IN IN - Richard Sweeney 8, Jeffrey Burkett 15, & Donald Abell 19, Henryville, 1977

[scriptgirl]

But he only killed women, not men, so he wouldn't fit this case. Thanks for the link.

 

[parakeet]

Scriptgirl, Shanda Sharer was a 12 yr old girl tortured and murdered by a group of teenage girls,, over jealousy of Shanda's relationship with another girl.
One of the places she was tortured at was called the Witches Castle.

 

[scriptgirl]

Thank you for informing me.

 

[hornet'88]

Is the Witches Castle hornet88 mentions the same one that Shanda Sharer was brought to before she was murdered?

Sorry for the delay, I've been sick..I don't know much about Shanda Sharer other than what I've read but the Witches Castle I refer to is not the same place...The one I refer to is much more remote and not as well known...

 

[hornet'88]

I apologize and haven't had a chance to read through the whole thread yet but has William Clyde Gibson ever been discussed as a possible perp in this case?

Props to scriptgirl, she is correct that he didn't do it...

 

[scriptgirl]

Two years and no activity on this thread. Wow. Are the families of the victims still seeking justice?

 

[bflocket]

Sorry for the delay, I've been sick..I don't know much about Shanda Sharer other than what I've read but the Witches Castle I refer to is not the same place...The one I refer to is much more remote and not as well known...

Are you sure it's not the same Witches Castle? I didn't think there would be multiple things called that in the area.

I've been interested in the Shanda Sharer case for a long time. Not just because it was sick and outrageous, but she was close to my age and it happened fairly close to me. My local (Louisville area) TV stations were the ones covering it at the time.

 

[scriptgirl]

Who is Shanda Sharer?

 

[bflocket]

Who is Shanda Sharer?

She was a 12 (or so) year old girl that somehow got involved with a bad group. There was a lesbian obsessed with her "girlfriend" and they tortured her to death. It was near "The Witch's Castle." There should be a thread somewhere about her. Early 1990's, southern Indiana. She was about my age and the whole case is filled with a bunch of craziness and "insert worst expletive that comes to your mind here."

Really, really vile and horrible case. Over a bunch of "teen girl" jealousy foolishness. Terrible. At least one (probably a few) of the girls that did what they did to her are out or up for parole now. Some of them only went along on "the trip" but the ones that did ANYTHING are... I don't know how to describe.

Teenage lesbian group torture murder in Smalltown, USA... That's the best way to describe it.
Sounds like a sick-*advertiser censored* movie. It's worse than that and REAL.

I'll link to if I find it in the next few days. I shouldn't be awake right now and don't know how I've spelled anything correctly.

 

[Ausgirl]

I wish hornet88 and the other locals were still posting here... Lots of incredibly useful information... I was reading elsewhere on these crimes, and saw that so many locals really are still very wounded and divided over it all. I've lived in tiny communities like this over here in Aus, and know what a profound impact even a tragic accident can have on the local folks, let alone a series of child deaths..

I promise to help revive this thread when things calm down here in Aus a bit (we've had a couple of really bad incidents this week, threads are very busy...).

 

[bflocket]

I'll link to if I find it in the next few days. I shouldn't be awake right now and don't know how I've spelled anything correctly.

Death of Innocence - The Murder of Young Shanda Sharer (Crimelibrary, David Lohr, date?)

Apart from a pair of panties, the body was naked and extensively burnt from the waist up. The legs of the victim were spread as if they had been posed, and the arms were stretched skyward with clenched fists. The victim appeared to have been a young woman, but the chest had been burned so badly that it was difficult to tell. Most horrifying of all was the victim's face the eyes were empty, without color; and the mouth was wide open, exposing teeth tightly clenched on the victim's tongue. The scene was brutal, one that neither man would soon forget.

It was just after 9:00 p.m. when the Lawrences arrived at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Madison. Upon learning that a young girl and her family claimed to have information regarding a murder in Jefferson County, Sheriff Shipley quickly ushered them into his office...

Toni Lawrence stated that she had spent the previous night with two friends, Hope Rippey, 15, and Laurie Tackett, 17. The three had driven to New Albany in Tackett's car and picked up Melinda Loveless, 16, a friend of Tackett's whom Toni had not met before. After picking up Loveless, they had gone to a hard-core punk rock show for a few hours and then headed back toward home. Toni said that on the way back Loveless began talking about a girl named Shanda, saying that Shanda was trying to steal her girlfriend and that she wanted to kill her.

Murder of Shanda Sharer (Wikipedia)

Shanda Renee Sharer (June 6, 1979 – January 11, 1992) was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. She was 12 years old at the time of her death. The incident attracted nationwide attention due to both the brutality and the young age of the perpetrators. The case was covered on national programs such as Dr. Phil and has inspired a number of episodes on fictional crime shows.

Here's a Websleuths thread on her, but most of the links are dead (other than the above ones). I, along with the thread starter, are about her age and that's why it is so memorable to us. ...Not that a murder like her's would be "unmemorable" to anyone in the area.

shanda sharer murder, january 1992

Those of you from Indiana you more than likely remember this. i was 11, a year younger that Shanda and living about 90 min from where this took place. Shanda was a 12 year old girl and was tourtured for 10 hours and then burned to death after being 1/3 of a bizzare teenage lesbian triange. 2 of the 4 are already out and living among us. The following is very disturbing.

Melinda LOVELESS (Murderpedia)

On January 10, Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey, and Laurie Tackett drove in Tackett's car from Madison, Indiana to Melinda Loveless' house in New Albany. Rippey and Lawrence, while friends of Tackett, had not yet met Loveless; however, upon arrival they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife and told them she was going to scare Shanda Sharer with it. None of the girls except for Loveless had ever met Sharer, although Tackett already knew of the plan to intimidate the 12-year-old girl. Loveless explained to the two other girls that she disliked Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing her girlfriend.

They went to Tackett's nearby home and went inside to drink soda and clean themselves. They realized Sharer was screaming in the trunk, so Tackett went out with a paring knife and stabbed her several more times, coming in a few minutes later covered in blood. After she washed, Tackett got her "runestones" and told the girls' futures with them. Lawrence and Rippey stayed behind as Tackett and Loveless went "country cruising" at 2:30, driving to the nearby town of Canaan. Sharer continued making crying and gurgling noises, so Tackett stopped the car; Sharer sat up, covered in blood and her eyes rolled in the back of her head, but was unable to speak; Tackett then beat her with a tire iron until she was silent.

 

[scriptgirl]

Thank you for that info. Any new info on the case the thread is about?

 

[izzyniece]

Hello! I looking at doing a documentary on these cases. If anyone has any information, could you please contact me?

 

[scriptgirl]

No info, but Izzy, I hope you do the documentary!

 

[izzyniece]

Thank you! I'm going to go to the library and see if I can find any old newpaper articles.

 

[TrunkNLove]

Hello! I looking at doing a documentary on these cases. If anyone has any information, could you please contact me?

Please do! Some FSU students did a documentary last year on the 1966 Sims murders in Tallahassee and it got the city talking again. One of the main suspects in the case was even interviewed for the film. He's also came on websleuths to deny he murdered 3 members of the Sims family.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rosejane]

Through the years, I have visited this site and several other sites regarding the murders in Henryville. I have never responded prior to this, but it saddens me to read all of the misinformation of facts. I was a classmate of Richard Sweeney's, and our families were friends/neighbors. Though I was only 7 years old at the time and am 51 now, I remember everything about the day of his murder as if it were yesterday. I remember the neighborhood men meeting up with their guns to go and search for Richard, who at that point, was only missing. I remember the police cars and the officers standing in the road talking. I remember the anxious face of Richard's father as he stood with the other men. I remember our family praying for the men to find Richard and bring him safely home. And I remember, too, when we were told that his body had been found in the top of the Sale Barn and the horrible details that accompanied this discovery.

I am not posting because I know who murdered Richard, or because I have information that may help solve this crime or the murders that quickly followed in our small hometown. I am posting because even now - all these years later - my heart still aches for the Sweeney family and for the healing of their hearts which may never come without justice being served. These are real people, with real feelings, who have lost a son/brother. If you know something which might lead to an arrest, of course you should share it. However, if you are unsure of your facts, please be very careful in posting them. This site, and the other sites related to the Henryville murders, are overflowing with misinformation and that just makes everything worse.

Richard's murder impacted so many lives, including that of me and my family. We have grieved alongside our neighbors for many years now and we, too, would love to see the guilty party or parties brought to justice. Misinformation only muddies the waters, though. Please post only what you know to be factual and leave the missing information to those who might truly know enough to help this case be solved.

Continuing to pray peace over the Sweeney family, the Burkett family, and the Abel family. Your Henryville community has not forgotten you.

 

[bflocket]

unsolved child murders in clark couny in the 70s

That is from a website with a format similar to WS (news links and discussion) that was linked to earlier in the thread. I seem to remember a website that had many details but wasn't in the same "format," if that's even the word I'm lookimg for.

Does anybody remember something like I'm talking about? You could probably view it on archive.org but I don't know to search for it since it's been such a long time.

 

[Hatfield]

JMO
With the recent arrest of John Miller in the Tinsley murder I have been reviewing old cold cases and ran across this one.

Not sure if he can be tied to this area or this case but I did notice on the map that Henryville is a direct straight shot south from Fort Wayne taking I-69 through Indianapolis and south on I-65 to Henryville.

Hopefully LE will do DNA checking on him and compare to older cases like this.

IN - IN - April Tinsley, 8, Fort Wayne 1 April 1988 *Arrest*

 

[bflocket]

JMO
Not sure if can be tied to this area or this case but I did notice on the map that Henryville is a direct straight shot south from Fort Wayne taking I-69 through Indianapolis and south on I-65 to Henryville.
IN - IN - April Tinsley, 8, Fort Wayne 1 April 1988 *Arrest*

He's likely not involved as he went after a little girl instead of boys. And it's not really as close as it may seem, unless it's a trucker. It's at least 3½-hours (with normal traffic in Indy) south. And I remember going to visit relatives in Michigan as a kid and that stretch of Interstate is nearly terminally flat and boring so it seems even longer. Or at least it seemed so when I was little.