Ohio USA 2012, on the evening of his death. Hubers, however, came up at his door and was the last person he ever saw, so he never attended the date.

Hubers called 911 herself after shooting her lover six times. Hubers appeared excited in the police station, unable to maintain silence despite her expressed wishes. Hubers gave a different story during her outburst than the one she first gave to the 911 operators.

Her explanation immediately got hazy; she claimed to have pulled the revolver from Poston's grasp and had taken it off a table. According to CBS News, she then began to dance, sing "Amazing Grace," and discuss how difficult it would be for her to find a spouse if she had been convicted of murder. These outbursts were all documented on video.

Hubers kept her self-defense during her trial and provided a thorough narrative of her interaction with Poston from her perspective. Hubers killed Poston, according to the prosecution, because he was determined to break up with her.

There are some things Poston wanted more than anything, according to texts presented by the defense, "than to just scorch the f-king soil and leave this entire city in a pile of charred wreckage." Poston's friend Allie Wagner stated that at the time, Poston was going through mental difficulty and had started using Adderall and Xanax to deal with his restless nights.

Following the incident, Poston's gun ownership was called into doubt. Hubers asserted that Poston saw nothing wrong with using his guns indoors, and Snodgrass would later attest that his condo included a book with perforations that resembled bullet holes. Hubers once said that he shot a book, but Ryan Poston's pals contend that he was a law-abiding gun owner.

The New trial of Shayna Hubers and the Gap Ryan Poston Left

Although having been found guilty in 2015 after only five hours of jury deliberation, Hubers' conviction was reversed in 2016 as a result of one of the jurors in her initial trial having a criminal record, according to ABC News. One of Poston's sisters, Katie Carter, testified during the second trial.

According to Carter, Ryan Poston made the family whole and that "there's always the chair that is going to be empty" without him. He will never be able to amass all the goods he deserves. Hubers' second trial concluded in 2018 with a life sentence after being found guilty of another murder.

Poston's parents Lisa Carter and Jay Poston, stepfather Peter Carter, sisters Alison, Katherine, and Elizabeth Carter, as well as a number of grandparents, aunts, and uncles, were still alive at the time of his passing.

Attorney Ken Hawley, a friend and rival in chess, found it difficult to process the circumstances after his demise. Chess games between the two lawyers can take some time to finish. The games could go for days in certain instances.

Years later, Hawley told CBS News that he was unable to remove the board from which he and Poston had just finished playing and had instead brought it to his office. The board stayed the same during the years that had gone after his passing. Hawley saw it as a metaphor for an unfulfilled existence.