Document text
Man gets life for Shady Cove murder By Nick Morgan Updated: Nov 02, 2022 03:56 PM A A Shane Ryan Michael Wayman addresses the family of Destiny Finch during his sentencing hearing for Finch’s murder Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Destiny Finch’s grandmother reads a victim impact letter Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court during the sentencing of Shane Ryan Michael Wayman (second from left) for Finch’s murder. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] A man will serve life in prison for the violent 2019 murder of 20-year-old Destiny Anne Finch, his Shady Cove roommate, and hiding her body in a remote area near where he’d previously hidden the body of his aunt. Shane Ryan Michael Wayman, 24, was sentenced Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse for murdering Finch with a baseball bat Nov. 11, 2019, shortly after she’d delivered Wayman an eviction notice. Finch’s family and friends shared statements in court of how her murder continues to impact them. Marie Finch shared memories of her granddaughter as an artist, and she told Judge Lorenzo Mejia that many in her family now have tattoos of her work in order to remember her. “We were robbed of her company ... Every holiday has a Destiny-shaped hole,” her grandmother said. Brittany Harrison told the court she was Finch’s best friend for 14 years and “did everything together and called each other sisters.” Months after Finch’s homicide, Harrison learned she was pregnant. Harrison told the court that what should have been a joyful time was instead marked by grief and deep depression. “I didn’t have my sister at the time I needed her the most,” Harrison said. Harrison mourned how Finch was at her wedding and how she will never be able to return the favor. She said her young daughter now has a stuffed animal that once belonged to her best friend. “It’s the most she’ll ever know of her aunt Des,” Harrison told the court. Deputy District Attorney Lucy Durst read a letter written by Finch’s mother, Cristi Finch. In it, she mourned the loss of her only child and the milestones of her daughter’s life being cut short. She’ll never be able to walk her daughter down the aisle and watch her daughter get married, and she’ll never again hear her daughter call her “Mama Bear.” “I’ll forever be that mother whose daughter was murdered,” she wrote. Wayman turned to Finch’s loved ones and kept his apologies brief. “I expect no sympathy, and I expect no forgiveness,” Wayman said just prior to sentencing. “I do hope after hearing everything this past week you get some kind of closure.” Wayman tried to apologize and express remorse, then told Finch’s friends and family, “I understand if that means absolutely nothing to you.” A jury found Wayman guilty Monday of second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse for Finch’s murder, and second-degree abuse of a corpse for failing to take his aunt, Malina Nickel, to get medical help for a drug overdose Nov. 23, 2016, and instead dumping her body in the woods off Highway 227. The emotion of the hearing and the weeklong trial left Mejia with few words, but he sympathized with Finch’s family as a father of an only child himself, a daughter similar to Finch’s age. “I clearly see your pain,” Mejia said. Mejia sentenced Wayman Wednesday to life in prison on the murder conviction, with no possibility of parole until he serves at least 25 years. Wayman will serve the sentence concurrently with the convictions that found him culpable in Nickel’s death. Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.