...It also just blows my mind how LE allowed RS and SE to "be free" and seems like they did.....well pretty much whatever they wanted until they went to juvie jail in May.
This very issue came up on the Topix forum. People were wondering why RS was allowed to do whatever she wanted after she confessed in January and here is the resolution to that question (granted, this is not fact, but very educated speculation):
It has been speculated that RS had some sort of "breakdown" and was confined to a mental hospital. Whether that is true or not isn't relevant, but at some point, and for whatever reason, RS went to her attorney and told him the whole story. The attorney then approached the police & asked for immunity in exchange for a statement from his client about what happened to Skylar. Immunity was granted. RS then made her confession and told police where to find Skylar. Once police heard the confession, they were stuck because they had given one of the murderers immunity. Until they found Skylar's remains. Being that they were across the WV line in PA, the WV immunity deal could stand, and RS could be prosecuted in PA (which has harsher sentencing guidelines). Once the remains were positively identified, PA began to make moves to prosecute RS. RS and her attorney agreed to waive the immunity deal in WV and instead plead to 2nd degree murder in exchange for not being prosecuted in PA (this explains why the PA DA was involved so heavily in her plea).
So, from January until the remains were identified, RS thought she had immunity and was going to be able to live her life, go to college and do whatever she wanted. It also means that while she believed this, she also had to know SE was going to be arrested (as she implicated her in the confession), and take the fall for what they had done.
It definitely seems like the police gave her immunity having no idea she was one of the people who killed Skylar. I would think that they gave her the deal in anticipation of her giving them information that she had heard about who killed Skylar, or about where the remains were located. This would also explain the statement by LE that they were "shocked" (or "stunned," I don't recall) at RS's confession.
Note: While I say above that this is "educated speculation," it is stated on Topix as fact from a source who all on that site consider reliable and very close to the case in some way. I'm not willing to go that far because it is still an anonymous internet forum, but thought it was worth adding.