Skylar Annette Neese was born, raised and got brutally murdered by her friends in the town she lived Star City, in West Virginia. She was the only daughter and child of the couple, David and Mary. She was born on February 10, 1996. Skylar was a high achiever in terms of academics, outshining in almost every subject.
Skylar Neese has always been a best friend of a girl named, Morgan Lawrence. They both shared such an inseparable bond all their life since being toddlers and their friendship caused both the families to share extremely close relations.
As they kept growing, they both started making new friends which slowly started to drive them apart. But they were still insists to this day that the two would have always been ‘sisters.’
Skylar Neese started making new friends
Likewise, growing up just like any other teenage girl, Skylar made another new best friend, a girl named Sheila Eddy. She was also the only daughter and child to her parents and their friendship outgrew due to common things between themselves as well both of them entered freshman year together.
During their freshman year, a new girl named Rachael Shoaf also joined the school, and eventually, three of them bonded and, often referred to as ‘The Three Musketeers’. Eventually, their trio gained a ‘wild and rowdy’ reputation. The trio often snuck out after curfew, went to late night parties, drank, and did drugs. Their friendship was extensively predictable on social media, especially on Twitter, where the three girls were extremely active.
Skylar Neese’s Sudden Disappearance
On July 6th, 2012, Skylar arrived home from a late shift at Wendy’s and she went to her bedroom. But no one knew that would be the last time they saw Skylar alive. The following afternoon, on the night of the murder Skylar’s father, David knocked on her door to lend her the family car but there was no answer to his knocking, eventually David Neese noticed that the door had been locked.
Neese tried to unlock the door using a coat hanger, the moment he entered Skylar’s room he discovered that Skylar had not been slept in.
As her disappearance started to bother David, he called his wife. But Mary Neese was not surprised by her disappearance, assuming that she was likely at a party or shopping with friends. While later, when David was out there smoking in the garden he noticed that Skylar’s bedroom window was wide open, and there was a small footstool founded underneath it.
He concluded that she must have snuck out at night she must be intending to return home, using the footstool as a boost back into her room. To voice his concerns, David called his wife again but she reassured him that she would likely be home later, as she had a shift to work that night.
After six hours since her disappearance, at around 4 pm, the family got a call from Skylar’s employer, asking if she was due to work that day, as she had not turned up yet. She was known to never miss a shift, this instantly alerted her parents, who then decided to call the police.
Later when her parents complained about a missing file against Skylar’s sudden disappearance, the Star City units were assigned to the case of Skylar’s disappearance and the investigation started. As the result of the investigation, police went to search for her bedroom for clues of her whereabouts.
The first thing police noticed was there was an abundance of personal items left in the room by Skylar, which added to the theory that she was intending on returning home. Her personal items including her clothes, bags, phone charger, contact lenses, and toothbrush were still in her bedroom.
Later that day, Skylar’s parents received a call from Sheila Eddy, Skylar’s best friend where she admitted that Skylar had snuck out with her and with the other girl Rachael last night and also that Skylar’s wanted to be dropped off at the street corner rather than outside her house because she didn’t want to wake up her parents.
It’s been eighteen hours since Skylar’s disappearance, no one has heard from her. Later that day, everyone including the police, Sheila took a look at the CCTV footage that had been retrieved from the parking lot behind the house. At 00:26 am, a pale, three-door car pulled up behind the building, and Skylar was seen running towards it and getting in the back seat before the car took off again.
But Sheila denied it being her car and said that the driver may be Skylar’s secret boyfriend. With only a blur picture of the vehicle to go off, police were unable to trace it, and could only conclude that it belonged to somebody whom Skylar knew, as she was seen willingly running towards it and getting in.
However, her parents felt that the police aren’t doing enough to help them find about their daughter and Sheila was their only source of comfort comforting her parents that Skylar would return home soon enough. On the other hand, the other girl Rachel was said to be away at a Church camp miles away which makes Sheila going through all this alone.
Five days after Skylar’s disappearance, local news reported about Skylar, thanks to David and Mary attempting to spread the word so they could find Skylar as soon as possible. As a result of local news reports, a woman in North Carolina called to inform that she saw a girl who looked like Skylar with a red-haired girl but the portrayal of the other girl appeared to match Rachael, so some assumed that Rachael had skipped camp and ran away with Skylar.
After the call, Mary and David planned to leave for North Carolina, but unfortunately, the two girls were identified as runaways from another country before Skylar’s parents got there. According to Skylar’s parents, the police were not doing what’s needed to get their girl’s whereabouts, David and Mary assumed took control over the issue and endeavored to make Skylar’s story viral.
It was around this time that Rachael got back from church camp, so she was met. She was supposed to be incredibly anxious yet denied being at the party with Skylar.
The investigation continued even after 5 months since Skylar’s disappearance
The breakthrough in Skylar’s case was when Rachel Shoaf confronted that she and her friend Sheila murdered Skylar. They both were plotting to kill Neese. The explanation Shoaf gave for the murder was they “didn’t like her” and “didn’t want to be friends with her anymore”.
Skylar’s father, Dave Neese stated that these two girls were among his daughter’s best friends and that Shelia Eddy had even helped the family look for her by distributing missing person flyers. So eventually the police pushed Shoaf to tell the story from the beginning.
What happened at the night of murder?
During an interview with the police after her confrontation, Rachel recalled filling up Sheila’s car with shovels, cleaning supplies, and a change of clothes. They both hid knives in their hoodies and called Skylar to say they were on their way to pick her up for a joyride.
The trio drove out to Greene County, Pennsylvania, and pulled over in a rural area where they walked away into the woodland, and on Rachael’s count of three, the two girls Rachel and Sheila brutally attacked Skylar.
In self-defense, Skylar got one of the knives from Rachael and wounded her in the lower leg, so, all things considered, she withdrew. But on the other hand, Sheila continued stabbing Skylar more than fifty times as she kept shouting ‘why?’
The moment they both realized Skylar is dead, they intended to cover their crime and attempted to bury her body but eventually they end up hiding her dead body under branches and leaves. They strolled back to the car, changed their clothes, and drove away.
Skylar’s Dead Body was founded
After Rachel’s confession, she led the police to Skylar’s dead 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 remains of Skylar Neese and her remains were found less than 30 miles away from her home.
Thought processes in the crime stay obscure today, however, many speculate that Rachael and Sheila were sexually active and attracted to one another and killed Skylar trying to hide this.
The two stay in prison to this day. Rachael is supposedly married to another woman criminal, which offers legality to the controversy that the two stabbed and killed Skylar over feelings of fears of their relationship being uncovered and exposed. Sheila was found to be guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment but she wasn’t pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder.
However, Rachael’s confession and plea of guilty allowed her a reduced sentence of 30 years. Both killers are remained behind the bars at the Lakin Correctional Center in West Virginia till now.
The Initiation of Skylar’s Law
Devastated by their daughter’s tragic death, Dave and Mary initiated Skylar’s Law which is the modification of 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 or they appear to have vanished by choice or not. Later on, the law was approved with 98-0 votes.
