Shanda Sharer

**Shanda Renée Sharer** (June 6, 1979 - January 11, 1992) was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana by four teenage girls.

## Events

### Backstory

Shanda Sharer was born in the Pineville Community Hospital in Pineville, Kentucky, on June 6, 1979, to Stephen Sharer and his wife Jacqueline, who was later known as Jacqueline Vaught. Jacqueline was divorced from Shanda’s father, but they moved to New Albany, Indiana, to be closer to him. Her mother said that Shanda was very athletic and on the Cheerleading Squad as well as the Softball and Volleyball teams. The 12-year-old was said to be bubbly and sweet, and described as very pretty, wearing lots of makeup to look older.

Shanda Sharer met 14-year-old Amanda Heavrin at Hazelwood Middle School in 1991. Amanda was very tomboyish and not the sort of person Shanda would usually have hung out with. Amanda was a star Basketball player and Sharer also enjoyed Basketball. Shanda’s mother said her daughter was very nervous about starting a new school, however she quickly made some new friends. One of her new friends had broken up with her boyfriend recently and needed to return a Ring he’d given her. To prove her loyalty, Shanda agreed to t return the Ring for her friend. Shanda tried to give the Ring back, but the boy got angry and he began yelling at Shanda. A crowd came to watch the argument and Amanda Heavrin came over. Amanda was the boy’s cousin, and, thinking Shanda was bullying her cousin, Amanda beat her up. Shanda had never gotten into trouble at school before and Shanda’s mother was surprised, when she came home and saw Shanda’s bruises her mother was shocked. However, surprisingly, Amanda and Shanda became best friends in detention. Amanda was openly a Lesbian and dating a 16 year old girl named Melinda Loveless. Shanda’s mother was against Shanda’s friendship with Amanda, abut accepted it because Shanda told her that Amanda was a nice girl who wasn’t usually violent. Shanda’s father and stepmother took Shanda and Amanda with them to a festival and though Amanda was polite, they didn’t like her cocky and arrogant attitude.

In October of that year, a school dance was coming up and Melinda decided that she did not like school dances and would not go, instead planning on getting drunk with her friend. Because of that, Amanda decided to take Shanda as her date. Shanda was not aware Amanda had a girlfriend. However, Melinda and her friend got bored and decided to go to the dance last minute, There, Shanda and Amanda were confronted by Melinda. Melinda had become jealous of how close Shanda was with Amanda. Though Shanda was against beginning a relationship with Amanda, Amanda assured her they could still hang out when Melinda was not around. Eventually, Melinda started dating an older girl named Carrie because Amanda had been cheating on her with Shanda, though Shanda wasn’t really aware that Amanda was still dating Melinda. The couple never formerly broke up, but they did stop dating.

Loveless eve threatened Shanda in public and Amanda sided with Melinda. Shanda went home on her own in tears. Melinda soon even talked about killing the 12-year-old. Shanda’s mother discovered love letters between Amanda and Shanda, and learned that Shanda had been having a sexual relationship with the now 15-year-old girl. Shanda’s mother didn’t want her daughter having sex so young, seeing as she wasn’t even a teenager yet. At this point, Sharer’s mother spoke with her ex-husband and his wife and they transferred her to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Catholic school in order to protect her. Shanda made new friends, broke up with Amanda and got a boyfriend.

Despite having left Amanda in the past, Amanda refused to accept Shanda’s decision and repeatedly called Shanda’s house, and got her friends to as well. However, Shanda’s parents intervened.

### Abduction

On the cold winter night of January 10, 1992, Loveless enlisted her best friend from another Town — Laurie Tackett (17), and two of Laurie’s old friends: Hope Rippey (15), and Toni Lawrence (15) — to help her take her revenge on Shanda Sharer. The girls drove to where Sharer was spending the weekend with her father. The girls used the pretense that they were taking Sharer to see Heavrin as the excuse for their visit. Sharer was reluctant to go with them, yet agreed after changing her clothes. As they got in the car, Rippey began questioning Sharer about her relationship with Heavrin.

Loveless then sprang out from the back seat, put the knife to Sharer's throat and began interrogating her about her sexual relationship with Heavrin. In tears and fearful for her life, Sharer tried to respond but to no avail. Loveless then convinced the other girls to take Sharer to a remote location where there would be no one else around for miles.

### Torture and Murder

Loveless and Tackett made Sharer strip down to her underwear; then, Loveless beat Sharer with her fists. Loveless hit the victim’s face with her knee until she bled profusely from her mouth. Loveless tried to slash Sharer's throat, but the knife was too dull. Instead, they stabbed her in the chest and strangled her with a rope before throwing her in the trunk of the car, thinking she was dead.

The girls drove to Tackett's nearby home and went inside to drink soda and clean themselves. When they heard Sharer screaming in the trunk, Tackett went out with a paring knife and stabbed her several more times, coming back a few minutes later covered with blood.

Finally, in the early morning hours, the torturers stopped at a gas station and bought a two-liter bottle of Pepsi, which they quickly emptied and refilled with gasoline.

Again driving to a remote location, the girls hauled their still-alive victim out of the trunk, wrapped her in a blanket, and poured the gasoline on her. Then they lit Shanda Sharer on fire and drove off. Just to be sure their work was finished, Loveless had them return a few minutes later to pour some more gasoline on her, watch her writhe in agony, and finally confirm that she was dead.

The girls went to a McDonald's restaurant at 9:30 a.m. for breakfast, where they laughed about Sharer's body looking like one of the sausages they were eating. Later that morning, two hunters found the body. Lawrence and Rippey went straight to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office with their parents and spilled the whole story. By the next day, all four girls were in custody.

### Aftermath

All four girls were tried as adults and accepted plea bargains in order to avoid the death penalty. Lawrence and Rippey — younger, less involved in the torture, and more forthcoming with authorities — received lighter sentences, with Lawrence getting 20 years and Rippey getting 50 (shortened to 35 on appeal). Meanwhile, Tackett and Loveless both received 60-year sentences.

Toni Lawrence was released in 2000 after serving nine years.

Hope Rippey was released in 2006 after serving 14 years.'

Laurie Tackett was released in 2018 after serving 25 years.

Melinda Loveless was released in 2019 after serving 26 years.

The Shanda Sharer Scholarship Fund was established in January 2009. The fund planned to provide scholarships to two students per year from Prosser School of Technology in New Albany; one scholarship to a student who is continuing his or her education, and the other scholarship to a student who is beginning his or her career and must buy tools or other work equipment.

## News

*For news articles on Shanda Sharer, see here.*

## External links

* Shanda Renée Sharer • Find a Grave
* Murder of Shanda Sharer • Wikipedia

## In popular media

### Literature

* *Cruel Sacrifice* – Aphrodite Jones (30 March 2017)
* *Hazelwood Jr. High* – Rob Urbinati (22 July 2009)
* *Little Lost Angel* – Michael Quinlan (11 September 2012)

### Podcasts

* Crime Salad – *The Eyes of a Monster - The Murder of Shanda Sharer* (30 November 2022)
* Criminology – *Shanda Sharer* (15 January 2023)
* Facing Evil – *Shanda Sharer* (16 March 2023)
* Human Monsters – *Kids Who Kill Part 1: The Murder of Shanda Sharer* *(29 June 2020)*
* Innocent Til Tipsy – *Shanda Sharer: Pushing the Boundaries* (12 January 2022)
* Morbid: A True Crime Podcast – *The Torture and Murder of Shanda Sharer* (7 March 2021)
* Rotten Mango – *75: The Mean Girls Killers (Case of Shanda Sharer)* *(23 June 2021)*
* The Secret Sits – *Shanda Sharer* (10 May 2021)
* Stardust Sisters – *Episode 17 - The Brutal Murder of Shanda Sharer* *(8 August 2020)*
* True Crime All the Time – *The Murder of Shanda Sharer* (21 January 2018)
* True Crime Brewery – *Mean Girls: The Murder of Shanda Sharer* (17 October 2017)

### Television

* 1990s: The Deadliest Decade – *The New Girl* (12 November 2018)
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – *Mean* (24 February 2004)
* Mind of a Killer – *Jealousy* (30 July 2014)