GUILTY WV - Skylar Neese, 16, Star City, 6 July 2012

[December]

I just don't think Shelia will ever admit her role in Skylar's murder, which is typical of a sociopath. The Pedro Bravo trial for the murder of Christian Aguilar just came to a close the other day. It was amazing that, despite all of the evidence against him, Bravo refused to accept blame. He had explanations for everything, but his explanations didn't coincide with the evidence. Bravo didn't seem to notice. Most of the time, he sat there on the witness stand with a big smile on his face while telling the most ludicrous lies. When he was given a guilty verdict by the jury and a sentence of LWOP by the judge, he was incredulous. A first-grader could have seen through his lies that contradicted the evidence, but he still expected everyone to buy his version of events. Shelia is no different. She is convinced that she's innocent and that she's being mistreated, no matter how much evidence is stacked against her. Sociopaths are so egocentric that they actually feel that they're the victims; they cannot sympathize with their victims' families, just as they feel no remorse toward their victims.

I will hardly ever believe a single word out of a murderer's mouth. Both girls are equally guilty jmo. Only Sheila just is a sociopath, maybe.

 

[December]

A sociopath having the possibility of being released from prison after 15 years despite planning and executing the murder of her lifelong best friend is terrifying.

SE is a sociopath. She is. She will not "learn her lesson" from fifteen years in prison, she will always be sick. Further, if she can commit such a terrible and unforgivable act against a friend who was basically family... imagine what she would be willing to do against a stranger.

Additionally, fifteen years is not a very long time when you consider the length of the average american's lifespan these days. If SE lives to be 85 and spends 15 years in prison, she will spend only 17% of her life in prison. Skyler's ENTIRE life was taken. Thirty-three-years-old. I believe that is how old SE will be when she is first up for parole. That is young. She will still be able to work, get married, having children and grandchildren... she will still have her whole life ahead of her.

My friend was killed by a 17 year old. He is serving life without parole. IMO SE deserves the same. I know RS cut a deal, but 15 years is too short of a time for her, too. These females will be emboldened by almost getting away with Skylar's murder.

I am reading up on this case, but these two females... especially SE... deserve punishment. I wish we had a brain rearranger that could fix the minds and hearts of people who felt it was all right to murder. But, I also wish that SOMEONE had looked at all the stuff Skylar was pouring out via Twitter and just told her, "those girls aren't your friends anymore, don't trust them."

 

[Lalasmooch]

Just wondering if anyone has read the new book yet and if it gave any new info? I brought and read the first one not knowing there was going to be a second. I want to get it but the reviews on Amazon weren't great and said there was still a lot of speculation. Very interested to hear what other Sleuthers thought.

 

[ChuckieD]

I've read it, it's not much different, a lot of added stuff that was posted online by the girls but if you look at Shelia's Twitter you can read it all anyway and mainly putting 2 and 2 together. If you've read the first one I wouldn't bother buying this one. IMO.

 

[cluciano63]

Saw the "I Killed my BFF" tonight and a different people who knew the girls talk about how the friendship between the three had been imploding for while, even to physical fights, in which Skylar was throwing punches and screaming with the rest of them, a three-way jealousy and competition for leadership within the group, they thought. One friend also said they were the "mean girls" once the three joined up. I may have read some of this before, can't remember now, but it sounds like something bad was in the cards for a while. It is really shocking how possessive and angry teens can be with each other. Skylar pretty much lost it, treating her parents terribly and also both of the other two, which was mutual. She seemed really confused and was not helping her case in "getting" Sheila back. The show also has "Skylar" talking about the other two having sex in front of during a sleepover. The show claims this was the defining moment in their friendship, and in Skylar's anger, she spread the story very quickly.

The whole case is just a really sad, horrible case of teenage emotions, maybe some hidden psychopathy or mental illness, gone to an extreme.

Anyway this is probably old news to most here, I have yet to read the book but not sure there is any point. None of it will ever make sense, and it was a situation that never should have happened. I remember having issues with an new or extra girl joining me and my best friend back in junior high from time to time. And someone always seemed to have hurt feelings for missing out on something or other, sometime me. But violence never even surfaced in my brain, not theirs I am sure. Maybe that is due to the commonality of violence now compared to some decades back. The set-up aspect of the murder is especially chilling.
And how the other two behaved afterward was horrendous. Sheila acted like she did "all the right things" being nice to Skylar's parents. Pretty disgusting.

Anyway...all Jmo, and I don't mean to violate Skylar's memory. I don't think she was any different than many emotional teens and if she had made it to college, this all would have likely resolved itself. So sad.

 

[Hoosgirl]

Has anyone else seen the Elle article about this case? I have the print edition, so...

Anyway, they blame Topix and Websleuths for 'slowing down the investigation'. Hello, HOW? How can that even be. The thing I think comes from here is someone suggesting they check local sex offenders. For how little information they had in the case available to the public, that is a decent suggestion. It turns out not to be relevant to the solution, but THAT is because it took local police quite some time to realize Skylar got into RACHEL's car.

Other than that unnecessary swipe, it is a pretty good overview of the case from what I can tell.

They don't really offer a motive, but I think Rachel tweeting about what women she finds gorgeous might be a clue (they include those tweets as well as the info about Rachel and Sheila hooking up right in front of Skylar). I mean, I think that might be the motive. It is a stupid motive because even if she told people, they could just claim she was lying and oh, look, everyone is still alive.

I haven't followed the case at all, so just dropping in to mention that. I do wonder if the reason this wasn't a bells and whistles missing person is they felt that she was not exactly missing (as in searching places a living girl might be would not find her). So sad for a life to be wasted over nothing.

Here's the article online. Cheers, my fellow "crime addicts"

http://www.elle.com/_mobile/life-love/society-career/skylar-neese-disappearance-twitter

 

[gitana1]

Just wondering if anyone has read the new book yet and if it gave any new info? I brought and read the first one not knowing there was going to be a second. I want to get it but the reviews on Amazon weren't great and said there was still a lot of speculation. Very interested to hear what other Sleuthers thought.

I did. It was good. I never read the first.

My friend was killed by a 17 year old. He is serving life without parole. IMO SE deserves the same. I know RS cut a deal, but 15 years is too short of a time for her, too. These females will be emboldened by almost getting away with Skylar's murder.

I am reading up on this case, but these two females... especially SE... deserve punishment. I wish we had a brain rearranger that could fix the minds and hearts of people who felt it was all right to murder. But, I also wish that SOMEONE had looked at all the stuff Skylar was pouring out via Twitter and just told her, "those girls aren't your friends anymore, don't trust them."

These girls aren't getting out in 15 years. It is unconstitutional now, based on a recent SCOTUS case, to sentence a person who was a juvenile at the time of the crime, to LWOP. But just because there is a possibility of parole doesn't mean they will get it. And these two won't. Sheila for sure will never leave the
prison alive. Rachel will serve 30 years. She will be 48 years old.

 

[MzAlexis]

Rachel will most likely be out much sooner than 30 years from what I understand. According to West Virginia Code "Each inmate committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections and incarcerated in a correctional facility pursuant to that commitment shall be granted one day good time for each day he or she is incarcerated, including any and all days in jail awaiting sentence which are credited by the sentencing court to his or her sentence pursuant to section twenty-four, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code or for any other reason relating to the commitment. An inmate may not be granted any good time for time served either on parole or bond or in any other status when he or she is not physically incarcerated."

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/code/28/WVC 28 - 5 - 27 .htm

I'm assuming she'll be on her best behavior to ensure an early release. It sickens me to think she could be out in time to enjoy the majority of her life, start a family & do all of the things Skylar never got a chance to.

 

[wendybtn]

Wow! Murdered by two teenage girls who called themselves her best friends!
Whom do you hold closer these days - your enemies or your friends???

 

[hoshizora]

Saw the "I Killed my BFF" tonight and a different people who knew the girls talk about how the friendship between the three had been imploding for while, even to physical fights, in which Skylar was throwing punches and screaming with the rest of them, a three-way jealousy and competition for leadership within the group, they thought. One friend also said they were the "mean girls" once the three joined up. I may have read some of this before, can't remember now, but it sounds like something bad was in the cards for a while. It is really shocking how possessive and angry teens can be with each other. Skylar pretty much lost it, treating her parents terribly and also both of the other two, which was mutual. She seemed really confused and was not helping her case in "getting" Sheila back. The show also has "Skylar" talking about the other two having sex in front of during a sleepover. The show claims this was the defining moment in their friendship, and in Skylar's anger, she spread the story very quickly.

I think I remember hearing at one point she treated her parents badly when she went through a period of rebelling (it might've been in the Dateline special) but that she had settled down and was treating them nicer, because she was spending less time with S & R and the friendship was deteriorating. I think it was when R first came into the picture, but don't quote me on that. I have heard something different about the sex between S & R though. I heard that because of them spending less and less time together, S & R were afraid that Skylar were going to tell people about their secrets (including the sex) and that's why they killed her. I'm surprised about this new account on this program, actually, because what I just said is what the prosecutor said at both the trials.

Rachel will most likely be out much sooner than 30 years from what I understand. According to West Virginia Code "Each inmate committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections and incarcerated in a correctional facility pursuant to that commitment shall be granted one day good time for each day he or she is incarcerated, including any and all days in jail awaiting sentence which are credited by the sentencing court to his or her sentence pursuant to section twenty-four, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code or for any other reason relating to the commitment. An inmate may not be granted any good time for time served either on parole or bond or in any other status when he or she is not physically incarcerated."

http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/code/28/WVC 28 - 5 - 27 .htm

I'm assuming she'll be on her best behavior to ensure an early release. It sickens me to think she could be out in time to enjoy the majority of her life, start a family & do all of the things Skylar never got a chance to.

From what you posted, if Rachel behaves herself, she will be out in 15 years (or a bit sooner for the time she was in jail before) and that's assuming she serves her sentence and doesn't get parolled (Wasn't hers parol after 10 years and Sheila after 15?). That's a shame. I really wish the judge gave her 40 years so it'd be at least 20 years. She's so lucky she got to plead to second-degree murder when it was cold-blooded, cruel, calculated first-degree murder.

 

[hoshizora]

Has anyone else seen the Elle article about this case? I have the print edition, so...

Anyway, they blame Topix and Websleuths for 'slowing down the investigation'. Hello, HOW? How can that even be. The thing I think comes from here is someone suggesting they check local sex offenders. For how little information they had in the case available to the public, that is a decent suggestion. It turns out not to be relevant to the solution, but THAT is because it took local police quite some time to realize Skylar got into RACHEL's car.

Other than that unnecessary swipe, it is a pretty good overview of the case from what I can tell.

They don't really offer a motive, but I think Rachel tweeting about what women she finds gorgeous might be a clue (they include those tweets as well as the info about Rachel and Sheila hooking up right in front of Skylar). I mean, I think that might be the motive. It is a stupid motive because even if she told people, they could just claim she was lying and oh, look, everyone is still alive.

I haven't followed the case at all, so just dropping in to mention that. I do wonder if the reason this wasn't a bells and whistles missing person is they felt that she was not exactly missing (as in searching places a living girl might be would not find her). So sad for a life to be wasted over nothing.

Maybe the print edition is different, but this is all I could find on Websleuths and it doesn't seem to me like the author is implying that we or Topix 'slowed down the investigation'. It just seems like they're saying there was a lot of rumours and places like Topix and Websleuths added to the rumours/speculation they had to filter through to get to the correct one.

"There were rumors that Skylar, Rachel, and Shelia were doing drugs and Skylar overdosed and they were scared so they ditched her body somewhere," Hovatter says. "You had people who wanted to get attention pretending to know what was happening, but no one knew," adds Morgan Lawrence, another UHS classmate and friend of Skylar, "except the two people who wouldn't say anything." Adding to the cacophony was the local kaffeeklatsch yammering on the forum Topix and the crime addicts conjecturing on Websleuths.com.

bigflaw: I hope the police interviewed local sex offenders. I only found 2 from Star City on the WV Police website….

Pisces_Sun: Recently, there was an unconfirmed but possible sighting of Skylar in Carolina Beach….

Sparky: I tend to believe Skylar is alive, and in hiding from her parents.

Saying that, I still think it's an "unnecessary swipe" (as you put it) and I fail to see how either of these sites were adding MORE rumours, and I don't think any of the examples are ones that show rumours. Unconfirmed sightings are usually in news reports or sometimes told by LE, one was an opinion and one was someone saying they hoped police checked the sex offenders in the area, which is a reasonable suggestion. Besides this, I think it was a good article too and I learned some things I didn't know.

It does seem silly to put blame on Topix and Websleuths for fueling the rumour mill and "adding to the cacophony" when all they had to do to make a major break in the case was rewind the tape to 11PM and realise there was no car picking Skylar up at that time, and only one car picked Skylar up that night at 12:58AM. Shelia had lied to them.

 

[james989]

Has anyone heard anything about SE being moved from Lakin? The WV DOC offender search doesn't return results when I search her, but it does for RS. I checked offender searches in surrounding states, but she didn't turn up there either. Briefly checked for new news on the local forum that begins with a T, but I can't stomach that stuff.

ETA: WV Offender Search link - http://www.wvdoc.com/wvdoc/OffenderSearch/tabid/117/Default.aspx

 

[hoshizora]

Has anyone heard anything about SE being moved from Lakin? The WV DOC offender search doesn't return results when I search her, but it does for RS. I checked offender searches in surrounding states, but she didn't turn up there either. Briefly checked for new news on the local forum that begins with a T, but I can't stomach that stuff.

ETA: WV Offender Search link - http://www.wvdoc.com/wvdoc/OffenderSearch/tabid/117/Default.aspx

Nope. She's still there, but I can't link it. It just goes to the search page.

Her name has a unique spelling. It's Shelia, not Sheila and her last name is Eddy. I remember it by Shelia(r), haha. (But I think I got autocorrected to Sheila once in my previous posts :doh

 

[james989]

Nope. She's still there, but I can't link it. It just goes to the search page.

Her name has a unique spelling. It's Shelia, not Sheila and her last name is Eddy. I remember it by Shelia(r), haha. (But I think I got autocorrected to Sheila once in my previous posts :doh

Ah, good catch. I've probably read her name hundreds of times and never noticed. Thank you.

 

[wendybtn]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-virgina-teen-sentenced-to-life-in-skylar-neeses-murder/

 

[Sparky]

In the beginning of this case here at WS, it wasn't getting very much attention until a WSer asked for help. That's when some of us tried to help and yes in the beginning I did believe Skylar was hiding from her parents. Until we started following the Twitter accts and dug deeper and deeper into them. It was hard because them being minors, we could only word our posts a certain way. But it was obvious Shelia knew more then she was telling. It was to the point where I was so sick of looking at Twitter, I couldve puked. As for WS slowing down the investigation, I don't belive that at all. I do wish tho, my statement of her being alive were true and there had been a good outcome.

 

[Janedoe66]

"Shoaf told police the girls no longer wanted to be friends with Neese." Jeez.

 

[StormDrain]

Pedro Bravo's strange reason for purchasing and carrying around a shovel was that he was going to dig his own grave. Stories such as that explain why the jury took less than four hours to find him guilty.

Shelia is still a teenager, and though she may never feel remorse, she will likely come to grips with the consequences of her ways one day. Unfortunately, she will eventually be released back into society.

 

[Justice4Sky]

I know I'm bumping up an old-ish thread, but this case is one that will fascinate me to the end of my day. I can't help but think about beautiful Skylar and all that she would have and should have accomplished in this world almost daily. My heart breaks for her and for Mary and Dave Neese.

The reason I was compelled to post here was because of something I saw over at Topix. I don't know if any of you have a better idea or could confirm or deny these allegations, but apparently in Lakin, if your family provides you with enough money, you can have things like a PlayStation, personal TV, etc? Does anyone know about this? Apparently Mary Neese posted an angry message on FB after finding out, directed at Tara Clenenden (SE's mom), outraged at SE being "pampered" by her family while serving a "life" sentence for the murder of her best friend.

Does anyone know if prisoners are afforded these types of luxuries? Or if this is just a rumor that got out of hand?

 

[Justice4Sky]

Ugh sorry I'm trying to find the Topix post that quotes Mary Neese's facebook rant but I can't find it. There are some 620 pages to that thread and it seems to have dissolved into a disaster 120 pages ago.