Murder of Shanda Sharer
Shanda Renee Sharer was a young girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana by four teenage girls. Her case attracted nationwide attention due to its gruesome nature.
Background
| Timeline |
|---|
|
Shanda Renee Sharer was born in the eastern Kentucky town of Pineville on June 6, 1979.[1] Her family moved to New Albany in Summer 1991 and Shanda enrolled in Hazelwood Middle School. [2]
Melinda Loveless
Melinda was born October 28 1975, the third of three girls, to Marjorie and Larry Loveless. Larry was drafted into the army and went to Vietnam, and treated as a hero on his return. He was later described by his wife as a pervert who would wear her and her daughter's underwear and makeup, was incapable of staying monogamous, and had a mixture of jealousy and fascination with seeing her have sex with other men and women. They lived in or near New Albany, Indiana throughout Melinda's childhood.[3]
Larry worked off-and-on for the Southern Railroad for much of Melinda's childhood, a job that let him work when he felt like it. In 1972 Larry became a probationary officer with the New Albany Police Department, but was fired after about eight months when he and his partner beat a black man Loveless was convinced had slept with his wife.[4] In 1988 Larry took a short-lived job as a mail carrier, quitting after three months and very little work, having brought most of his mail home and destroyed it.[5]
Marjorie worked intermittently as a nurse from 1974 onward. When both parents were working the family did quite well, living in the middle class suburb Floyds Knobs for a time. But Larry did not usually share his income with the family, making the mortgage payments but little else, and impulsively spending any money he came into on gifts for himself, especially guns, motorcycles and cars. He filed for bankruptcy when Melinda was four, and extended family members often described the Loveless girls as coming over their houses starving, apparently not getting food at home.[6]
Through most of their relationship, Larry was unfaithful with his wife and they often had an open marriage. They would often go to bars in Louisville, where Loveless would pretend to be a doctor or a dentist and introduce Marjorie as his girlfriend. He would also "share" her with some of his friends from work, which she found disgusting. During an orgy with another couple at their house, Marjorie tried to commit suicide, something she would repeat several times as the girls grew up.[7] Around the time Melinda was nine, Larry forced Margie to participate in a gangbang, after which she tried to drown herself. After that incident she refused him sex for a month, until he violently raped her as their daughters watched. In summer 1986, after she wouldn't let him go home with two women he met at a bar, Larry beat Marjorie so severely she was hospitalized and he was convicted of battery. [8]
The extent of Larry's abuse of his daughters and other children was unclear. Various court testimony claimed he fondled Michelle as an infant, molested Marjorie's 13-year-old sister early in the marriage, molested the girls' cousin Teddy from age ten to 14, and both older girls said he molested them, though Melinda denied it happened to her. She slept in bed with him until he left the family when she was 14. In court, Teddy described a dramatic scene in which Larry tied up all three sisters in a garage and raped them in succession, but the sisters did not confirm this. Larry was verbally abusive to his daughters, and shot a gun at Michelle when she was seven, intentionally missing her. He would also embarrass them by finding their underwear and smelling it in front of other family members.[9]
For two years, starting when Melinda was five, the family was deeply involved in Graceland Baptist Church. Larry and Marjorie gave full confession and renounced drinking and polyamory for a time. Larry became a lay preacher and Marjorie the school nurse. At one point, the church arranged for Melinda, to be taken to a motel room with a 50-year-old man for a five-hour exorcism. Larry became a marriage counselor with the church and quickly acquired a reputation for being too forward with women, eventually attempting to rape one of them, and after the Loveless parents soon left the church and returned to their old jobs, drinking and the open marriage.[10]
In November 1990 when Larry was caught spying on Melinda and a friend, and Marjorie attacked him with a knife, sending him to the hospital when he tried to grab it. She then attempted suicide again and her daughters called 911. After this incident Larry moved to Avon Park, Florida and they divorced. Melinda felt crushed, especially as Larry quickly remarried. He sent letters to her a while, playing on her emotions, but eventually severed all contact with her.[11]
Love triangle
In 1990 Melinda Loveless met and began dating Amanda Heavrin. After her father left and her mother remarried, Loveless was erratic, depressed in counseling, and getting into fights at school. In March 1991 Melinda came out of the closet to her mother, who was furious initially but came to tolerate it. In fall 1991, her relationship with Heavrin deteriorated, and Loveless blamed this on Sharer.[12]
Heavrin and Sharer met early in the school year when they got into a fight, but they became friends while in detention for that fight. Loveless immediately became jealous, and the three all wrote letters to each other during September. In early October Sharer and Heavrin went together to a school dance, where Loveless found them and confronted them physically. Although she never formally broke up with Loveless, Heavrin began dating Sharer more seriously in October and Loveless began dating an older girl.[13]
Loveless became increasingly jealous when Heavrin and Sharer went to a festival together in late October, and first discussed killing Sharer, and threatened her in public. Concerned about their daughter's relationship with Heavrin, Sharer's parents arranged for her to transfer to a Catholic school in late November, and the girls started drifting apart in December. Nevertheless, Loveless and Heavrin did not get back together.[14]
Laurie Tackett
Laurie Tackett was born in October 5 1974 in Madison, Indiana. Her mother was a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and her father was a factory worker with two felony convictions and prison stints in the 1960s. Tackett claimed she was molested at least twice as a child, at ages five and twelve. Her mother forced her to dress conservatively. In May 1989, her mother discovered Tackett was changing into jeans at school, and after a confrontation that night, attempted to strangle her. Social workers became involved at this point, and her parents agreed to unannounced visits to ensure child abuse was not occurring.[15] She and her mother came into periodic conflict, at one point her mother went to Hope Rippey's house after learning Rippey's father had purchased a Ouija board for the girls, and demanded the board be burnt and the Rippey house exorcised.[16]
Tackett was increasingly rebellious after her fifteenth birthday and became fascinated with the occult. She would often try to impress her friends by pretending to be possessed by the spirit of "Deanna the Vampire".[17] She began to self harm, especially after early 1991 when she began dating a girl who was involved in it. Her parents discovered the mutilation and checked her into a hospital on March 19 1991. She was prescribed an anti-depressant and released. Two days later, with her girlfriend and Toni Lawrence, she cut her wrists deeply and was rushed back to the hospital. After treatment of her wound she was admitted to the hospital's psychiatric ward.[18] She was diagnosed with Borderline personality disorder and confessed she had experienced hallucinations since she was a child. She was discharged on April 12 1991. She dropped out of school in September 1991.[19]
Tackett moved to the Louisville area in October 1991 to stay with various friends. She met Melinda Loveless immediately, but did not become friends until late November.[20] Around that time, Tackett moved back to Madison on the promise that her father would buy her a car. Still, she spent most of her time in Louisville and New Albany, and by December, most of it with Melinda Loveless.[21]
Hope Rippey
Hope Ann Rippey was born in June 1976 in Madison, Indiana. Her father was an engineer at a power plant. Her parents divorced in Feburary 1984, and she moved to Quincy, Michigan with her mother and siblings for three years. The parents moved back in together in Madison in 1987. She was reunited with friends Laurie Tackett and Toni Lawrence, whom she had known since childhood, although her parents saw Tackett as a bad influence.[22] As with the other girls, Rippey began to self harm in 1991.[23]
Toni Lawrence
Toni Lawrence was born in Madison on February 14 1976. Her father was a boilermaker. She was close friends with Hope Rippey from childhood onward. She was abused by a relative at age 9 and was raped by a boy in 1990, although the police were only able to issue an order to keep the boy away from Lawrence. She went into counseling after the incident, but did not stick with it. She became promiscuous, began to self harm, and attempted suicide in eight grade.[24]
Events of January 10-11, 1992
Pre-abduction
On January 10th, Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey and Laurie Tackett drove in Tackett's car from Madison, Indiana to Melinda Loveless's house in New Albany, Indiana. Rippey and Lawrence borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and Loveless showed them a knife and told them she was going to scare Shanda Sharer with it. None of the girls except 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 she disliked Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing Loveless's girlfriend, Amanda Heavren.[25]
Tackett let Rippey drive them to Sharer's house in Jeffersonville, Indiana, stopping at a McDonald's for directions. They got to her house just before dark, and Loveless instructed Rippey and Lawrence to go to the door, introduce themselves as friends of Heavren, and invite Sharer to come with them to see her girlfriend, who was waiting for them at a place called "The Witch's Castle". Sharer couldn't because her parents were awake, but told the girls to come back around midnight. Sharer's father, Steve, realized Shanda didn't know the girls, and argued with her about it briefly.[26]
Loveless was angry at first, but Rippey and Lawrence assured her that they could return for Sharer later. The four girls crossed the river to Louisville, Kentucky and went to a punk rock concert at the Audubon Skate Park by Interstate 65. Lawrence and Rippey quickly lost interest in the music and went to the parking lot, where they had sex with two boys in Tackett's car.[27]
Eventually the girls left for Sharer's. During the ride Loveless said she couldn't wait to kill Sharer, but also said that she found Sharer cute and would like to have sex with her and that she just intended to use the knife to scare her. When they got to Sharer's at 12:30, Lawrence refused to go get Sharer, so Tackett and Rippey went. Loveless, who had previously harassed Sharer many times, hid under a red blanket in the back of the car with a dull knife.[28]
Abduction
Sharer was waiting for Tackkett and Rippey. Rippey told her that Heavren was waiting at the Witch's Castle, but Sharer was reluctant but agreed after changing her clothes. They got in the car and drove towards Utica, Indiana and the Witch's Castle. The Witch's Castle was a ruined stone house, also known as Mistletoe Falls, located on an isolated hill overlooking the Ohio River. It was an occasional hangout for local teenagers. Tackett told the girls that legend said the house was once owned by nine witches, and townspeople burned the house to get rid of the witches.[29]
Loveless came out from hiding after a while, and put the knife against Sharer's throat, and kept it there for the rest of the ride while Loveless interrogated Sharer about Heavren. At the Witch's Castle, they took Sharer in and bound her arms and legs with rope. Sharer started to cry, but the girls were scared by the headlights of passing cars, so they left for a place near Tackett's house, for gas then getting lost for a while before finally making their way to Madison.[30]
Torture
Tackett lead them to a garbage dump off a logging road in a densely forested area. Lawrence and Rippey were frightened and stayed in the car as Loveless and Tackett made Sharer strip, then Loveless beat Sharer with her fists. Loveless tried to cut Sharer's throat but the knife was too dull, and Rippey came out of the car to hold Sharer down. Loveless and Tackett strangled Sharer with a rope until she was unconscious, then put her in the trunk, telling the other two girls that Sharer was dead.[31]
They went to Tackett's nearby home and went inside to drink soda and wash up. They realized Sharer was screaming in the trunk, so Tackett went out with a paring knife, coming in a few minutes later covered in blood. After she washed up, Tackett got her "rune stones" and told the girl's 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. Again, Sharar was making noise, so Tackett stopped the car and beat her with a tire iron until she was quiet.[32]
They returned to Tackett's house just before daybreak to clean up again. Rippey asked about what had happened to Sharer, and Tackett laughingly told them about the torture. The conversation woke up Tackett's mom, who yelled at her daughter for being out so late and bringing home the girls, so Laurie agreed to take them home. She drove to the burn pile near Tackett's house and showed the other girls Sharer. Lawrence refused to look, but Rippey sprayed Sharer with Windex and taunted "You're not looking so hot now, are you?"[33]
Burned alive
The girls drove to a gas station near Madison High School, pumped some gas into the car and bought a 2-liter of Pepsi. Tackett poured out the soda and filled the container with gas. They drove north of Madison, past Jefferson Proving Ground to a place Rippey knew off US 421 on what was called Lemon Road. They put Sharer, still alive, in a blanket and carried her into a field by the gravel country road. Tackett made Rippey pour the gas on her, and then they set her on fire. Loveless was not convinced Sharer was dead, so they returned a few minutes later to pour the rest of the gas on her.[34]
The girls went to a McDonald's at 9:30 for breakfast. Lawrence, horrified, called a friend and told her about the murder. Tackett then dropped Lawrence and Rippey off at their houses and returned home with Loveless. They cleaned out the car, using a hose to wash the trunk. They then drove to Loveless's house around 3:00. Loveless found out Heavren was at River Falls Mall and had her paged, claiming an emergency, then told her that they had killed Sharer and arranged to pick Heavren up later that day.[35]
Loveless's friend Crystal Wathen came over, and they told her about what had happened. Then the three girls drove to pick up Heavren and bring her back to Loveless's, where they told Heavren the story, who didn't believe it was true, but comforted a hysterical Loveless. Both Heavren and Wathen were convinced when Tackett showed them the trunk with Sharer's bloody handprints and socks still remaining.[36]
Investigation
Steve Sharer noticed his daughter was missing early on January 11th. After calling neighbors and friends all morning, he called his ex-wife, Shandra's mother, at 1:00 PM and the two met and filed a missing person report with the sheriff.[37]
Two brothers from Canaan were driving towards Jefferson Proving Grounds to go hunting when they noticed something on the side of the road. They called police at 10:55 AM, and were asked to return to the corpse. The Jefferson County Sheriff, Buck Shippley, and detectives arrived and began an investigation, taking forensic evidence at the scene. They initially suspected a drug deal gone wrong, and couldn't believe the crime would have been committed by locals.[38]
At 8:20 PM that night, a hysterical Toni Lawrence went to the Jefferson County Sheriff's office with her parents. She gave a rambling statement, identifying the victim as just "Shanda", naming the three other girls involved as best she could, and describing the basic events of the previous night. Shippley contacted the Clark County sheriff and was finally able to match the victim to Shanda Sharer's missing persons report.[39]
Detective Howard Henry went to the Sharer's house, then obtained dental records for Sharer, which positively identified her as the burning victim.[40]
Sentencing
Aftermath
The crime was documented in two true crime books, Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan and Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones, which became a New York Times Bestseller.
References
- ^ Jones, 46
- ^ Jones, 125-126
- ^ Jones, 53-57
- ^ Jones, 59-66
- ^ Jones, 110-117
- ^ Jones, 71-77
- ^ Jones, 75-76
- ^ Jones, 87-98
- ^ Jones, 77-98
- ^ Jones, 78-85, 87
- ^ Jones, 110-117
- ^ Jones, 123-124
- ^ Jones, 138-141
- ^ Jones, 142-152
- ^ Jones, 158-163
- ^ Jones, 171-172
- ^ Jones, 164-167
- ^ Jones, 174-178
- ^ Jones, 179-188
- ^ Jones, 154-158
- ^ Jones, 188-190
- ^ Jones, 168-171
- ^ Jones, 178
- ^ Jones, 172-174
- ^ Jones, Aphrodite (1994). Cruel Sacrifice. Pinnacle. pp. 9–11. ISBN 0786010630.
- ^ Jones, 11-12
- ^ Jones, 13
- ^ Jones, 18-19
- ^ Jones, 19-21
- ^ Jones, 21-24
- ^ Jones, 24-26
- ^ Jones, 26-29
- ^ Jones, 30-31
- ^ Jones, 31-34
- ^ Jones, 35-36
- ^ Jones, 36-37
- ^ Jones, 38-39
- ^ Jones, 40-43
- ^ Jones, 44-46
- ^ Jones, 50