The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines (18 page)
Read The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines Online
Authors: Daleen Berry,Geoffrey C. Fuller
| 1996 | |
| Feb 10 | Skylar is born. |
| 2003 | As second graders, Skylar and Shelia meet and become friends at the Shack Neighborhood House, a local community and youth center. |
| 2010 | |
| September | Skylar and Rachel meet when they enter UHS as freshmen. |
| October | Shelia transfers to UHS from Clay-Battelle High School when her mother, Tara, marries Jim Clendenen and the family moves to Morgantown. She and Skylar are ecstatic to be in high school together, and soon Rachel joins their little group. Before long, the three teens begin to argue between themselves. |
| 2011 | |
| Late spring | Skylar, Shelia, Rachel, Floyd Pancoast, and Brian Moats caught joyriding after curfew in Star City. |
| October | Shelia and Rachel are overheard asking how to dispose of a body in biology class. |
| 2012 | |
| Late March | A fist fight breaks out between Shelia and Skylar at the local Hollywood Theater. |
| June 1 | Shelia and Skylar leave for beach, where they have a huge argument. |
| June 7 | Blacksville branch of Huntington National robbed for first time. Shelia and Skylar return from the beach. |
| June 9 | Skylar verbally argues with an unnamed person by subtweeting on Twitter. Based on police reports that she, Rachel, and Shelia regularly argued online, it is believed Skylar was angry with one, or both, girls. |
| July 6 | Skylar sneaks out of her family’s apartment just after midnight. Skylar is murdered not long after she leaves her home. Alarmed to learn Skylar did not show up for work, Dave calls 9-1-1. Shelia admits she, Skylar, and Rachel went joyriding the night before, but says they dropped Skylar off at the end of her street just before midnight. Star City police officer Bob McCauley responds to the 9-1-1 call and begins investigating Skylar’s disappearance. Skylar’s parents, their landlord, Shelia and her mom, Tara, and Officer McCauley watch the surveillance video from the apartment complex. They see Skylar leave in a vehicle no one seems to recognize. Chief Propst asks West Virginia State Police headquarters to issue an AMBER Alert for Skylar, but his request is denied. Shelia and Tara help Mary and Dave canvass the neighborhood, looking for Skylar. Online, word begins to spread about the missing teen. Rachel writes in her diary about something that went wrong that night, in a personal conversation to God. |
| July 7 | Rachel leaves town to attend Catholic summer camp for two weeks. Shelia and Tara help Mary and Dave canvass the neighborhood again, and Shelia begins to ask question the Neeses about what the police are learning. |
| July 8 | Officer McCauley hands off the case to Officer Jessica Colebank. |
| July 9 | Colebank conducts her first interview with Shelia. The public learns Skylar is missing via TV, radio, and internet. |
| July 10 | First print mention of Skylar’s disappearance occurs in Dave’s aunt Joanne organizes first coordinated search for Skylar. |
| July 13 | First Websleuths thread about Skylar’s disappearance is started by kmartin96, leading to a crowdsourcing of the investigation. |
| July 15 | Mary and Carol realize Skylar is not coming back. |
| July 16 | Blacksville branch of Huntington National robbed—again. Gaskins and Berry first on the scene. |
| July 19 | First police interview of Rachel Shoaf. Gaskins and Berry interview Darek Conaway and other Blacksville residents about the area bank robberies. |
| Aug 6 | Shelia posts selfie of her and Skylar along with the words, want my bestfriend back . |
| Aug 16 | University High School begins. Daniel is suspicious of Rachel and Shelia, and begins pressuring Rachel to talk during drama class. He doesn’t let up throughout the fall or winter. |
| Aug 17 | Closed TeamSkylar 2012 Facebook group started by Mary and Dave. |
| Aug 25 | Colebank hears about parties Skylar attended at Conaway home, and begins to wonder if the two brothers were involved in Skylar’s disappearance. Dissatisfied with the status of the Star City Police investigation, Mary calls West Virginia State Police and asks them to get involved. |
| Aug 27 | Trying to see is Skylar’s disappearance is linked to the bank robberies, Gaskins and Berry visit the Neese home and begin investigating Skylar’s disappearance. Police begin hearing vague rumors that the Conaway boys are involved, but later discover that isn’t true. |
| September | The Eddy and Shoaf families each hire attorneys. A major breakthrough occurs in the case when Trooper Chris Berry realizes the car seen on the apartment complex surveillance video belongs to Shelia. |
| Sept 3 | First search warrant is served at UHS, and Shelia and Rachel’s cell phones are confiscated. First searches are conducted at the Eddy-Clendenen and Shoaf homes, and all of the girls’ electronic equipment is seized. |
| November | Midsummer Night’s Dream The FBI and West Virginia State Police question Crissy Swanson, Eric Finch, and Aaron Roupe about Skylar’s disappearance. The three teens are subsequently served with subpoenas for federal grand jury. |
| December | Crissy tells Shelia she appeared before the grand jury. Shelia fails polygraph. Rachel jumps from her father’s car on the way to take her polygraph and runs to Tara’s office. |
| Dec 25 | Shania gives Shelia a collage of photos with Shelia and Skylar as a Christmas gift. |
| Dec 28 | Domestic dispute occurs at Shoaf home, ending with Rachel’s transport and commitment to local psychiatric hospital. |
| 2013 | |
| Jan 3 | Rachel discharged from psychiatric hospital. Rachel confesses to her attorney, John Angotti, and the police, that she and Shelia stabbed Skylar to death. Rachel talks with Shelia; there are no direct tweets from Shelia to Rachel from this day forward. |
| Jan 16 | Rachel leads police to Skylar’s remains, where they discover her head is missing. |
| February | Skylar’s Law introduced to the West Virginia Legislature. Dave speaks to House legislative committee. |
| March 13 | Remains publicly identified as Skylar by the US Attorney. Gaskins returns in late March to the kill site and finds Skylar’s head. |
| April 30 | Rachel turns herself into the West Virginia state police. Shelia arrested in Cracker Barrel parking lot sometime near 8 p.m. |
| May 1 | Rachel transferred to criminal court in closed hearing. After Rachel is assigned adult status, she pleads guilty to second degree murder. Gaskins and Colebank take Shelia to Parkersburg detention center. UHS students are stunned when they learn Rachel has confessed to killing Skylar, after hearing news of her plea is broadcast on radio and TV. Shelia insists she is innocent throughout, and calls Rachel a liar. |
| June 2 | Mary and Dave begin to clean up the spot where Skylar’s remains were found, and create a memorial site in Skylar’s honor. |
| June 16 | Memorial held for Skylar by family and close supporters at site of murder. |
| June 24 | Planned protest for Greene County coroner’s office is cancelled after coroner agrees to release Skylar’s remains. |
| July 3 | Mary, Dave, and Carol visit with Skylar’s remains at Morgantown Detachment of WVSP. |
| July 10 | Dave receives word the Greene County coroner will release death certificate so Skylar’s memorial service can be held. |
| July 19 | The public turns out for Skylar’s final memorial service. |
| Sept 4 | Shelia’s status changed from juvenile to adult when she is transferred to criminal court. |
| Sept 5-6 | Shelia indicted on four felony counts during September term of grand jury. |
| Sept 17 | Shelia pleads not guilty to all four counts at her arraignment. |
| Sept 30 | Michael Benninger files motions on behalf of his client, Shelia Eddy. |
| Oct. 16 | Judge Clawges hears motions in State of West Virginia v. Shelia Eddy. |
| Dec 2 | Shelia’s trial date is rescheduled from February 11 to January 28. |
| 2014 | |
| Jan 24 | Shelia pleads guilty to first degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole in fifteen years. |
| Feb 26 | Judge Clawges will rule on Rachel’s sentence. |
_________________
1
Rusty and Patricia separately declined invitations to speak with the authors.
2
Tara declined invitations to speak with the authors.
3
Mikinzy said his comments were in reference to Rachel smoking weed.
4
Greg Eddy declined invitations to speak with the authors.
5
Jim Clendenen declined invitations to speak with the authors.
6
Not his real name.
7
Darek later pled guilty to one count, and the other four were dismissed. He is now serving out his sentence on home confinement.
8
Not his real name.
9
Not her real name.
10
The body was later identified as Christina Nicole Terry, 33, of Fairmont. In July 2013, Kevin Utter, a Morgantown man, was sentenced to 43 years in prison for strangling her to death.
11
The authors have determined the identities of some, but not all, of the anonymous Tweeters. They have chosen to stay anonymous.
12
Material in this page originally appeared in “Skylar Neese: The Struggle to Find Closure Almost One Year Later” by Daleen Berry (daleenberry.com/daleenberry/?p=871).
13
Material on this and the previous page originally appeared in “The Wait Is Over: Shelia Eddy to Be Tried as Adult in the Skylar Neese Murder” by Daleen Berry (daleenberry.com/daleenberry/?p=929).
14
Material in the previous two pages originally appeared in “Shelia Eddy Pleads Not Guilty” by Daleen Berry (daleenberry.com/daleenberry/?p=972).
15
Material in the previous two pages originally appeared in “Murder Trial for Accused Teen Set for 2014” by Daleen Berry (daleenberry.com/daleenberry/?p=984).
16
Material on this and the previous two pages originally appeared in “Shelia Eddy Sentenced to Life With Mercy” by Daleen Berry (daleenberry.com/daleenberry/?p=1084).
17
There was no indication from interviews, online research, or photographs that Skylar had ever been sexual with boys
or
girls.