I agree with you completely, and I didn't know that it was an unpopular opinion. I think the public got a much more intimate look into Shelia's thoughts and life through her preserved twitter—all that officially remained of Rachel's online existence were her ambitions to sing and act. Shelia immediately came off as more of the degenerate with fewer ambitions. But I think the fact that it was Shelia + Skylar their whole lives until Rachel came into the picture in high school will become important. I don't think Rachel expedited an existing possibility so much as she presented a new one altogether. :moo:
Also, first post on this thread, though I've been following this case since Skylar was first reported missing, mostly over on that website that starts with a t that I am so so happy to not have to read anymore.
What's the general consensus here about whether or not Rachel's stint in the hospital was to set up an insanity defense? I know it's incredibly hard to pull off, legally speaking, and I don't think it ever would've worked for her, but I wonder if she knew she was going to crack and tried to lessen the impact that way or if it was a legitimate trip with unintended consequences (the confession).
I don't believe Rachel's stint at the hospital was fake, although I don't believe that she was overcome at all with guilt over having a part in Skylar's murder. She was receiving a lot of harassing messages online and I think that, combined with the huge secret she was keeping and the case being turned over to the FBI, is why she ended up in the hospital.
I mostly don't believe it's fake because I've read she's had previous mental health issues in the past. I wish I could remember, but it's mostly from what I've read on the T website. She's been previously admitted to that hospital after her and her mother had a huge fight, and I'm sure I've read she's had suicide attempts in the past, I think. I know she's been to the hospital before though, so it really doesn't surprise me that a girl with mental health issues in the past dealing with the circumstances above, ended up at the hospital again. I'm not sure if she had decided to come forward at that point either.
That's why I believe Rachel was the "mastermind", or at least the planner of this horrible crime. Don't get me wrong, Shelia agreed to it in this case and that makes her just as guilty and she deserves to be punished, but I can't look beyond Skylar and Shelia being friends since they were children and having no (severe) issues between them. There would be indications of one of them being homicidal at one point during that long of timeframe (I am estimating 10 years here), especially if she just walked into the Neese household like she was their child. And then a new girl with issues and who Skylar's parents said added trouble into the mix, comes along and Skylar is murdered within a few years of their friendship. It just seems odd to me that when two childhood besties introduce a new girl into the group, one of the besties is murdered. I think Skylar would've been murdered a lot earlier had Shelia been behind it.
But I do think, at the same time that Shelia clearly has severe issues too by having a part in the murder of someone she loved AND helping the family distribute flyers (that is so sick!), so she clearly could've pulled it off as the "mastermind" (assuming there is one). She could've begun to develop mental health issues in her adolescence and along with that came homicidal thoughts, and with that she realised how she could take advantage of Rachel, knowing her mental state. *shrugs*
It's so hard to fully grasp what happened here, but I'm hoping the prosecution have more of an idea than what I do.
This post is my opinion, of course.
