Murder of Skylar Neese
Skylar Annette Neese (February 10, 1996July 6, 2012) was an American teenage girl who disappeared from her home in Star City, West Virginia, around midnight on July 6, 2012. Neese's body was found on January 16, 2013, in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania. Neese was murdered by two of her high school best friends, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf. On January 3, 2013, Shoaf told authorities that she and Eddy planned and carried out Neese's murder. Shoaf pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on May 1, 2013, and was sentenced to 30 years in  prison with eligibility for parole after 10 years. Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on January 24, 2014, and was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after fifteen years. Neese's disappearance led to new West Virginia legislation that made changes to the AMBER Alert missing child alert system. Background information. Victim. Skylar Annette Neese (born February 10, 1996) was the only child of Mary and David "Dave" Neese. At that time, Mary Neese worked as an administrative assistant in a cardiac lab and David Neese was a product assembler at Walmart. Skylar was a student  at University High School who wanted to become a criminal defense lawyer. She worked at Wendy's with two close friends. Perpetrators. Shelia Rae Eddy (born September 28, 1995) was born in Blacksville, West Virginia, the only child of Tara Clendenen and Greg Eddy. Rachel Shoaf (born June 10, 1996) grew up in Morgantown, the only daughter of Rusty and Patricia Shoaf. Both perpetrators attended University High School along with their victim. Disappearance. On July 5, 2012, Neese returned to her family's Star City, West Virginia apartment after working a shift at Wendy's. Her apartment complex's surveillance  video shows Neese left the apartment via her bedroom window at 12:30 a.m. on July 6 and got into a sedan. Neese's father said she did not take her cell phone charger, her window was left open and that she planned on coming home. Murder. On the night of the murder, Shoaf and Eddy invited Neese 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. 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, cleaning cloths, clean clothes and a shovel. They concealed the knives in their hoodies. At approximately 12:30 a.m., Neese climbed out of her bedroom window, crossed the street and got into the back seat of a four-door sedan. Law enforcement officers later determined that the sedan had been in the possession of Eddy that evening. The three girls then headed northwest from Star City toward Blacksville via U.S. Route 19. The perpetrators had planned to travel along W.V.  Route 7, but turned around after spotting a state police car. They eventually arrived at their destination just across the Pennsylvania state border, a spot where all three of the girls had occasionally smoked marijuana. Once the girls were out of the vehicle, the perpetrators told Neese they had forgotten to bring a lighter. Neese volunteered to go back to the vehicle to fetch her own lighter. Once Neese had turned her back, Shoaf and Eddy counted to three, their agreed-upon signal, then began to stab Neese. The victim attempted to run, but was only able to run a  few feet (a meter or two) before Shoaf tackled her to the ground and continued the assault. Neese managed to wrestle Shoaf's knife from her and, in an apparent attempt to defend herself, cut Shoaf's ankle. Eddy continued to stab Neese until there was complete silence and, according to Shoaf, "Neese's neck stopped making gurgling sounds." Shoaf and Eddy attempted to bury the body, dragging Neese to the side of the road, but the road ran along a creek and the soil there was too hard and rocky to dig a hole. They instead covered Neese's  body with rocks, fallen branches and dirt. They returned to the car to clean themselves and the murder scene, then left the scene. Investigation. Neese was initially considered by law enforcement authorities to be a runaway and an Amber Alert was not immediately issued in connection with her disappearance. 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. Neese's parents posted flyers about their missing daughter in the Monongalia County region. Police determined that the unknown sedan in which Neese was last  seen belonged to Eddy and interviewed her. Eddy admitted to picking up Neese but stated that she had dropped her off an hour later. The FBI and the West Virginia State Police joined the search for Neese on September 10, 2012, and began interviewing Neese's school friends. The break in the case came when Shoaf admitted plotting with Eddy to kill Neese. The motivation Shoaf gave for the murder was they "didn't like her" and "didn't want to be friends with her anymore". David Neese stated that these two girls were among his daughter's best friends  and that Eddy had even helped the family by distributing missing person flyers. After her confession, Shoaf led investigators to Neese's body. On March 13, 2013, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II issued a press release stating that a body found in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania on January 16, 2013 had been identified as the body of Neese. Neese's body was found less than away from her home. Criminal charges. On May 1, 2013, Shoaf pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. According to the court transcript, Shoaf said that she and 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. 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. According to Shoaf's plea agreement, 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 recommended a sentence of 20 years incarceration. Shoaf's family issued a public apology for her actions through their lawyer. On September 4, 2013, West Virginia prosecutors publicly identified Eddy as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult. Eddy was indicted by a grand jury on September 6, 2013 on one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. She pleaded  not guilty. The date of the trial was originally set for January 28, 2014. Facing the prospect of additional charges from Pennsylvania authorities, Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. She expressed no remorse, but was sentenced to life in prison "with mercy"; under West Virginia law, she is eligible for parole after 15 years. Pennsylvania authorities did not file charges as per the plea deal. Following her guilty plea on May 1, 2013, on February 25, 2014 Shoaf received a sentence of 30 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after 10 years. Eddy originally was held  in a facility for juveniles after her arrest. Both women are incarcerated at the Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County. 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. A waiting period of 48 hours had to elapse before a teenager could  be considered missing. A West Virginia state legislator from the Neese family home district introduced a bill 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. Opinion columns appeared in both West Virginia and national media in support of Skylar's Law, some of which also acknowledged criticism and drawbacks of the legislation. On March 27, 2013, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved Skylar's Law with a 98-0 vote . On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed the law, but made minor technical changes to the bill which the House of Delegates voted to accept on the same day. West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the legislation into law in May 2013. National media attention. On May 31, 2013, Anderson Cooper covered the story of Neese's murder. On March 7, 2014, "Dateline NBC" aired an episode about the murder titled "Something Wicked." On March 10, 2014, the Dr. Phil show covered the story in an episode titled "Best Friends Betrayal"; Neese's parents participated, as  did two women who described themselves as "second mothers" to Shoaf. On April 12, 2014, Lifetime aired "Death Clique", a fictional drama. On July 18, 2014, ABC's "20/20" covered the story in the episode called "Unfriended". On October 22, 2014, LMN's show "I Killed My BFF" covered the story using parent and friend commentaries in an episode titled "Real Life Heathers". On November 14, 2014, Investigation Discovery's show "See No Evil" covered the story in an episode titled "Skylar Neese". The show uses surveillance video to piece together the last few hours of Neese's life. First  person interviews with her family, friends and the investigators are used, along with limited dramatic recreation. On March 26, 2016, ReelzChannel show "Copycat Killers" covered the story in an episode titled "Heathers". On August 7, 2016, Oxygen Channel covered the story on "Snapped." On October 28, 2016, Investigation Discovery covered the story on an episode of "Suspicion" titled "A Daughter Disappears."