PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Five years after Annastasia Hester was stabbed to death in her Gresham apartment, her ex-husband pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder and hindering prosecution.
Matthew Hester can also later be indicted for two other charges — murder and conspiracy to commit murder — if the prosecution is able to develop evidence connecting him to those charges. He entered the plea arrangement on Wednesday, court documents show.
In a 2019 indictment, Matthew Hester allegedly solicited Aaron McCraw to kill Annastasia. He pleaded guilty to that charge. He was also indicted for conspiring with Aaron McCraw and Angela McCraw-Hester to kill her, but prosecutors are holding those charges until if and when they can develop the evidence necessary.
It is not clear at this writing when Matthew Hester will be sentenced, but the court documents show his plea deal includes a sentence of less than 90 months in prison on each of the counts.
Previous stories: The murder of Annastasia Hester
His guilty pleas come about 10 months after his current wife, Angela McCraw-Hester, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for killing Annastasia. Angela McCraw-Hester pleaded guilty in November 2020 to second-degree murder.
Angela McCraw-Hester admitted she entered Annastasia’s apartment in the early hours of June 16, 2016 and stabbed her more than 60 times.
The investigation
Investigators determined McCraw-Hester left the home she shared with Matthew in the 12000 block of SE Ramona Street and drove to Annastasia’s ground-floor apartment in Gresham. She then removed either a window-mounted air conditioner and a cinder block to get in and attack Annastasia around 3 a.m.
After being stabbed repeatedly, Annastasia Hester died at the hospital after she was attacked. She had been able to call 911 for help but was too severely injured to describe her attacker to police.
A bloody boot print was forensically matched to a specific product and retail store, and investigators linked that boot to a purchase McCraw-Hester made in 2015.
Her DNA was also found inside Annastasia’s apartment on the kitchen knife block and surveillance video showed her traveling to and from the apartment.
On October 4, 2017, Gresham detectives arrested Angela Rose McCraw-Hester, the current wife of Annastasia Hester’s ex-husband, Matthew Hester. She was taken into custody in Pocatello, Idaho as detectives searched her home on a warrant.