Death of Innocence - Murder of Shanda Sharer

On the night of Friday January 10, 1992, five teenage girls got into a car in a small town in Indiana. Several hours later, only four of the girls were still alive. The charred remains of the fifth girl were discovered the following morning. The events that took place that night were as shocking as they were tragic. This is the horrific true story of the torture and death of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer at the hands of three young girls.

Brothers Donn and Ralph Foley were hunting quail in Jefferson County, Indiana, when they spotted something odd in a nearby soybean field. As the two men approached the strange object, they soon realized that were looking at the burned remains of a human body. The Foleys immediately alerted the local sheriff's office.

The Foleys' call was received by Chief Deputy Randy Spry who promptly reported to the crime scene. Spry was shocked at the grisly sight. There had not been a homicide in Jefferson County in over three years. In over his head, Spry called the Sheriff Richard Shipley, who showed up at the scene soon after. Upon viewing the body, Shipley felt ill-equipped to properly investigate the murder, so he requested the help of the Indiana State Police.

A couple of hours later, Detective Steve Henry and forensics expert Sergeant Curtis Wells examined the crime scene and the body. Wells believed that some type of accelerant had been used to start the fire. This belief was soon substantiated with the discovery of a partially melted soda bottle that contained trace amounts of gasoline. The victim was burned beyond recognition and was wearing nothing but a pair of panties. An examination of the body and the presence of a high school ring on the victim's finger led the authorities to believe that the victim was a young female.

Later that evening, two 15-year-old friends, Toni Lawrence and Hope Rippey, told their parents that they had witnessed a murder the night before. The Lawrences took their daughter to the local sheriff's office; the Rippeys chose not to accompany them because they wanted to contact an attorney first.

At the police station, Toni told Sheriff Shipley of the events that had taken place the previous night. She had spent the evening with her two friends, Hope Rippey and Laurie Tackett, 17. They took Laurie's car to New Albany, where they picked up Melinda Loveless, 16, a friend of Laurie's that she had never met before (Hope had met her only once). The four girls went to a punk rock concert. On the way home, Melinda mentioned wanting to kill a girl named Shanda, who she believed was trying to steal her girlfriend.

Soon after talking with Toni, Sheriff Shipley received a missing person's report for a 12-year-old girl named Shanda Sharer. He listened with a heavy heart to the description of the missing girl. The description matched that of the Jane Doe that they had discovered that morning. The victim's teeth proved to be a positive match to the dental records of Shanda Sharer.

When Detective Henry first showed up at the home of Jackie Vaught and Steven Sharer, they were so happy and relieved. They were sure that the police had found their daughter and were bringing her home. The last thing they expected was to hear that their little girl was dead. From that moment on, their lives would never be the same.

A few hours later, Sheriff Shipley and Detective Henry obtained warrants for the arrests of Melinda Loveless and Laurie Tackett. Laurie was sleeping over Melinda's house, so the officers headed over there where they arrested the two teenage girls. Judge Ted Todd determined that both girls would be tried as adults.

The autopsy of Shanda Sharer was conducted by Dr. George Nichols. During the necropsy, Nichols found evidence of extreme torture and sexual assault. There were ligature marks on Shanda's wrists and lacerations on her head, legs, rectum and neck. The upper half of her body was covered in third- and fourth-degree burns. The extent of rectal bleeding revealed that the girl was sodomized with a blunt object before she died. There was also soot found in her airways, which proved that she was still alive when she was set on fire.

At this point, the case was receiving national media attention. Prior to their arrest, Melinda and Laurie had bragged to several friends about their atrocious acts. These friends slowly began coming forward with information about the torture and murder of Shanda. Minus the fact that each girl tried to downplay their own role in the murder, the many accounts of what took place were consistent. This allowed the police to piece together what had happened on the night that Shanda was killed.

On the evening of January 10, 1992, Melinda was infuriated because her girlfriend, 14-year-old Amanda Heavrin, was cheating on her with Shanda. Melinda had made up her mind to kill Shanda and was planning to enlist the help of her friend Laurie, who she was going to see later that night. Laurie had dabbled in the occult and had, on numerous occasions, talked about killing someone for the fun of it. Melinda had no doubt that Laurie would be on board with her plan, and she was absolutely right.

On her way to Melinda's house, Laurie picked up her friends Hope and Toni. The four girls hung out for a while in Melinda's bedroom. Melinda filled Toni and Hope in on the problems that she was having with her girlfriend. She then pulled a kitchen knife out of her purse and said that she was going to use it to "scare someone."

The four girls drove over to Shanda's house. Since Shanda had never met Hope and Toni, Melinda sent them to lure the girl out to the car by pretending to be friends of their mutual lover, Amanda. Hope and Toni told Shanda that Amanda was waiting for her at a nearby abandoned house that was known throughout the town as "The Witches' Castle." Shanda told them that she would not be able to with them until later that night when her parents were asleep. Toni and Hope returned to the car and the four girls went to a concert to kill some time.

A few hours later, the girls drove back to Shanda's house. This time, Laurie and Hope went to the door and persuaded Shanda to accompany them. Melinda hid under a blanket in the backseat of the car so Shanda would not see her. On the drive to "The Witches' Castle," Hope asked Shanda questions about her relationship with Amanda. When Shanda replied that she and Amanda cared a lot about each other and had been dating for some time, Melinda became furious. She popped out from under the blanket, grabbed Shanda by her hair and held the knife to her throat.

The terrified 12-year-old sobbed uncontrollably as Melinda and Laurie hauled her out of the car. The five girls made their way to "The Witches' Castle" with Toni and Hope leading the way up the dark path with lighters. Inside the abandoned house, Melinda tied Shanda's wrists. Hope taunted Shanda with the knife and Laurie set a t-shirt on fire, as it was dark inside the old house. Melinda pointed the flames out to Shanda and told her that that was what she was going to look like by the end of the night. Melinda took most of Shanda's jewelry, including a Mickey Mouse watch. Laurie heard several cars pass by and urged the others to continue carrying out their plan somewhere else.

The group got back into the car and stopped at a local gas station. They covered their bound victim in a blanket and Melinda stood in the car to keep watch over her. Laurie pumped the gas while Hope paid the cashier and Toni made a phone call. Although she later claimed to be distraught by the abduction and ultimate murder of Shanda, at no point during her phone conversation did Toni mention what she and the others had done.

The girls drove to an old road not far from Laurie's house. Melinda and Laurie yanked Shanda out of the car, untied her hands, and forced her at knife point to remove her clothes. It was extremely cold that January night, so Toni and Hope stood in the car and watched through the window as Shanda was tormented by the other two girls. Laurie restrained Shanda while Melinda repeatedly hit and punched her. Shanda begged them to stop and swore that she would not see Amanda anymore, but it did not make any difference. Shanda's braces tore into her mouth as Melinda grabbed her by her hair and smashed her face into her knee. Melinda then tried to slit Shanda's throat. Realizing that the blade was too dull to cut her throat, Melinda and Laurie took turns stabbing her in the chest. When they saw that she was still alive, they decided to strangle her. Laurie went to the car to get the rope. Melinda laughed at Shanda as she begged for her life with what little strength she had left. Laurie returned and she and Melinda strangled Shanda until her body went limp. They assumed that she was dead and threw her into the trunk of the car.

They drove over to Laurie's house and were talking in her bedroom when they heard Shanda's muffled screams coming from the car outside. Laurie grabbed a knife from the kitchen and quickly headed outside. She opened the trunk and stabbed Shanda several times. She went back into the house and told the others that they had to dump the body somewhere. Toni and Hope did not want to go, so they stayed behind and the other two left.

Melinda and Laurie opened the trunk to see if Shanda was still alive. Much to their surprise, the battered girl was sitting up in the trunk. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she managed to utter the word "Mommy." Laurie pulled a tire iron out of the trunk, hit Shanda in the head with it and then she and Melinda got into the car. They drove around for a while looking for somewhere to leave the body. Several times along the way, they heard gurgling sounds coming from the trunk and Laurie got out of the car and bludgeoned Shanda with the tire iron. One particular blow caused a large part of her skull to break off. Laurie and Melinda laughed in the car about their atrocious acts. After driving for several hours, they decided to take the body back to Laurie's house and burn it.

Melinda and Laurie woke Toni and Hope and bragged to them about what they had done to Shanda. The four of them then headed outside to dispose of the body. They headed to the burn pile in Laurie's backyard and were disappointed to find that it was frozen. While they planned their next move, Hope squirted Windex on Shanda and watched as it fizzled in her many wounds. The forensic evidence suggests that it was around this time that Shanda was sodomized with the tire iron, however all of the girls denied participating. They all agreed that burning the body would be the best way to get rid of it, so they filled a soda bottle with gasoline at a gas station and drove out to an abandoned road.

Toni sat in the car and watched as Melinda and Hope dragged Shanda out of the car. Hope poured the gasoline over Shanda and Laurie lit a match and set the body on fire. The girls drove away and stopped at McDonald's for breakfast on the way home. Very pleased with what they had done, Melinda and Laurie joked at breakfast about how Shanda's charred body bore a resemblance to the sausages that they were eating. Laurie drove Hope and Toni to their respective homes and then she and Melinda headed back to her house where they made several phone calls bragging about what they had done.

The four girls were charged with murder, arson, battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, intimidation and criminal confinement. In addition to these charges, Melinda and Laurie were also charged with seven other crimes, including felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, criminal deviate conduct and child molestation. Because of their ages, Hope and Toni were ineligible for the death penalty, however, the prosecutor pushed for Melinda and Laurie to be sentenced to death.

All of the girls accepted plea bargains from the prosecution. While awaiting their sentencing hearings, Toni attempted suicide in her jail cell by overdosing on antidepressants. Less than one week after her plea agreement, Melinda was discovered having sex with one of the employees at the jail that she was being kept in.

Melinda and Laurie were ultimately sentenced to 60 years in prison: the maximum sentence permitted by the terms of their plea bargains. Toni was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her part in Shanda's murder. Hope was originally sentenced to 60 years in prison, but the judge reduced her sentence by 10 years due to mitigating circumstances.

Toni earned her GED and associate's degree in prison, which lowered her sentence. She was released from prison in December 2000 after serving nine years of her 20-year sentence. She was on parole until December 2002. In November 2004, Hope's sentence was reduced because she earned her bachelor's degree and was a well-behaved prisoner. Hope was released from prison in April 2006 after serving only 14 years of her sentence. Around the time of Hope's sentence reduction, Laurie claimed to have found God and joined several religion-based groups for prisoners. It is unlikely that she was sincere in her claims since she continuously downplayed her role in the murder, placing most of the blame on Melinda. In October 2007, Melinda's lawyer announced his plans to seek an early prison release for his client. He claims that she was under duress at the time of her admission of guilt and testimony. As of the time of this writing, it has not yet been decided if their request will be granted.