The account of a man who admittedly was under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug led police to arrest and charge a Butler woman in the murder of her boyfriend.

During a preliminary hearing Wednesday for Shaina Ann Helen Grush, 31, the investigating officer, Lt. Chad Rensel, of the Butler City Police Department, noted Grush was charged with homicide after witness Jonathan A. Lubinsky, 32, said he saw her stab her boyfriend, Robert Wagner, June 14.

District Judge B.T. Fullerton decided to hold the charge of felony general criminal homicide against Grush over for court.

During the hearing, Lubinsky, who said he and Wagner had been good friends for six to 10 years, testified that they consumed lysergic acid diethylamide, a hallucinogen known as acid or by its acronym LSD on the night of the murder.

Grush's lawyer, public defender Joe Smith, called into question Lubinsky's reliability as a witness over his admitted drug use. Under cross-examination by Rensel, Smith also brought out that Lubinsky is still a suspect in Wagner's death.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope, prosecuting the case, called Lubinsky to testify at Wednesday's hearing.

Lubinsky said on June 13 he met up with Wagner in the afternoon and the two went back to Wagner's apartment, located above the China Palace restaurant. There, the two drank beer, Lubinsky said, and watched Grush's 11-year-old son play video games. Lubinsky said he planned on sleeping over at the apartment.

He also noted the two smoked two marijuana joints during the evening. Later, they decided to “drop a hit of acid” each and pick Grush up from her job at a local restaurant.

Afterward, Lubinsky said, they all made their way back to Wagner's apartment and socialized. He said that at 1:45 a.m., Wagner and Grush decided to go out for cigarettes.

“Right before they left, (Wagner) said something about starting to trip and (Grush) didn't seem too happy about that,” Lubinsky said.

When the couple returned, Lubinsky said they appeared to be arguing and Wagner decided he was going to leave for the night.

He started packing beer into a backpack.

Lubinsky said Grush threatened her boyfriend, allegedly telling him, “I will stab you in the face.”

Lubinsky said he watched as Wagner asked, “Smart ass, with what?”

And he said that Grush began searching through a drawer and she pulled out a knife. He testified that he watched as Grush thrust her arm forward, plunging the knife into Wagner's chest.

“I was like, 'What did I just see?'” Lubinsky said. “He was kind of crying — obviously since he was just stabbed — and said to her, 'Before I go, tell me you love me.'”

Police eventually listened to a recording of the 911 call that Grush made to report the stabbing.

In a previous interview, Rensel said a man's voice, believed to be Wagner's, could be heard saying, “I love you.” The caller answered, “I love you too.”

Lubinsky said the stabbing occurred in the middle of the living room, but he told police before that it happened near the bathroom, an inconsistency that Grush's lawyer, Smith, also used to question the authenticity of Lubinsky's testimony.

Smith wondered if Lubinsky was able to “maintain good memory” after consuming substances, but Lubinsky said the acid didn't make him “trip.”

He told Smith that he wasn't testifying under a grant of immunity against charges in the case.

Lubinsky said the scene was too upsetting for him, so he left without calling the police.

“It was scary,” Lubinsky said. “I didn't know what I'd just witnessed. I was also in shock.”

Lubinsky said he spent the rest of the early morning pacing up and down Main Street with nowhere to sleep. “I also just couldn't sleep. I had all that running through my head,” Lubinsky said.

With the sun rising, Lubinsky admitted himself into Butler Memorial Hospital for five days, where Rensel contacted him. Lubinsky told the court that he also has a serious mental disorder for which he takes medication.

Rensel testified that Wagner died of a stab wound to the chest, according to Butler County Deputy Coroner Larry Barr. And that the manner of Wagner's death was ruled a homicide.

During Smith's questioning, Rensel recalled that Grush was tending to Wagner's stab wound when authorities responded.

Police and emergency crews were dispatched to the apartment. Butler Fire Department and Butler Ambulance Service medics treated Wagner, who was still breathing when he was transported by ambulance to BMH, authorities said.

Wagner was pronounced dead around 2:40 a.m. in the hospital's emergency room. The wound was about 6-and-a-half inches deep and 1 inch in width, investigators said. The knife penetrated Wagner's lung.

In an application for a search warrant police would later obtain for the apartment, police wrote that “Grush advised that she believed Wagner had accidentally cut or stabbed himself while attempting to open cat food.”

But she was in the bathroom, she told authorities, and had not seen what happened.

Police noticed a 12-inch non-serrated kitchen knife in the kitchen sink. The 8-inch blade appeared to have fresh blood smeared on the first 4 to 5 inches of the blade. There was also blood splatter in the corner of the sink.

Police noticed two Starkist tuna cans — one that was cut open with a knife and the other opened with a can opener — in a makeshift garbage container. The cans did not appear as if they had been opened recently, investigators said.

Rensel also noted Wednesday that Grush never admitted to stabbing Wagner, even when they interviewed her at the police station.

“So, how did you come to charge her?” Smith said.

Rensel said they did so after speaking with Lubinsky, even though he is also a possible suspect.

“You heard his use of LSD. Does that change his credibility in your mind?” Smith said.

“No,” Rensel said.

Smith asked Fullerton to drop the homicide charge, arguing that prosecutors hadn't met the burden of premeditated action to charge Grush with homicide.

“There's a real question of did my client do this or maybe Lubinsky,” Smith said.

Lope responded that Lubinsky testified that Grush said she was going to stab Wagner in the face during the argument. Lope argued that proves Grush planned on stabbing Wagner.

Fullerton agreed that enough evidence was presented to hold the charge for common pleas court.

Grush's next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 29.