The Shea Briar Murder — Indiana 2003

A young woman found murdered

Shea Briar was a young woman living in Evansville, Indiana, when she was found murdered in her home in 2003. The discovery shook the close-knit community of this midwestern city on the banks of the Ohio River. Police responded to the address to find clear signs of a violent confrontation. Briar had been killed under circumstances that pointed, from the very beginning, to a perpetrator she most likely knew.

Evansville is a mid-sized city in the southwestern corner of Indiana with a population of roughly 120,000. The city is no stranger to serious crime, but the murder of Shea Briar stood apart because of the case's almost intractable nature and the frustrating years that followed without a resolution.

The investigation in the early years

In the weeks and months after Briar's death, detectives from the Evansville Police Department worked the case intensively. Witnesses were interviewed, potential crime scene details examined, and possible motives mapped out. Physical was collected at the scene, including biological material that laboratories subsequently analyzed.