Murder of Skylar Neese

Skylar Annette Neese
Skylar Neese
Born	Skylar Annette Neese (1996-02-10)February 10, 1996 Morgantown, West Virginia, United States
Died	July 6, 2012(2012-07-06) (aged 16) Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States
Cause of death	Homicide by stabbing
Parent(s)	Dave Neese and Mary Neese

Skylar Annette 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, Rachel Shoaf pled guilty to second-degree murder. Shoaf told authorities that she and another teenager, Shelia Eddy, both friends of Neese, 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. At that time 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) is 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 in 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 July 5, 2012, Neese returned to her family's Star City, West Virginia apartment after working a shift at her job at a Wendy's. She disappeared from her home that night. Neese's Apartment complex surveillance video showed Skylar leaving the apartment, via her bedroom window, at 12:30 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, her window was left open, and she planned on coming home.^[5]

Murder

Late in the evening of July 5, 2012, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf convinced Skylar to sneak out with them. Neese, who had recently fallen out with the two, was initially hesitant. After a series of phone calls and texts from the girls, Neese changed her mind.

At approximately 12:30 a.m., Neese climbed from her bedroom window into the back seat of an unidentified 4 door sedan. Over the course of the police and FBI investigation, the vehicle was identified as that of Shelia Eddy. The three girls then headed North from Star City via U.S. Route 19. They had planned to travel along U.S. Route 7, but turned around after spotting a State Police car parked in front of a gambling lounge; they wound up taking an alternate road to Blacksville.

They eventually arrived at their destination. A long, heavily wooded dirt road just past the West Virginia - Pennsylvania border, where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke marijuana on the way to and from Eddy's father's house. Shoaf and Eddy had been planning Neese's murder for months. They left Eddy's house prepared to carry out the assault on Neese, bringing with them kitchen knives, paper towels, bleach, handi wipes™, clean clothes, and a shovel. They concealed the knives on their persons, and stashed the remaining items away in the trunk of Sheila's vehicle.

Once the girls were out of the vehicle they told Neese they had forgotten to bring a lighter from the vehicle. Neese volunteered to go back to the vehicle for hers. Once Neese had turned her back on Shoaf and Eddy they began counting to their agreed upon signal of "3". Once they gave the signal Shoaf and Eddy began to stab Neese. Neese attempted to run, but wasn't able to make it more than a few feet, as Shoaf tackled her to the ground and continued with their assault. During this vicious, pre-meditated attack Neese managed to wrestle Shoafs knife from her and cut her knee in an attempt to defend herself. Despite her efforts she was out-numbered and over-powered. As her two "best-friends" continued to stab her to death, the only thing Neese could think and kept screaming was the question, "Why?" After Neese was able to take Shoafs knife, Shoaf stopped her attack on Neese. At that point Eddy continued to stab Neese until there was complete silence and "Neeses neck stopped making gurgling sounds." Neese had died from over 50 stab wounds.

Once they finished their brutal attack, Shoaf and Eddy then planned on burying Neese's body. Now certain that Neese was dead, Shoaf and Eddy drug Neese's body to the side of the road that ran along a creek. However, the soil there was too hard and rocky for them to dig like they had originally planned, so they covered Skylar's body with rocks, fallen branches, and dirt. Shoaf and Eddy then returned to the car to clean up themselves and the murder scene. Upon completion of the attack and clean up, Shoaf and Eddy left the scene, disposed of their blood-soaked clothing and went back home like nothing ever happened.

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 flyers 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 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 40 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 plea from 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) 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 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 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]

On March 26, 2016 ReelzChannel show Copycat Killers covered Skylar's story in an episode titled "Heathers".

On August 7, 2016 Oxygen Channel showed Skylar's story on Snapped.

On October 28, 2016 investigation Discovery showed Skylar's story on an episode of suspicion titled "A daughter disappears"

See also

• Child murder
• Missing person
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Murder of 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.