The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines (8 page)

Everyone had a message for Skylar. People from around the world posted greetings and other words of comfort on the TeamSkylar<3 page the week before school resumed. Above all, they wrote that they hoped the pretty teen was safe. They hoped she could read their messages to her. And they prayed Skylar would return home, so she could start school with the classmates who missed her.

Shania Ammons’s poignant message told Skylar that no problem was too big to prevent her friend’s return:
come home babe. that’s all we ask. our junior year starts this week and you need to be here…. whatever is bothering you we can work through it…. <3

Longtime friend and fellow Wendy’s employee Hayden McClead added a moving message:
Skylar, it’s been wayyy to long since we last talked. schools starting in 4 days and I don’t know what I’ll do without you there. I miss having you there when I need advice on something…. I hate going everyday and you not being there….

Even Shelia’s mother, Tara, had a message:
Hello Skylar. I hope that you are reading this post. You need to come home. Shelia is really missing you…. Your friends need you to be in school Thursday morning. I love you and hope that you come home soon.

While words of love and encouragement were pouring in, fissures were forming in TeamSkylar<3. Among the more than 3,000 members, sniping and insinuations were becoming the norm. To make matters worse, the Hunts took away Mary and Dave’s administrative rights. While Mary and Dave wanted to control the sniping by denying access to “haters,” the mother-son administrative team refused to monitor what people said in their posts. Censorship was not part of the group’s plan. Jennifer Hunt claimed the decision to remove Mary and Dave as administrators was made for “legal reasons” that no one else understood. As a result, TeamSkylar<3 was rapidly becoming a place to bicker. More and more, it was attracting mean-spirited people.

Mary and Dave could only watch in growing pain and horror as one person after another made accusations that weren’t true. They both had seen suggestions that they had caused Skylar to run away, that Dave was abusing Skylar, even that Dave had gotten Skylar pregnant. Wild speculation was rampant. The site that began as a tool to help find Skylar slowly turned into one that accused her own parents of being responsible for her disappearance. Dave and Mary finally turned off their computer in heartbroken disgust.

Stressed and alone in their Star City apartment, Skylar’s parents couldn’t even look at each other, much less speak. They were afraid the poison spilling over onto the public TeamSkylar<3 page would somehow find its way into their home. They vowed not to let that happen. When Skylar walked through their apartment door, they didn’t want her to see them snapping and screaming at each other.

One day, after having a cigarette on the back deck, Mary went to their bedroom and wept. Dave dialed up the volume on the remote until the TV was so loud he couldn’t hear his own thoughts. Hours later, with a little help from the sleeping pills their doctor had prescribed, Mary and Dave finally found a bit of respite. Exhausted by the worry, they slept for hours.

The next day Mary and Dave took control of the situation: they started their own Facebook group. Weariness with the growing discord had been overtaking members of TeamSkylar<3 for a while. Skylar’s parents weren’t the only ones who were fed up. Another member took the step of deleting herself—but not before trying to reach out to the rest of the group. She asked, in part, that all family members and friends of the family and
the good people who are trying to help us find
[Skylar] …
please leave this group and come to the teamskylar 2012 group this group has denied administration rights to the parents of skylar…. We don’t think this is right.

With that, the fracture was complete. TEAMSKYLAR 2012, a closed group, was up and running. Now there were two main Facebook groups—amongst a dozen smaller groups or tribute pages—and the two groups were at war.

Meanwhile, Skylar’s absence didn’t keep school from resuming. Many of her good friends thought she might actually show up for the first day back. But on August 16, 2012, Skylar was no less gone than she had been on July 6, when Dave Neese found his daughter’s bedroom empty.

***

On that first day of what should have been Skylar’s junior year, everyone who knew her almost expected to see the famous trio stationed in their usual place at one of the four pillars in the UHS cafeteria. Logic told them Skylar had been gone since July, but something in their brains anticipated seeing her there, still hanging out with her two best friends.

“It was always Skylar, Shelia, and Rachel,” a student recalled.

But not that day. As other students filed in, Shelia and Rachel stood by themselves. Keeping their heads close together, they talked only to each other. They kept their voices as hushed as possible in the din of arriving students. Seeing the two together only made Skylar’s absence more pronounced, and it was jarring for many teens who passed by them.

By this time everyone knew about Skylar’s disappearance. The students knew about Shelia and Rachel’s involvement, too—or thought they did. They had seen the various rumors texted, tweeted, and posted all over each other’s cell phones and social media sites. They had heard the gossip as it spread through town—at coffee shops, fast-food restaurants, and all the other places where teens hang out. Of course, few students then thought Shelia and Rachel were responsible for Skylar’s disappearance.

At least one person was sure of it: Daniel Hovatter. He knew Skylar wouldn’t be at school when she wasn’t on the bus that morning. He had even worn his brand-new grey and orange pullover with a pair of black-and-white plaid shorts and Nike sandals just to hear her tease him. The two shared a trust that allowed them to banter with each other, and both teens enjoyed it.

As they continued along the familiar route, Daniel and another friend talked about how strange it was to have someone from their school missing. It was all they talked about the entire bus ride. For Daniel, riding bus 257 would never seem the same again. Not without Skylar sharing the seat beside him every day.

Like most students, Daniel entered the building through the back door of the school cafeteria. He greeted Mr. Kyer, the drama teacher, on his way in. Then Daniel stood with the rest of the student body, corralled there until the main doors opened. He texted on his cell phone, waiting for the buzzer to sound that would signal the start of the new school year.

Assistant Principal Pete Cheesebrough waited near the back entrance, greeting students. That was one of his jobs at UHS, as he was arguably the primary student liaison at UHS, the “face” of the administration. The vice principal tried to enjoy his job as much as possible; his reward was the number of students who liked him. Cheesbrough knew most of them by name, like Jordan Carter. As she entered he said her name singsong fashion, clapping once with each syllable: “Jor-dan Car-ter.”

Jordan had been worried about Skylar since Jordan’s mom first texted her, saying a girl from UHS was missing. Jordan’s mom was a big fan of Facebook and had seen the news there.

Omg!
Jordan texted back that day.
That’s Skylar, my friend from Kaleidoscope!
She recalled the summer program where she and Skylar had met years before. Skylar had been the only girl who would get ice cream with her. Because Jordan was two years older than Skylar, their only other interaction was brief, during middle school band. Skylar had played flute, Jordan the cymbals.

However, Jordan dated one of Mikinzy Boggs’s bandmates. She knew Mikinzy and Rachel were an item, so she was eager to see her school friends. She hoped they’d be able to tell her they had good news about Skylar.

More than anything else that first day of school, Jordan just wanted her childhood buddy to show. So did Daniel, which is why he kept watching the pillar where Rachel’s red head was bent close to Shelia’s blonde one. By the time the bell rang and students scurried off to class, Skylar still hadn’t turned up.

Daniel was afraid she never would.

***

What happened next characterized the large gulf that existed between teens and adults. Many students knew about Skylar’s disappearance and followed the unfolding events online. Yet many teachers did not. In at least three classes that day—chemistry, algebra, and AP English—teachers called Skylar’s name during roll call. The silence afterward was deafening in one class.

“Skylar?” said Mr. Fisher. “Skylar Neese?”

The deep voice of a male student spoke up. “Uh, she’s not here.”

“Our first absence, then,” the teacher said, bending down to make a mark next to Skylar’s name.

“No, she’s missing,” a small female voice said.

Mr. Fisher glanced up—and saw that every student was looking at him. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.” In his peripheral vision, the teacher saw more than one girl wipe a tear from her cheek.

***

A few miles away in Star City, Mary Neese had taken the day off work—just in case. Because Skylar loved school, Mary and Dave thought she might return for the new school year. Mary had put in a request with her supervisor for time off, hoping for a miracle.

But that never happened, and when
The Dominion Post
interviewed Dave, he said it was a crushing blow. What he didn’t say was that he and Mary both felt like they had a hole in their hearts.

“Leave me alone, Daniel,” Rachel hissed across the aisle in drama class. Daniel laughed, even though the situation wasn’t funny at all. Since Skylar left, he had learned laughing was easier than crying or screaming. School had only been back in session for one day, but Daniel was already tired of Rachel saying she didn’t know anything. She refused to talk about Skylar or her disappearance, but he was positive she had crucial information. After all, she and Shelia had been the last known people to see or talk to Skylar before she got into that strange car.

“Right, like you just drove around for, like, an hour, then dropped her off. The most boring joyride ever.” Daniel was disgusted. Rachel kept telling him the same story, like her voice was a looped recording. When he first heard that Skylar had run away, Daniel didn’t believe it for a second. He had seen Skylar that day at Wendy’s, and she would have told him if something was wrong. No way Skylar would have run away without telling Daniel. He just knew it.

“Shut up, Daniel,” Rachel said a little too loudly. Rachel had a flair for the dramatic.

From the front of the classroom, Mr. Kyer stopped talking and glared at them.

Daniel saw the glower, and chalked it up to Rachel being one of Richard Kyer’s favorites. Whenever anyone said that, Mr. Kyer insisted he didn’t have favorites. He said he treated all students fairly, but pushed the talented students harder than the rest.

Daniel was leaving class when Mr. Kyer stopped him. “Daniel, you can’t be accusing Rachel of doing something wrong without proof. This is America and people are innocent until proven guilty. If you have other evidence, then you need to tell the police.”

That was the problem: Daniel didn’t, though. He just had a gut feeling, based on how the girls were acting.

Daniel decided to back off, but only for the moment. He had been missing his buddy Skylar for five weeks, and now that he had access to Rachel, he was going to get to the bottom of everything. Daniel wasn’t even going to try to get answers from Shelia. He’d never cared much for her. In fact, Daniel only hung out with Shelia because of Skylar. But Rachel, she would talk. Or else.

***

As word of Skylar’s disappearance spread, the world outside the high school walls began to feel the effects of her loss. Parents thought about the torment the Neeses must be enduring. It was all too easy to imagine the horror of losing one’s own child someday, how terrible it would be if their own daughter or son disappeared.

Communities grieve in their own ways. The grief must find a place to go, a way to find expression. A number of charity events were held around the greater Morgantown area the first few months after Skylar vanished. The Walmart in University Town Centre, where Dave worked, staged a candlelight vigil in August. T-shirts with Skylar’s name and picture were sold at the event, and $3,100 was raised for a “reward fund” established in Skylar’s name. People donated because they wanted to help and needed to do something—anything.

A few weeks later the nearby town of Mannington hosted “Sky Ride,” a community gathering held in Skylar’s honor. Mary had grown up in Mannington, an old coal-mining town, along with her fourteen siblings. Practically the entire town turned out in a show of support. People jumped onto their ATVs and rode for hours around the local hills. Everyone brought a covered dish and after a long day in the sun, they broke bread together. And even more money was raised for the reward fund through an auction and a drawing. “Bring Skylar home!” was the day’s theme, and against all logic some attendees hoped that the missing teen might somehow show up. The wound of a missing child was a heavy burden for the small community.

According to WBOY TV, one woman in attendance, a friend of the Neeses, wistfully recalled, “I remember Skylar from when she was just a little girl, four or five years old, and she was always running around with curls bouncing and she was just the cutest little thing. When I heard that it was her who was missing, it just broke my heart.”

Fortunately, the hometown show of support gave Mary and Dave a respite of sorts. They smiled and laughed with friends and family, and actually felt lighter for a few hours. Even so, Skylar was never far from their minds. As dusk drew near and people began heading home, Mary and Dave returned to reality with heavy, aching hearts.

***

Skylar’s baby curls were gone by the time she met Amorette Hughes, a fellow student in dance class. By then Skylar was coloring and straightening her fair hair so she would be a brunette like Shelia (of course, not long after, Shelia decided to go blonde herself).

In the spring of 2012 Amorette was a senior, while Skylar was a sophomore. It turned out that Amorette was the perfect partner for Skylar, mainly because they shared a problem.

“I had two best friends,” Amorette recalled, “and she had the two best friends. We were going through the same thing at the same time.”

Having two best friends rather than only one may not seem like a problem. The resulting trio can be unstable, though. “Sometimes I would see that Rachel and Shelia would match,” Amorette said, “and Skylar wouldn’t. They’d both wear jeans and a pink shirt, and Skylar would be in yoga pants. My friends would do that to me.”

Amorette and Skylar grew close throughout the 2011–2012 school year and would frequently confide in each other. They bonded while struggling with the same problem.

They’re doing it again
, Skylar texted Amorette one day, after Shelia and Rachel made plans that didn’t include her. Amorette encouraged Skylar to hang in there. And Skylar did the same for Amorette, whenever her dance partner felt sad and slighted.

I know, let’s get together after school lets out
, Amorette texted Skylar one day.
We can be BFFs.
Skylar thought it was a great idea. Somehow, though, they were too busy to connect that first month of summer vacation. Then it was too late.

Amorette wished they had taken the time. She believed Skylar might still be alive if they had.

***

The truth is, friction had already begun to develop among Skyler, Shelia, and Rachel during their sophomore year. For a brief period, Skylar and Rachel were close. Then they seemed to drift apart. Skylar even wrote about this in an essay for English class. There, she bemoans how much an unnamed friend had changed after getting involved with a boy. Skylar wrote that the widening gulf between herself and her friend—who was clearly Rachel—made her very sad. She didn’t name Mikinzy, either, but he was the boy her friend had gotten too wrapped up in.

In truth, Skylar and Rachel were never as close as Shelia was with either girl. Skylar and Shelia’s bond went back almost a decade, but in some ways Skylar was losing her rank. She was becoming the third member—and odd girl out—of the trio. This may have been because Skylar was maturing more slowly than Shelia and Rachel—not mentally or emotionally, but physically. In some ways, Skylar was still a girl, but Shelia and Rachel—both sexually active—were young women. Skylar was turning into the “little sister” of the trio.

“Skylar and Shelia were real close,” Amorette said. “And then Rachel came along. That happened with me and my best friend. We started letting another girl hang out with us, and then before I knew it, she kinda took my place.”

Like so many of Skylar’s close friends, Amorette didn’t believe the rumors that were making the rounds that first week of school.

“If she ran away, she would
definitely
tell me,” Amorette asserted. “I even told her [on Facebook and in texts] if you went to a party and messed up, it’s going to be okay. We’ll help you figure it out. I never heard back, and I knew something must be wrong.”