Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy Murder Skylar Neese

Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy were two teens from West Virginia who would murder their friend Skylar Neese

According to court documents tension had been rising between Rachel Shoaf, Shelia Eddy and Skylar Neese. For some reason Rachel and Shelia decided the best way to deal with this was to murder Skylar

On the night of the murder Skylar Neese would sneak out of her house and would meet up with Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy. The trio drove across State lines and would stop at a wooded area in Pennsylvania. When Skylar Neese back was turned she would be brutally attacked by the other two. Skylar would be stabbed over fifty times. Rachel and Shelia would cover her body with branches and leaves then headed back to West Virginia

Two months later Rachel Shoaf and Shelia Eddy would be arrested and Rachel would lead authorities to the body of Skylar Neese

Rachel Shoaf would plead guilty to murder and would be sentenced to thirty years in prison

Shelia Eddy would go to trial, be convicted and sentenced to life in prison with a shot of parole after fifteen years

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Rachel Shoaf And Shelia Eddy Case

As high school sophomores, Skylar Neese, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were inseparable.

Living in Morgantown, West Virginia, the then-16-year-olds were pretty and sociable, taking selfies and spending time together.

But everything changed on July 6, 2012, when Neese’s parents discovered she was missing. Six months later, Shoaf told authorities that she and Eddy had stabbed their best friend Neese to death.

At 16, Skyler Neese was thriving, according to her parents. She had a 4.0 grade point average, a part-time job at a fast food restaurant and an active social life.

She was Dave and Mary Neese’s only child.

“Skylar was a very bubbly person,” Dave Neese told ABC News’ “20/20.” “She was also very loyal to her friends, the people she thought was her friends.”

Skylar Neese met her best friend Shelia Eddy at age 8.

“She was like a part of our family. She really was,” Dave Neese said. “I mean, just like one of our kids.”

While entering her freshman year in high school in September 2010, Eddy met Rachel Shoaf. The next month, Eddy transferred to the same high school as Skylar Neese, and Shoaf also soon became friends with her. Before long the three teens began to argue among themselves.

On July 5, 2012, Skylar Neese went home after finishing a shift at work.

The next morning, her dad said he discovered that she didn’t sleep in her bed. He later found her window screen in her closet and a hidden bench that she could use to climb in and out of her window.

“Then I knew: she snuck out last night,” Dave Neese said. “And then, oh my god, she snuck out last night, and she’s not home.”

That same day, after Skylar Neese missed work for the first time ever, her parents called police to report her missing. Star City, West Virginia, police officer Bob McCauley responded to the 911 call and began investigating Skylar Neese’s disappearance.

Later that day, Sheila Eddy called Skylar Neese’s parents to tell them what had happened the night before.

“She proceeded to tell me that her, Skylar, and Rachel had snuck out the night before and that they had driven around Star City, were getting high, and that the two girls had dropped her back off at the house,” Mary Neese told “20/20.” “The story was they had dropped her off at the end of the road, because she didn’t want to wake us up sneaking back in.”

Eddy said she and Rachel Shoaf had picked up Skylar Neese at around 11 P.M. and dropped her back off at home before midnight.

On the Neese’s apartment’s surveillance camera, a car is seen pulling up to the apartment at 12:30 A.M.

At 12:35 A.M., the grainy video shows Skylar Neese sneaking out of her room and slipping into the car, which drives away.

“I was scared to death. I mean I didn’t know where my baby was. It was horrible,” said Dave Neese.

On July 7, 2012, Shelia Eddy and her mom helped Skylar Neese’s parents canvass the neighborhood looking for her, while Rachel Shoaf left for Catholic summer camp for two weeks.

Two days later, the public learned that Neese was missing through television, radio and internet coverage. As weeks passed, the investigation into Skylar Neese’s disappearance continued. Police believed the most likely scenario was that Neese went to a house party and overdosed.

Corporal Ronnie Gaskins told “20/20” he heard rumors that Neese had supposedly overdosed on heroin. “She died. People there panicked, and they disposed of the body,” said Gaskins.

Jessica Colebank, who was working on the case, found Shelia Eddy’s demeanor suspicious when she went to speak to her for the first time.

“Just complete blank on emotions and there was absolutely nothing. It was like iced over,” Colebank told “20/20.”

Colebank also thought Rachel Shoaf was very nervous when she first spoke to her.

“Their stories were verbatim, the same. No one’s story is exactly the same, unless it’s rehearsed,” Colebank said. “Everything in my gut was, ‘Sheila is acting wrong. Rachel is scared to death.’”

After viewing surveillance video and cell phone records that proved Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were lying about what happened the night they last saw Skylar Neese, police told Dave and Mary Neese that Eddy and Shoaf had a secret.

Dave and Mary Neese, classmates and even strangers put pressure on Eddy and Shoaf to tell the truth.

On Dec. 28, 2012, Rachel Shoaf had a nervous breakdown and was committed to a local psychiatric hospital, where she had no contact with Shelia Eddy.

After being discharged from the hospital on Jan. 3, 2013, Shoaf confessed to her attorney and police that she and Eddy stabbed Neese to death.

“We never encountered anything that led us to believe that these two girls conspired with one another to commit premeditated murder,” Corporal Ronnie Gaskin said.

The car that Skylar Neese was seen getting into was determined to be Shelia Eddy’s.

After her confession, Shoaf agreed to lead police to the site of the murder to try to find Skylar Neese’s body.

Shoaf talked with Eddy while wearing a microphone, but Eddy failed to incriminate herself.

With the discovery of Skylar Neese’s body and that the blood found on Eddy’s car was Skylar Neese’s, police had enough evidence to arrest Eddy and Shoaf.

“We asked Rachel, ‘Why did you guys kill Skylar?’ And her only answer to that was, ‘We just didn’t like her,’” State Police Corp. Ronnie Gaskin said.

Rachel Shoaf turned herself into authorities at the Monongalia County Circuit Court on May 1, 2013.

Shoaf, now 18, was transferred to criminal court in closed hearing and was charged as an adult. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is incarcerated at the Northern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Wheeling, West Virginia.

She faces 30 years in prison and will soon be transferred to adult prison.

Also on May 1, Shelia Eddy, now 18, was arrested in a restaurant parking lot.

She was charged as an adult, pleaded guilty and was sentenced as an adult to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.

“They’re both sickos, and they’re both exactly where they need to be: away from civilization, locked up like animals. Because that’s what they are, they’re animals,” said Dave Neese.

In memory of their daughter, Dave and Mary Neese helped pass Skylar’s Law in West Virginia. It requires Amber Alerts for all missing children, not only those believed to have been kidnapped.

To honor their daughter, Dave and Mary transformed the site of her murder into a memorial. Dave often makes the 20-mile drive.

“Something horrible happened here,” Dave Neese said. “But I wanted to take the horrible thing that happened here and try to turn it into something good — a place that people can come and remember Skylar and remember the good little girl that she was, and not the little beast that they treated her like.”

https://abcnews.go.com/US/best-friends-killers-teens-murder-friend-didnt/story?id=24573749

Rachel Shoaf Parole Denied May 2023

Rachel Shoaf, one of the women convicted of killing Skylar Neese as a teenager, was denied parole on Tuesday.

Shoaf was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 10 years, while Skylar’s other killer, Shelia Eddy, was sentenced to life in prison. In July 2012, the two drove Skylar across the Mason-Dixon line into Greene County, Pennsylvania, to kill her and bury her body. Skylar was 16 years old.

12 News Reporter and Anchor Riley Holsinger was invited to the hearing by Skylar’s father, Dave Neese. The hearing also marked an opportunity for Shoaf and the family of her victim to speak almost 11 years after the July 6, 2012 incident.

During the testimony portion of the hearing, Shoaf said that she and Eddy were in a relationship, and felt that if they were exposed, they would face consequences.

“After things became known with the relationship, there was tension between us,” Shoaf said. “It was hostile and violent, in our teenage minds we didn’t know how to handle the conflict and we just wanted it to stop.”

She also told the Parole Board that she was under the influence of marijuana at the time, which she did on the way there.

Shoaf was asked what she would say to Skylar’s family.

“I know, I can’t express how sorry I am for what I have done and for the pain I have caused,” Shoaf said. “I loved her. I know what we did was terrible and there’s no words to describe the pain that we caused and I know there is nothing I can say or do. I just pray for them all the time and pray for peace in their heart. I would trade places with Skylar so she could be with her loved ones. I just want them to know how deeply sorry I am.”

Dave provided 12 News with a written copy of his prepared statement:

Ladies and gentlemen of the West Virginia parole board, thank you for the opportunity to tell you why I believe this inmate should not be granted parole.

Because of that malicious monster, my child never got a limo for her prom. Instead, she got a ride in a coroner’s vehicle. Also, there was no sparkling gown for Skylar, just a body bag. She will never have a certificate of graduation, only a death certificate.

This narcissistic, first degree, cold-blooded killer is not sorry for the brutal murder of my only child. It’s my belief that she is proud she murdered my daughter in cold blood. The day after she plunged kitchen knives into my child, this devil was seen on a friend’s boat, smiling and posing for photographs. The date of July 6, 2012 was chosen for a specific reason, you see—this beast wanted the killing out of the way before she left for church camp. Just another task to mark off of her list, like standing over my child saying “Die, b****!” as my baby girl took her last breath, because the evil butcher didn’t want to be her friend.

I wasn’t there to defend my baby girl from this diabolical killer on July 6, 2012, but I’m here today to do everything within my power to make sure she stays behind bars.

This inmate has proven that she is both evil and mentally unstable. No one can fix that kind of madness. I believe if she is paroled, she will kill again. Murder is a game to this inmate. Ladies and gentlemen, that is insanity. This person has proved to be a narcissist and is a dangerous person who has no remorse in the least. This inmate has destroyed so many lives when she murdered Skylar.

This inmate is just the rat that narced and got a deal. Yes, she showed us where she murdered Skylar, yet she is also the narcissist liar that put my daughter in that place. This monster is a danger to society. If released, no parent can close their eyes at night without fear that their own child could possibly be the next victim.

This vicious murderer sits here today asking for a second chance. I ask you, where is Skylar’s second chance? Where was her second chance when this monster counted to three and began to slash and stab at my only child?

I don’t want to live in a world without Skylar, but I have to. I want to make sure it’s as safe as possible from predators like this one.

I ask that you deny parole for this diabolical butcher and allow Skylar’s mother and I the knowledge that her killer will not be granted the reality of adulthood that out daughter was never allowed to experience.

Shoaf remains in the Lakin Correctional Center where her projected release date is April 2028, according to the West Virginia Department of Corrections.

Eddy is also serving her sentence in the same facility. Her first parole hearing is currently scheduled for May 2028.

https://www.wboy.com/news/crime/one-of-skylar-neeses-killers-denied-parole/

Rachel Shoaf Photos 2024

Shelia Eddy Photos 2024

Rachel Shoaf Parole Denied July 2024

For the second time in just over a year, one of the women who was convicted of killing her friend, Skylar Neese, when they were both just teens has been denied parole.

Rachel Shoaf was last before a parole board on May 9, 2023. Much like last year’s decision, the parole board Monday morning denied Shoaf parole, while the Neese family listened.

Dave and Mary Neese, Skylar’s parents, attended the hearing via telephone conference from a community center in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, while a documentary crew was on the scene with 12 News anchor and reporter Eric Minor.

Dave, concerned that parole would be granted, gave the family impact statement, Mary spoke briefly and said she doesn’t believe Shoaf is remorseful.

Shoaf spoke on her own behalf and said that while in prison she’s gotten a Bachelor’s degree in communications and a cosmetology certificate, and thinks that the fact she has matured since 16 means she could become a productive member of society.

The parole board deliberated for about 10 minutes and told Shoaf that a write-up since her last hearing and a lack of a home plan were their primary reasons for denying parole. The board told her to come to her next hearing, which could be as soon as June 2025, without any write-ups if she wants parole.

Shoaf was convicted of murder along with Shelia Eddy after killing Neese in July 2012. Shoaf was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 10 years and Eddy was sentenced to life.

The two killers drove Skylar across the Mason-Dixon line into Greene County, Pennsylvania, to kill her and bury her body. Skylar was 16 years old.

Shoaf and Eddy are both being held in the Lakin Correctional Center. A podcast recently explored what prison life is like for the two of them.

Shoaf’s projected release date is April 30, 2028, according to West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation records. Those same records show as of Monday that Eddy’s eligible for a parole hearing starting in May of 2028.

https://www.wboy.com/news/local/one-of-skylar-neeses-killers-denied-parole-again/amp

Rachel Shoaf Now

Offender ID (OID) Number: 3573506

Name: Shoaf, Rachel

Sex: Female

Birth Date: 6/10/1996

Height: 5′ 8″

Weight: 130 lbs.

Race: White

Location: LCC

Intake Date: 7/25/2014 11:47:00 AM

Next Parole Hearing: 6/1/2025

Maximum Parole Discharge Date: Not Available

Projected Release Date: 4/30/2028

Shelia Eddy Now

Offender ID (OID) Number: 3573487

Name: Eddy, Shelia

Sex: Female

Birth Date: 9/28/1995

Height: 5′ 5″

Weight: 107 lbs.

Race: White

Location: LCC

Intake Date: 2/7/2014 12:39:00 PM

Next Parole Hearing: 5/1/2028

Maximum Parole Discharge Date: Not Available

Projected Release Date: 1/1/3000