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State rests case in 2019 Shady Cove homicide trial By Nick Morgan Updated: Oct 26, 2022 04:01 PM A A The man on trial for killing his Shady Cove roommate, 20-year-old Destiny Anne Finch, told police during his 2019 confession that his victim never saw her violent death coming. Shane Ryan Michael Wayman also told a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office detective about “dark thoughts,” described a mental health struggle and mentioned a history of losing control, but never to this extent. “I’ve had moments where I lose control, but never, never like this,” Wayman was recorded as saying on video after signing a form waiving his Miranda rights, writing out a confession and handing it to JCSO Detective David Seese about Finch’s homicide. The interview recorded on video the morning of Nov. 12, 2019 — and the confession he wrote — were among the latest pieces of evidence submitted by Deputy District Attorney Lucy Durst Wednesday morning in Wayman’s homicide trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Wayman is standing trial on charges of second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse accusing him of murdering Finch with an aluminum baseball bat and hiding her body in the woods just past the Douglas County border off Highway 227. Wayman’s interview shed new light about the homicide, which occurred the afternoon of Nov. 11, 2019. At about 1 p.m. Nov. 11, Wayman received an eviction notice from his roommates, Finch and her fiancé, Tristan Walker. Digital forensics show text messages between the two roommates in the two hours that followed, but Finch stopped texting at 2:52 p.m. that day. Finch’s phone last pinged on Brophy Way in Shady Cove. Overnight, police found Wayman’s vehicle past Prospect and found Wayman walking up Highway 62 and Scenic at 6:52 a.m. the next day. That morning, Wayman described to Seese in clinical detail wrapping Finch’s body in two blankets and rope, backing up his car to carry her body and using rubbing alcohol to clean up after. Seese questioned Wayman about what went through his mind during the homicide. Was he specifically mad at Finch? At Walker? “I was mad at the world, I guess,” Wayman said in the interview. The detective asked whether Finch ever saw anything coming. Wayman told police he didn’t believe so. “The next think I knew I had a f---in’ bat in my hand and swung it as hard as I can,” Wayman described. “I wish it didn’t turn out like this.” Wayman mentioned a past struggle with bipolar disorder during the interview but expressed some doubt that treatment would have been enough to stop him from losing control. Only then did he start to break down in tears. “Stick me in a cell and forget about me,” Wayman said. Wayman expressed little emotion as he watched the video in court Wednesday. He wore slacks and a light blue button-up shirt as he sat next to his defense lawyer, Michael Bertholf. The consolidated trial also covered charges of first-degree criminal mistreatment and a charge of second-degree abuse of a corpse, accusing him in the November 2016 death of his aunt, Malina Nickel. Police say he dumped Nickel’s body while she was suffering an overdose instead of getting her medical treatment. Bertholf sought to dismiss the criminal mistreatment charges on claims that Durst provided the jury insufficient evidence that his client knew he was withholding care at the time. Durst argued the jury has enough information to draw their own conclusions. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Mejia sided with Durst. “They are allowed to make their own inferences,” Mejia said. The homicide trial began Monday and was initially scheduled to last approximately 10 days. As of midday Wednesday, however, the trial was moving far ahead of schedule. Durst rested the prosecution’s case before noon Wednesday after entering her last pieces of evidence: The detective interview, drone footage of where police found Finch’s body and the clothes Wayman was wearing when police picked him up — a light blue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt, a navy blue hooded sweatshirt, camouflage-printed slacks and a pair of worn athletic shoes. Testimony in the defense’s case will begin Friday morning. Reach web editor Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MTwebeditor.