Pretty Little Killers

by Berry, Daleen, Fuller, Geoffrey C.

  In silence, Mary and Dave both cried, their arms supporting each other in their shared grief. Dave felt the snow pelting his face and thought of his little girl, their little girl, and what she must have gone through that night. Again, he told himself that he should have been there for her.

  Riding home, temporarily cleansed by tears, Mary spoke: “How did you all find this place?”

  “Rachel told them,” Dave said. Even though the prosecutor’s office hadn’t officially told them about January’s confession, several people whom Dave believed were in the know had already laid it out.

  “Through investigation,” was all Tessa would say, but it looked to Dave like she was nodding as she said it.

  Riding back in silence it occurred to Dave that he should try to remember how to return to the spot. Then he realized he didn’t need to. He knew Mary would know the way if they wanted to come back, but at that moment he also couldn’t imagine why either of them ever would.

  Gaskins couldn’t get Skylar Neese out of his mind. He kept replaying the day they had found her. The crime scene unit had been on site for nearly forty-eight hours after they found the remains. Gaskins, several other state troopers, and FBI agents had carefully sifted, bagged, and tagged anything that might contain clues to how this person—who Gaskins was convinced was Skylar—died. Or who might have been responsible, or where the knives and shovel were. Most worrisome was that they hadn’t found her skull.

  For over two months, Gaskins’ thoughts kept coming back to that. He had since moved on to other cases, but he couldn’t forget about her missing head. By March 29 temperatures had climbed to the 60s. When First Sergeant Chad Tierney asked Gaskins to take him out to see the site, Gaskins jumped at the opportunity.

  “That shovel might still be around there,” Gaskins said.

  As he drove, Gaskins and Tierney talked about the case. Most likely, scavengers were responsible for her head being missing. Gaskins knew bodies that are left outdoors for months are always victimized a second time—first comes the death and then the ravages of wildlife and weather. In earlier cases Gaskins had worked, he’d found bones as much as a quarter mile or farther from the victim’s body.

  He also thought about how Rachel’s confession had taken him completely by surprise. He and Berry had known for months that Shelia and Rachel were withholding information, but they never believed the teens had stabbed their friend to death. That’s when he realized the bank robberies were completely unconnected to the murder.

  The lack of real evidence, coupled with Rachel’s confession, had taken the pressure off the Conaway boys. They ceased being primary suspects. Gaskins could no longer see any reason for their involvement.

  When they arrived at the site, Gaskins showed Tierney where they found Skylar. Then he led the way up a little road that was more like a footpath than one vehicles would travel. It curved around the mountain and led up to a pond. Gaskins told Tierney about the mine shafts he and Berry had searched, and the T-shirt they’d found.

  The two troopers were walking back down the road when Gaskins glanced over. Scanning the field, he saw an odd glint in the sunlight. “Man, that doesn’t look right.”

  Gaskins and Tierney kept walking. “It might be the skull,” Tierney told him.

  “It can’t be that easy.”

  But it was. As they drew near, they could tell it was a human skull. Gaskins couldn’t believe it. He was so excited he could barely find the right screen on his phone to call Berry.

  “Grab my camera. Grab my crime scene stuff. Get out here right now.”

  Berry had to restrain himself as he drove the familiar route. He knew the road so well he could easily drive much faster than the speed limit. Still, Gaskins was waiting, and so was Skylar—all of Skylar could be returned to Dave and Mary.

  When Berry arrived, he took photos from every angle. Then they gently placed Skylar’s skull inside an evidence bag and took it to the Greene County coroner.

  Not long before Rachel pled guilty, she invited Wendy Evans for a sleepover. Wendy had been friends with Rachel since they were freshmen but over time their friendship had faded. Because they hadn’t done anything together in many months, Wendy was surprised but pleased to receive Rachel’s invitation. Ever since Shelia came onto the scene, Rachel had been different. Wendy thought Rachel was trying to rekindle their friendship, so she was excited about the upcoming visit.

  However, that night Rachel dropped a bombshell. “I have something to tell you,” Rachel said once they were alone in her bedroom. “You know all those rumors, about Skylar, about the FBI pulling me out of classes, going around school? The police caught Shelia and she’s probably going to jail. I just found out she killed Skylar.”

  Wendy stared at her friend as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What do you mean? Weren’t you both with Skylar that night?”

  “I know!” Rachel said, a look of sincere shock seeming to spread across her entire face. “So she must have gone back and done it after she dropped me off, right? That’s the only thing I can figure. I can’t believe all these months I’ve actually been friends with a murderer!”

  “How did she kill her?”

  “I don’t know—but I could have been next! What if it had been me instead?” Rachel looked truly terrified at having been such close friends with a girl who turned out to be a murderer.

  Wendy was stunned. “Wow!”

  “I know, it’s like—all those jokes, about being a murderer—those kids were right! Right?” Rachel gave Wendy an incredulous look, her brows raised high.

  Wendy had never liked Shelia, who seemed sketchy and rolled her eyes a lot. In fact, Wendy had harbored her own suspicions the previous fall. She believed Shelia could do such a terrible thing, but not Rachel, who often wrote her very best friends little notes in class, telling them how amazing they were, how much she loved them, and loved being with them. No. Rachel would never have killed Skylar. She was far too sweet to hurt anyone—much less murder them.

  It was a Twitter exchange—over baby turtles, of all things—that left people chattering.

  The short series of tweets among Shania, Shelia, and her cousin, Lexy Eddy, was intensely scrutinized in light of Rachel’s plea and Shelia’s arrest. People trying to interpret it said the tweets were a sign of Shelia’s deep pathology. A thread on the local Topix Morgantown site called it “disgusting.”

  The tweet exchange took place about 9:45 in the evening on April 9, 2013:

  SHELIA:my father is telling me to kill my wittle baby turtles.

  LEXY:that’s the solution. you wouldn’t have to worry about em anymore.

  SHELIA:-_-

  Shelia then retweeted Lexy’s wellll do ya have a hammer on ya? and added HAHAHA exactly what he said.

  Shania chimed in, and Shelia retweeted it: @slexy_@_shelia let me hit them with a hammer.

  The troubling tweets ended with Shelia’s, it’s not that i don’t want them. it’s that they’re fucking green dude

  Normally, this kind of “conversation” would be seen as absurd. But the people who were combing through Shelia, Rachel, and Skylar’s Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram records were looking for evidence of anything that would indicate the two teens had killed Skylar.

  What would have been taken for silliness before Skylar’s murder became an example of callous neglect at best, sadism at worst.

  When asked about the exchange, Greg Eddy shed some light on his daughter’s baby turtles—and therefore, the tweets about them.29 Greg said Shelia bought the tiny creatures from a pet store. Over the next few weeks, though, she discovered her new pets were sick, so she said she wanted to take them to a vet’s office, to have them put to sleep. When Shelia told her father that, he said it would be ridiculous to pay so much money when she could easily take care of the turtles herself. He suggested she hit them with a hammer, which would be quick and painless.

  Greg’s explanation certainly sounded plausible, and from her own twee
ts, Shelia seemed to be in a light-hearted, joking mood, typing wittle for little. She also said they were green, which could have been a reference to their being sick.

  While Shelia was talking about humanely putting her baby turtles down, or merely taunting the world she knew was watching her online movements, Rachel was packing a suitcase and preparing for what she knew would be a final visit to her grandparents’ home.

  thirty-nine

  The Close of the Day

  Not long before Rachel and Shelia were taken into custody, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin put pen to paper on April 29 and approved the pending legislation that transformed one angry mother’s late-night Facebook rant into Skylar’s Law. Governor Tomblin didn’t know it, but with his official seal on the new law, he gave the Neeses the only happy ending they would ever have. Skylar’s Law is now being used as a model by several other states to help reform their own AMBER Alert systems, and the reform stands to provide a beacon of hope for parents of presently and future missing children.

  On May 1, four long months after Rachel’s confession, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were arrested for the role they played in Skylar’s death.

  When people heard about the Shoaf family’s beach trip just before Rachel pled guilty on May 1, the online discussion boards lit up. Busybodies who knew nothing beyond the pictures that showed up online and Rachel’s tweets characterized it as a last mother-daughter fling. Other people questioned the competence of the authorities charged with investigating and prosecuting the case.

  Even though the police already had Rachel’s confession, and she had passed an extensive polygraph exam afterward, they still didn’t have any hard evidence to arrest her. They were still waiting for the results of the DNA analysis. So the authorities had no reason not to let Rachel leave the state. Until the police had enough evidence to charge her with murder, she was free to come and go at will.

  Despite the public’s misperceptions, the trip was taken for one reason: so Rachel could say goodbye to her maternal grandparents, who lived in Virginia Beach. Because Rachel’s arrest was imminent, the Shoafs knew she wasn’t going to see her grandparents for a long time, if ever again.

  The online community’s reaction to the Virginia Beach trip once again highlights social media’s uncertain connections to the truth. For instance, Rachel’s tweet sunday is the day when me and my mom get drunk together and its a great time made their beach trip sound like one nonstop party. In truth, this tweet occurred after Patricia let Rachel have a sip of her mimosa. Rachel tweeted it because she wanted to appear cool, like Shelia and Tara. Liz says Rachel also did it because she was trying to prove to Shelia that her mother was cool, too. Another person close to the Shoafs said Rachel tweeted the lie to make her mother angry. She succeeded.

  All through the late winter and early spring, Rachel had been trying to shore up her image as a happy innocent for her friends, her fans, and the strangers who were becoming more curious about her. She said once her name was cleared, she was moving to Canada or England, where no one knew the rumors and she could study acting. Once she simply tweeted, i just cant wait to get the hell out of here and start a completely new life.

  Some of Rachel’s tweets seemed manufactured, as if they were designed to portray her days as normal, when instead they masked her hidden life. On January 16, for instance, she tweeted, my life is beyond boring right now. Rachel just wanted people to think she was no different than she ever had been.

  Rachel’s other tweets held a ring of denial and exhausted depression: can i sleep til im 18 then wake up? that’d be perfect and i can’t remember what’s a dream and what’s reality anymore.

  But sometimes, like someone hiding behind a translucent window sheer, reality has a way of becoming visible. This happened on February 10, when Rachel tweeted, happy birthday skylar. Later that same night, she tweeted, i hate the shit i think about at night. By the next day, she seemed to be shaking off her dark thoughts: yeah, there are plenty of things i regret from my past. but im on a completely new path now and i really wish people could appreciate that. Amidst all of this, Rachel had to face constant harassment, some of which she responded to reasonably (seriously why can’t you guys just mind your own business) and some with a burst of anger (GOD I HATE YOU GO AWAY).

  She did receive occasional support from a friend or two (@_racchh rumors are rumors and that’s all they will ever be, people who matter won’t believe them anyways!). Some of Rachel’s friends believed the teenager just couldn’t have done anything so heinous as kill one of her BFFs. Other friends simply thought the legal system accorded her the same right as everyone else: namely, that she should be viewed as innocent until proven guilty.

  Rachel tweeted fairly regularly about her life with Mikinzy. There was her January 13 so proud :’) @mikinzyboggs tweet. Two weeks later, on January 29: mikinzy is so fun to talk to cause he’s so curious about life and how people think. Rachel seemed to value the relationship, and in early March she even tweeted thank god i have a reliable boyfriend lol seriously.

  Unbeknownst to Rachel, Mikinzy wouldn’t be hers much longer. By the time Rachel pled guilty to second-degree murder, they had broken up again.

  As previously arranged, Rachel Shoaf turned herself in to Monongalia County Circuit Court on Wednesday morning, May 1. After being processed, she and her lawyer went straight to Judge Clawges’ courtroom, where she pled guilty to second-degree murder.

  Neither Shelia nor her mother, Tara, had a clue this was happening. By late morning, they were enjoying a meal together at Cracker Barrel.

  Corporal Gaskins was not at the hearing. He was on standby, waiting for a call from the prosecutor’s office to pick up Shelia. He had already called Tara’s cell phone company hoping they would release her location without a warrant. They wouldn’t.

  Shortly after the hearing ended, Gaskins received a call from the assistant prosecutor.

  “It’s going to be on the radio soon,” Perri Jo DeCristopher told him. “Time to get Shelia.”

  With Gaskins and Spurlock driving lead, two cruisers rushed to the Clendenen house in Canyon. When they arrived, no one was home. Gaskins and Spurlock talked over their options.

  Gaskins looked at Spurlock and shrugged. “I’m going to call her.”

  To their surprise, it was that easy. In the course of their brief conversation, Tara said she and Shelia were eating at Cracker Barrel.

  At one point, Tara asked, “Do I need to get my attorney?”

  “Probably should,” Gaskins said, and then he downplayed it, trying to ensure Tara didn’t grow nervous: “Well, you guys enjoy your meal. Call us when you’re done.”

  As soon as he hung up, Gaskins said, “Let’s get to Cracker Barrel.”

  The cruisers took off, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Gaskins knew speed was important; Tara and Shelia might be gone by the time they arrived. When Gaskins learned that Trooper Tierney was just leaving the detachment, he radioed Tierney.

  “Turn around, block the Cracker Barrel entrance,” Gaskins ordered. “Nobody gets in or out.”

  Tierney rushed to Cracker Barrel and did just that. He got out of his car and walked toward the restaurant. He didn’t know what Tara and Shelia looked like, but he approached two females who were leaving the restaurant.

  “Are you Shelia’s mom?” he asked Tara.

  “Yeah,” Tara said.

  “Well, you can’t leave,” Tierney said.

  When Gaskins and Spurlock pulled up, Tierney was standing with Tara and Shelia on the sidewalk. Gaskins could feel eyes on him and he and his partner jumped out. Sure enough, several people were watching from inside as Gaskins spoke the words he’d been waiting months to say.

  “Shelia Eddy, you are under arrest for the murder of Skylar Neese.”

  Tara sat down on the curb. Gaskins handed her a copy of the arrest warrant.

  “I think you need to call your lawyer now. Your daughter’s being arrested for murder. She’s coming with us.”

  As
Gaskins handcuffed Shelia, she asked plaintively, “Mom, is everything going to be all right?”

  “Shelia, I don’t know,” Tara could barely manage, as her trembling fingers punched the number for Mike Benninger, Shelia’s lawyer.

  forty

  Rachel Cops a Deal

  Shelia’s arraignment hearing had been brief, less than thirty minutes, but because she was underage, few people outside of the courtroom knew about it. The public only learned that an unnamed juvenile was facing charges related to Skylar’s murder, and that juvenile was in custody. A great many people had already concluded that girl was Shelia Eddy, thanks to details released after Rachel pled guilty to second-degree murder. By then, Shelia was being transported to juvenile detention.

  Judge Russell Clawges, Jr., presided over Rachel’s May 1 plea hearing. Prosecutor Ashdown had talked with him weeks before. Ashdown wanted Clawges because of his reputation for conducting smooth trials with a minimum of drama. A high-profile case like this one needed to be free of “hitches and mistakes,” a confidential source explained.

  They wanted to schedule a ninety-minute block of the court’s time, which was tricky. It had to be on a day that the prosecution, the defense, and the judge all had an open ninety minutes. By early April they had sufficient evidence to corroborate Rachel’s confession and arrest Shelia—but it took nearly a month to schedule the hearing on the court’s docket.

  The prosecution team wanted to sweep through the proceedings with one quick hearing, to keep the news as quiet as possible. They planned to begin with a juvenile hearing to transfer Rachel to adult status, and then move through Rachel’s plea hearing, where she would plead guilty to murdering Skylar. A typed note telling the public that court was in session was the only sign anything was happening, as Judge Clawges began.