PORTLAND — A woman who stabbed her husband’s ex-wife in 2016, then eluded police for more than a year, was sentenced on Monday to life in prison.
Angela McCraw-Hester, 38, pleaded guilty to the murder of Annastasia Hester, who was 34 when she died. McCraw-Hester will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years.
Police began investigating the case on June 10, 2016, after Hester called 911 around 3 a.m. Police arrived at her Gresham apartment, where they found Hester with at least 60 stab wounds on her body. She died at the hospital.
Hester’s brother, Nathaniel Holmes, said his sister’s murder has had severe effects on the family.
“The emotional and psychological turmoil has been truly devastating,” he said in a statement provided by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. “I won’t grow old with my sister and reminisce. She won’t see her daughter grow up, get married, have kids or be a grandmother.”
Annastasia Hester and Matthew Hester were married for five years before divorcing in 2012, court records show.
Police said they believe McCraw-Hester, who is married to Matthew Hester, broke into Annastasia Hester’s first-floor apartment by removing a window-mounted air conditioning unit and a cinder block. Neighbors told investigators that they heard noises coming from the apartment or the surrounding area.
Officers saw the air conditioning unit dangling from the wall, and found a bloody footprint inside the apartment. The state crime lab analyzed the footprint and determined that it came from a women’s boot. They were able to identify the store the boot came from and determined McCraw-Hester had bought the boot in 2015.
Investigators also found McCraw-Hester’s DNA on a kitchen knife block inside the apartment. They also found surveillance video showing a car that matches McCraw-Hester’s leaving the apartment shortly after the 911 call.
U.S. Marshals found McCraw-Hester in November of 2017 in Pocatello, Idaho.
Nearly two years later, police arrested McCraw-Hester’s husband, Matthew Hester, in Kennewick, Washington. Matthew Hester is awaiting trial and is charged with conspiring to help his current wife kill his ex-wife.
Court records show that Matthew Hester, 38, told police that he and his wife had up to 10 conversations about killing his ex-wife, but didn’t follow through. Matthew and Annastasia Hester had gone through a child custody dispute, according to Gresham police reports.
Reports show that while Matthew Hester initially denied his wife’s involvement in the killing, he later told investigators that she was guilty.
According to court records, after McCraw-Hester came home from killing Annastasia Hester, she woke up her husband and “asked him for his help in getting cleaned up.” He helped his wife get undressed and saw blood on her skin and hair, which he helped her wash out. Hester said his wife never told him where she was, and he didn’t ask. He told police he wanted to do what he could to make sure she didn’t get caught.
