I mean, Ann’s murder was brutal. Um, I would hate another mother to have to do what we’ve had to do. It’s I don’t have the words for how bad it is. Violence, so brutal. I I really hoped I really thought we’d have something before now. On the loose. And now people in southwest Gresham are on edge as officers and volunteers scour the Springwater Trail for any clues.
It was a mom who was murdered at a Gresham apartment complex early this morning. Detectives still on the scene right now after arriving there just about 3:00 this morning. Yeah, we’re going on 15 16 hours in this investigation now. And we just got this picture just in the last few minutes of Anastasia Hester, 38 years old.
That is the woman that Gresham police say was murdered overnight. Now, who killed her? Did she know that person, that suspect? Well, that’s still a mystery as the investigation spreads from her apartment complex to the woods in the waters across the street. This popular path blocked off now by police tape and detectives and search and rescue volunteers for the second and third time.
Looking for anything that might lead them to whoever murdered a mother in the middle of the night at the East Park Apartments. Before we get started, please take a moment to support the channel. Subscribe, hit like, and drop a comment telling us where you’re watching from and what the weather’s like there. It really does help more than you might think.
Your support is what allows us to keep telling these stories the way they deserve to be told. Gresham, Portland, Oregon, the 100th block of Southwest Eastern Parkway. June 10th, 2016 at 2:59 in the morning. That night, 911 dispatchers received one of the most chilling calls of their entire careers. A woman was crying, barely able to catch her breath, begging for help.
She said she had been attacked. The caller was 34year-old Anastasia Hester. 911. How can I help you? What happened? at now. Do you need an ambulance? Do you know the name of the person that did this to you? The entire call lasted about 6 minutes, but Anastasia was never able to explain what had actually happened during the attack.
Paramedics and police arrived at the apartment within minutes and rushed her straight to the hospital. When they got there, she was still conscious, barely, you know, just hanging on. Her injuries were so severe and so extensive that shortly after arriving in the emergency room, she lost that fight. Doctors did everything they could, but there was nothing that could be done, and Anastasia was officially pronounced dead.
Anastasia, known to everyone as Annie, had lived in Gresham her entire life. She lost her father when she was still a teenager and was incredibly close with her mother and her stepfather. People described her as dependable, driven, and hardworking. The kind of person who naturally stepped into leadership roles, not just with her siblings, but at every job she ever had.
She was that person others relied on. One of Annie’s biggest passions was gaming, especially role- playinging games. You could often find her at a local game store in Gresham, Oregon, or at nearby festivals and camps centered around gaming. And it was there at that game store that she struck up a conversation one day with Matthew Hester.
This actually wasn’t their first time meeting. They had originally crossed paths back in 1999. But at that time, Matt married another woman and Annie just continued on with her life. Now, Matt was divorced and this meeting felt like a total coincidence. Both of them later said they took it as a sign, like maybe this was meant to happen.
They started dating and in 2008 they got married. 3 years later, they welcomed their daughter Alice. But family life with Matt and Annie didn’t turn out the way they’d hoped. Just one year after Alice was born, their marriage began to fall apart after Matt cheated. The same thing that had destroyed his first marriage. Annie tried to hold the family together, but the trust was gone and Matt continued to be dishonest.
Eventually, she realized it wasn’t going to work and she would have to move forward on her own. After filing for divorce, life became really hard for Annie. She moved into a small one-bedroom apartment with Alice. Annie slept in the living room while Alice had the bedroom. She started working in an after-school child care program and also took a job at a call center downtown.
Over time, she worked her way up into a management position and picked up every bit of overtime she possibly could. Child support payments were inconsistent because Matt frequently lost jobs and changed workplaces. So, Annie did everything she could just to stay afloat. Still, despite everything, her relationship with Matt remained at least civil.
Even after Matt married for a third time to a woman named Angela, they managed to get along. They would often go out to dinner together and set up shared gettogethers so Alice could spend time with Angela’s children. Annie was always incredibly creative. Every year, she handmade Christmas decorations for everyone and loved putting together little photo sessions with Alice to send out holiday cards.
And on weekends, when Matt had Alice, Annie used what little free time she had to work as a face painter. She took on any job she could. um anything that kept her busy, let her stay creative and help bring in a little extra money for her daughter. On the loose and now people in southwest Gresham are on edge as officers and volunteers scour the Springwater Trail for any clues.
It was a mom who was murdered at a Gresham apartment complex early this morning. Detectives still on the scene right now after arriving there just about 3:00 this morning. Yeah, we’re going on 15 16 hours in this investigation now. And we just got this picture just in the last few minutes of Anastasia Hester, 38 years old.
That is the woman that Gresham police say was murdered overnight. Now, who killed her? Did she know that person, that suspect? Well, that’s still a mystery as the investigation spreads from her apartment complex to the woods and the waters across the street. This popular path blocked off now by police tape and detectives and search and rescue volunteers for the second and third time.
Looking for anything that might lead them to whoever murdered a mother in the middle of the night at the East Park Apartments. There were no signs anyone forced their way into the woman’s apartment. The mother of one daughter was stabbed several times but still called 911. A detective rode with her to the hospital in case she could say who did it. She died before she could.
Now, police aren’t investigating only in the Springwater corridor, but the neighborhoods surrounding this area. They are urging residents to keep their doors and windows locked. As for that little girl, we are told she is normally here at the apartment complex, she was not here last night and physically, we’re told she is fine.
When officers returned to the crime scene, they were still trying to piece together exactly what had happened. Annie lived on the ground floor. Even though the front door was unlocked when police arrived, investigators believed the killer actually entered through Alice’s bedroom window. The air conditioner that was mounted in the window frame had been ripped out and someone had climbed inside that way.
There were no signs that anything had been stolen from the apartment, so robbery didn’t really make sense as a motive. No one else was inside the apartment when Annie was found. Officers were relieved to learn that Alice had been with Matt and Angela that night. She was safe, unharmed, and not there when any of this happened.
Blood spatter analysis suggested that Annie was most likely asleep when the attack began. At some point, she tried to escape through the front door, but she didn’t make it. She suffered more than 60 stab wounds to her chest and head, and there was also evidence of an attempt to sever her head.
A symbol VXV had been carved into her shoulder, and no one had any idea what it meant. Was it some kind of message, you know, or was it meant to throw detectives off? Three bloodcovered knives were found on the carpet. Two of them had come from Annie’s kitchen knife block and the third was a folding pocketk knife. Investigators also found bloody shoe prints leading toward the front door.
That raised another question. Could there have been more than one attacker? At that point, um, every possible scenario was still on the table. As police began interviewing neighbors, they were struck by how many people had heard something. One person said they heard noises around 11:15 that night. Others reported hearing similar sounds after 1:00 in the morning, screaming, doors slamming, moaning, and what sounded like a violent argument.
One neighbor even admitted the noise was so loud that they turned up their television just to drown it out. Police later said that the fact so many people heard the disturbance, but the only person who called 911 was Annie, already mortally wounded, was just unbelievably heartbreaking. Unfortunately, they’re no closer to solving this mystery than they were yesterday.
They still don’t know who killed Anastasia Hester. In fact, they say they need the public’s help in finding out. We did talk to a family member who didn’t want to go on camera, who said they feel it’s a stranger because Anastasia, they said, did not have any enemies. Now, yesterday, Multma County Search and Rescue teams were out assisting with this investigation, combing through the dense brush near the Springwater Trail, looking for any clues to try to figure out just who might want to do this to this young mom.
I know Annie is a was a fighter and I know whatever the circumstances were surrounding whatever happened, she she went down with a fight because that’s just her her the way her spirit was. I know I know in my heart that it wasn’t easy for this person to just come in. Annie called 911 at 3:00 in the morning, which meant investigators had almost a 4-hour window to try and reconstruct what had happened.
Detectives later said that the sheer length of the attack was nothing short of prolonged torture. This wasn’t quick and it wasn’t random. It went on and that detail alone was deeply disturbing. Naturally, investigators had questions for Annie’s ex-husband, Matt, and his new wife, Angela. They were informed of Annie’s death and asked to come down to the police station.
So, I guess um obviously I told you at the house that your ex-wife is deceased, but you didn’t say didn’t say how, right? We’ll talk about that in a minute or two. You said that she had been stabbed. Officers responded out there. Um, she had been injured. She was transported to the hospital and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.
And at this point, we’re investigating this homicide. Why say any ex-wife say anything about having any problems with anyone? I don’t talk about her personally. Matt said that he and Angela had been home all evening playing games with Alice and Angela’s three kids. After that, they said they went to bed early. So, what were you and Angela doing last night? Sleeping.
Do you know what time you went to bed? Um, I usually get into bed around 10:00. Okay. And was Angela with you or was she staying up doing other things? She was with me. Matt didn’t really appear devastated by what had happened, but he did seem upset and genuinely worried about Alice. He told investigators he had absolutely no reason to want anything bad to happen to his ex-wife.
His priority, he said, was his daughter, and he would never do anything that could put her in danger or hurt her in any way. You know, part of your family is mostly infant, friend. I just I I wanted to deal with her as long as possible. He admitted that he had cheated on Annie and that it ultimately led to the end of their relationship, but he claimed there had been an understanding between them, that they were in an open relationship.
Matt even went as far as saying that Annie had been seeing other people as well and had been exploring polyamorous relationships. According to him, that included a couple she met at a pirate themed role- playinging event. You know, one of those immersive gatherings. I ended up cheating on her. Mhm.
I’m not very good at this relationship thing. I just know that they the guy she’s seeing was in a relationship and an was in a relationship with both of them, the guy and the girl. So an was uh dating both the female and the male. Correct. He said there could be any number of people investigators might want to talk to, but he couldn’t give them any specific names.
They were very deliberate about keeping their personal lives separate, you know, like clear boundaries. The couple he mentioned was eventually located, but they had absolutely nothing to do with Annie’s murder. Authorities also couldn’t ignore the fact that Matt had some serious health issues. He relied on a cane to walk, and given the brutality of the scene and how long the attack lasted, investigators weren’t convinced he was even physically capable of carrying out something like that.
Angela was questioned as well, and she told police the same basic story as Matt. They went to bed early, spent a little time on their phones, and then fell asleep. Angela added that if Matt had gotten out of bed for any reason, she would have woken up immediately since she’s a very light sleeper. I was on the verge of falling asleep to some criminal minds.
Any chance that uh Matthew could have gone anywhere sometime during the night? Oh god, every time he moves, he wakes me up. So, it’s not a possibility. And I sleep like literally right up against him in his arm. Life inside Matt and Angela’s home was, to put it mildly, pretty unconventional. They rented out just about every inch of space in the house, even though they already had four kids and a dog living there.
One of Angela’s friends, Karina, was actually sleeping in the garage. And for a period of time, one of their housemates was Angela’s ex-husband, Aaron. Karina told investigators she had seen Matt and Angela in bed that night. And she also said she definitely would have heard it if their car had left the driveway.
The vehicle was parked right outside, basically next to where she was sleeping. In the end, both Angela and Matt voluntarily handed over their phones. After that, they were allowed to leave and the investigation continued. We want to let the public know that this person is still at large. And the stabbing happened right across the street from the notorious Springwater Trail.
Police bringing in search and rescue teams in a helicopter as the manhunt continues. As long as it takes. Uh I don’t have an answer on how long we’re going to be out there. If uh there’s some good uh evidence or clues out there that we find, um we’ll switch throughout the night. If we need daylight, we’ll hold it over the uh the evening and then work tomorrow morning.
So far, police leads are thin. Meanwhile, neighbors who live in this area say being so close to the Springwater corridor has brought many transient wanderers into their community. They bring drugs with them and like I have my kids around here. You never know what type of sicko is out there because a lot of homeless people, they have mental health problems.
So, Major Crimes is investigating. Anyone with information is urged to call police immediately. As investigators dug deeper into Matt and Angela’s relationship with Annie, the idea that everything between them had been friendly, started to fall apart. Things had seemed fine right up until Angela moved in with Matt.
At first, she was just looking to rent a room for herself and her kids. But within a month, the two of them were in a relationship. Angela didn’t want Matt and Annie communicating anymore, while Matt wanted their daughter Alice to be living with them full-time. And just one month before Annie was killed, a judge awarded Annie full custody of Alice.
On top of that, the court ordered Matt to pay more than $113,000 in back child support along with nearly $30,000 in court costs. But here’s the thing, neither Matt nor Angela was working. So investigators couldn’t help but wonder like how were they planning to pay any of that? Most days Matt stayed home writing fantasy stories, creating his own role playing games and characters, and posting all of it to his YouTube channel together with Angela.
Monday, August 22nd, 2016, and this is my weekly writing video blog. The project I’m most excited about actually just started today, and that’s sharing the races for Entiel Chaos Prophecies. That’s the MMO RPG that I’m helping to develop. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments. Um, and I’ll make sure that I get back to you.
The Cloud 2 or just the HyperX? Which one, dear? My one that silenced them. I was trying to do but end up put in stasis. Damn it, T. When detectives started pressing him more about the money he owed Annie, Matt claimed that because all of the children had various disabilities and mental health issues, neither he nor Angela really needed to work.
He said they were receiving a lot of government assistance and compensation. So, you know, they were getting by that way. Angela’s ex-husband, Aaron, told investigators that her obsession with diagnosing the children, trying to get them prescribed medications, and securing money for them was one of the main reasons their marriage fell apart.
According to him, Angela was convinced the kids needed different prescription drugs, and he strongly pushed back against that. He believed they were being treated in ways that could actually cause harm instead of helping. “Our divorce came down to one thing,” Aaron said. I wanted to make sure my kids weren’t being pumped full of poison and medications they didn’t even need.
He also said that Angela eventually turned that same focus toward Matt and Annie’s daughter, Alice. She became fixated on the idea that Alice had bipolar disorder, something Annie completely disagreed with. Annie started to worry that they were using Alice as a way to collect more money through social benefits.
A licensed professional backed up those concerns, explaining that labeling a child and treating normal age- related behavior as a disorder is extremely dangerous. The specialist also pointed out that Alice’s father refused to consider any explanation for her behavior other than blaming Annie. On top of that, the expert noted that psychologists who study bipolar disorder don’t even have an official diagnostic standard for children under the age of six.
Angela went so far as to contact Child Protective Services and report Annie for alleged child neglect. Annie was absolutely devastated. She didn’t know who had made the call since the reporter was required to remain anonymous. She found herself at the lowest point in her life, exhausted, emotionally drained, and completely unsure of where to turn.
In a letter to a friend, she wrote, “I just can’t understand what the hell I did to deserve this level of crap in my life. The neglect allegations were completely unfounded and went nowhere. The case was closed before it ever really got off the ground. Police clearly had motive when it came to Matt and Angela. Actually, three motives: custody, jealousy, and money.
But there was still no physical evidence tying them to Annie’s murder. The lead investigator, Detective Turnage, asked Matt and Angela to come in for another interview. Matt even took off his shirt to show that there were no marks on his body at all. And given how brutal and prolonged the attack on Annie had been, investigators fully expected to see something.
On top of that, his shoe size didn’t even come close to matching the bloody footprints found on the floor. I mean, obviously, we got to consider all possibilities here. And I’m sure you’ve seen TV. When we have situations like this, you know, everybody points to the ex-husband did it. I want to help you guys.
And I want Sorry. The thing I’m worried about is my daughter. If you had anything to do with Anne’s death, I need to know about it right now. I did not. I would never do anything that would endanger my child. Okay. Is there any reason why I find your DNA involved in that murder scene? No. But despite all of Matt’s claims about his poor health, despite the complete lack of injuries on his body, and despite his constant denials, Detective Turnig knew one thing.
Deep down Matt was involved in this. You know, no matter how clean everything looked on the surface, Turnage was convinced Matt had something to do with what happened. I know that my investigation clearly shows that you’re responsible for Anne’s death and you’re involved in it intimately. There’s you have charged me.
So, no. No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. If you thought I did, you would have charged me. No, not necessarily. Things to do. Turnage later said that sitting across from him was an incredibly overconfident person and a really bad actor at that. The performance just wasn’t convincing, not even close.
Angela, on the other hand, spent most of the interview with her head down, saying she felt sick. She barely looked up, you know, like she was trying to disappear into the chair. How did it make you feel when you heard about her being killed? Shocked. um nonbelieving um extremely sad because Alice had lost her mom. However, she did reveal something new.
According to Angela, around 3:00 in the morning on that fatal night, she actually wasn’t asleep, which directly contradicted what she had said earlier. She told detectives that she had let the dogs outside and then suddenly became violently ill. She said it hit her really hard, really fast, and Matt had to help her change her clothes and get into the shower, you know, because she could barely function.
Sleep well. What happened? Did you get through the night or for the most part, we slept just fine until my dog started whining? Do you remember looking at a clock or I half opened my eye to look at the clock slightly and see that it was around 3. Did you actually end up having to get out of bed to let them out or? Yeah.
I got up, walked downstairs, put their leashes on, took them potty, came back upstairs, put them in their kennels. Mhm. And then I went to go potty and end up I end up puking and myself at the same time. Oh, that’s horrible. I’m sorry. That’s I called Matt to help me, and he came and helped me.
Once again, the couple was allowed to go home, but this time, police put them under surveillance, and what investigators saw was hard to ignore. Matt was moving around just fine. No cane, no struggle. He was carrying heavy grocery bags, working out in the yard, you know, doing all the things you wouldn’t expect from someone who supposedly could barely make it down the hallway at the police station.
The contrast was striking. One of Matt and Angela’s neighbors had a security camera facing the house. The footage showed someone leaving their home before 1:00 in the morning, heading in the direction of Annie’s apartment, but their housemate, Karina, said she truly believed they never went anywhere that morning. She insisted she didn’t hear a thing.
Police couldn’t wrap their heads around how that was even possible. They began to suspect that Karina might be covering for her friends, but one thing was absolutely clear. Angela and Matt had just been caught in a massive lie. Been one year since the brutal murder of a Gresa mother and whoever killed her is still out there.
Now there is a reward for information about who killed her. It’s been a long devastating year for the family of Anastasia Hester. I I really hoped I really thought we’d have something before now. I mean Ann’s murder was brutal. Um I would hate another mother to have to do what we’ve had to do. It’s I don’t have the words for how bad it is.
A year later, detectives tell me the case is far from cold, but remains unsolved. Do you think it’s a stranger or somebody she knows? We’re not sure. Um, we haven’t rolled out either at this point. She was a good person. She really was. I don’t understand how anybody would want to do this to her. They took somebody out of this world that deserved to be here.
She had a little girl that needed her to raise her. [clears throat] I don’t know how the hell they could live with themselves. The family is asking anyone with information about Ann’s murder to come forward to police. Whoever did this has to be found. A full year had passed since Annie was killed, and by that point, Matt and Angela had moved nearly 700 m away, which made working with them even more difficult than before.
Still, the investigative team didn’t back off. They knew it was only a matter of time while all the forensic testing from Annie’s apartment continued. Eventually, the DNA analysis of the knives was completed. Detectives say they’ve arrested the woman behind a brutal murder tonight. This woman behind bars across state lines.
It was back in June of last year when police arrived to a bloody crime scene to find 36-year-old Anastasia Hester stabbed to death in her Gresham apartment. Now, the wife of her ex-husband is in jail in Idaho. Our Cole Miller joins us live with the latest on this investigation and what comes next. Cole? Well, Jeeoff, the arrest happened just this afternoon in Pocutello, Idaho.
Police say Angela Macccra Hester, the person you see right here, carried out that violent murder and now begins the legal process of getting her back to Oregon to face both a judge and a jury. IN THE CAR, I HAVE KIDS that are going to be coming home. TELL ME WHY YOU’RE ARRESTING ME. WHY AM I being arrested? You stupid.
I have kids. [crying] In October of 2017, Angela McCrae Hester was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated murder along with one count of first-degree burglary. You know, after all that time, everything finally caught up with her. You are under arrest for assassinated murder. So, you’re saying that I killed her? Yeah.
I would like a lawyer if that’s the case. Okay. All right. Because I didn’t. I was at home. One of the charges alleged that she intentionally caused Annie’s death. The other claimed that Annie died as a result of deliberate torture if convicted at trial. These charges carried the possibility of the death penalty.
Despite all of that and despite the mounting evidence against her, she continued to insist she was innocent and entered a plea of not guilty on every single count. When Matt was questioned again, Detective Turnage, who was still leading the investigation, was far more direct this time. He even showed Matt autopsy photos of Annie, hoping it might finally push him to tell the truth about at least something.
Get done so I can get home with the kids. Here’s the deal, okay? Our investigation clearly shows that Annie’s wife committed the murder, just Anastasia. We’re not here to discuss if it happened. I don’t care what you think. In fact, you’ve been under for the last two weeks by the US Marshals. So, we’ve got you walking across the parking lot at Costco picking up soda boxes and water bottles, whatever you were doing. You’re not leaving.
You’re not wanting what it came. I’m not buying this type of I’m not buying it. Okay, that’s her. She’s such a trainee decapitator. Come all the way from our jaw. After that, Matt finally admitted to police that earlier that morning, Angela had come back home covered in blood. Something I don’t have any choice but accept what she did.
Like I just woke up. My wife’s panicking all. Okay, whatever you need. Tell me go upstairs. I got over here in the shower. She’s leaving. What are you asking her? What is she saying? She didn’t say anything. She was shaking. Did you ask her what happened to her? Why is she leaving? No, I was just giving her a calm down.
He claimed he didn’t actually know what had happened. He also said that he and Angela had talked about killing Annie more than once, but insisted they never made any real plan to carry it out. Then he shifted the blame onto Angela’s ex-husband, Aaron, saying he believed Aaron could have been involved. Detectives brought Aaron back in for a full interrogation, one that Aaron later said left him with PTSD.
Detective Turnage admitted that he didn’t believe everything Aaron told them, but at the same time, he also acknowledged that he wasn’t entirely sure what the truth was. Whatever role Aaron may or may not have played in Annie’s case, if there even was one, remains unknown. He was never arrested and no charges were ever filed against him.
Angela McCra Hester made her first court appearance this morning. We got our hands on the court documents in this case. They paint a gruesome picture of what Angela McCraester is accused of doing, torturing and murdering her husband’s ex-wife. And we got our first look at the suspect, Angela, in Multma County Court earlier today. It was very brief arraignment.
It wasn’t until October of this year that Angela was arrested and she waved her right to an extradition hearing. She was arrested in Idaho, waved that right to an extradition, telling officials, quote, “I just want to get this over with.” Well, her husband, Matthew Hester, was also arrested in October, charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, though authorities say he is not a suspect in the Gresham homicide.
After admitting that he helped clean up the blood, Matt Hester was charged as well, but only with lesser offenses, things like obstruction and hindering. Those charges were later dropped. Matt went back home and continued living his life as if nothing had happened while Angela sat in jail waiting. Meanwhile, that bloody shoe print inside Annie’s apartment just wouldn’t let investigators rest.
They knew they had to find the shoe. So, they went through phone data from both Matt and Angela, focusing on the night of the murder and the day after. And just 3 days after Annie was killed, Angela had used Google Maps to search for a location she had driven to about 35 mi away deep into Mount Hood National Forest.
On a bitterly cold, snowy day, Detective Turnage and his team headed out to the forest. And unbelievably, just a few yards off the road, they found a brown boot wedged near a fallen tree. They traced the boot back to the store where it was purchased and confirmed it had been bought by Angela, directly tied to her store account.
The tread pattern was an exact match to the bloody footprints found at the crime scene, and the size a perfect match to Angela’s shoe size. Knowing where the boot had been recovered, one of the dive team members studied the water currents in the area and said she was confident that if anything else had been discarded there, she could find it. And she did.
A plastic bag caught beneath a concrete embankment containing clothing that belonged to Angela. It was honestly incredible work by the entire team, driven by this relentless determination to leave no detail unchecked. And with that, the case against Angela became significantly stronger. Her defense attorneys could argue that she may have been inside Annie’s apartment before, maybe when Matt picked up Alice, and that she could have used the knives to cook or help put them away.
But blood soaked boots directly linked to her Google Maps searches and her store account, that was the tipping point. Detectives also uncovered that Annie had taken out a life insurance policy worth $100,000. When they contacted the insurance company, they confirmed that Annie’s parents were listed as the beneficiaries.
After Annie’s death, the company did receive a call about that policy, but it wasn’t from her grieving family. It was from her ex-husband, Matt. He directly asked whether he or Alice were entitled to any of the payout. When he was told they couldn’t discuss that with him, he quickly hung up. Eventually, in 2019, Matt Hester was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of solicitation of murder, and one count of hindering prosecution.
Under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, and solicitation to commit murder, the murder of Anastasia Hester. signature on that line, please, if you choose to wave your rights. No, I would like a lawyer. He pleaded not guilty to those charges as well, continuing to insist he had done nothing wrong.
Here on an extradition warrant out of the state of Oregon, sir, you have a right to an attorney in this matter. If you can’t afford one, one will be provided for you or you can represent yourself. Would you like an attorney to assist you today, sir? Yes, please. And are you currently employed? A year later, in November of 2020, with the case finally headed straight for trial, Angela changed her stance.
Even though changes in the law meant the death penalty was no longer on the table in her case, she chose to plead guilty to seconddegree murder. New tonight, Angela Mcra Hester will spend the rest of her life in prison for killing her husband’s ex-wife, Anastasia Hester. Angela, now 38 years old, was ultimately sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of applying for parole after 25 years.
After prosecutors dropped the two conspiracy to commit murder charges against Matt, he just like Angela changed his position as well. Of 2016, Anastasia Hester was killed in her apartment by Angela McCra Hester. Well, now Matthew Hester has pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution in his ex-wife’s murder, along with the charge of solicitation to commit murder.
The plea deal means he will get less than the mandatory minimum of 90 months, but could still face a murder charge with more evidence. In August of 2021, Matthew Hester finally pleaded guilty to soliciting Aaron McCrae to commit murder and to hindering prosecution. He was sentenced to just under 5 years in prison, 56 months.
It was a bold move by prosecutors, but they explained their reasoning pretty clearly. If they ever wanted a real chance to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder down the line, they needed that part of the case to be built much more carefully. You can’t try someone twice for the same crime. That’s the principle known as double jeopardy.
If Matt had gone to trial and been acquitted, then no matter how strong the case might have become later, he could never be charged again. And that was a risk they simply couldn’t take. To this day, Matt remains on investigators radar, and the case is still considered open. The same goes for Angela’s ex-husband, Aaron.
As investigators continue to look into whether or to what extent he may have been involved, Angela and Matt officially divorced while they were both incarcerated. And according to what’s been reported, they haven’t spoken to each other even once since then. When Angela receives visits in prison and is asked about the case, she gives the same short response every time.
She says, “That’s between me and God.” She hasn’t said a single word about Annie since the day she was arrested. Angela’s children were placed into the foster care system. Matt and Annie’s daughter, Alice, was adopted by Annie’s mother. Annie always did everything she could, even in the hardest circumstances, and she worked non-stop to provide for Alice.
Her supervisor said she inspired everyone around her. She could handle anything, you know, and somehow still do it with a smile. Her work ethic was unmatched. But what truly made her stand out was that relentless positivity during such a difficult time along with the way she always looked out for others.
Even in her final moments, she remained strong and determined to fight. Thank you to everyone who watched. If you’d like to support the channel and help us keep creating content like this, please don’t forget to like the video, leave a comment, share it, and subscribe.
