Not sure if this will be too long, but I'm going to give it a shot:
Full Transcript: AC360 5/30/13 "West Virginia Murder Plot"
Cooper: Also ahead, a murder that's really unthinkable-hard to wrap your head around. A 16 year old girl whose closest friends are actually charged with killing her. Why they say they killed her is stunning. One has pleaded guilty, we'll talk about that ahead. [Commercial. The show then resumes but does not cover the Skylar case. There is then another teaser by Cooper.]
Cooper: Up next, a heartbreaking story in West Virginia. A 16 year old girl with dreams of becoming a lawyer was murdered, and why she was killed and who is accused of doing it is shocking. [Also another story teaser. Commercial]
Cooper: Welcome back. From Crime and Punishment tonight, a murder case in West Virginia that has stunned a community. The victim was a 16 year old girl. Full of dreams that any teenage girl has, but they were snuffed out in a crime so depraved it defies logic. We're going to explore their actions in just a few moments with one of the top criminal profilers in the country, but first Randi Kaye on the gruesome end to a beautiful young life.
Kaye [Voiceover]: Skylar Neese was a straight-A student, a 10th grader at University High School in Star City West Virginia. She loved spending time with her dog and played the flute in the band. Skylars father said she had dreams of going to law school.
Dave Neese: Uh, she wanted to be a lawyer..and to hear her argue, she could have been a very good lawyer.
Kaye [Voiceover]: But Skylar's story took a tragic turn July 6th last year when she disappeared.
Dave Neese: She got home at 10 o'clock. She got home from work, came in and said "I love you mom, I love you dad," and she went to her room and we ain't never seen her again.
Kaye [Voiceover]: Skylar's father realized the next day something was wrong when he found Skylar's bed empty.
Kaye [Interviewing Mr. Neese]: When she first disappeared, what did you think had happened?
Dave Neese: If she'd have run away, you know, if...if she'd have run away she would have took her cell phone charger, her hair curler, and all the other stuff kids take. It's pure hell, because you don't know where your baby is, you don't know what's happened.
Kaye [Voiceover]: An open window in Skylar's bedroom offered a clue.
Dave Neese: Right here is the one she went out of that evening [gesturing to the window]. Um, she uh, used that black stool over there [pointing to a stool by Skylar's bedroom door] and put it at the bottom of the window. Left the window open about that much [he gestures with his fingers to indicate about an inch] when she crawled out.
Kaye [Voiceover]: Investigators pulled the security camera video from Skylar's apartment building and saw her jumping into a car parked near her window. That seems to make sense, considering Skylar's best friend, a 16 year old classmate, had told Skylar's father that she and another girl and Skylar had gone joyriding that night. Trouble is, that girl said they picked up Skylar around 11pm. The security camera video shows Skylar getting into the car much later than that, around 12:30am. That timeline only added to the intrigue. So for months, investigators tried to piece together clues. Friends of Skylar's rallied together to comfort the family. They hung missing posters, there were hundreds of leads, but nothing panned out. Then, in January, six months after Skylar disappeared, a stunning admission. 16 year old Rachel Shoaf, seen here in this picture from The Examiner smiling along with her friend Skylar, admitted she killed her, but she said she did not do it alone. Rachel Shoaf told investigators she and another classmate who is 16 lured Skylar out of her bedroom that night and into their car. She said they then drove her here, to this spot in rural Pennsylvania, about 30 minutes away. And then, just as they planned, the two girls attacked her, stabbing Skylar to death. Rachel Shoaf told investigators they were going to bury Skylar, but when they couldn't, they left body here, on the side of the road, and covered it in branches. The other girl's name hasn't been made public since she's charged as a juvenile, but Skylar's father says she is the same girl who told him she'd picked up his daughter for a joyride. Investigators searched that girl's car after Rachel Shoaf's confession and found Skylar's blood.
Kaye [Interviewing Mr. Neese]: What was your daughter's friendship like with these two girls? How close were they?
Dave Neese: Inseparable. They were together all the time, especially the one that hasn't been named yet. She had just got back from vacation with her, ya know, a week before this. She'd been best friends with her since she was 8 years old. I mean, it's sick.
Kaye [Voiceover]: And remember those friends who helped and comforted the family? It's almost beyond comprehension, but Dave Neese says one of them was the unnamed alleged killer.
Dave Neese: But she was finding out from us every week exactly what the cops knew, because they were telling us what they knew, of course we were telling her, because we thought that she was so upset and missed Skylar so much. And to find out she murdered her, it makes me sick.
Kaye [Voiceover]: And it's not just their behavior that's so troubling, Rachel Shoaf actually left for church camp the day after the murder. Her family issued a statement to Skylar's parents. It reads in part:
"We are at a loss for words to comfort your pain. We were shocked to learn of our daughter's involvement...in Skylar's death...we know
her actions are unforgiveable and inexcusable."
So why did they do it? Why kill Skylar? The reason Rachel has given is simple, and sickening.
Dave Neese: Because they didn't want to be friends with her anymore. Which is sick, you know, if you don't want to be friends with somebody you leave them alone, but don't murder them.
Kaye [Interviewing Mr. Neese]: What do you want to say to these two girls?
Dave Neese: Rot in hell. How's that? Because that's exactly what I want them to do. I want them to go through the pain and agony my daughter went through. I want them to have no life, because Skylar doesn't have one.
Cooper: It's such a disturbing story. What is next for these two teenage suspects?
Kaye[From Star City]: Anderson, 16 year old Rachel Shoaf had been charged with 1st degree murder, but after leading authorities to Skylar's body in the woods, she cut a plea deal. She pled guilty earlier this month to 2nd degree murder, but she still could get 40 years in prison, Anderson. Now, the other girl, the other suspect who hasn't been named, she is still charged as a juvenile with 1st degree murder. Although a judge could charge her as an adult, we're waiting on that decision. There is no word that a plea deal is in the works for her. Anderson?
Cooper: So sickening. Randi, appreciate your work. We're joined now by Mary Ellen O'Toole, who is a retired senior profiler for the FBI and author of "Dangerous Instincts." What do you make of this case? How unusual is it that the accused killers, one of whom has plead guilty, are not just teenagers, but teenage girls?
O'Toole: Well it is unusual. It's unusual because of their age. Certainly, uh, when you see this kind of violence, it's most often perpetrated by a male, but also what's so stunning is that this homicide is so cold and calculated. And then you have these girls that have inserted themselves into the investigation, presumably to monitor what's going on, um, and maybe also for the thrill of it. So, all of those three things combined is really pretty unusual.
Cooper: Inserting themselves into the investigation and into the search. I mean, with the family, consoling the family and stuff.
O'Toole: Right. That's very manipulative behavior. It's very callous behavior, and from my perspective, with my experience, it really strongly suggests, um, individuals who have a profound lack of empathy for the victim's family and the victim, and a lack of guilt for what they've done.
Cooper: Also, the reason these girls allegedly killed Skylar makes no sense, that they didn't want to be friends with her anymore. Do you buy that?
O'Toole: I don't buy that. I surely don't buy that. I think eventually, as time goes on, we'll find out, um, more exactly the reasons behind it. Not that we'll ever hear it and say "oh, finally, ok sure, that makes sense," but I think the reason will have something more to do with, um, one of the girls, there's probably a leader and a follower, there's been some kind of humiliation or perceived put down. But something more than "we just didn't want to be friends." No, I don't buy that at all.
Cooper: Something more than what they say, but nevertheless, insignificant and ridiculous.
O'Toole: Insignificant, minimal, ridiculous, it will never ever, um, measure up to being any type of justification for this, um, for this act. Never.
Cooper: Are there, I mean, if people commit crimes like this, are there warning signs? I mean, clearly parents watching this kind of thing are going to, you know, freak out about this kind of crime, about kids being capable of this.
O'Toole: Sure, let me just, again, hallmark what really leaps out to me. And, there's a stunning lack of empathy for what supposedly was a best friend. There's a callousness there. Despite the fact that this community is so upset about their missing Skylar. These two young women are able to maintain this secret for almost a half a year. So those types of behaviors didn't just happen at the time of the homicide. They preexisted this homicide, and I think there's one more thing as well. To handle your issues with someone in this way, in other words, you're mad, you're jealous, you're upset, but then to overreact to the point where murder is the option, that ability to overreact, I think preexisted these crimes as well.
Cooper: Hmm, uh, Mary Ellen O'Toole, I appreciate your expertise, thanks.
O'Toole: You're welcome.
Sorry for any typos
