||| Gresham Police |||
A Gresham woman was found dead in her apartment off SW Eastman Parkway on June 10, 2016. What was more shocking was the way she was mercilessly killed- by being stabbed more than 60 times. Even more horrifying is that the gruesome attacks against the woman were carried by her ex-husband’s new wife.
According to court documents, Annastasia Hester was not only stabbed more than 60 times but also had defensive wounds on her hands. The suspect in her murder has been identified as her husband’s new wife, Angela McGraw-Hester. Hester has been arrested in October this year for the murder of her husband’s ex-wife.
Police used surveillance video taken from different sources to establish that the car the suspect share with her husband, Matthew Hester, drove to the victim’s house around 11 p.m. on June 9 last year, a day before the discovery of Annastacia’s dead body in her home. The car returned back to the suspect’s residence around 3 a.m. the following day.
Evidence at Annastacia’s house showed someone broke into her home through a window. Investigators were also able to match a bloody shoe print in the apartment to a pair of boots McCraw had.
Court documents reveal that at that time all was not well between the former couple, Annastacia and Matthew Hester as they were embroiled in a custody battle over their daughter.
Annastacia and Matthew separated when the former wife discovered that he was having an affair. It is not clear in the court documents if that affair was with Angela McCraw, his present wife, or with someone else.
The former couple was granted shared custody following their separation. In May 2016, however, Annastacia gained full custody of their daughter, while Matthew was ordered by the court to pay more than $13,000 in back child support and $29,000 in legal bills.
It is not clear if Annastacia was alone in her home at the time of the crime, or also if Angela McCraw carried the murder on her own, or if someone could have been involved whether in the execution or in the planning. It is not clear yet if Matthew Hester will also be a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife.
Aside from the amount of money the court ordered him to pay his ex-wife, it is intriguing to note that Matthew called an insurance company to see if he or his daughter were listed as beneficiaries in Annastacia’s life insurance plan.
It is also not clear whether Annastacia and Angela had also been quarreling prior to the incident, or if they’ve had prior violent altercations.
No schedule has been clarified yet for the court trial of McCraw for the murder charges she is facing.
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