Skylar Neese: Murdered by Her Best Friends

Skylar Neese was a bright, outgoing 16-year-old from Star City, West Virginia. She was an honor student, worked part-time at Wendy's, and was deeply loved by her parents, Dave and Mary Neese. Skylar had a close-knit group of friends, but her best friend was Sheila Eddy. The two had been inseparable since they were eight years old. Sheila was so comfortable at the Neese home that she didn't even knock—she just walked right in.

In high school, Skylar and Sheila became friends with Rachel Shoaf, and the three girls quickly became inseparable. They called themselves "The Three Musketeers" and spent all their time together. But as close as they were, Skylar's parents noticed changes in their daughter. She started skipping class, staying out past curfew, and sneaking out of her bedroom window at night.

On the night of July 5, 2012, everything seemed normal. Skylar worked her shift at Wendy's, came home, kissed her parents goodnight, and went to bed. But sometime after 11:00 PM, Skylar climbed out of her bedroom window and got into a car with Sheila and Rachel. She never came home.

The next day, Skylar's father came home for lunch and realized she was missing. Her bedroom window was open, the screen was removed, and there was a bench pushed beneath the sill. Skylar's parents called her friends, but no one knew where she was. Then Sheila called and said she wanted to tell the truth: she and Rachel had picked Skylar up around 11:00 PM, driven around for a while, and dropped her back off at midnight so she could sneak back inside. But Skylar never made it back.

Skylar's parents immediately called the police and began searching for their daughter. Days turned into weeks, and there was no sign of Skylar. Sheila and Rachel appeared on local news, pleading for Skylar's safe return. They posted on social media, organized search parties, and comforted Skylar's parents. But behind the scenes, they were hiding a terrible secret.

Months later, in January 2013, Rachel Shoaf had a breakdown and confessed to police. She and Sheila had lured Skylar into the woods near the Pennsylvania border and murdered her. They had planned it in advance, bringing knives and a shovel. They stabbed Skylar to death, buried her body in a shallow grave, and covered it with branches.

When investigators asked Rachel why they had killed Skylar, her answer was chilling: "We didn't want to be friends with her anymore."

Rachel led police to Skylar's remains, and both girls were arrested. Rachel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. Sheila Eddy was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

The Motive:

To this day, the exact motive remains unclear. Some believe the girls were afraid Skylar would expose a romantic relationship between Sheila and Rachel. Others think it was simply a toxic friendship that spiraled out of control. Whatever the reason, the murder of Skylar Neese remains one of the most shocking cases of teenage violence in recent history.

Skylar's parents have become advocates for missing children and have worked to change laws in West Virginia to improve the response to missing persons cases. Skylar's Law was passed in 2013, reducing the waiting period for issuing an Amber Alert.

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] On a warm July night in 2012, 16-year-old Skylar niece slipped out of her bedroom window and vanished without a trace.

At first, it seemed like [00:01:00] a case of a runaway teen, but as days turned into weeks, something about the story didn't sit right. Her closest friends insisted they had no idea where she went or why she left, but behind their innocent smiles was a secret darker than anyone could have imagined. This is the story of a small town shaken to its core as the chilling reality began to unravel.

Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast. A True Crime Podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi Mandy. How are you? I am doing well. How are you? I'm good. We've been recording for a while today and it's now dark outside. It's, and you can barely see me. Actually, I should get up I and flip a light on for you.

I'm going to, one second. Okay. Do that. Okay. I'm back with a light. There you go. Yeah. So we've had a day of recording or a couple episodes, but this is a story that we haven't covered before that I've been [00:02:00] very. Interested in and watched a lot of documentaries and stuff on it, and it's one of those cases, especially being parents and having teenagers that I know the family wants to share, and I'm, I'm glad that we are sharing it.

Skylar, Annette niece was born on February 10th, 1996 to David and Mary Niece. These were two parents who absolutely adored their one and only child. Skyler had a bright and playful energy and a quick sense of humor. She loved to pull pranks on her family just to make them laugh. Skyler was a student at University High School in Star City, West Virginia, where she was a straight A student.

Although Star City was a teeny tiny town outside of Morgantown without much going on, Skyler had big dreams of one day leaving home and pursuing her dream of becoming a lawyer. In the meantime, she worked part-time at Wendy's, played the flute in the school band, and loved hanging out with her dog.

Skyler's best friend was Sheila Eddie, who she met when they were eight years old and had been practically glued at the hip too ever since. [00:03:00] Sheila was so familiar with the niece family that she didn't even bother knocking when she came over. She would just walk right in and make herself comfortable. I had a friend, I had a couple of friends like that growing up, so I kind of understand that, you know, relationship where you can just come right over and that's the way you want it, like at your own house.

Of course, like from my kids, I would just want their friends to feel very comfortable, come on in and nobody else. That is not an open invitation to anyone else in my life. Only my kids friends. Yeah. So in high school, the girls started hanging out with a new friend named Rachel Sho, and before long, the trio was inseparable.

They started calling themselves the Three Musketeers and they were always together. Eventually Skyler's other friends kind of faded from the picture and she was just exclusively hanging out with Sheila and Rachel. As close as the girls were. Skyler's parents couldn't help but notice some changes in their daughter.

She started getting into a bit of a rebellious phase where she was skipping class, just staying out past her curfew and sneaking out through her bedroom window at night. One night, she and her friends were caught speeding at 2:00 [00:04:00] AM and the police brought them home, and Skyler's parents were just stunned, but she seemed remorseful and they hoped that this experience would be a wake up call for her.

In late June of 2012, Skyler went on vacation with Sheila's family. On the night of July 5th, 2012, everything seemed perfectly normal in the niece household. Skylar had been back from her trip with Sheila for about a week, and she had a shift at Wendy's that night. When Skylar got home, she kissed her parents goodnight and said she was going to bed.

The kind of simple, sweet moment that parents cherish, especially as our kids get older, but Skyler's parents didn't know that that would be the last time they would ever see her. What Skyler's parents did know was that she had been convinced by Sheila and Rachel to sneak out for a joy ride. The girls had recently been experiencing some friction between them and they decided that they just wanted to let it go and to make amends.

They discussed plans to attend a party at some point during the night, [00:05:00] and at first, Skyler was reluctant to go. Her friends were able to talk her into sneaking out the next day. Mary received a call from Dave asking where Skyler was. He had come home for lunch to leave the car for Skyler to take to work, but she was nowhere to be found and she wasn't answering her phone.

Mary told Dave that she was probably shopping or swimming with her friends and suggested that he call Sheila, but Sheila said she hadn't seen or heard from her either. None of Skyler's friends seemed to know where she was. Steve started to check around the house and noticed that there was a bench pushed below the window sill of Skyler's bedroom window.

The scream was removed and the window was open, and at that point it all started to click that Skyler had clearly snuck out the night before, but now the question was where did she go and where was she now? Mary tried to stay calm. She knew Skyler wouldn't miss her shift at Wendy's because she was very dependable and responsible like that.[00:06:00] 

But when her manager at Wendy's called her later that afternoon and asked if Skyler was coming in, that's when the panic set in. Eventually, Sheila called Mary and said she wanted to tell her the truth. She confessed that she and Rachel had picked Skyler up around 11:00 PM the night before and drove around with her for a while before bringing her back home around midnight so she could sneak back in the house unnoticed, and Mary had no reason to think that Sheila was lying, but the question still remained.

Where was Skyler now? Skyler's parents called the police right away and started searching for their daughter in the neighborhood. The niece's landlord looked at the security footage from their apartment building and was able to confirm that Skylar did sneak out at around 12:30 AM and got into the backseat of a car, but the video was too grainy to really identify the vehicle.

There was no footage of Skylar returning home and that confused Mary because of what Sheila had told her about dropping Skylar off back at home shortly before midnight. So Mary wondered if Skylar had [00:07:00] snuck back in and then snuck out a second time to meet someone else, but they couldn't see what car she got into and wondered whether the car she got into was the person who had abducted Skylar.

The police, though, were not overly concerned at all, and they considered Skyler a runaway, so any progress that could have been made early in her case kind of just came to a halt and never happened. They refused to even bring in search and rescue, which was of course devastating to Skyler's parents who knew their daughter did not run away, and this just made no sense.

Her cell phone charger was still at home. She left money at home, her contact lenses and all of her personal belongings, so they believed that if she was planning to leave and stay gone, she would've taken these things with her. Right. I can't imagine the frustration of being like, this is a. Child who is still under 18, right?

This is my baby, my child that I am responsible for, and you guys are telling me that she just ran away and we're not gonna look for her like that to me. Like how heartbreaking. Oh yeah. And I mean they've, I'm sure they told the police that she has snuck out before, [00:08:00] but she came back home, so there's no reason for them to believe that she wouldn't have done the same thing right.

In the days following Skyler's disappearance, her parents were just desperate for answers. On July 8th, Sheila went over to the niece's apartment and offered to help. So she and Mary walked around the neighborhood together knocking on doors and asking people if they had seen Skyler, but nobody had.

Meanwhile, Skyler's other friend, Rachel, had left town for church camp, so she wasn't there to help look for her. On July 9th, the police publicly announced that they were seeking information about Skyler's whereabouts, but they said that foul play was not suspected. In the meantime, Skyler's parents handed out missing person posters and clung to hope as the rumors started to really swirl.

Meanwhile, Skyler's parents handed out missing person posters and clung to hope. As rumors started to swirl, theories emerged about what may have happened to the teenage girl, including one theory that she had overdosed at a party and the other teens hid her body in a panic. But Mary didn't believe [00:09:00] that she said Skyler wasn't into hard drugs.

The police stuck to their opinion that Skyler had simply run away on her own terms and would come home eventually. They continued to say this for nearly two months, telling nieces that there was nothing more that they could do for two months, which again, I feel like I get it if you're on the runaway thing, but.

A kid is not gonna stay gone for two months. Not without all of these things. No. Like they're going to want, they're going to need money. They're going to want their phone charger, they're gonna want their friends. They want all of those things. Right. So two months is, there has to be absolutely wild. Be, yeah, there has to be some kind of a timeline.

Even if you're going to say, this is, I'm treating it as a runaway. I feel like there has to be a timeline where you say, but at this point, if we, they don't turn up, then yeah, you have to get involved. You know, I feel like it should be immediately, but at the very least, I feel like there should be some timeframe.

Yeah, of course. So Skyler's friends, Sheila and Rachel were both interviewed by police. Sheila repeated what she had told Mary, which was that she had picked [00:10:00] Skyler up and dropped her back off before midnight. Rachel claimed she didn't know anything at all. At first, the police believed them. In their mind, Skyler was just a runaway, and so she wasn't in any real danger.

On July 19th, nearly two weeks after Skyler vanished, her dad went on TV to plead for her return. He spoke directly to Skyler and reassured her that she wasn't in any trouble, but that her parents desperately wanted to talk to her and that they loved her. At this point, the investigation's already stalling and the tips were really leading nowhere, and the police admitted that Skyler's friends really hadn't been much help at all.

By July 22nd, the case was at a standstill. Officials brought in the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to try and help. As the investigation struggled, Skyler's best friend Sheila continued to appear genuinely distraught over Skyler's disappearance. She visited the nieces once a week.

She cried [00:11:00] over Skyler's absence and she would ask Skyler's parents for updates. Mary and Dave still considered Sheila part of their family, and they kept her in the loop. But Rachel on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. She actually headed off to church camp after Skyler's disappearance and never went by the niece's house or offered to help.

By the end of July, Skyler's family was doing everything possible to keep her name in the public eye. One day they actually sat outside a Walmart in the sweltering heat selling t-shirts with Skyler's face on them in an effort to raise money to put towards a reward. But no new tips came in. Still, the police were still stuck with this original theory that Skyler ran away.

There was nothing more they could do, and we still have so much more to get into after a quick break to hear word from this week's sponsors. And now back to the episode. Before the break, we were talking about the disappearance of 16-year-old Skylar niece, who was last seen leaving her apartment before midnight and never returning [00:12:00] home.

As the week's passed, Skylar's story began to spread on social media and on August 16th, her friend Sheila Tweeted quote, was really waiting for Skyler to come home today. On another occasion she posted Skyler needs to come home. I can't take any more of this, but others at University High School noticed that Sheila and Rachel appeared to be pretty much unfazed while they were actually at school, despite posting on social media as if they were grieving friends.

The two girls went back to just being a duo instead of a trio, and it was kind of like Skylar never existed. Rachel auditioned for the fall play and even got the lead role, and both of the girls tried to just blend back in, but fellow classmates couldn't shake the sense that the girls knew a lot more than they were letting on by early September.

It had been two months since Skyler was last seen, and Mary knew deep down that she had not just run away. Her frustration led her to the police station where she demanded answers and refused to leave without them, but the police chief [00:13:00] wouldn't budge. He told Mary again that Skyler's case was still being treated as a runaway unless there was evidence that came to prove otherwise.

The chief said the state police had refused to help, but he wouldn't really share much else. Mary said somehow it seemed like strangers on Facebook were getting updates directly from the police, so she was furious and she went right home and called the state police herself, and they told her that they had in fact, received missing persons flyers to distribute, but they were never asked to join the investigation.

And if they were asked, they said they would never refuse to help in a missing person's case. By mid-September after months of stalled efforts and unanswered questions, the investigation into Schuler's disappearance finally got the jolt it needed the state police and the FBI officially joined the case, which was the first real sign of movement in weeks.

Federal agents started digging into everything, including Skyler's phone records, her computer, her social media, and her bank activity, [00:14:00] and what they found was quite concerning. There had been no activity on her bank account since the night she vanished and her phone had not been used at all either. Her last tweet, which was posted on July 5th, was a hostile open letter style tweet that said quote, you doing stuff like this is why I will never completely trust you.

End quote. The day before July 4th, Skylar tweeted several times with statements like, stress will be the death of me. Sick of being at home. Thanks, friends. I love hanging out with you all too. Obviously that's being very sarcastic, right? Just hours before Skylar snuck out of the house that night, she retweeted a post from a friend that said, all I do is hope.

And Skyler hadn't used any other social media since her disappearance either. The FBI wasted no time and they headed to the high school where they started interviewing students. Over and over in their investigation, these two names kept popping up and that was Sheila and Rachel. Students at the [00:15:00] school seemed to believe that the two girls knew more than they were saying, so the FBI brought them in to be questioned separately.

Sheila was calm and composed and made eye contact as she talked with investigators, but Rachel was restless and she couldn't stop doodling and fidgeting, and she avoided eye contact. The girls actually told the exact same story that they picked Skylar up, drove around Morgantown, smoked a little marijuana, and then dropped Skylar off at home before midnight.

At first, the police didn't think the girls were involved in anything sinister. They figured they were just scared and possibly protecting someone or covering up an accident that happened at a party. The FBI shared these concerns with Mary Niece, who really just shut it down right away. She said, these are Skyler's friends.

They're just having as hard of a time with this as we are and to Mary Sheila and Rachel are her daughter's best friends. So it's impossible for her to fathom that they would have anything at all to do with her [00:16:00] disappearance. But cracks actually were starting to form Investigators recovered surveillance footage from a gas station that caught Sheila's car heading east, which was not the direction of Morgantown.

Then phone records confirmed that Rachel's phone had pinged in Blackville that night too. For the first time, it was clear that the girls were lying. They had not just driven around town and then dropped Skylar off. They went somewhere else and they weren't mentioning it to the police. By November, nearly four months since Skylar vanished those cracks in Sheila and Rachel's stories were getting wider.

On November 5th, Sheila tweeted, no one on this earth can handle me. And Rachel, if you think you can, you're wrong. Which is such a teenager thing to tweet out like, right. Just very random and weird and teenagery. So I have to say about that, yeah, by the end of that month, Rachel was having a hard time keeping it together though.

According to Dateline, she finally admitted to investigators [00:17:00] that they really didn't just drive around Morgantown that night. They actually went to Blackville. She claimed that it was Skylar who had asked them to drop her off there, and that's what they did. The next day, Sheila was brought in again for another round of questioning, and she repeated the same story as before.

Nearly word for word. It was way too perfect. Yeah, and for that reason, investigators thought it seemed rehearsed and that made them even more suspicious. This time when authorities brought their concerns to Mary, she listened. Mary started posting more vague messages on Facebook, just kind of quotes about karma and how the truth always comes out in hopes that Skyler's friends would see these things and feel compelled to do the right thing and speak up if there was more that they weren't saying.

And things at school were also getting pretty awkward because the students in school were also openly speculating and buzzing around about how they were pretty sure Sheila and Rachel were hiding something. By December, the state police had taken the lead on the case and were working closely with the US Attorney's office.

At this time, Mary was given [00:18:00] permission to post a detailed update on social media outlining what the investigation had uncovered so far, she didn't name anyone by name, but it was obvious that Mary was referring to Sheila and Rachel when she wrote that. Skyler's best friends had lied repeatedly to state and federal agents.

Sheila had failed a polygraph and Rachel never even showed up for hers. Rachel also skipped her last interrogation and even fled from her lawyer's office with no explanation at one point. That's quite alarming. Yes. Mary's Post was very raw and vulnerable. She explained that if Skyler's death was an accident, these girls had every opportunity to come forward.

They were even offered immunity to come forward and tell the truth, but nobody had come forward and said it was an accident. Which to Mary spoke volumes. Yeah. Mary wrote quote, it just sickens me to know that anyone at this young of an age could sit by and let their supposed best friend disappear this way.

Mary had always loved Sheila and Rachel like her own daughters, and the shock of realizing that they [00:19:00] could be involved was just too much to bear. She said, this is truly the ultimate betrayal. Now the clock was ticking and warrants and subpoenas were being issued. As authorities prepared to convene a grand jury in January, Mary reiterated that the time had come to tell the truth, whether that meant bringing Skyler home or bringing her remains home for a proper burial.

By the end of December, Rachel was visibly unraveling. She was restless and agitated as the whispers and rumors at school so much that she and Sheila both stopped attending school. Although Sheila dropped out, she seemed emotionally unfazed by everything that was going on on December 28th. She posted, I actually can't take this fight seriously anymore.

I'm sorry, Rach. Later that day, things came to a boiling point in Rachel's household. Rachel's mom actually ended up calling 9 1 1 in an absolute panic. She reported that Rachel was [00:20:00] completely out of control. She was screaming, hitting her parents and running wildly through the neighborhood. Rachel could be heard in the background sobbing and screaming as her stepdad tried to restrain her.

Police were sent to the home and Rachel was ultimately admitted to a mental health facility. The next day, Sheila tweeted, Ugh, I hope my girl is okay. Love you. Several days later, Rachel reached out to police and said she was ready to talk. They planned to meet at her attorney's office. On January 3rd, 2013, Sheila tweeted a photo of her and Rachel with the caption.

Finally got to see Rachel. That same day, Rachel met with the police. Rachel looked pale and nauseous as she sat down for her interview. She actually pulled a trash can beside her in case she got sick. So investigators eased their way into the conversation. They asked her did Skylar overdose at a party, and that's when Rachel's face turned red and she looked at the [00:21:00] officers and plainly said.

We stabbed her, and this confession shattered everything. Rachel told the police that she and Sheila had killed Skyler because they didn't wanna be friends with her anymore. That was literally it. My gosh. Oh my gosh. So heartbreaking. The girls didn't have a big falling out or a massive betrayal. They just.

Mike anymore. Rachel said they actually planned this murder for months, both at home and at school. Really just about anywhere they could talk about it in private. They chose the date of July 6th because Rachel was leaving for church camp the next day. Wow. Rachel continued to explain that their plan was quite simple.

They would pick Skylar up late at night under the pretense of driving around and getting high, and once they were in a remote spot, they would wait until she got up to leave, then count to three and stab her to death. Afterward, they would bury her clean up and return home as if nothing happened on that night.

Rachel took a shovel from her dad's house, and Sheila brought kitchen knives and [00:22:00] cleaning supplies, which they hid in the trunk of Sheila's mom's car. Then they lured Skylar out of her bedroom and drove 30 miles to a secluded gravel road in Wayne Township, Pennsylvania, which is just over the state line.

When they got out of the car to smoke, one of them pretended they forgot to grab a lighter, and as Skylar turned to retrieve it, Rachel started counting to three, and then the girls attacked. According to Rachel, Skyler fought back as hard as she could, and the only word she managed to say was why. Ugh, that's so heartbreaking, so hard to hear.

Rachel said Skyler tried to run, but Rachel tackled her. At one point, Skyler was able to grab the knife and even slashed at Rachel's ankle, but Sheila was also still attacking her with a knife, so Rachel was able to gain control and joined in. Sheila and Rachel stabbed Skylar over 50 times. When the murder was over, they tried to dig a grave, but the ground was too rocky, so they dragged Skyler's body and put it under [00:23:00] some branches and dirt instead.

Then they wiped themselves clean, they changed their clothes and they drove home. And Rachel woke up the next morning and went to church camp as if nothing yeah had happened. After confessing to the murder, Rachel led investigators to the spot where she and Sheila had heartlessly dumped Skylar's body six months earlier.

By then Skyler's remains were just bones and had been scattered by animals and were half covered in branches. The remains were carefully recovered and sent to the FBI for forensic testing to confirm what everyone already knew. Unfortunately, it would be weeks or months before those results came back.

In the meantime, authorities kept the most damning details close to the chest. They did inform Mary and Dave that they had found a body and believed it was Skyler, but they did not tell the nieces about Rachel's confession or how they had found Skyler's remains. As for Rachel, she wasn't arrested just yet.

The authorities still needed proof to back up her confession [00:24:00] before they could charge and arrest her. Plus they hoped that she would still be able to help them trap Sheila into confessing as well. But in a bizarre twist, Rachel just carried on like nothing happened. She continued posting flippant tweets such as, I need a Mimosa or 10 literally after confessing to stabbing an innocent girl over 50 times, and as the winner wore on Skyler's family was left in limbo as they waited for the results that would prove their worst fears.

Which would've been Skyler's 17th birthday. Her loved ones instead gathered for a candlelight vigil. They let paper lanterns in her honor and watched as they drift off into the sky. Behind the scenes police were working overtime to verify Rachel's story. They arranged a scene operation where Rachel would invite Sheila over to her house where they would have hidden cameras to record their conversation as the police waited nearby.

Unfortunately, [00:25:00] though the setup failed and Sheila never slipped up or said anything incriminating. Investigators pushed forward. A few days later, they showed up at Sheila's house with a search warrant and seized the car that Rachel said they were driving. The night of the murder forensics found DNA in the trunk, which was quickly sent off to testing.

Then not long after the confirmation came in. The remains that were found in the woods were Skyler's. The US attorney's office made the official announcement on March 13th, 2013, but they didn't actually share any further details such as a cause of death or any mention of foul play. They did say though that the investigation was still ongoing.

Of course back at the high school word of Skylar's, death spread fast. Friends started calling Sheila and expressing their heartbreak. She would cry on the phone to them and say, who could do this? Then in a move that is dripping with all the audacity in the world, Sheila actually tweeted out [00:26:00] Worst day of my whole life.

The pain is real and she had the nerve to share a photo collage of her and Skylar with the unbelievable caption. Rest, easy. Skylar, you'll always in all caps, be my best friend. I miss you more than you could ever know. Next day. She tweets, seriously, don't understand any of this at all. And then she goes quiet for two whole days, which is like a miracle for her.

By April, though she was back to tweeting as usual, but with a twist. She posted one tweet that said, ha, ha, ha. You're such a compulsive liar. I mean, seriously, it'd probably kill you to tell the truth. And in a chilling tweet, Sheila said, and we can assume this is directed at Rachel, we really did go on three, which is horrifying.

Horrifying. And I guess I'm so confused about her tweets because. Is she just tweeting into the void or is she actually tagging people in these tweets? Like what is, like, who is she talking to when she's like a ha ha ha [00:27:00] compulsive liar? Like, is she talking to anyone or no one, or like Twitter back at this time, before it was X and everything, it was like where you just put your thoughts.

So it was kind of like Facebook, how Facebook would be like, how are you feeling a long time ago? So you just put it, and then teenagers are gonna be, she's just vague tweeting. Yes. Teenagers are gonna love that. Okay, and so we still have more to get into after one last break to hear. Were from this week's sponsors and now back to the episode.

Before the break, we have been getting into all the details of the case of Skylar niece who went missing for several months before her remains were discovered in a wooded area. The investigation continued, but the police still struggled to make sense of the motive behind such a brutal crime. According to Skyler's friend Rachel, it was just as simple as not wanting to be friends anymore, but that explanation just did not sit right with literally anyone.

Nobody believed that that's all there was to it. As they dug deeper into the girls' history, they learned that the close [00:28:00] bond between these three girls had really started to unravel about seven months earlier. Other students said they had noticed the three Musketeers were drifting apart, and Sheila and Rachel were even seen mocking Skyler behind her back when she wasn't around.

Fights between Sheila and Skylar became a regular thing. There were also rumors that Sheila and Rachel were in a secret, romantic relationship, and that Skylar had found out about it. But Mary and Dave said Skylar had other friends who were gay, so she wouldn't have cared, and that sort of thing didn't bother her at all.

So that was not anything that Sheila and Rachel would've needed to even be worried about. So she didn't really believe that that was a motive. Right. Others though, had a different theory and it was a much darker one. One officer believed the murder was about nothing more than the thrill of it just killing for the sake of power, control and experience.

As more students came forward, a pattern emerged that sent chills down their spines. There were multiple witnesses, including a teacher who had sent them to the principal's office after they [00:29:00] overheard the girl's casually discussing the best ways to kill someone. Okay. That is very upsetting to me.

Absolutely. They should have called the police. At that point, like the, or at least the school resource officer needs to be involved fully, but also like, once they know Skyler's missing and they know that the three of them are friends, I feel like you could go back to that time and be like, oh, wow. That's weird.

Right. They were, you know, it just doesn't, I don't know. Right. I, I, right. I'm not putting it on them. They're not the ones that did anything. Of course. Right. And at the time, the principal just chalked this up to typical teen nonsense. And of course nobody really, nobody believed that these girls were actually planning to murder anybody.

In mid-April, the DNA testing from the sample in the trunk of the car came back as being a match to Skyler, and that was the final confirmation needed to verify Rachel's confession. Once they had those test results, they finally told Skyler's parents the full truth, and I cannot imagine how hard it must have been to deliver this news to them.

Yeah, that they had received this confession from Rachel about how their daughter had been lured out, [00:30:00] ambushed, and brutally murdered by these two girls that she thought were her best friends. Steve later told Dateline every single day since I heard what happened to my daughter. I think about her last moments about how terrified she must have been and how Mary and I couldn't save our baby.

So heartbreaking. On May 1st, 2013, nearly 10 months after Skylar vanished, her so-called friends were formally charged with her murder. Rachel was the first to face the consequences being charged in juvenile court, but she quickly agreed to be transferred to adult status and entered a guilty plea to second degree murder.

She admitted to helping plan and carry out the attack on Skyler. On the other hand, Sheila was not publicly named and her case remains sealed in juvenile court for several months. Prosecutors were really in disbelief at how effortlessly the two girls had lied to authorities and maintained the lie for six long months.

They said some of the criminals that are [00:31:00] locked up for life aren't that hard. Even more chilling. Details emerged, including that Sheila and Rachel were overheard in science class by several other students as they talked about killing Skyler. Some even caught snippets of conversations about the murder plot before it happened, but they dismissed it as a twisted joke, and that is until Skyler actually went missing, and then things started to become a lot more real.

Prosecutors said they would recommend a 20 year sentence for Rachel, but under state laws she could face up to 40 years behind bars, but her sentencing would be postponed until the case against Sheila was a bit further along. In the meantime, Rachel's family released a public apology to the niece family that read.

In part, we are truly sorry for the pain that she has caused the niece family, and we know Rachel's actions are unforgivable and inexcusable. Our daughter has admitted her involvement and she has accepted responsibility for her actions. Our hearts are broken for your loss, [00:32:00] and we are still trying to come to terms with this event.

Dave and Mary struggled to come to terms with what happened. Dave spoke publicly as he talked about how deeply Skylar loved her friends and how incredibly disturbing it was that they could simply count to three and stab her to death. Dave said quote, I mean, what kind of sickness is that? And of course, this explanation that they just didn't like Skyler anymore was baffling and senseless.

So the nieces started working with writers on a book, and of course it's not for fame or recognition, but to warn other parents about the signs that they themselves had missed. Mary said they always tried to just trust Skylar and would let her go out with friends as long as she kept in contact with her parents and let them know where she was and that she returned home at a reasonable hour.

But now in hindsight, Mary questioned whether that was the right decision. She said, quote those parents who are on top of their kids all the time, more power to them. They should be. Mary regrets not knowing more about Skyler's [00:33:00] friendships and how toxic and manipulative they had become. But she also wondered how she even could have known, considering how cold and calculated Sheila and Rachel turned out to be.

Oh, yeah. They were so good at hiding their plan. Nobody even caught on until it was too late. So how could Mary have even seen the signs these girls were, she couldn't on another level. So in September of 2013, authorities finally released Sheila's name to the public. When she was transferred to adult court, she was then officially charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy in connection with Skylar's death.

Sheila pleaded not guilty and her trial was set to begin in late January of 2014, but that trial never came days before jury selection was to begin, Sheila changed her plea. In January of 2014, she pleaded guilty to first degree murder and the other charges were dropped as part of the deal. Sheila was then sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.

Sheila said nothing in court, which was the final [00:34:00] insult to Skyler's parents who had waited over a year for answers or just any sign of remorse. Even the fact that she didn't speak or give an apology was unacceptable in their eyes. They had welcomed Sheila into their home like a second child, and they were just absolutely disgusted that she had nothing to say for herself.

A month later in February, Rachel was sentenced to 30 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. Rachel, however, did address the courtroom and apologized directly to Skyler's family saying, I don't know if there's a proper way to make this apology. The person that did that was not the real me, not the person.

I am not what I made of, and not what I believe in. I became scared and caught up in something I did not want to do. You should have kept that to yourself. That is not an apology. No, it's not. But it is to me a very teenager apology. Absolutely. David though Skyler's dad was not impressed with it and wasn't swayed at all.

He said, you can never ever say [00:35:00] you're sorry to me or my wife because you're not, there will never be closure to us as far as you two are concerned. And he added those are two twisted sick individuals and they're exactly where they need to be. Today, more than a decade after Skyler's murder, both Sheila and Rachel remain incarcerated at Lincoln Correctional Center in West Columbia, West Virginia in May of 2023, Rachel faced the parole board for the first time, despite her silence about the killing.

Rachel finally gave an explanation. She said that she and Sheila were in a secret relationship and they feared that Skyler was going to tell people about it. She said that once the relationship became known, there was tension between the three of them and in their teenage minds, Rachel said she didn't know how to handle conflict.

They just wanted to make it stop. When asked what she would say to Skyler's family. Rachel choked out an apology. I loved her. I know what we did was terrible, and there's no [00:36:00] words to describe the pain that we caused. I just pray for them all the time and pray for peace in their heart. I would trade places with Skylar so she could be with her loved ones.

End quote. By this time, Skyler's parents still aren't interested in Rachel's thoughts and prayers. They responded to her statement with their own letter that said quote, because of that malicious monster, my child never got a limo for her prom. Instead, she got a ride in a coroner's vehicle. There was no sparkling gown for Skyler, just a body bag.

Her parents reminded the parole board that Rachel and Sheila didn't just kill Skyler on a random day. They calculated it and planned it so the killing would be out of the way before Rachel could go off to church camp. The letter continued, quote, this vicious murderer sits here today asking for a second chance.

I ask you, where is Skyler's second chance? Rachel's request for parole was ultimately denied and her next hearing was scheduled for May of 2024. Her [00:37:00] projected release date is April, 2028, at which time she will be 32 years old. That is not enough time. Wow. As for Sheila, her first chance at parole won't be until 2028, but her projected release date and Mandy just double checked to make sure this was true.

'cause I've never heard this isn't until the year 3000. Yeah. I guess when you get life in prison, they just put like a date that you surely are not going to live past. Right. They're like, let's add a millennium to that. Yeah. So in the years since Skyler's murder, her parents have turned their grief into purpose and have fought to change the system that failed their daughter.

Skyler's Law was passed in West Virginia to expand the state's Amber Alert System and ensure that alerts are issued for all missing children, not just those who have been abducted. The place where Skyler's Body was discovered has since been turned into a peaceful memorial. Dave told 2020 something horrible happened here, but I wanted to take the horrible thing that happened and try to turn it into something good, a place people can come and remember Skyler, [00:38:00] and remember the good little girl that she was and not the little beast that they treated her like.

Skyler's parents also launched an outreach initiative called Skyler Talks, where they travel to schools and prisons and talk about the ripple effect of violence and educate students on the importance of empathy, the warning signs of toxic friendships, and the lasting impact of betrayal. They encourage young people to speak up when something feels wrong, and to trust their instincts and be a voice that could save a life.

Skyler niece was a bright, loyal, and loving 16-year-old who trusted the wrong people, and while her life was taken far too soon, her story and her voice live on through her family and through the changes that her story has brought about. It's still so hard to believe that not only did these two teenagers do this, but that they were able to keep quiet about it because that is not normal.

No, there's so many disturbing parts of this. Not only like planning, it premeditating this for months between the two of them acting as though everything is fine. Going into her Skyler's [00:39:00] family's home and acting as if everything is normal and that they haven't been, they're not planning on killing their child like that is.

Deeply disturbing. Yes. And then to return to normal, you know, in while you're waiting to be arrested after you've just confessed to murder all of that. Right. You know, Sheila posting on Twitter about how the worst day of her life. Yeah. I just, all of that like Yes. Very unsettling, very upsetting that they're, to think about, especially a teenager being capable of this type of thing.

It's, it's horrifying. Absolutely. Um, and I just feel, of course, for the family, especially with them just having the one daughter and like, I've seen a Dateline in 2020 about this story and the dad talks about that. Like that was their whole world. Of course, any child, that's gonna be right. Everything, but just knowing, you know.

I mean, it just destroyed them. It breaks my heart for them. Me too. Absolutely. It's a very, very heartbreaking case, one that is definitely hard to cover and hard to [00:40:00] talk about, which is probably why we haven't done it up until now. It's an important story though. It isn't a very important story to tell, especially the, with those of us who do have teenagers and kids that are getting into that age where, you know, we just need to really pay attention and be, be.

Be aware and present in our kids' lives for sure. Yeah. I dunno if this is this way in like all friendships, but I know in girl friendships and I could, I don't know if you would feel this way from high school, but groups of three are always terrible. Kind of difficult, right? Terrible. Like somebody's always left out.

Mm-hmm. And obviously I'm not saying. Anything with this whatsoever. But you do always find out that somebody's being left out. So if your friend, if your kid is friends with two other people, it's always good to know like how they're feeling about whole, what the dynamics are, whole thing. Right, exactly.

The dynamic is can be really rough. Yeah. So yeah, that's, yeah. I did experience that in, in high school actually. I had two friends that were like my best friends, but to this day, the two of them actually still are very close and still talk to each other. But I was the one that got kind of pushed outta the group.

Oh, Uhhuh. But I feel like that, you know, it's just, that's. Way it was [00:41:00] in high school. Yeah. Like anytime you, you know, I don't know, we kind of would alternate back and forth. Like one, two of us would be happy with each other and one of us wasn't. Right. But in the end, it ended up being me that was not friends with them.

So, but also, like it never ends this way. This is such a crazy way. Right. It's, it's tragic and, and, yeah. Shocking. It's. Shocking. Terrible story. Yeah. Um, so that was the episode for this week. Thank you guys so much for listening. We will be back next Thursday again with another bonus episode. I don't know that it will be another crime story.

I think we have something different coming for you next week, but there will be something for you when we figure it out. We'll do it. Absolutely. So we will see you back then. Have a great week. Bye bye.