Shipley then started the paperwork to get warrants for the arrest of Laurie Tackett and Melinda Loveless. The Events Leading to the Murder At the time of her murder, Shanda Renee Sharer was the 12-year old daughter of divorced parents, attending school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic school in New Albany, Indiana, after transferring the previous year from Hazelwood Middle School. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of Shanda Sharer. She convinced three other teens -- Hope Rippey, Laurie Tackett and Toni Lawrence -- to participate in the crime because she believed Sharer stole her girlfriend. The ringleader and jealous lover soon leapt out from under the blanket and threatened to slit Sharers throat if she didnt confess to stealing Heavrin away from her. Shanda Rene Sharer (June 6, 1979 - January 11, 1992) was an American girl who was murdered by a group of girls in early 1992. She confessed to her involvement and said three others were involved: Hope Rippey, then 15, Mary Tackett, then 17, and Melinda Loveless, then 16. Rippey was released on parole on April 28, 2006, from Indiana Women's Prison after serving 14 years of her original sentence. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Mary, who was interested in the occult, even talked about holding a seance to ask Shandas ghost how it felt to be burned alive. According to the show, Shanda began spending much time with her, and the two became romantically involved. An Indiana program called ICAN, or Indiana Canine Assistant Network, has been helping Loveless. She convinced three other. Date of birth: 6 June 1979. Shanda Renee Sharer was a 12 year old who was brutally murdered and tortured by 4 teenage girls (between the ages 15 and 17) in January 12, 1992. Washington, Vine Grove man accused of trying to kill a police officer, Baxter Avenue Theatres in the Highlands reopens after brief closure due to water main break, Crestwood man facing more than 100 child pornography charges, Prospect sues to stop low-income apartment development, Construction progressing for outdoor game yard at riverfront near downtown Louisville, 1 killed in collision with semi tractor-trailer on I-264 near Brownsboro Road early Tuesday, Kentucky's largest accounting, advisory firm relocating downtown Louisville office to PNC Tower, WDRB FCC Applications & Related Materials. There had been just three other murders in the previous 12 years in the County, and none of them were as gruesome. [43], Sharer's father, Steven, noticed his daughter was nowhere to be found early on January 11. She was sentenced to 60 years in prison but has served the required [] MADISON, Ind. More: Part 2: How fake witnesses, exposed surveillance operation unravel Grundy murder investigation, More: Burger Chef murder victim's mom had surprising thing to say after 1978 killings. People were even more shocked when it was revealed that four teenage girls were responsible for the brutal murder. It was published February 8, 1993 and May 11, 1995 in the Jeffersonville, Indiana-based newspaper, The Evening News. In 1965, Larry became a probationary officer with the New Albany Police Department, but was fired after eight months when he and his partner assaulted an African-American man whom Larry accused of sleeping with his wife. As the four girls ate breakfast at McDonalds just after the killing, the four girls laughed as they compared their sausage breakfast to Shanda Sharers burnt corpse. Rippey was sentenced to 60 years, with 10 years suspended due to mitigating circumstances plus 10 years of medium-supervision probation. Sharer was twelve year old girl from Indiana, USA. Concerned about the effects of their daughter's relationship with Heavrin, Sharer's parents arranged for her to transfer to a Catholic school in late November. Shanda Renee Sharer (19791992) was a young girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana by four teenage girls. Tackett claimed that she was molested at least twice as a child at ages 5 and 12. Tackett proceeded to stab Sharer several more times before driving off once more with Loveless to beat and sodomize Sharer with a tire iron. Be the first one to comment on this story. Wikimedia Commons Shanda Sharer In 1991, Shanda Sharer was a bubbly 12-year-old attending Hazelwood Middle School in New Albany, Ind. [32], Rippey told Sharer that Heavrin was still at the Witch's Castle. The four girls who took place in the events that occured that night are Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence. [5], Larry worked irregularly for the Southern Railway after his military service; his profession allowed him to work whenever most convenient for him. On the morning of January 11, 1992, 2 hunters found Shanda's beaten and burned body. She served over 26 years in prison and will continue to serve parole in Jefferson County, Kentucky. 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She remained on supervised parole until April 2011. Her parents were Stephen Sharer and Jacqueline Vaught. They then strangled Sharer with a rope until she was unconscious, placed her in the trunk of the car, and told the other two girls that Sharer was dead. Thats all it was. In court, Teddy described an incident in which Larry tied all three sisters in a garage and raped them in succession; however, the sisters did not confirm this account. On the morning of Saturday, January 11, 1992, Canaan, Ind., resident Donn Foley and his brother Ralph were quail hunting in nearby Jefferson County when they spotted a strange object in a fallow soybean field near Lemon Road. Both Heavrin and Wathen were reluctant to believe the story until Tackett showed them the trunk of the car with Sharer's bloody handprints and socks still present. Shanda Renee Sharer was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. Eventually, they took her to another abandoned location and beat her mercilessly before stabbing her in the chest repeatedly. When they heard Sharer screaming in the trunk, Tackett went out with a paring knife and stabbed her several more times, coming back a few minutes later covered with blood. Everyone involved had been sworn to secrecy. Larry was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and although horribly emotionally scarred, he was treated as a hero upon his return. All four girls had troubled backgrounds, with claims of physical or sexual abuse committed by a parent or other adult. Her family has long suspected that her killer is someone she knew, but they have never been able to prove it. 125 miles away, Shanda's mother, Jacque Vaught, still endures shockwaves from her daughter's brutal murder. She was prescribed an anti-depressant and released. She was abused by a relative at age 9 and was raped by a teenage boy at age 14, although the police only issued an order for the boy to keep away from Lawrence. She was, by all accounts, a normal girl who made friends easily and had fun at school dances. And Im doing it for her.. Loveless tried to slash Sharer's throat, but the knife was too dull. Hang with us: Follow Us on Instagram Like Us on Facebook Join our Case Discussion Group on Facebook Get Killer Queens Merch [49] Tackett was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and suffering from hallucinations. In January 1992, Shanda Sharer was brutally tortured and murdered by four teenage girls, led by Melinda Loveless, a 17-year-old girl from Louisville. Investigation Discoverys The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade: The New Girl chronicles what happened to Shanda and how four girls were responsible for her death. Lawrence and Rippey were frightened and stayed in the car. In March 1991, Loveless came out as a lesbian to her mother, who was initially furious but eventually accepted it. To further threaten Sharer, Tackett then retrieved a shirt with a smiley design from the car and lit it on fire, but immediately feared that the fire would be spotted by passing cars, so the girls left with Sharer. Jacque never wanted contact with any of Shanda's killers. However, Jacqueline forbade her daughter from seeing Amanda because of some letters she had written that were sexual in nature. Upon arrival, they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife, telling them she was going to scare Sharer with it. Mary Bell. Tackett told people in one interview that, I didnt know Shanda at all. Clockwise from top left: Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. Among his complaints were that he was not allowed to sleep in his bed during the day or to read the newspaper. Melinda almost immediately found Amanda (the same day Shanda's body was found) and told her the whole story. "We bring our challenges, many times, to Melinda because she's able to figure out what their strength is," said Sally Irvin of ICAN. He said that Loveless had been "profoundly retarded" by childhood abuse. Hope was handed down a 40-year sentence for her involvement, and she was supposed to serve 17-and-a-half years of it behind bars. Unfortunately, that did nothing to stop the horrific events that would soon unfold. "I liked it because it wasn't planned," said Loveless. But 20 years later, something no one expected happened. [3], Melinda Loveless was born in New Albany on October 28, 1975, the youngest of three daughters, to Marjorie and Larry Loveless. Investigation Discovery's ' The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade: The New Girl' chronicles what happened to Shanda and how four girls were responsible for her death. 'Wow.'". Three more hours later, they took her to another . Its my choice to make. -- The two bird hunters who found the body of 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer on that cold, sunny morning in January, said it looked at . She still spent most of her time in Louisville and New Albany, and, by December, spent most of it with Loveless. INDIANAPOLIS, IN (WTHR) - In January 1992, 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was lured from her home in Jeffersonville, tortured throughout the night and burned alive. [56], Tackett was released from Rockville Correctional Facility on January 11, 2018, the 26th anniversary of Sharer's death, after serving nearly 26 years, and has completed an additional year of parole.[57]. [55], On April 28, 2006, Rippey was released from Indiana Women's Prison on parole after serving 14 years of her original sentence. Craig Schoonover made that statement after Melinda. So, lets find out more about this case then, shall we. After phoning neighbors and friends all morning, he called his former wife, Sharer's mother, at 1:45p.m.; they met and filed a missing person report with the Clark County sheriff. That's all I've ever said.". Ralph's first thought was that the object was a body, though logic dictated that it were something else. [47] Loveless and Tackett were arrested on January 12. She was compassionate. Furthermore, Shandas grades were getting affected. She was sentenced to 60 years in prison but has served the required time for her release. par ; mai 21, 2022 At around 7 am on January 11, 1992, Shandas father, Steve, realized that his daughter wasnt at home in Jeffersonville, Indiana; she had been staying with him at the time. [20] Her father was an engineer at a power plant. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack. She was 12 years old at the time of her death. Loveless is the last of the four to be released from prison. Loveless hid under a blanket in the back seat of the car with the knife. [16] Tackett was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and confessed that she had experienced hallucinations since she was a young child. Jacque saw something she had never seen before. When her parents divorced, her mother married another man and Toni was released in 2000 after serving almost nine years in prison, remaining on parole until late 2002. He sent letters to her for a while, playing on her emotions, but eventually severed all contact with her, and in December 1998, he died. During an orgy with another couple at their house, Marjorie tried to commit suicide, an act she would repeat several times throughout her daughters' childhoods. [62] By November 2018 Shanda's mother Jacque Vaught stated that the scholarship fund had been depleted and is no longer accepting donations. Authorities quickly narrowed in on the killers four teenage girls, three of whom had never met the victim until . On this particular weekend Shanda had been staying with her father, Steve Sharer, and Melinda knew it. In October 2007, Loveless's attorney, Mark Small, requested a hearing to argue for his client's release. Her death is notable due to the torture she endured for more than 10 hours, and subsequently being burned alive. Hope Rippey was one of four girls convicted of murdering Shanda Sharer luring her from her home in the dead of the night and pouring gasoline on her body. On the cold winter night of Jan. 10, 1992, Loveless enlisted three friends Laurie Tackett (17), Hope Rippey (15), and Toni Lawrence (15) to help her take her revenge on Shanda Sharer. As the year progressed, Loveless's relationship with Heavrin deteriorated. [11], For two years, beginning when Melinda was five, the family was deeply involved in the Graceland Baptist Church. At that point, Amanda was in an on-and-off relationship with another teenager, Melinda Loveless. 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