True Crime Database

Skylar Neese

As surveillance footage showed that she left the house willingly and the fact that she was 16 years old, police did not issue an Amber Alert, a system developed to report abducted children, and was considered just another teenage runaway. However, while she had her phone on her, she had left the charger at home and the window open, indicating that she had planned to return home that night. Police determined that the sedan Skylar had gotten into belonged to Sheila, to which she confessed to picking her up at 11am for a joyride with Rachel but had dropped her off at the end of her road an hour later. The girls claimed they had driving east, going nowhere specific, talking, smoked a little bit of weed before dropping Skylar home. This made Sheila and Rachel the last known people to see Skylar alive.

Amongst their peers through social media, wild rumours began to circulate. People claimed to have seen her in North Carolina and various other places, though those were revealed to have been false allegations. Some speculated that Skylar had taken a very hard-core drug at a party and died from a reaction to it, with attendees at this party hiding her body as to not get into any legal trouble. However, it was determined that no such party was taking place anywhere near the area and Skylar was not the sort of girl to engage in such reckless behaviour. Others, who were aware of the recent history between the three girls, speculated that Rachel and Sheila had done something to get Skylar out of the picture.

For months, the girls stuck to their story and police had no reliable leads to follow up on. That was when the state police were called in and took much more drastic measures. They issued warrants to seize electronic communications from Sheila and Rachel, reviewed the tape of Skylar leaving the house and finding more footage from surveillance cameras around Morgantown to try and piece together a timeline of the journey taken. While this was taking place, Sheila was trying to insert herself into the investigation as much as possible, like handing out missing posters around local areas and trying to get on the good side of Skylar's parents to find out information about the investigation. Rachel, however, seemed to want to separate herself from it completely, avoiding anything to do with the case and never going to see Skylar's parents. School had recently started, however, and Sheila and Rachel, Skylar's closest friends, were continuing on as if nothing was wrong and Skylar had never been there, which troubled peers immensely.

After piecing together a timeline of their journey, police came to the conclusion that the girls' story didn't make any sense, as surveillance footage and cell-phone records show that the girls had actually been driving west, towards Blacksville. Rachel was the first to change her story, claiming Skylar had run off into the woods. Sheila followed suit. Suspicious, police asked both of the girls to take a polygraph – Sheila failed while Rachel, on her way to it, jumped out of the car and ran away. While Skylar's parents had initially been supportive of Rachel and Sheila and confronted the police about even considering them suspects, their behaviour caused them to look at things from a new perspective and constantly urged them to tell the truth.

On December 28th, the truth would finally be revealed. Believing that a lack of a father figure was going to help get her life back on track, Rachel's father moved back in with her and her mother. However, this caused Rachel to completely break down, leading to a physical altercation with her mother, which resulted in her having to call the police. Rachel was sent to a psychiatric ward and stayed there until January 3rd. Upon her release, she was driven to the attorney's office, where she was interviewed and made to take a polygraph test. After only a few questions, she confessed to stabbing and killing Skylar.

Rachel eventually told the entire story that led to the events of Skylar's murder. That night, Sheila and Rachel had texted her, urging Skylar to come out with them. Although initially hesitant, she agreed and met them at around 12:30am, which contradicted their previous allegation that they had picked Skylar up at 11pm. They travelled to a remote destination, just near the Pennsylvania state border. This place was somewhere they used to go to smoke pot together, except this time, the girls came prepared for a murder. In the boot of the sedan, the girls had brought knives, paper towels, bleach, cleaning cloths, spare clothes and a shovel. This was an attack the two had been planning for months in advance.

The girls had claimed to have forgotten a lighter, so Skylar went to the car to check. When her back was turned, the girls counted to three and started stabbing her. Skylar had tried to fight back but there was no hope – she was outnumbered. The girls continued stabbing her until her neck stopped making gurgling sounds. Their original plan had been to bury her body by a creek, however the ground was too hard and rocky to dig a hole, so they covered her body with sticks, dirt and rocks. They then cleaned themselves up, changed into fresh clothes and left the scene.

The tole this had taken on Rachel was immense, causing huge detriments to her mental health. Although she seemed remorseful at the present time, when asked why, she simply stated that they just didn't want to be friends with Skylar anymore. Rachel was cooperative though, even leading authorities to where they had left Skylar's body. Human remains were found there, but because Rachel had already proven herself to have lied to the police for months, she was too unreliable to take seriously by herself, and they needed a second statement from Sheila to confirm the story. Rachel agreed to be put under surveillance and try to get a recorded confession out of her. Meanwhile, the remains found at the creek were taken for testing.

For months while the investigation continued, Rachel and Sheila were allowed to roam free, despite the admission and the huge piles of evidence against them. Though the two were being home-schooled to protect themselves and the student body, life seemed to be returning to normal, while both were frequently active on social media. On March 13th, the identity of the body was revealed to be that of Skylar Neese, and her death was made public. Sheila made several Twitter posts to display her grief and sorrow that her best friend was gone, while also tweeting other ominous things that could potentially be about the night they killed her; one tweet read, "We really did go on 3."

On May 1st, the girls were arrested in connection to the death of Skylar. For her cooperation with police, Rachel was granted a deal, in which she would not be prosecuted by the State of Pennsylvania and she was able to plead guilty to a second degree murder charge, which is classified as an intentional murder but is not premeditated or planned. Sheila, however, was arranged no sort of plea deal, and pleaded not guilty to first degree murder charges, which she soon later changed to guilty upon the looming date of the trial. Sheila was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, while Rachel was sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.

In memory of Skylar, a West Virginia state legislator produced a bill that would modify the classifications required to issue an amber alert, which does not include children who appear to have left voluntarily and a teenager has to have been missing for a period of 48 hours before they can issue an alert. The bill proposed to issue an alert when any child is reported missing, regardless of whether they were kidnapped or left on their own. The West Virginia House of Delegates unanimously voted in favour of the law being passed, which is now known as Skylar's Law.

The biggest question that was on everyone's minds afterwards was why? Why did they do this? These were also reportedly Skylar's last words as she bled to death in the creek. The motive that the girls had given police was that they just didn't like her, which didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense and wouldn't seem to justify a murder in any sense. However, a look through Skylar's diary revealed a secret. One night, when the girls were drunk, Sheila and Rachel started to have sexual intercourse with one another. Not wanting to give away the fact that they were drinking, Skylar was forced to bear witness to this and it may have been possible that she possessed photos and videos of the two engaged in sexual acts with each other. Following the fact that Sheila and Skylar were constantly arguing and falling out, it is possible that the girls were fearful that Skylar would reveal their secret to the entire school. However, this event remains unconfirmed and no such photos or videos have been discovered.

The case has received a lot of media attention and coverage. Various shows, including Dateline and Dr Phil have episodes dedicated solely to this case, interviewing both of Skylar's parents and good friends of all of the girls. People they once knew remained very divided – many friends of Sheila and Rachel tried to defend them, saying they were not monsters and that they still were good people at the end of it, but were met with backlash by various peers and the public. The entire case has left a huge cloud over Morgantown, but is now left with the memory of a bubbly, bright and intelligent 16 year old girl, who was taken from this world too soon.