Murder of Skylar Neese

Skylar Annette Neese
Skylar Annette Neese
Born	February 10, 1996 Morgantown, West Virginia, USA
Died	July 6, 2012 (aged 16) Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, USA
Cause of death	Homicide by stabbing
Parent(s)	Dave Neese and Mary Neese

Sixteen-year-old Skylar Neese (February 10, 1996 – July 6, 2012) was an American girl who disappeared from her home in Star City, West Virginia around midnight on July 6, 2012.^[1] Neese's remains were found on January 16, 2013, in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.^[2] On May 1, 2013, teenager Rachel Shoaf pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, telling authorities that she and another teenager, Shelia Eddy, planned and carried out Neese's murder.^[3] Neese's disappearance led to new West Virginia legislation that made changes to the Amber Alert missing child alert system.^[4]

Background information

Victim

Skylar Annette Neese was the only child of Mary and Dave Neese. Mary Neese worked as an administrative assistant in a cardiac lab and Dave Neese was a product assembler at Walmart. Skylar was an honors student at University High School who wanted to become a criminal lawyer. She worked at Wendy's with two close friends.

Perpetrators

Shelia Eddy (born September 28, 1995) was the only child of Tara Clendenen and Greg Eddy. Shelia was born in Blacksville, West Virginia. Her parents divorced in 2000 when her father got into a car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury and permanent disability. Tara struggled as a single mother, working as an accountant for a car dealership. In October 2010, Tara moved with her new husband, Jim Clendenen, to Morgantown, West Virginia, where Shelia started attending University High School and became an honors student.

Rachel Shoaf (born June 10, 1996) grew up in Morgantown. She is the only daughter of Rusty and Patricia Shoaf. Rachel regularly volunteered with the Special Olympics and was also an honors student at University High School. She had a passion for acting and singing, participating in many school plays.

Disappearance

On Thursday July 5, 2012, Neese returned to her family's Star City, West Virginia apartment after working a shift at a fast food restaurant. She disappeared from her home that night. Apartment complex surveillance video showed the teenager leaving the apartment by the window at 12:31 A.M. on July 6, 2012 and getting into a sedan.^[1] Neese's father said that she did not take her cell phone charger, that her window was left open, and that she planned on coming home.^[5]

Murder

Skylar Neese's best friends, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf, convinced Skylar to sneak out in the middle of the night with them to ride around town and smoke marijuana. Skylar, who had recently fallen out with the two girls, was hesitant. After a series of phone calls and texts from Shelia and Rachel, Skylar changed her mind and was convinced to go with them.

At 12:31 A.M., after Shelia's silver Toyota pulled up by her apartment, Skylar climbed out of her window by standing on a small bench she had put by her window earlier. She climbed into the back seat of the car and the three girls headed north from Star City on U.S. Route 19. They planned to turn onto Route 7 when they saw a State Police car parked in front of a gambling lounge. Not wanting to get caught as underage girls out past curfew, they turned around and headed back to Star City and took an alternate road to Blacksville.

They eventually arrived at their destination on Morris Run Road in Pennsylvania, a long dirt road surrounded with woods, a place familiar to all three girls where they would occasionally smoke marijuana on the way to and from Shelia's father's house. Shelia and Rachel each concealed a kitchen knife Shelia had provided under their clothes. In the trunk was hidden paper towels, bleach, Handi Wipes, clean clothes, and a shovel Rachel had stolen from her father's house. The girls stepped out of the car for a smoke but Shelia's lighter didn't work, so Skylar went to retrieve her lighter from the car. As soon as Skylar turned her back, Rachel began counting to three—a premeditated signal—and the two girls began stabbing Skylar. Skylar attempted to run but didn't make it very far until Rachel tackled her to the ground and continued to stab her. At some point, Skylar managed to grab the knife from Rachel and leave a three-inch gash just above her right ankle. That's when Rachel stopped stabbing but Shelia kept going. They stopped counting after fifty stabs. The only word Skylar managed to muster during the vicious attack was, Why? over and over again.

When they were certain Skylar was dead, they retrieved Rachel's shovel and dragged Skylar's body to the side of the road where they tried to bury her near a creek, but the soil was too rocky so instead they covered her body with rocks, fallen branches, and dirt. After disposing of Skylar's body, the girls returned to the car to clean up with the Handi Wipes and towels they brought and put their bloody clothes in a trash bag and donned clean clothes. The murder, disposal of Skylar's body, and clean-up took three hours.

Investigation

For months police investigated several unproductive leads in Neese's disappearance.^[6] Neese was initially considered to be a runaway by law enforcement authorities, and an Amber Alert was not immediately issued in connection with her disappearance.^[4] An early tip indicated that Neese had been seen in North Carolina, but the Star City Police Department determined that the person spotted was not Neese.^[7] Neese's parents posted fliers about their missing daughter in the Monongalia County region.^[8] Police determined that the unknown sedan in which Skylar Neese was last seen belonged to one of her friends and interviewed her. The friend (Shelia Eddy) admitted picking up Neese but stated that she had dropped her off an hour later.^[9] The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West Virginia State Police joined the search for Skylar Neese on September 10, 2012, and began interviewing Neese's school friends.^[9]

A major break in the case was made when Rachel Shoaf admitted plotting with fellow teenager Shelia Eddy to kill her. ^[6][10] The motivation Shoaf gave for the murder was they "didn't like her". ^[6][11] Dave Neese stated that these two girls were among his daughter's best friends,^[12] and that Shelia Eddy had even helped the family look for her by distributing missing person fliers.^[13][14] After her confession, Rachel Shoaf led investigators to Neese's body.^[10] On March 13, 2013, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II released a press release^[15] stating that a body found in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania^[16][17][18] on January 16, 2013 had been identified as the remains of Neese. Neese's remains were found less than 30 miles away from her home.^[2]

Criminal charges

On May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf pleaded guilty to second degree murder.^[3][19] According to the court transcript, Shoaf said that she and Shelia Eddy picked up Neese in Eddy's car. The girls drove to Pennsylvania, got out of the car, and began socializing. At a pre-arranged time, Shoaf and Eddy stabbed Skylar to death on the count of three.^[20] The teens attempted to bury Neese's body, but were unable to do so and instead covered the body with branches. The court transcript indicates that other students overheard conversations between Shoaf and Eddy about the murder plot, but failed to report it, thinking they were joking.^[3] According to Shoaf's plea agreement,^[21] she pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree by "unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, maliciously and intentionally causing the death of Skylar Neese by stabbing her and causing fatal injuries". In the plea agreement, the State of West Virginia will recommend a sentence of forty years incarceration.^[19][21] Shoaf's family issued a public apology for her actions through their lawyer.^[22]

On September 4, 2013, West Virginia prosecutors publicly identified Shelia Eddy as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Skylar Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult.^[23] Eddy was indicted by a grand jury on September 6, 2013 with one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.^[24] Shelia Eddy pleaded not guilty to these charges.^[25]

The date of the trial was originally set for January 28, 2014,^[26] but on January 24 – four days prior to the trial – Shelia Eddy changed her Not Guilty plea to Guilty to first degree murder with mercy. As a result, Eddy was sentenced to life imprisonment, with parole eligibility after she has served 15 years.^[27]

Following her guilty plea on May 1, 2013, Rachel Shoaf was remanded on charges of second degree murder and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment on February 26, 2014, with parole eligibility after she has served 10 years.^[28][29]

Skylar's Law

An Amber Alert was not issued in Neese's disappearance because the circumstances did not meet all four criteria for an alert to be issued: (1) That a child is believed to be abducted; (2) the child is under 18; (3) the child may be in danger of death or serious injury; (4) there is sufficient information to indicate the Amber Alert would be helpful.^[30] A waiting period of 48 hours had to elapse before a teenager could be considered missing.^[31] A West Virginia state legislator from the Neese family home district introduced a bill^[32] called Skylar's Law to modify West Virginia's Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is reported missing and in danger, regardless of whether the child is believed to have been kidnapped.^[2][33] Opinion columns appeared in both West Virginia and national media in support of Skylar's Law,^[34][35] some of which also acknowledged criticism and drawbacks of the legislation.^[34] On March 27, 2013, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved Skylar's Law with a 98-0 vote.^[4] On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed the law, but made minor technical changes ^[36] to the bill which the House of Delegates voted to accept on the same day.^[37] West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the legislation into law in May 2013.^[5]

National media attention

On May 31, 2013, Anderson Cooper 360 covered the story of Skylar Neese's murder.

On March 7, 2014, Dateline NBC aired an episode entitled "Something Wicked" which chronicled the story of Skylar Neese's murder.

On March 10, 2014, the Dr. Phil show covered Skylar's story. Her parents Dave and Mary were both present, as were two women who described themselves as "second mothers" to Rachel Shoaf.

On April 12, 2014, Lifetime aired Death Clique, a fictional drama inspired by the story of Skylar Neese's murder.

On July 18, 2014, ABC's 20/20 covered Skylar's story in the episode called "Unfriended".^[38]

On October 22, 2014 LMN's show I Killed My BFF (TV series) covered Skylar's story using parent and friend commentaries in an episode titled "Real Life Heathers".^[39]

On November 14, 2014 Investigation Discovery's show "See No Evil" covered Skylar's story in an episode titled "Skylar Neese". The show uses the real-life surveillance video of Skylar to piece together the last few hours of her life. First person interviews with her family, friends, and the investigators are used, along with limited dramatic recreation.^[40]

See also

• Child murder
• Missing person
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Shanda Sharer

References

External links

• CNN Anderson Cooper 360 degrees story, Retrieved May 31, 2013.
• Daleen Berry and Geoffrey C. Fuller, The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines, BenBella Books, 2014.