Skylar Neese, Friendship Turns Deadly

The tragic story of a 16-year-old girl who was murdered by her own two best friends because they didn't like her.

Skylar Neese, a 16-year-old teenage girl, never returned to her house since midnight on July 6, 2012. Six months later, one of her best friends Rachel Shoaf surrendered to the authorities and confessed that she and her other best friend Shelia Eddy had stabbed Skylar to death. What made these two teenagers have the heart to kill their own best friend?

Skylar Neese

Skylar Annette Neese (born February 10, 1996) was the only child of Mary and Dave Neese. She was an intelligent student who loves to read and learn new things. At the age of 16, she was arguably a very independent person because she already works part-time in fast-food restaurants. She had also planned everything about her future. But unfortunately, she will no longer be able to achieve it because two of her own best friends, Sheila and Rachel, murdered her.

Initially, the Three of Them were Close Friends

Skylar, Sheila, and Rachel were best friends because of their close friendship, and they often spend time together. Skylar had known Sheila since they were eight years old until they finally met Rachel while studying at University High School in northern Morgantown, West Virginia. The friendship of the three of them grew closer as time went on.

The incident occurred around July 2012. It all started from their feud on Twitter social media. At that time, Skylar, who was at odds with Rachel and Sheila, often made insinuations on Twitter. Not wanting to be outdone, the two friends also responded to Skylar’s criticism. This is what sparks a rift between the three of them.

On July 4, 2012, Two days before Skylar was murdered, she tweeted on her Twitter account,

“It really doesn’t take much to p *** me off” and “sick of being at f ****** home. Thanks “friends,” love hanging out with you all too.”

And, the day before she was killed, she tweeted again,

“You doing s *** like that is why I can NEVER completely trust you.”

Until finally, on July 6, 2012, Skylar was reported to have disappeared from her home.

The Disappearance of Skylar Neese

Both Skylar’s parents believed that their daughter didn't run away from home because of her belongings that were still in her room. After seeing CCTV footage, they found Skylar seen sneaking out of the house at midnight, leaving with Sheila and Rachel. After asking the two of them about this, Sheila and Rachel admitted that the three of them had just taken a walk around the Star City area last night. When they intended to take her home, Skylar instead asked them to drop her off by the side of the road because of an important business. Their explanation didn't make Skylar’s parents suspicious because they trusted their daughter's two best friends.

Arrest and Confession

After conducting several searches and investigations but to no avail, the police finally suspected Sheila and Rachel were also involved in the case of Skylar’s disappearance. Until eventually, on December 28, 2012, Rachel, who was haunted by sin, suddenly became depressed and raged like a madman in her house. This led her parents to call 911 and ended up getting Rachel caught by the local police. When secured, Rachel finally confessed and recounted the chronology of Skylar’s murder with Sheila.

That night, on July 6, 2012. Rachel took a shovel from her house, and Shelia took two knives from her kitchen and a pipe for smoking marijuana. They also brought along cleaning supplies, and clean clothes then invited Skylar to apologized and mend the relationship between the three of them. They pick up Skylar at her house using Sheila’s car.

After going around the City Star area, the two of them took Skylar to woods just across the Pennsylvania state border, a spot where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke marijuana. Once there, Rachel told Skylar that they forgot to bring a lighter. Skylar volunteered to return to the vehicle to get her own lighter.

As Skylar turned her back, Rachel and Shelia started counting to three.

One, two, three.

After giving the signal, Rachel and Shelia started stabbing Skylar. Skylar attempted to run but could only run a few feet before Rachel knocked her to the ground and continued attacking.

During the attack, Skylar managed to snatch Rachel’s knife from her and, trying to defend herself. Shelia kept stabbing Skylar until it was completely silent.

An autopsy revealed more than 50 stab wounds that Skylar received.

After that, Rachel and Shelia tried to bury the body. They dragged Skylar’s body to the side of the road, which wouldn’t work because the road stretched along the river, and the ground was too hard and rocky to dig a hole, which was their original plan.

Instead, they covered Skylar’s body with rocks, fallen twigs, and dirt. Rachel and Shelia then returned to the car, cleaned up the murder scene, cleaned themselves, threw away their bloodied clothes, and then returned to their own home.

In early 2013, Rachel and the police went to the murder scene where they found the body of the 16-year-old, barely identifiable. Neese’s remains were found less than 30 miles (48 km) away from her home. On March 13, they officially confirmed that the body was Skylar Neese’s.

After Skylar’s body was found and it was proven that the blood in Shelia’s car was Skylar’s blood, the police finally got strong evidence to arrest Shelia and Rachel.

Shelia was charged with first-degree murder and received a life sentence with possible parole after 15 years.

Meanwhile, Rachel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, received a sentence of 30 years.

Meanwhile, Dave and Mary Neese, Skylar’s parents, were devastated by the fact that their only daughter was killed. In memory of Skylar, they changed the location of where Skylar's body was found into a kind of memorial place.

Skylar's father occasionally makes the 20-mile drive to visits a tree in the woods in Pennsylvania, decorated with photos of his only child, his beloved daughter, killed because of two jealous best friends.

“I wanted to take the horrible thing that happened here and try to turn it into something good — a place that people can come and remember Skylar and remember the good little girl that she was, and not the little beast that they treated her like.”