The girls, who were all between the ages of 15 and 17, lured Shanda out of her home in the middle of the night and took her on a drive around southern Indiana. All four of them were tried as adults and received lengthy sentences instead of the death penalty due to the plea bargain they entered after pleading guilty to their crimes. It was also found that the victim's face and hands were burnt in an attempt to keep her unrecognizable and unidentifiable. She was kidnapped, tortured and burned alive by four teenage girls. Instead, they spent seven hours torturing Shanda, who would later suffer one of the worst deaths in history. There, Sharer and Heavrin were confronted by 16-year-old Melinda Loveless, who had previously been dating Heavrin for more than a year and was now extremely jealous of this new pairing. Loveless explained to the two other girls that she disliked Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing her girlfriend.[28]. She passed away when she was 12 years old. Loveless served more than 26 years in prison for murder and criminal confinement. "I liked it because it wasn't planned," said Loveless. Furthermore, Shandas grades were getting affected. The cause of death was smoke inhalation. Finally, in the early morning hours, the torturers stopped at a gas station and bought a two-liter bottle of Pepsi, which they quickly emptied and refilled with gasoline. This tire-iron assault was off and on for hours as the girls went on a joyride through the countryside. August 19, 2022 by Vim Buzz Local Correspondent American girl Shanda Rene Sharer (June 6, 1979 - January 11, 1992) was murdered in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls after being tortured and set ablaze. Vaught reported that she had endured criticism over the decision, but defends it saying, "It's my choice to make. Loveless and Tackett were sentenced to 60 years in prison at the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis. Sharer moved to New Albany with her mother in 1991 and developed a romantic relationship with Amanda Heavrin, a 15-year-old she met at school. [53] On November 14, 2008, Loveless's appeal was denied by the Indiana Court of Appeals, upholding Judge Todd's ruling. As per the show, she was jealous of Shanda and had written angry letters to Amanda about killing her perceived competition. Her father was a boilermaker. Small also argued that Loveless, who was 16 years old when she signed the plea agreement, was too young to enter into a contract in the state of Indiana without consent from a parent or guardian, which had not been obtained. [7], Marjorie had worked intermittently since 1974. "She was compassionate. Her parents would eventually divorce, and Shanda's mother Jacque would move the family to New Albany, Indiana in June 1991. The same morning, a hunter found a badly burned body out in a field in Madison and called the authorities. He said that Loveless had been "profoundly retarded" by childhood abuse. April 25, 2016. Shanda would stay with him on . Moreover, she had not been represented competently by counsel during her sentencing, which caused her to accept a plea bargain in the face of exaggerated claims about her chances of receiving the death penalty. Loveless and Tackett took turns stabbing Sharer in the chest. Please logout and login again. The Shanda Sharer Murder has forever changed my life. They lived in or near New Albany throughout Melinda's childhood. It was a crime of passion and peer pressure committed by four teenage girls. An Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman says 44-year-old Melinda Loveless was released from the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis on Thursday after serving 23 years and eight months . Loveless then threatened Sharer in public and soon even talked about killing the 12-year-old. Oops, this content can't be loadedbecause you're having connectivity problems, Stay always informed and up to date with our breaking news alerts, By Associated Press - Thursday, September 5, 2019. Shanda Renee Sharer was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. People were even more shocked when it was revealed that four teenage girls were responsible for the brutal murder. I wish I had the time to re-record. Larry became a marriage counselor with the church and acquired a reputation for being too forward with women, eventually attempting to rape one of them. The procedure revealed that she had suffered multiple injuries. Dr. Phil asked Lauries mother and sister if they agreed with that statement, and they said yes. Mary also grew up in a sheltered environment and was rebellious. When the group of girls drove up to the house, Toni and Hope knocked on the front door; the girl's Daddy answered . She has chosen to keep her life private since then, and not much is known about what she currently does; her last known location remains to be Indiana. [51] Rippey was sentenced to 60 years, with 10 years suspended for mitigating circumstances, plus 10 years of medium-supervision probation. The girls then drove to the field near Madison, covered her with a blanket, and poured gasoline on her. 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. [4] Early in the school year, she transferred to Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, a Catholic school in New Albany, where she joined the girls' basketball team. Upon arrival, they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife, telling them she was going to scare Sharer with it. After this look at the murder of Shanda Sharer, read about the disturbing killing of James Bulger. Shanda's parents divorced when she was young, and she ended up . Rippey was released on parole on April 28, 2006, from Indiana Women's Prison after serving 14 years of her original sentence. The girls then took Sharer into their car and told her they were going to drive her to the meeting place at the Witchs Castle, an isolated and abandoned house that served as a local teen hangout. Shanda Sharer was born on June 6, 1979 in Pineville, Kentucky to Steve Sharer and Jacqueline Vaught. 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. Loveless was not convinced Sharer was dead, so they returned a few minutes later to pour the rest of the gasoline on her. While at Hazelwood, Shanda had met Amanda Heavrin. Larry, who was violent and abusive, did not usually share his income with the family and impulsively spent any money he earned on himself, especially firearms, motorcycles and cars. "She helped me to heal, forgive and grow, whether she wanted that or not," Loveless said through tears, "She did a good thing. Larry was verbally abusive to his daughters and fired a handgun in the direction of Melinda's older sister Michelle when she was seven, intentionally missing her. In 2012, Jacque Vaught made her first contact with Melinda Loveless since the trials, although indirectly. Tackett, who was 17 at the time of the killing, was charged as an adult and sentenced to 60 years in the Indiana Women's Prison in 1993 alongside co-defendantMelinda Loveless of New Albany. At that point, Amanda was in an on-and-off relationship with another teenager, Melinda Loveless. Hope and Toni met Mary, their friend, on January 10, 1992, believing they would go to a concert. Wikimedia CommonsA small memorial to Shanda Sharer in the field where she died. When they arrived at Sharer's house at 12:30a.m., Lawrence refused to retrieve Sharer, so Tackett and Rippey went to the door. I would thank her. In the summer of 1986, after she would not let him go home with two women he met at a bar, Larry beat Marjorie so severely that she was hospitalized; he was convicted of battery. Jacque never wanted contact with any of Shanda's killers. She claimed that her mother beat her often. [75], American artist Marlene McCarty used the Shanda Sharer murder as one of the subjects for her Murder Girls series of drawings about teenage female murderers, their sexuality and their relationships. Age at death: 12 years old. Her mom said that her daughter believed it was her destiny that she would murder someone in cold blood and spend the rest of her life in prison. But, that night, Lawrence and Rippey went straight to the Jefferson County Sheriffs office with their parents and spilled the whole story. Lawrence refused. [17], Tackett stayed in Louisville in October 1991 to live with various friends. 'Wow.'". Loveless trained dogs for the program for several years. On appeal, a judge reduced the sentence to 35 years. "Odle comes in, and he's going to set with them, and they're going him hug him, and they're going to talk to him to make it easier for them," said Loveless. She even carved an "M" into the stomach of one . Sharer was tortured, beaten and burned in a rural area of Jefferson County, Indiana. 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. People were even more shocked when it was revealed that four teenage girls were responsible f In January 1992, a horrifying discovery out in a field near Madison, Indiana, led the authorities on a shocking inquiry that ultimately led to the conviction of four teenagers. The two. Instead, Loveless would be eligible for parole in 15 years, thus maintaining the original guilty plea. The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade: The New Girl chronicles what happened to Shanda and how four girls were responsible for her death. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A classmate of a southern Indiana girl murdered in 1992 said the Indiana justice system should be ashamed of itself. In tears and fearful for her life, Sharer tried to respond but to no avail. She helped me to heal, forgive and grow, whether she wanted that or not. Lawrence remained in the car while Tackett and Rippey wrapped Sharer, who was still alive, in a blanket, and carried her to a field by the gravel country road. She claimed that living with her family in Michigan was somewhat turbulent. The conversation woke up Tackett's mother, who yelled at her daughter for being out late and bringing home the girls, so Tackett agreed to take them home. "If you don't let good things come from bad things, nothing gets better. The incident attracted international attention due to both the brutality of the murder and the young age of the perpetrators, who were aged between 15 and 17 years old. Larry became a Baptist lay preacher and Marjorie became the school nurse. Shanda Sharer was 12 years old on January 11, 1992 when she was brutally tortured and murdered by 4 teenage girls. It was only when the puppy, Angel, ran into her arms the first time they met in a crowd of people that Loveless believed it. Tackett poured out the Pepsi and refilled the bottle with gasoline. In the back seat, Melinda Loveless was hiding under a blanket with a knife. 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. When the people of Madison, Indiana heard that a brutal murder had been committed in their midst, they were . According to the show, Shanda began spending much time with her, and the two became romantically involved. Pretty much, they'd been a group of strangers who came together in order to murder an innocent 12 year old stranger. 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. Loveless pleaded guilty to the one count of sexual battery. Authorities quickly narrowed in on the killers four teenage girls, three of whom had never met the victim until . They initially thought it was a mannequin of some sort, but upon exiting the vehicle realized that it was clearly the burned body of a child. Shipley then started the paperwork to get warrants for the arrest of Laurie Tackett and Melinda Loveless. Shanda Sharer. Her parents resumed their relationship in Madison in 1987. If you dont let good things come from bad things nothing gets better. Despite a desperate search, there was no sign of Shanda, and the family filed a missing person report. From what we can tell, she chooses to keep a low profile and spends time with her children and father. The next episode of Investigation Discovery's The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade will explore the horrifying torture and murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer in 1992. However, Jacqueline forbade her daughter from seeing Amanda because of some letters she had written that were sexual in nature. 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. Laurie Tackett, now 43, was one of four women convicted in the 1992 death of Shanda Sharer. [52], On January 8, 2008, Loveless's request was rejected by Jefferson Circuit Judge Ted Todd. The Abduction. Sharer and Heavrin became fast friends and then romantic partners. By the end of the night, only four of them were alive. [26] Heavrin states she gave letters Loveless sent her containing death threats towards Sharer to a "youth prosecutor", but the youth prosecutor never did anything about it as far as she knew. But a breeder who supplies dogs to the ICAN program at the prison forged an unexpected connection. It's something that should have never happened.". All four girls had troubled backgrounds, with claims of physical or sexual abuse committed by a parent or other adult. Sharer said that she could not go because her parents were awake, and she told the girls to come back around midnight, a few hours later. Shanda Rene 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. The 12-year-old seemed to have things working for her, and when she went missing, she was enrolled in a Catholic school. Some of Shanda's friends have put up a wonderful blog that discusses all the many issues surrounding this horrific crime. Slaughter 35,000 Civilians During One Korean War Massacre Or Is It North Korean Propaganda? Tackett proceeded to stab Sharer several more times before driving off once more with Loveless to beat and sodomize Sharer with a tire iron. The three other girls assumed Loveless was simply going to scare Sharer into breaking up with Heavrin. They arrived at Sharer's house shortly before dark. [47] Loveless and Tackett were arrested on January 12. Shanda attended fifth and sixth grades in Louisville at St. Paul School where she was on the cheer leading, volleyball and softball teams. The man definitely died from a broken heart".[61]. But Tackett also explained how after beating Sharerthey locked the injured but still-living girl in the trunk of her car and drove her to the spot where she was set on fire. It was Shanda, and the investigation revealed that she had been burned alive after being tortured for hours. [58] After serving 26+ years in prison, she will serve parole in Jefferson County, Kentucky. They then went to Tacketts house to clean up and drink sodas before realizing that their victim, now screaming in the trunk, was still alive. An Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman says 44-year-old Melinda Loveless was released from the Indiana Womens Prison in Indianapolis on Thursday after serving 23 years and eight months of a 60-year sentence for the murder and criminal confinement of Shanda Sharer in 1992. Peer pressure. The crime was documented in two true crime books, Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan[30] and Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones;[64] Jones's book on the case became a New York Times Bestseller. He filed for bankruptcy in 1980. She remained on parole until December 2002. She currently goes by a different name and works for a trucking company based out of Madison. 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. While Tackett went inside to ask for directions, Lawrence called a boy she knew in Louisville and chatted for several minutes to ease her worries, but did not mention Sharer's abduction. The girls used the pretense that they were taking Sharer to see Heavrin as the excuse for their visit. Full name: Shanda Rene Sharer. For several months, the prosecutors and defense attorneys did not release any information about the case, giving the news media only the statements by Lawrence and Rippey. Sharer continued to make crying and gurgling noises, so Tackett stopped the car. Investigation Discoverys The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade: The New Girl chronicles what happened to Shanda and how four girls were responsible for her death. 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