Shanda Renee Sharer (June 6, 1979 - January 11, 1992) was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. He was 12 years old at the time of his death. This incident attracted international attention because of both the brutality of murder and the young age of the perpetrators, aged between 15 and 17 years. This case is covered in national programs such as Dr. Phil and has inspired a number of episodes in fictitious crime events.
Video Murder of Shanda Sharer
Shanda Renee Sharer was born at Pineville Community Hospital in Pineville, Kentucky, on June 6, 1979, to Stephen Sharer and his wife Jacqueline Sharer, later known as Jacqueline Vaught. After Sharer's parents divorced, her mother remarried and her family moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Sharer attended fifth and sixth grades in Louisville at St. Louis. Paul School, where he is on the cheerleading, volleyball and softball teams. When her mother divorced again, her family moved in June 1991 to New Albany, Indiana, and Sharer enrolled in Hazelwood Middle School. Early in the school year, she was transferred to the Virgin Mary Assistance School, the Catholic school in New Albany, where she joined the women's basketball team.
Maps Murder of Shanda Sharer
Girls involved in killing
Melinda Loveless
Melinda Loveless was born in New Albany, Indiana on October 28, 1975, the youngest of three daughters, to Marjorie and Larry Loveless. Larry was recruited into the US Army during the Vietnam War, and he was treated as a hero after his return. His wife then describes him as a pervert who will wear his mother's underwear and nightgown, unable to remain monogamous, and has a mixture of jealousy and attraction by seeing him having sex with other men and women. They lived in or near New Albany throughout Melinda's childhood.
Larry worked irregularly for the Southern Railroad after his military service; his profession allows him to work anytime most comfortable for him. In 1965, Larry became a probation officer with the New Albany Police Department, but he was dismissed after eight months when he and his partner attacked an African-American man who was accused of Larry sleeping with his wife. In 1988, Larry worked as a mailing messenger but quit after three months and did a little work, having brought most of his e-mail home to destroy it.
Marjorie has been working intermittently since 1974. When both parents work, the family is financially well off, living in the middle-class suburb of Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Larry usually does not share his income with the family and impulsively spends whatever money he gets for himself, especially firearms, motorcycles, and cars. He filed for bankruptcy in 1980. Extended members of the family often portray daughters without husbands when visiting their homes hungry, apparently not getting food at home.
Through most of their relationships, Larry is unfaithful to his wife and they often do open marriages. They often visit bars in Louisville, where Loveless will pretend to be a doctor or dentist and introduce Marjorie as his girlfriend. He will also "share" him with some of his friends from work, which he finds disgusting. During a party with another couple in their home, Marjorie attempted suicide, an act she would repeat several times throughout her childhood childhood. When Melinda was nine years old, Larry had raped Marjorie, after which he tried to drown himself. After the incident, he refused to have sex for a month, until he rudely raped her as their daughter watched, hearing the incident through a closed door. In the summer of 1986, after he would not let her go home with the two women he met at a bar, Larry hit Marjorie so badly that he was hospitalized; he was punished for the battery.
The extent to which Larry's abuse of his daughters and other children is unclear. Judicial testimonies say he fondled Melinda as a baby, abusing Marjorie's 13-year-old sister at the start of the marriage, and abusing Teddy's cousins ​​from the age of 10 to 14. The two older girls say she molested them, although Melinda does not admit it. this never happened to him. He slept in bed with him until he left his family when he was 14 years old. In court, Teddy describes an incident in which Larry tied his three sisters in a garage and raped them in a row; However, the sisters did not confirm this account. Larry was verbally abusive to his daughter and shot a gun at Michelle when she was seven, deliberately missed her. She will also embarrass her children by finding their underwear and kissing it in front of other family members.
For two years, starting when Melinda was five years old, the family was deeply involved in the Graceland Baptist Church. Larry and Marjorie gave full recognition and left drinking and swinging as they became members. Larry became a Baptist lay preacher and Marjorie became a school nurse. The Church then arranged for Melinda to be taken to a motel room with a 50-year-old man for an expulsion of five hours. Larry became a marriage counselor with the church and gained a reputation for being too advanced with women, eventually trying to rape one of them. After the incident, the Loveless Parent left the church and returned to their previous profession, drank, and opened the marriage.
In November 1990 Larry was caught spying on Melinda and a friend, and Marjorie assaulted him with a knife, sending him to the hospital after he attempted to seize him. He then attempted suicide again, and his daughter called the authorities. After this incident Larry filed for divorce and moved to Avon Park, Florida. Melinda felt crushed, especially when Larry remarried. He sent a letter to her for a while, playing with her emotions, but finally severed all contact with her.
Laurie Tackett
Mary Laurine "Laurie" Tackett was born in Madison, Indiana, on October 5, 1974. His mother was a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and his father was a factory worker with two criminal convictions in the 1960s. Tackett claims that he was persecuted at least twice as a child at the age of five and twelve. In May 1989, her mother discovered that Tackett had turned into a pair of jeans at school, and, after a confrontation that night, tried to choke him. Social workers become involved, and Tackett's parents approve a surprise visit to ensure that child abuse does not occur. Tackett and his mother were involved in periodic conflict; At one point, her mother went to Hope Rippey's house after learning that Rippey's father had bought an Ouija board for the girls. He demanded that the council be burned and Rippey's house sealed.
Tackett became increasingly rebellious after his fifteenth birthday and also became fascinated with the occult. He often tries to impress his friends by pretending to be possessed by the spirit of "Deanna the Vampire". She began to engage in self-harm, especially after early 1991 when she began dating a girl involved in the rehearsal. His parents found self-mutilation and examined him to hospital on March 19, 1991. He was prescribed anti-depressant and released. Two days later, with his girlfriend and Toni Lawrence, he cuts his wrist and is returned to the hospital. After healing his wound he was taken to a hospital psychiatry ward. She was diagnosed with a threshold personality disorder and admitted that she had been having hallucinations since she was a child. He was discharged on 12 April. He dropped out of school in September 1991.
Tackett lived in Louisville in October 1991 to live with friends. There he met Melinda Loveless; both became friends at the end of November. In December, Tackett returns to Madison with the promise that his father will buy him a car. He still spends most of his time in Louisville and New Albany, and, in December, spends most of his time with Melinda Loveless.
Hope Rippey
Hope Anna Rippey was born in Madison in June 1976. Her father was an engineer at a power plant. His parents divorced in February 1984, and he moved with his mother and siblings to Quincy, Michigan, for three years. He claims that living with his family in Michigan is a bit turbulent. His parents continued their relationship in Madison, Indiana, in 1987. He reunited with friends Laurie Tackett and Toni Lawrence, whom he knew from childhood, even though his parents saw Tackett as a bad influence. Like other girls, Rippey started hurting himself at the age of fifteen.
Toni Lawrence
Toni Lawrence was born in Madison in February 1976. His father was a bomb maker. She had been close friends with Hope Rippey since childhood. He was tortured by a relative at the age of nine and raped by a teenage boy at the age of 14, even though the police were only able to issue orders to keep the boy away from Lawrence. He went to counseling after the incident but did not follow up. He became promiscuous, began to harm himself, and attempted suicide in the eighth grade.
Events before murder
In 1990, 14-year-old Melinda Loveless began dating a young girl named Amanda Heavrin. After Loveless's father left the family and his mother remarried, Loveless behaved erratically. She was involved in school fights, and complained of depression, so she received professional counseling. In March 1991, Loveless revealed her lesbian orientation to her mother, who was initially angry but eventually accepted it. Over the years, Loveless's relationship with Heavrin has worsened.
Heavrin and Shanda Sharer meet in the early fall at Hazelwood Junior High when they quarrel; However, they became friends while detained because of the quarrel, and then exchanged romantic letters. Loveless soon becomes jealous of Heavrin and Sharer's relationships. In early October 1991, Heavrin and Sharer attended a school dance party, where Loveless found and confronted them. Although Heavrin and Loveless never officially ended their relationship, Loveless began dating an older girl.
After Heavrin and Sharer attended a joint festival in late October, Loveless began discussing Sharer's murder and threatening Sharer publicly. Concerned about the impact of their daughter's relationship with Heavrin, Sharer's parents arranged for her to move to a Catholic school in late November.
Amanda Heavrin claimed she gave Melinda's letters containing death threats about Shanda to a "youth prosecutor" and that she also told her father but the young prosecutor never did anything about it as far as she knew.
Events 10-11 January 1992
Pre-abduction
On the night of January 10, 1992, Toni Lawrence (age 15), Hope Rippey (age 15), and Laurie Tackett (age 17) drove in Tackett's car from Madison to Melinda Loveless's home in New Albany. Lawrence, while a friend of Tackett, had never met Loveless (age 16), though Rippey had met him before and had been with him. Upon arrival, they borrow some clothes from Loveless, and he shows them a knife, telling them that he will frighten Shanda Sharer with her. While Tackett, Rippey, and Lawrence had never met Sharer before that night, Tackett had known of plans to intimidate the 12-year-old girl. Loveless explains to two other girls that she does not like Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing her boyfriend.
Tackett let Rippey drive the four girls to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where Sharer stayed with her father over the weekend, stopping at McDonald's on the way to ask for directions. They arrived at Sharer's house just before dark. Loveless instructs Rippey and Lawrence to go to the door and introduce themselves as friends of Heavrin (Loveless and Sharer's current boyfriend), then invites Sharer to come with them to meet Heavrin, who awaits them at "the Witch's Castle", a the crumbling stone house, also known as Mistletoe Falls, is located on a secluded hill overlooking the Ohio River.
Sharer says that she can not go because her parents are awake, and she tells the girls to come back around midnight, a few hours later. Loveless was angry at first, but Rippey and Lawrence convinced him to return to Sharer later. The four girls crossed the river into Louisville, Kentucky, and attended a punk rock event by the Sunspring band at Audubon Skate Park near Interstate 65. Lawrence and Rippey quickly lost interest in music and went to the parking lot outside the skate park, where they engaged in activities sex with two boys in Tackett's car.
Finally, the four girls went to Sharer's house. During the trip, Loveless says that he can not wait to kill Sharer; However, Loveless also said he only meant to use a knife to scare. When they arrived at Sharer's home at 12:30, Lawrence refused to take Sharer, so Tackett and Rippey went to the door. Loveless hiding under the covers in the back seat of the car with a knife.
Kidnapping
At Witch's Castle, they pick up Sharer who sobs and ties her arms and legs with a rope. There, Loveless scoffs that he has beautiful hair and wonders how beautiful he is if they cut him, which scares Sharer more. Loveless begins to take off the Sharer ring and hand each one to the girls. At some point, Rippey had taken Sharon's Mickey Mouse watch and danced to the rhythm she played. Tackett further taunted Sharer, claiming that the Witch Castle was filled with human remains and Sharer would be next. To further threaten Sharer, Tackett then took off the shirt car with a smile design and lit a fire, but soon feared that the fire would be seen by passing cars, so the girls went with Sharer. During the car ride, Sharer kept pleading for them to bring her back home. Loless orders Sharer to release her bra, which she then handed to Rippey, who took off her own bra and replaced it with Sharer as she drove the car. They get lost, so they stop for directions at a gas station, where they cover Sharer with a blanket. While Tackett went inside to ask for directions, Lawrence called a boy he knew in Louisville and chatted for a few minutes to ease his anxieties, but did not mention Sharer's kidnapping. They returned to the car but got lost again and stopped at another gas station. There, Lawrence and Rippey found some boys and talked to them before once again getting back in the car and leaving, arriving some time later at the edge of some woods near Tackett's home in Madison, Indiana.
Torture
Tackett took them to a dark garbage dump on a logging trail in a dense forest area. Lawrence and Rippey were frightened and stayed in the car. Without love and Tackett make Sharer naked; then, Loveless beat Sharer with his fist. Furthermore, Loveless repeatedly slammed Sharer's face into her knee, which cut Sharer's mouth on her own wire. Without trying to cut Sharer's throat, but the knife was too dull. Rippey got out of the car to stifle Sharer. Loveless and Tackett took turns stabbing Sharer in the chest. They then strangle Sharer with a rope until she is unconscious, placing it in the trunk of the car, and telling the other two girls that Sharer is dead.
The girls went to Tackett's house and went inside to drink soda and wash up. When they heard Sharer yelling in the trunk, Tackett came out with a peeling knife and stabbed him several times, back a few minutes later with blood. After he washes, Tackett tells the girls' futures with his "runstone". At 2:30 am, Lawrence and Rippey stayed behind when Tackett and Loveless went "around the country", driving to the nearby town of Canaan. Sharer continued to make a sound of weeping and gurgling, so Tackett stopped the car. When they opened the trunk, Sharer sat up, covered in blood with her eyes rolled back in her head, but could not speak. Tackett beat him with a tire until he was silent.
Loveless and Tackett returned to Tackett's house before dawn. Rippey asked about Sharer, and Tackett laughed describing the torture. The conversation woke Tackett's mother, who yelled at her daughter for being late and taking the girls home, so Tackett agreed to take them home. He drove to the burning pile, where they opened the trunk to stare at Sharer. Lawrence refused. Rippey sprayed Sharer with Windex and scoffed, "You do not look so hot right now, do you?"
Burned alive
The girls went to the gas station near Madison Consolidated High School, pumped gasoline into the car, and bought a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. Tackett poured Pepsi and filled the bottle with gasoline. They drove north of Madison, passing the Jefferson Proving Ground to Lemon Road from Route 421 AS, a place known to Rippey. Lawrence stayed in the car while Tackett and Rippey wrapped Sharer, who was alive, in a blanket, and took him to a field on a graveled village road. Tackett made Rippey pour gasoline at Sharer, and then they burned it. Loless was not sure Sharer was dead, so they returned a few minutes later to pour the rest of the gasoline to him.
The girls went to McDonald's restaurant at 9:30 am for breakfast, where they laughed about Sharer's body that looked like one of the sausages they ate. Lawrence then called a friend and told him about the murder. Tackett then lowered Lawrence and Rippey in their home and eventually returned to his own home with Loveless. He tells Heavrin that they have killed Sharer and arranged to pick up Heavrin in the future.
A Loveless friend, Crystal Wathen, came to Loveless's house, and they told him what had happened. Then the three girls went to pick up Heavrin and bring him back to Loveless's house, where they told the story to Heavrin; although he did not believe it was true, Heavrin comforted the hysterical Loveless. Both Heavrin and Wathen became convinced when Tackett showed them the trunk of a car with fingerprints and Sharer's bloody socks were still there. Heavrin was horrified and asked to be taken home. When they stop in front of her house, Loveless kisses Heavrin and tells her that she loves him and begs him not to tell anyone. Heavrin promised he would not be before entering his house.
Investigation
Then on the morning of January 11, 1992, two brothers from Canaan, Indiana, were driving toward the Jefferson Proving Ground to go hunting when they saw a body on the side of the road. They called the police at 10:55 and were asked to return to the corpse. David Camm, who was later freed from his own family's murder, was one of the officers who responded. Sheriff County Jefferson Buck Shippley and detectives began the investigation, collecting forensic evidence at the scene. They initially suspected the wrong drug deal and did not believe the crime was committed by the locals.
Steven Sharer noticed his daughter missing early on January 11th. After calling his neighbors and friends all morning, he called his ex-wife, Shanda's mother, at 1:45 pm; they met and filed a missing person's report with the sheriff of Clark County.
At 8:20, the hysterical Toni Lawrence and Hope Rippey went to the Jefferson County Sheriff's office with their parents. They both gave a very long-winded statement, identified the victim as "Shanda", called the other two girls who were involved as well as possible, and described the main events of the previous night. Shippley contacted the Clark County Sheriff and finally was able to match the corpse with reports of missing person Shanda Sharer.
Detectives get a dental note that positively identifies Shanda Sharer as a victim. Loveless and Tackett were arrested on 12 January. Most of the evidence for arrest warrants is Lawrence and Rippey's remarks. The prosecutor immediately declared his intention to try Loveless and Tackett as adults. For several months, prosecutors and defense attorneys did not provide any information about the case, only giving statements by Lawrence and Rippey.
The judicial process
The four girls were charged as adults. To avoid the death penalty, the girls received a bargaining defense.
Reducing factor
All four girls have problematic backgrounds with claims of physical or sexual abuse perpetrated by parents or other adults. Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey, and Laurie Tackett all have a history of self-injury behavior. Tackett was diagnosed with a personality disorder threshold and suffered hallucinations.
Melinda Loveless, often described as the culprit in the attack, has the most widespread history of abuse and mental health problems.
Sentence
In return for his cooperation, Lawrence was allowed to plead guilty to one count of the Criminal Code and was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years.
Tackett and Loveless were sentenced to 60 years in Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. Tackett was released in 2018, and has been on probation for a year since he was released. Loveless is scheduled to be released in 2019.
Rippey was sentenced to 60 years, with ten years suspended for alleviating the situation, plus ten years of intermediate supervision probation. On appeal, a judge reduced the sentence to 35 years.
Appeal
In October 2007, Loveless's lawyer, Mark Small, asked the trial to argue for his client's release. He says that Loveless has been "very backward" by childhood abuse. In addition, he was not represented competently by lawyers during his sentence, which led him to accept bargaining bids in the face of exaggerated claims about his chances of receiving the death penalty. Small also believes that Loveless, who was 16 when she signed the plea agreement, is too young to enter into a contract in the state of Indiana without the consent of a parent or guardian, who has not been obtained. If a judge accepts this argument, Loveless may either be tried again or released immediately.
On January 8, 2008, Loveless's request was rejected by Judge Jefferson's Court, Ted Todd. On the other hand, Loveless will qualify for conditional release within 15 years, thereby maintaining the original guilty plea.
On November 14, 2008, Loveless's appeal was rejected by the Indiana Appellate Court, which upheld Judge Todd's verdict. Small states that he will seek to have jurisdiction over the case to move to the Supreme Court of Indiana.
Incarceration
By 2018, Melinda Loveless is the only one of the four remaining girls in prison, scheduled to be released in September 2019.
Release
Toni Lawrence was released on December 14, 2000, after serving 9 years. He remained conditional until December 2002.
On April 28, 2006, Hope Rippey was released from Indiana Women's Prison on parole after serving 14 years of her original punishment. He remained on parole for 5 years until April 2011.
Laurie Tackett was released from the Rockville Prison Facility on January 11, 2018, the 26th anniversary of the death of Shanda Sharer, after serving nearly 26 years, and is now serving a year of parole.
Aftermath
During the Melinda Loveless trial, extensive open court testimony revealed that his father, Larry Loveless, had abused his wife, daughters, and other children. As a result, he was arrested in February 1993 on charges of rape, sodomy, and sexual batteries. Most of the crimes occurred from 1968 to 1977. Without love remain in prison for more than two years awaiting trial; however, a judge finally ruled that all charges except for one count of sexual batteries had to be imposed due to a statute of limitations, ie five years in Indiana. Loveless pleads guilty to one count of sexual batteries. He received the time penalty presented and released in June 1995.
A few weeks after his release, Loveless failed to sue Floyd County Prison for $ 39 million in federal court, alleging he had suffered a cruel and unusual punishment for two years of his imprisonment. Among his complaints is that he is not allowed to sleep in his bed during the day or read the newspaper.
Shanda Sharer's father, Steven Sharer, died of alcohol in 2005 at the age of 53. He became depressed after the death of his daughter, and so, according to his wife, "drink to death".
The Shanda Sharer Scholarship Fund was established in January 2009. The fund is planned to provide scholarships to two students per year from Prosser School of Technology in New Albany; one scholarship will be awarded to students continuing their education, and other scholarships will be awarded to students who start their careers and must purchase equipment or other work equipment. According to the funding rules, the scholarship recipients will also be given plaques or documents of some kind that tell the story of Shanda Sharer.
In 2012, Shanda Sharer's mother, Jacque Vaught, made her first contact with Melinda Loveless since the trial, albeit indirectly. Vaught donated a dog for Loveless to be trained for the Indiana Canine Assistance Network (ICAN), which provides pet services for people with disabilities. Loveless has been training dogs for this program for several years. Vaught reported that he had received criticism for the decision, but defended it by saying, "This is my choice He is (Shanda) my son If you do not let good things come from bad things, nothing better. And I know what my child wants, my son will want this. "Vaught states that he hopes to donate a dog every year in honor of Shanda.
A documentary produced by Episode 11 Productions, entitled Charlie's Scars was shot and captured the decision of Vaught to allow Loveless to train a dog by the name of Shanda. The film also features the first three interviews Melinda Loveless ever made to a production company, Episode 11 Productions, later named Episode XI Studios.
In popular culture
In literature and stageplays
The crime is documented in two actual criminal books, the Little Hilarious Angel by Michael Quinlan and Aphrodite Jones' Victim of atrocities; Jones's book on the case became the Bestseller New York Times.
The story turned into a drama by Rob Urbinati called Hazelwood Jr. High , starring ChloÃÆ'§ Sevigny as Tackett. The drama was published by Samuel French, Inc. in September 2009.
Poems,
Poetry In God's Weapon , by author Lacy Gray (pen name), dedicated to Shanda Renee Sharer's family, published (February 8, 1993, May 11, 1995) in The Evening News, Jeffersonville, Indiana.
On television
"Meaningful", an episode of the fifth season Law & amp; Order: Special Victims Unit , based on murder.
The second episode of Cold Case The Sleepover is loosely based on this crime.
In an interview with Shanda Sharer's mother, Jacque Vaught, in the Deadly Women TV series, Vaught stated that Sharer's father was so devastated by her daughter's murder that she "did everything she could to kill herself besides putting a gun on her head "and that he" drank to death, the man must have died of a broken heart ".
In 2011, Dr. Phil presented a two-part series on crime, featuring Shanda Sharer's mother and Paige's sister, who rudely exposed Hope Rippey at the event, and interviewed Amanda Heavrin.
Sharer's murder is the first segment of the Jealousy episode on Killer Kids.
In art
American artist Marlene McCarty used the murder of Shanda Sharer as one of the subjects for the Murder Girls series about teenage girls killers, their sexuality and their relationships. McCarty's picture titled Melinda Loveless, Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey, Laurie Tackett, and Shanda Sharer - January 11, 1992 (1:39) (2000-2001) is now in the Museum of Contemporary Art collection, Los Angeles.
See also
- Child killing
- Skylar Neese's murder
- Slender Man stabbed
- The Parker-Hulme murder case
References
External links
- Charlie's Wounds - Documentary related to Shanda Sharer
- Lohr, David. "The Killing Field." Crime Library
- A video about Shanda Sharer's murder on YouTube
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments