Latest / Legally Brunette / Stabbed in the Back: The Murder of Skylar Neese

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Stabbed in the Back: The Murder of Skylar Neese · Legally Brunette

0:02
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, welcome to Legally Brunette. I will be your
0:05
Speaker 1: host today Emily Simpson with my sidekick Shane Shane. So
0:10
Speaker 1: we are going to discuss it is a new series
0:14
Speaker 1: on Hulu called Friends Like These and actually I was
0:17
Speaker 1: thinking when I watched it, I kind of love that
0:20
Speaker 1: we're doing it now as far as the timeline is concerned,
0:22
Speaker 1: because if you didn't listen to our last episode, we
0:25
Speaker 1: did it on what was called The Scream Murders, which
0:28
Speaker 1: really focused on these teenagers and Idaho. And now this
0:33
Speaker 1: new Hulu series is called Friends Like These and it's
0:37
Speaker 1: the Murder of Skylar Nice, and again we're dealing with
0:40
Speaker 1: teenagers and a heinous teenage murder, but we're moving over
0:46
Speaker 1: to West Virginia. So I think it's interesting that we're
0:48
Speaker 1: doing these podcasts back to back because really there's a
0:50
Speaker 1: lot when I was watching it and researching it and
0:52
Speaker 1: thinking about it, there's a lot of contrast. So let's
0:55
Speaker 1: get into it. So Skyler Nice was a sixteen year
0:59
Speaker 1: old from Star City, West Virginia, and she disappeared on
1:03
Speaker 1: July fifth, twenty twelve, after sneaking out of her bedroom
1:07
Speaker 1: to meet some friends. Four months investigators believed that she
1:11
Speaker 1: may have run away, but the case took a shocking
1:14
Speaker 1: turn in January of twenty thirteen when one of her
1:18
Speaker 1: best friends her name was Rachel Schoff, confessed that she
1:23
Speaker 1: and Skuyler's best friend from childhood, Sheila Eddie, had murdered her.
1:28
Speaker 1: The two teens had lured Skyler to a remote wooded
1:31
Speaker 1: area in Pennsylvania and stabbed her to death. All Right,
1:35
Speaker 1: So that's the brief synopsis of what we're dealing with here.
1:39
Speaker 1: We're talking about sixteen year old girls and a lot
1:43
Speaker 1: of this documentary and a lot of their in the documentary,
1:46
Speaker 1: their relationship. You could see it play out on social
1:49
Speaker 1: media because I've never been a big fan of Twitter,
1:53
Speaker 1: Like I've never really I've tweeted a couple things. Now
1:55
Speaker 1: it's not Twitter, it's ex But during this time period,
1:59
Speaker 1: I guess these teens really communicate. They used to like
2:01
Speaker 1: a diary, like they would just play We're in twenty twelve, okay, yeah,
2:08
Speaker 1: and then in twenty thirteen, when is when it solved.
2:10
Speaker 2: But I think that's when Twitter was you know, is
2:12
Speaker 2: that when it first came out, I was picking up
2:14
Speaker 2: a lot of traffic traffic, so maybe it was, you know,
2:17
Speaker 2: they just caught onto it and they were kind of easy.
2:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, So these girls were all using it. To me,
2:22
Speaker 1: it was almost like a like a diary because it
2:25
Speaker 1: would just be lots of entries during the day, you
2:27
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like feeling sad, she's a bee,
2:30
Speaker 1: I can't stand her lived there and they would always
2:34
Speaker 1: post their emotions. So anyway, let's get to let's get
2:37
Speaker 1: to a timeline. Let's talk about Skyler. So Skyler was
2:40
Speaker 1: born on February tenth in nineteen ninety six, and she
2:43
Speaker 1: was born to Dave and Mary Nice. Now, both parents
2:48
Speaker 1: are interviewed in this documentary, which I I give them
2:51
Speaker 1: so much credit for being able to not only live
2:54
Speaker 1: through what they lived through, not knowing for so many
2:57
Speaker 1: months what happened to their daughter living through a tryll,
3:01
Speaker 1: and then now having to resurface it all in a documentary.
3:06
Speaker 2: Interview for them, or maybe they feel that they're keeping
3:09
Speaker 2: their daughter's name, you know, kind of out there and
3:12
Speaker 2: kind of what she went through.
3:13
Speaker 1: You know, I will tell you Dave, the father, Skuyler's dad, Dave,
3:17
Speaker 1: he reminded me very much of when we talked about
3:19
Speaker 1: the Scream murders and we talked about Brian, remember the
3:22
Speaker 1: child that was adopted, and then we talked about how
3:25
Speaker 1: you could see the physical and mental decline of his dad,
3:27
Speaker 1: and then when they interviewed him, you could tell him
3:30
Speaker 1: it took a toll on him. Dave reminded me that
3:33
Speaker 1: was a very that was similar to me too, because Dave,
3:35
Speaker 1: when they showed earlier photos of him, he just looked
3:38
Speaker 1: vibrant and healthy.
3:39
Speaker 2: He was only like twelve years ago, right.
3:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's just you could tell that it's just
3:43
Speaker 1: taken such a toll on this man, you know, and
3:46
Speaker 1: it's just so horrific. But anyway, I could see the
3:49
Speaker 1: grief and these two fathers and mothers, the mothers. The
3:54
Speaker 1: mother said too. But I don't know. Maybe it's because
3:56
Speaker 1: I maybe because just personally I didn't have a dad
3:58
Speaker 1: growing up, so maybe I just can next more with
4:00
Speaker 1: these fathers that are so I don't know, grieving so
4:03
Speaker 1: much for their daughters, and you can see the emotion
4:05
Speaker 1: I mean for their daughter and then Brian and Brian
4:08
Speaker 1: Draper's case of son. But you could just see the
4:10
Speaker 1: emotional toll on them. I don't know. I think also
4:13
Speaker 1: the fathers were more were more communicative in these documentaries,
4:19
Speaker 1: they spoke more, they were interviewed more. They would just
4:21
Speaker 1: seem to be more like central to the conversation. So
4:25
Speaker 1: Skyler was an only child and she grew up in
4:27
Speaker 1: Star City, West Virginia. Dave worked at a local Walmart
4:30
Speaker 1: this is the dad, while Mary, the mother, was employed
4:33
Speaker 1: as a receptionist at a medical office. Skyler attended University
4:37
Speaker 1: High School in Morgantown and was known for earning very
4:39
Speaker 1: strong grades. She also worked part time at a Wendy's restaurant.
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Speaker 1: Friends and family describe her as intelligent, outgoing, and well liked.
4:48
Speaker 1: And Skyler also she had hopes of eventually becoming a lawyer.
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Speaker 1: On July fifth of twenty twelve, this is the night
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Speaker 1: of her disappearance, Skyler snuck out of her bedroom and
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Speaker 1: got into sh Sheila Eddie's car. Sheila and Skyler had
5:03
Speaker 1: been best friends since they were eight years old. I
5:06
Speaker 1: think that's really important to remember that Sheila, Yeah, and
5:09
Speaker 1: Skyler had been best friends since they were very little,
5:12
Speaker 1: since they were children, and Sheila had spent a lot
5:15
Speaker 1: of time at Skyler's house. She knew the parents well.
5:20
Speaker 1: They treated her like family. So when we're talking about
5:23
Speaker 1: this crime. We're not talking about like a sixteen year
5:27
Speaker 1: old that's removed that just didn't like her. You're talking
5:29
Speaker 1: about someone that she had grown up with, that she'd
5:32
Speaker 1: known her entire life. Surveillance cameras captured footage of her
5:36
Speaker 1: entering the car, you know, with the surveillance footage, at first,
5:40
Speaker 1: they didn't know that it was Sheila Eddie's car, though
5:41
Speaker 1: it was very grainy. They did find the surveillance video
5:45
Speaker 1: of the night that she got out, She left the
5:48
Speaker 1: apartment and got into a car, but they could not
5:49
Speaker 1: tell initially.
5:51
Speaker 2: From the apartment complex.
5:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, she lived in an apartment with our mom and dad,
5:56
Speaker 1: and it showed a car pull up and it showed
5:58
Speaker 1: her getting into a car. But I believe the surveillance video.
6:00
Speaker 2: Was so I remember that it was black and white.
6:02
Speaker 1: It was a little grainy. They couldn't tell exactly like
6:04
Speaker 1: today why.
6:05
Speaker 2: It would be much clearer. But this is, you know, ten,
6:07
Speaker 2: fifteen years or twelve years.
6:09
Speaker 1: Ago, right, so twenty twelve, it was actually fourteen years ago.
6:14
Speaker 1: So July sixth, twenty twelve, Dave Niece discovered Skyler missing
6:17
Speaker 1: when he noticed that her bed had not been slept in.
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Speaker 1: At first, Mary niece who's the mother believed their daughter
6:23
Speaker 1: might be staying with friends or out shopping. Concern increase
6:26
Speaker 1: later that day when Skyler failed to appear for her
6:29
Speaker 1: scheduled shift at Wendy's, and her parents contacted police and
6:33
Speaker 1: reported her missing. All right, so Skyler snuck out, she
6:37
Speaker 1: got into a car. They don't know. They haven't pulled
6:39
Speaker 1: the footage yet. They think that she's staying with a friend.
6:41
Speaker 1: What would if you're if you woke up tomorrow morning
6:43
Speaker 1: and Annabel what wasn't in her bed? Was the first
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Speaker 1: thing you would do?
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Speaker 2: Go back to bed?
6:48
Speaker 1: Okay, besides going back to bed, she's thirteen.
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Speaker 2: I would be worried. I'd come to you and ask
6:53
Speaker 2: you and start to look around figure out what's going on.
6:55
Speaker 2: That would be very worrisome. So I'd start calling, talk
6:58
Speaker 2: to you. I don't know, look to see if she
7:01
Speaker 2: had her car. Well, our daughters have a car, but
7:04
Speaker 2: you know she did right she was sixteen. She didn't
7:07
Speaker 2: have a car, So you start searching because it would
7:09
Speaker 2: be worrisome.
7:10
Speaker 1: So early in the investigation, this is around. So she
7:12
Speaker 1: disappeared in July of twenty twelve, So July to January
7:15
Speaker 1: is a timeframe we're talking about. Police initially considered the
7:18
Speaker 1: possibility that Skuyler had run away or that drugs could
7:22
Speaker 1: have been involved.
7:24
Speaker 2: So for him to think drugs might have been involved,
7:26
Speaker 2: meaning did she have a history.
7:27
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, when I was talking about the
7:29
Speaker 1: social media, how they documented everything on social media, this
7:32
Speaker 1: is the other concern I had. They also posted lots
7:35
Speaker 1: of photos of them partying. This is West Virginia. I
7:38
Speaker 1: feel like they're kind of out, like there's not a
7:40
Speaker 1: lot to do. I grew up in rural Ohio, so
7:43
Speaker 1: I feel like when I was growing up, it was
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Speaker 1: like all the teens, like, what did you have to
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Speaker 1: do other than have bonfires and drink and drive around
7:50
Speaker 1: at used to Well I didn't do that, But I'm
7:52
Speaker 1: saying a lot of the people, you know, a lot
7:54
Speaker 1: of the people I went to high school with in
7:56
Speaker 1: a very remote country area in Ohio, it was like,
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Speaker 1: you overwhelmed. This is in the nineties. You drove around
8:03
Speaker 1: and you drank and you had bonfires. So this reminds
8:06
Speaker 1: played Offspring. Yes, you played all else, Screen Day Else,
8:10
Speaker 1: Little Green Day?
8:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, did you guys get that out there?
8:12
Speaker 1: Green Day? I knew, yes, Offspring A lot of country,
8:16
Speaker 1: a lot of country music. So anyway, I'm just picturing
8:19
Speaker 1: like rural West Virginia. It's these teenagers are driving around,
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Speaker 1: they're partying all the time, they're drinking, they're.
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Speaker 2: Doing Maybe she was close to kind of that scene
8:27
Speaker 2: enough where they kind of got concerned that she was
8:29
Speaker 2: on Well.
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Speaker 1: I think she did your drugs. She smoked pot with
8:32
Speaker 1: her friends, and she's right the problem.
8:34
Speaker 2: Then you shouldn't be.
8:35
Speaker 1: I don't want to, but I'm saying what I'm talking about.
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Speaker 1: When they when they would document things, they would also
8:39
Speaker 1: post photos of them partying. And here's the thing, as
8:42
Speaker 1: a parent, are you not monitoring? I guess I believe
8:48
Speaker 1: they just didn't know that this Twitter existed and that
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Speaker 1: they were posting like parents. Maybe they just weren't.
8:54
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why they were on Twitter. It was kind
8:56
Speaker 2: of a yeah, not considered social media that they were
8:59
Speaker 2: able to get on it because.
9:01
Speaker 1: There were a lot of photos that they were showing
9:02
Speaker 1: in the documentary that showed them drinking, showed them smoking pot,
9:06
Speaker 1: showed them partying and being at like random guys housers.
9:09
Speaker 1: Like they talk about these Conway brothers that were, you know,
9:13
Speaker 1: allegedly drug dealers, and maybe involved in some bank robbery
9:17
Speaker 1: and they're hanging out with them. So even though it's
9:19
Speaker 1: like there, to me it was like a juxtaposition with
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Speaker 1: this girl with Skyler because on one hand they're saying
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Speaker 1: she's like very intelligent and makes good grades and works
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Speaker 1: at Wendy's and is you know, very well liked, and
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Speaker 1: you know a.
9:32
Speaker 2: Good girl works hard right, studies hard and plays hard right.
9:37
Speaker 1: So Skyler's two best friends, Sheila Eddie and Rachel Chaff.
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Speaker 1: Rachel is the redhead in this documentary, and she ends
9:44
Speaker 1: up so we talked, so we know Skyler and Sheila
9:46
Speaker 1: had been friends since they were very little. Then they
9:49
Speaker 1: end up meeting Rachel later. I think it's teenagers, okay,
9:52
Speaker 1: and then she comes in and now you have a
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Speaker 1: group of three.
9:55
Speaker 2: Which you always I have always told you. What have
9:57
Speaker 2: I told you good?
9:58
Speaker 1: It's never good. Yes, you have to have evan numbers.
10:02
Speaker 1: I even told you that with children. That's why when
10:03
Speaker 1: we had Annabel, Luke and Keller, I pushed for a
10:06
Speaker 1: fourth child for a long time.
10:08
Speaker 2: How'd that work out for you? It didn't.
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Speaker 1: We still have three and now I'm fifty, so that
10:13
Speaker 1: is just not in the cards ever. But I did.
10:15
Speaker 1: I did tell you that. I said we need to
10:17
Speaker 1: have four. Yeah, because I think trios don't work.
10:23
Speaker 2: Want someone I.
10:25
Speaker 1: Know, But I'm just telling you. In a trio, someone
10:27
Speaker 1: always feels left out. Two people are always closer, and
10:31
Speaker 1: that third person feels left out. All right, So here
10:35
Speaker 1: we are back with Sheila. We've got Skyler, Sheila and Rachel.
10:41
Speaker 1: Sheila and Rachel told investigators that they had picked Skyler
10:44
Speaker 1: up that night for a late night drive, but that
10:47
Speaker 1: they had returned her home before midnight. Investigators noted that
10:51
Speaker 1: their statements were too similar, leading them to believe the
10:55
Speaker 1: girls had rehearsed what they were saying.
10:57
Speaker 2: That's interesting, right, like if they both say and then
11:00
Speaker 2: we picked her up at ten oh three, yes, and
11:02
Speaker 2: we went here.
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Speaker 1: We drove sixteen point two miles. Authorities spent months reviewing evidence,
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Speaker 1: including this took months. I don't understand why this takes
11:13
Speaker 1: months in an investigation. Also, we are talking about fourteen
11:16
Speaker 1: years ago. Maybe it's speedier now, but they.
11:20
Speaker 2: Data sat it was rural, so maybe it's a slower moving,
11:24
Speaker 2: you know, team of law enforcement agents. So there's a
11:26
Speaker 2: lot of mergers out there.
11:28
Speaker 1: There's cell phone records, this is what I don't understand.
11:30
Speaker 1: They're going to pull their cell phone records, right, you're
11:33
Speaker 1: going to get that forensics. But it must have taken
11:35
Speaker 1: a long time because.
11:36
Speaker 2: Well, the triangulation I think this is what they called it,
11:39
Speaker 2: they did back then. So it wasn't like a pinpoint
11:41
Speaker 2: of where the phone was. It was circles, circumferences areas,
11:46
Speaker 2: because they had to use three different cell towers to
11:49
Speaker 2: kind of try to get narrowed down where it was,
11:51
Speaker 2: so I think, and maybe it also wasn't so readily available,
11:57
Speaker 2: whereas maybe now it's readily a failable So there's a
12:01
Speaker 2: procedure in place to get the info. They have a warrant,
12:04
Speaker 2: they get the info, the cell companies automatically produce it
12:07
Speaker 2: and spit it out. So maybe it did take a while.
12:12
Speaker 2: Maybe the cops try to figure out how to use Twitter.
12:15
Speaker 1: No they did. I saw that in the documentary. Yeah,
12:17
Speaker 1: they talk about how they they weren't familiar with social media.
12:21
Speaker 2: Oh, social media in general, that's right, and.
12:23
Speaker 1: Twitter, and that they had to learn it, but they
12:27
Speaker 1: didn't know really how it worked and.
12:30
Speaker 2: The want of the post someone comments on someone else's
12:35
Speaker 2: They probably had to kind of decipher it all.
12:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, So they're going through cell phone records and social
12:39
Speaker 1: media activity. So in the days before her disappearance, Skyler
12:43
Speaker 1: made multiple social media posts hinting at a rift among
12:47
Speaker 1: the trio. This is a quote sick of being at
12:50
Speaker 1: working home. Thanks friends, love hanging out with you all too,
12:54
Speaker 1: she wrote on Twitter, then adding a day later quote,
12:58
Speaker 1: you doing like that is why I can never completely
13:01
Speaker 1: trust you.
13:02
Speaker 2: And who posted this?
13:03
Speaker 1: This is Skyler, the girl that disappeared.
13:05
Speaker 2: And this is she posted this the night of the disappearance.
13:08
Speaker 1: Or it's just it says, days before her disappear. Yeah,
13:11
Speaker 1: So they're going through the Twitter and they're showing in
13:13
Speaker 1: the documentary you can tell there's a rift with some friends.
13:17
Speaker 1: She doesn't name any names, but you can tell by
13:19
Speaker 1: her Twitter post that there's some animosity, there's a beef,
13:23
Speaker 1: there's something going on. She's upset and she's posting that.
13:27
Speaker 1: So I was telling you earlier. It's like a journal.
13:29
Speaker 1: They're using Twitter like a like an emotional journal. Over time,
13:35
Speaker 1: investigators began to suspect that the two friends were withholding information.
13:40
Speaker 1: You know, they did initially believe because I was telling
13:43
Speaker 1: you earlier. There were these two brothers named like the
13:45
Speaker 1: Conway Brothers, where these girls would party with them, and
13:48
Speaker 1: they were allegedly drug dealers, and they were also possibly
13:51
Speaker 1: tied to like an armed bank robbery. So I think
13:54
Speaker 1: in the beginning they might have been thrown off a
13:56
Speaker 1: little bit because I don't think they were suspecting the
13:58
Speaker 1: girls initially, and they were trying to focus on these
14:01
Speaker 1: boys to see you.
14:04
Speaker 2: Would think these male drug dealers rob you know, would
14:08
Speaker 2: they rob a bank?
14:10
Speaker 1: Well, they they never proved it, but they there was
14:13
Speaker 1: an armed robbery at a bank, and they were.
14:16
Speaker 2: They were of interest, they were persons of interests.
14:18
Speaker 1: They were trying to possibly tie them to this. They
14:21
Speaker 1: were also I guess well known drug dealers, and I
14:24
Speaker 1: guess these girls also were like sexually active with these boys.
14:28
Speaker 1: So the thought in the beginning was maybe they were
14:31
Speaker 1: all partying and she had a drug overdose, and then
14:35
Speaker 1: you know, all these people conspired to like hide the
14:38
Speaker 1: body or something. I think that was like their initial
14:41
Speaker 1: thought as to what possibly could have happened to her.
14:45
Speaker 1: Then we get to this is when they finally discover
14:49
Speaker 1: what actually happened to her. This is in January of
14:51
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. Remember, she disappeared in July of twenty twelve,
14:54
Speaker 1: so it's about nine months later, So there's about nine
14:57
Speaker 1: months that goes by that they don't know what happened
14:59
Speaker 1: to her, right, so Rachel's show. Remember she's the redhead,
15:04
Speaker 1: she's one of the girls in the trio, and she's
15:07
Speaker 1: the one the one she was like the new front.
15:10
Speaker 1: So what happened is she comes into this trio and
15:12
Speaker 1: then she and Sheila are very very close, and I
15:15
Speaker 1: think Skuyler always felt on the outs like the two
15:19
Speaker 1: of them were very close. They were always together, they
15:21
Speaker 1: were hanging out, and I think they were not including
15:24
Speaker 1: her in a lot of things. And then she was
15:26
Speaker 1: upset and then she was posting on Twitter or how
15:28
Speaker 1: she was upset. Yeah, so you could see that why
15:30
Speaker 1: this trio's not working out. So then on December twenty
15:33
Speaker 1: eighth of two thoy and twelve, they reached out to
15:38
Speaker 1: I know that they had given Sheila Eddie a light
15:42
Speaker 1: detector test, which she failed, but I don't think they
15:46
Speaker 1: could do much with that at the time because they
15:48
Speaker 1: don't have any forensics back. They just know she failed it, right.
15:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it didn't give them any insight as to
15:53
Speaker 2: what happened.
15:53
Speaker 1: Yet right then, I believe the DA reaches out to
15:57
Speaker 1: Rachel's show from Rachel Scheff's attorney. This is the the
16:01
Speaker 1: other friend, the newer one to the group, and they
16:03
Speaker 1: want her to take a light detector test. So I
16:06
Speaker 1: think via her attorney, she agrees to take a light
16:08
Speaker 1: detector test. Then as she's on the way to the
16:12
Speaker 1: light detector test in a car, I think she's being driven,
16:15
Speaker 1: you know, probably her parents and her attorney whatever they're
16:17
Speaker 1: traveling to go take this light detector test. She literally
16:20
Speaker 1: jumps out of the car like at a light, like
16:23
Speaker 1: she has a nervous breakdown, jumps out of the way
16:26
Speaker 1: she was worried, Yeah, jumps out of the car and
16:31
Speaker 1: runs and just like they don't know where she went.
16:34
Speaker 1: So her defense attorney has to call. I don't know
16:37
Speaker 1: who he called. I mean, who was ever conducting it.
16:39
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's you know, who's there, the
16:41
Speaker 1: district attorney or whatever. Calls and says like, I like,
16:46
Speaker 1: I lost my client. My client ran away. So they
16:51
Speaker 1: eventually end up finding her and she's admitted to a
16:55
Speaker 1: psychiatric hospital because she had like she had a legitimate
16:59
Speaker 1: I mean, and I think I heard some.
17:01
Speaker 2: Audio she was up against all odds. She was probably
17:04
Speaker 2: worried that it was.
17:04
Speaker 1: Gonna she was having a meant, she was screaming. Her
17:08
Speaker 1: mom called the police. They played the nine to one
17:10
Speaker 1: one call and her mom's like, I can't.
17:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, it turns out with her murdering people is
17:15
Speaker 2: not good for your mental health. Right.
17:16
Speaker 1: Also, we didn't talk about this earlier, but Rachel Chauff,
17:20
Speaker 1: this girl that's having the mental breakdown, was very very
17:23
Speaker 1: religious and spent like a week at like a Bible.
17:27
Speaker 2: Camp after so she was probably very conflicted, like.
17:31
Speaker 1: And she was like always reading the Bible and like
17:33
Speaker 1: and like like journaling and.
17:36
Speaker 2: Like learning how you're not supposed to murder your neighbor, right,
17:39
Speaker 2: and so she is murdering her friend.
17:42
Speaker 1: So on January third of twenty thirteen, Rachel's Chauff finally
17:47
Speaker 1: confessed to police. She admitted that she and Sheila Eddie
17:50
Speaker 1: had taken Skyler to a wooded area in Brave, Pennsylvania
17:55
Speaker 1: and attacked Skyler with knives, stabbing her more than fifty times.
17:59
Speaker 2: How did they get her to the wooden area?
18:01
Speaker 1: Okay, So, so here's what happened. So they called her
18:04
Speaker 1: and asked her if she wanted to go for this
18:06
Speaker 1: is all premeditated.
18:07
Speaker 2: Like they had had her.
18:09
Speaker 1: This wasn't This wasn't like they were driving, right, I'm
18:13
Speaker 1: saying they weren't just like out driving.
18:15
Speaker 2: Around kill her. Yes, but we think that there was
18:18
Speaker 2: a falling out prior to and then they call her
18:21
Speaker 2: and say let's go hang out, So she probably felt
18:23
Speaker 2: like okay.
18:24
Speaker 1: I believe there were conversations of the two of them
18:27
Speaker 1: talking about how she was annoying them and she was
18:31
Speaker 1: always complaining, like she was always posting on Twitter. She
18:33
Speaker 1: was very upset with them, and she didn't feel like
18:35
Speaker 1: she was a part of the group. I think obviously
18:38
Speaker 1: there was animosity among them. So I believe there were
18:41
Speaker 1: conversations between Sheila and Rachel just basically saying I don't
18:46
Speaker 1: like her, we need to get rid of her. So
18:49
Speaker 1: this was like a who said that this is Sheila
18:51
Speaker 1: and Rachel?
18:52
Speaker 2: You know, but who's saying it Sheila or Rachel.
18:54
Speaker 1: Well, I would say that Sheila, based upon what I
18:57
Speaker 1: know of these two girls, that Sheila was the instigator.
19:00
Speaker 1: She seems like the stronger force between the two of them.
19:03
Speaker 2: And she was the long time friend, and.
19:05
Speaker 1: She was the longtime friend and I guess there was
19:08
Speaker 1: a conversation of like, we just she's annoying, Like she's
19:13
Speaker 1: annoying me, we need to get rid of her, and
19:15
Speaker 1: I don't.
19:16
Speaker 2: Know, block her number, no, I don't know social media.
19:20
Speaker 1: I feel like she missed a lot of steps up
19:23
Speaker 1: into the point of there's a lot of.
19:24
Speaker 2: Things you can do without murdering someone, to cut the matter.
19:27
Speaker 1: Exactly, but I guess they just skipped all of those
19:30
Speaker 1: and went straight to we should just we should just
19:33
Speaker 1: murder her, and the other girl agrees, And so the
19:36
Speaker 1: night that they pick her up, Right the night they
19:39
Speaker 1: pick her up, I believe that they called her or whatever,
19:43
Speaker 1: texted I don't know, and said you want to, you know,
19:45
Speaker 1: go right around and smoke pot like a joy ride.
19:49
Speaker 1: And I'm sure she was ecstatic that they were asking
19:51
Speaker 1: her to do something. That's what makes me sad is
19:54
Speaker 1: she was probably happy that they were reaching out.
19:58
Speaker 2: And they had a falling out, so then they reach
20:02
Speaker 2: out to her. She's probably thinking like, Okay, they want
20:03
Speaker 2: to hang out, work things out, or move on. And
20:07
Speaker 2: there were longtime friends of her, at least one was,
20:09
Speaker 2: so it wasn't just like Nascar it I'm gonna hang
20:12
Speaker 2: out so and so.
20:13
Speaker 1: Right, So she gets in the car and the middle
20:14
Speaker 1: of the nite she sneaks.
20:15
Speaker 2: In it not even buttered her up.
20:17
Speaker 1: Maybe they're probably like, let's go hang out. We're gonna
20:19
Speaker 1: have fun, you know. And so she gets in the car.
20:23
Speaker 1: They brought a shovel and knives. Very premeditated conversation, brought
20:29
Speaker 1: the shovel, brought the knives. So they drive around with
20:33
Speaker 1: her for a long time. They take her to another state.
20:36
Speaker 2: They for a long time because they did.
20:39
Speaker 1: End up getting the forensics back and she ends up
20:41
Speaker 1: being They end up murdering her in Pennsylvania.
20:44
Speaker 2: So after they gather all the evidence, now we know
20:46
Speaker 2: the story, right.
20:47
Speaker 1: So they end up and Rachel finally admits, like she
20:51
Speaker 1: confesses to what happened. So they end up driving her
20:53
Speaker 1: to like some rural area of Pennsylvania and they pull
20:56
Speaker 1: off to the side of the road and I think they,
20:59
Speaker 1: you know, they get out with the pretense of like
21:01
Speaker 1: let's just go, I don't know, hang out and smoke
21:03
Speaker 1: pot or something, and she jumps in over here, right,
21:08
Speaker 1: so you know, she gets out of the car and
21:10
Speaker 1: then both of them just they attack her.
21:12
Speaker 2: I remember when this took place you do. I remember
21:15
Speaker 2: the news because I remember the her disappearing at night.
21:19
Speaker 2: I remember the granny, And you can't forget it when
21:22
Speaker 2: you hear about two girls killing their friend.
21:24
Speaker 1: And they're all sixteen.
21:26
Speaker 2: It's not like escally, it's not like we got in
21:28
Speaker 2: a fight. No, and then you know when it got
21:30
Speaker 2: out of control jump, But it's not any would understand
21:34
Speaker 2: it like, oh okay, I can picture that happening and
21:37
Speaker 2: people lose the control and then you know, something horrific happens.
21:40
Speaker 1: But this is like, no, this is she's annoying, let's
21:45
Speaker 1: kill her.
21:45
Speaker 2: This is mean girl stuff. This is beyond it's I
21:50
Speaker 2: mean girls stuff, all with it.
21:51
Speaker 1: Rachel initially stated that the motive was simply that they
21:54
Speaker 1: no longer liked Skuyler. She does claim later that she
21:58
Speaker 1: and Sheila were having a romantic relationship, that they were lesbians,
22:02
Speaker 1: and that Skyler knew about it, and because she was
22:06
Speaker 1: so religious, they were afraid that she would out them,
22:09
Speaker 1: and then you know her family. So this is what
22:11
Speaker 1: always kills me.
22:12
Speaker 2: The murdering. Wouldn't out them.
22:14
Speaker 1: No, the murdering's fine. This is when people are just like, you.
22:17
Speaker 2: Know, speculation, this is legit. They had a relationship.
22:20
Speaker 1: No, they did. There's some there's some evidence. I don't
22:23
Speaker 1: know there was. In the documentary it talks about how
22:25
Speaker 1: they did fool around, they were sexually involved with each other,
22:29
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know. I mean, it's hard to
22:31
Speaker 1: tell when girls are sixteen, is it. Are you just
22:34
Speaker 1: experimenting and just you know, you did some drugs and
22:38
Speaker 1: drink too much Alcohulst being wild and crazy things too.
22:42
Speaker 1: Are you, you know, legitimately in a relationship and committed
22:46
Speaker 1: to one another? I don't know. But initially during her confession,
22:49
Speaker 1: she says they just didn't like Skyler, that's why they
22:53
Speaker 1: killed her. And then later in court when she was testifying,
22:57
Speaker 1: she claims that she's a lesbian and that they were
22:59
Speaker 1: in a relationship ship and Skyler knew about the relationship,
23:02
Speaker 1: and they were afraid Skyler would out her because she's
23:05
Speaker 1: religious and her family would disapprove. But that always kills
23:09
Speaker 1: me when you go to the like but murder, but
23:11
Speaker 1: murder's better, Like murder's the better. That's a way to
23:14
Speaker 1: cover it up, right, Like when you're saying I'm deeply religious.
23:18
Speaker 2: And I know I'm guessing her family was and she
23:22
Speaker 2: didn't want them to find out. I don't think it
23:24
Speaker 2: was her own personal like, I'm guilty, I'm doing something wrong,
23:28
Speaker 2: so I'm going to hide it with you know, another
23:31
Speaker 2: wrong act. You know, my parents are going to get
23:32
Speaker 2: mad at me, so I'm going to hide it. That's
23:35
Speaker 2: what I'm guessing it was.
23:36
Speaker 1: No, I agree with that, but I'm saying what I'm
23:39
Speaker 1: saying when someone is so concerned because her family is
23:42
Speaker 1: very religious and.
23:45
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, but it's like then saying they might find out,
23:47
Speaker 2: they might get win that you kissed a girl, but
23:49
Speaker 2: they won't get win that you might have murdered.
23:52
Speaker 1: I'm saying, so you skip your your.
23:54
Speaker 2: Well, they did dry far away.
23:55
Speaker 1: They went to Pennsylvania, right, they brought a shovel. After
24:00
Speaker 1: things became known with the relationship, there was tension between us,
24:03
Speaker 1: Rachel said in her twenty twenty three testimony.
24:05
Speaker 2: Wait, they crossed state lines. Yeah, they went to Pennsylvania offense.
24:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was hostile and violent, and our teenage minds,
24:13
Speaker 1: we didn't know how to handle the conflict and we
24:15
Speaker 1: just wanted it to stop. So I guess in her
24:17
Speaker 1: teenage minds, the only way that they can deal with
24:20
Speaker 1: the conflict between Skyler, and the two of them is
24:23
Speaker 1: just is to get rid of her. The revelation that
24:27
Speaker 1: Rachel and Sheila had committed this act shocked investigators and
24:31
Speaker 1: the niece family, who had trusted both girls, especially Shila.
24:35
Speaker 1: I think that was what was so sad.
24:37
Speaker 2: You know.
24:37
Speaker 1: I watched the dad, you know, Skyler's dad, Dave, and
24:40
Speaker 1: in his interview and he's saying, even after Skyler disappeared,
24:45
Speaker 1: Sheila would continue to reach out to the family and
24:48
Speaker 1: you know and be supportive and.
24:50
Speaker 2: Like as if she didn't murder Skyler, right, and you.
24:52
Speaker 1: Know, like I miss her so much, I love her,
24:56
Speaker 1: you know. And even on Twitter it would show Sheila
24:58
Speaker 1: posting things like come back, baby girl, and I miss
25:02
Speaker 1: you and can't wait to see you.
25:03
Speaker 2: Against they help them remembre like Chris Watts when he
25:06
Speaker 2: was talking to the camera he needed acting classes. Oh yeah,
25:09
Speaker 2: he was just like come home. Well, I would say
25:14
Speaker 2: that he was used against them.
25:15
Speaker 1: The two girls, these two sixteen year olds. Yeah, we're
25:19
Speaker 1: I think we're very convincing. I don't think any I
25:21
Speaker 1: don't think people. Maybe the investigators were onto them a
25:24
Speaker 1: little bit, but they not.
25:25
Speaker 2: In the beginning, your first instinct is not to look
25:29
Speaker 2: at a.
25:29
Speaker 1: Sixteen year old girl, Yeah, who's been a friend of
25:32
Speaker 1: the family right since they were eight years old.
25:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just female alone. Men are going to be
25:37
Speaker 2: more of the aggressor. So you're going to look at
25:40
Speaker 2: these drug addicts or drug dealers or whatever they were,
25:43
Speaker 2: whoever they're partying with. I mean, you're gonna look at that.
25:54
Speaker 1: So Rachel agreed to wear a wire and try to
25:57
Speaker 1: get Shila to confess, but didn't get.
26:00
Speaker 2: Why didn't she just give up her phone and show
26:02
Speaker 2: all the texts that probably say don't forget the shovel.
26:05
Speaker 1: You know, I was wondering they didn't really go into
26:07
Speaker 1: the forensics of the phone, and I kept waiting for
26:09
Speaker 1: that part in the documentary because I thought, once they
26:11
Speaker 1: get all this information back, there has to be text between.
26:15
Speaker 2: Two of them then that they probably used it.
26:18
Speaker 1: But they never said in the documentary, and I couldn't
26:20
Speaker 1: find it when I did further research if there was
26:23
Speaker 1: any any incriminating evidence in texts they did. They did
26:29
Speaker 1: find blood in Sheila's car, and that's what allowed them
26:33
Speaker 1: to arrest her because first they try the wire. So
26:37
Speaker 1: Rachel agrees to wear a wire, so she has a
26:39
Speaker 1: wire on and their video recording. It's at her house.
26:42
Speaker 1: So she calls Sheila and says, Hey, I'm like, I'm
26:45
Speaker 1: feeling nervous. I don't feel like people believe us. I
26:48
Speaker 1: don't you know, we need to get our story straight.
26:50
Speaker 1: She's like, can you come over? So then Sheila drives
26:53
Speaker 1: over to Rachel's house and you see her walk in
26:56
Speaker 1: and Rachel's sitting on the couch and Sheila walks in
26:59
Speaker 1: and they're talking to each other and they're recording it.
27:01
Speaker 1: There's a hidden camera and she's wired. But the problem
27:05
Speaker 1: is she's sixteen. She's not savvy enough to know like
27:08
Speaker 1: the questions to ask or the conversation to go into
27:12
Speaker 1: to get her to implicate her.
27:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, which was the one that ran out ran away Rachel. Yeah,
27:20
Speaker 2: of course, she's not in a right mind, probably emotionally
27:23
Speaker 2: to kind of.
27:24
Speaker 1: Carry I mean out, she tries, So she does wear
27:28
Speaker 1: a wire. She calls Sheila. Sheila comes over to her house,
27:31
Speaker 1: and really, the conversation, I mean to me watching it,
27:33
Speaker 1: the conversations incriminating because she's like, I don't think they
27:37
Speaker 1: believe us, and she's and Sheila's like, just stick to
27:39
Speaker 1: the story, just say what we omination.
27:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, to me, it was.
27:44
Speaker 1: But I think they wanted They wanted wanted.
27:46
Speaker 2: To be like, I'm the one that stabbed her.
27:48
Speaker 1: They wanted her to be like, you know, well.
27:50
Speaker 2: They want to get as much as they can. They
27:51
Speaker 2: got one shot, right, so they.
27:52
Speaker 1: Got very little. They basically got her saying like, don't worry,
27:56
Speaker 1: don't stress out, just stick to the story. You know
27:58
Speaker 1: they'll believe us.
27:59
Speaker 2: Right, you're right. That isn't admitting or you know, she
28:03
Speaker 2: still has an out because if they say, well, then
28:06
Speaker 2: that means you murder, she'd be like, no, sticking the
28:08
Speaker 2: story was right. We did some drugs and then she disappeared,
28:11
Speaker 2: and we didn't want our family know we did drugs,
28:12
Speaker 2: so we stuck to the story of whatever.
28:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, they wanted her to say, we got knives and
28:16
Speaker 1: we stabbed her in the back and we killed her
28:18
Speaker 1: and then we hid the body.
28:20
Speaker 2: And I know, I wonder do we know what Rachel
28:22
Speaker 2: said then, because I would think things like like, well,
28:26
Speaker 2: it's wrong that we murdered her, we shouldn't have done that,
28:28
Speaker 2: and then then they might start talking about the murderer
28:31
Speaker 2: like it's fine, we'll never get caught and things like that.
28:33
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know what I was wondering because
28:35
Speaker 1: they didn't really go into detail to this part. They
28:37
Speaker 1: just basically were like, Rachel confessed and then Rachel agreed
28:41
Speaker 1: to wear a wire. But I was wondering how much
28:44
Speaker 1: they prepped her before she wore a wire so that
28:48
Speaker 1: she was better. But they also kept telling it. They
28:51
Speaker 1: also kept telling her to act natural, you know, because
28:54
Speaker 1: I get it. They you can't be like, sit there
28:57
Speaker 1: and let me let's check about QEW cards. Yes, She's
28:59
Speaker 1: like waituh go.
29:01
Speaker 2: On the back of it says police department, official, police
29:04
Speaker 2: department exactly.
29:05
Speaker 1: So it's like, on one hand, they're coaching her and
29:07
Speaker 1: they're telling her just be organic, be natural, just like
29:10
Speaker 1: what would you normally do because they don't want her,
29:13
Speaker 1: you know, they don't want Shila to catch on. But
29:15
Speaker 1: then with the whole act natural part, like they didn't
29:19
Speaker 1: really get much right.
29:20
Speaker 2: That's when they should have bugged the phones or something right,
29:24
Speaker 2: or taped the phones, because then you can have like
29:27
Speaker 2: in Scott Peterson and stuff, they were tapping Amber Fray's
29:31
Speaker 2: home phone, and so it was over a period of time.
29:36
Speaker 2: Because you're not on one phone call going to get
29:38
Speaker 2: the he may not get the confession, so maybe it
29:41
Speaker 2: should be over a period of time. I don't know,
29:42
Speaker 2: but maybe they also didn't want her running around free.
29:45
Speaker 1: And well, the thing that's interesting is after Rachel confesses,
29:50
Speaker 1: it still takes another four months before they actually arrest
29:53
Speaker 1: either girl. And I felt like they're so immature that
29:58
Speaker 1: I feel as if Rachel thought, just because she confessed
30:02
Speaker 1: and then it took four months before they arrested them,
30:04
Speaker 1: that she probably during those four months thought that she
30:08
Speaker 1: was just free.
30:09
Speaker 2: Yeah. I would think so, because.
30:11
Speaker 1: I think she just went on with normal life and
30:12
Speaker 1: continued to go to school and was still posting on
30:14
Speaker 1: Twitter and like, you know, getting dressed for prom and
30:19
Speaker 1: like doing all the things, even though she just confessed
30:22
Speaker 1: to murder. But they were building a case and they
30:24
Speaker 1: were getting more information, and they were waiting for forensics
30:28
Speaker 1: to come back in Sheila's car because they found some
30:30
Speaker 1: blood in her car and so they sent it to
30:33
Speaker 1: be tested because they wanted it to come back as
30:35
Speaker 1: Skylar's right, because then now you've got some DNA evidence.
30:40
Speaker 1: So they were waiting on all of that before they
30:42
Speaker 1: made any arrests. So it was really interesting to me
30:45
Speaker 1: in that documentary to watch Rachel confess to murder and
30:48
Speaker 1: then where why and then just have four months where
30:53
Speaker 1: like in her mind, nothing's happening.
30:57
Speaker 2: Maybe they told her, Okay, we're gonna doar investigation. You
30:59
Speaker 2: gotta lay low.
31:00
Speaker 1: Also, Rachel did lead the police to the body. So
31:04
Speaker 1: even though they drove I don't know, I'm thinking it
31:06
Speaker 1: was like two hundred miles or something, they drove to
31:08
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania to commit this murder. And then they did try
31:12
Speaker 1: to dig a hole because remember I told you they
31:14
Speaker 1: brought the They brought the shovel because they were going
31:16
Speaker 1: to bury her.
31:17
Speaker 2: They could they couldn't. They couldn't dig a hole.
31:19
Speaker 1: Well, it was cold and we're talking about like West.
31:22
Speaker 2: Virginia ground frozen. Ye, she should have brought a pick.
31:25
Speaker 1: Well, it was July, so I guess it wouldn't have been.
31:27
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter that it's not that easy to dig
31:29
Speaker 2: a hole. It depends on the terrain and stuff.
31:31
Speaker 1: Remember when I bought a shovel because.
31:32
Speaker 2: I know, I bought you a shovel because you kept
31:35
Speaker 2: insisting that you were going to I don't know, dig
31:37
Speaker 2: a trench in the backyard or something. So I bought
31:41
Speaker 2: a shovel and it was brand new for years in
31:44
Speaker 2: our ground.
31:45
Speaker 1: So I tried. I couldn't. I couldn't dig. I couldn't
31:47
Speaker 1: dig like a couple inches below. It was like the
31:49
Speaker 1: dirt was so packed. I was like, I give up.
31:51
Speaker 1: I think I was going to plan out a rose
31:53
Speaker 1: bush and I couldn't even do it. I couldn't dig
31:55
Speaker 1: a hole big enough to plan.
31:57
Speaker 2: Now, you were going to dig a trench to lower
31:59
Speaker 2: the terrain so our dog couldn't jump the wall.
32:03
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it was up to I was like, we
32:06
Speaker 1: just need to dig that area out and make it
32:07
Speaker 1: more level. Yeah, that didn't work. I couldn't even like
32:10
Speaker 1: get the shovel through the ground. So anyway, these girls,
32:13
Speaker 1: they brought a shovel. They were going to bury the body.
32:15
Speaker 1: They quickly learned that it is not easy to do
32:18
Speaker 1: what they do with the body, so they could hit it. Yeah,
32:21
Speaker 1: they didn't wear like where they stabbed her. They stabbed
32:24
Speaker 1: her in like a remote area, in like a wooded area.
32:27
Speaker 1: They just they covered her with leaves and stuff. So anyway,
32:31
Speaker 1: Rachel does lead the investigators to where the body is
32:34
Speaker 1: and they do recover the body. She remembered I don't
32:38
Speaker 1: know how she remembered it, because she wasn't the one driving.
32:40
Speaker 1: Sheila was driving, but she must have known the area
32:43
Speaker 1: well or something, because she could lead them to exactly
32:46
Speaker 1: where they as.
32:48
Speaker 2: I'd probably something you don't really forget. But did do
32:52
Speaker 2: we know of anything like how they conversations they had,
32:55
Speaker 2: like when they got her out of.
32:56
Speaker 1: The car and then the woods they got out of
32:59
Speaker 1: the car. I believe it was just the pretend of
33:01
Speaker 1: like they were just going to like hang out and
33:02
Speaker 1: smoke pod or something. But she got out and they
33:06
Speaker 1: were behind her, and then they just both attacked her
33:11
Speaker 1: at the same time. They stabbed her over fifty times.
33:13
Speaker 2: So as far as we know, she didn't know until
33:15
Speaker 2: she was attacked.
33:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, but she knew it was them. I mean, she
33:18
Speaker 1: didn't die quickly because then Rachel said, no.
33:20
Speaker 2: I know, I wasn't trying to lessen it. I was
33:22
Speaker 2: just saying, like she didn't become aware, not until that
33:26
Speaker 2: was our plans, until they started to attack.
33:28
Speaker 1: I don't think so. No, but Rachel's chaff did say,
33:32
Speaker 1: because I believe they asked her what were her last words,
33:36
Speaker 1: and she said that Skyler just kept saying why why.
33:41
Speaker 2: It's very true we had the same question why, like
33:43
Speaker 2: just say get out of our way. We're going to
33:46
Speaker 2: be friends now. We only anything to do with it, right.
33:48
Speaker 1: Why couldn't you just tweet I don't like you anymore,
33:50
Speaker 1: go away. I'm never talking to you.
33:52
Speaker 2: Also, if they wanted to be meaner, that's pretty mean.
33:54
Speaker 1: That is mean. At least she would be alive and
33:57
Speaker 1: she couldn't move on and find a new group of friends,
34:00
Speaker 1: better of friends. So, after Skylar's remains were located, remember
34:03
Speaker 1: I told you, Rachel took the police to where the
34:06
Speaker 1: body was. They found it and they recovered it and
34:09
Speaker 1: DNA evidence was found which connected the crime to both suspects.
34:13
Speaker 1: The teens were both arrested in May of twenty thirteen.
34:17
Speaker 1: This is four months after Rachel's initial confession to me.
34:21
Speaker 1: Sheila is the driving force behind everything. She seems to
34:24
Speaker 1: be to me, not that the two girls aren't both evil,
34:30
Speaker 1: but to me, Sheila Eddie is the more evil of
34:33
Speaker 1: the two. She was arrested and I believe it was prom.
34:36
Speaker 1: She was getting ready for prom, and like they're literally
34:38
Speaker 1: taking her away in a police car and she just
34:41
Speaker 1: keeps asking about her hair appointment later because she's going
34:44
Speaker 1: to promt like that. I mean, you're arrested for first
34:48
Speaker 1: degree murder and you're put into a police car and
34:51
Speaker 1: you're driven to a police station, and she just keeps
34:55
Speaker 1: asking about her hair appointment.
34:56
Speaker 2: Well because she knew she.
35:01
Speaker 1: So the evidence included Skyler's blood which was found inside
35:04
Speaker 1: Shila Eddie's car, and both suspects were charged as adults
35:10
Speaker 1: in January of twenty fourteen. This was interesting. So Sheila
35:14
Speaker 1: Eddie goes in to court and no one knows what's
35:17
Speaker 1: going to happen, right this whole town, like all those students,
35:20
Speaker 1: like people are all there. They bring Shila Eddie in,
35:24
Speaker 1: you know, and she pleads guilty to first degree murder. Good,
35:28
Speaker 1: she received a life sentence. Good. But with the possibility of.
35:31
Speaker 2: Parole, what year can she is she eligible for pearol?
35:34
Speaker 1: I think it's fifteen. Yeah, it's fifteen.
35:37
Speaker 2: I think California's but yeah, fifteen.
35:39
Speaker 1: So this is what I was thinking about when I
35:41
Speaker 1: was when I was learning about this case and that
35:43
Speaker 1: they're both eligible for parole. It was very interesting to
35:46
Speaker 1: me because we just did the screen murders and let's
35:49
Speaker 1: just be.
35:49
Speaker 2: Clear, eligible for parole doesn't mean they will be released
35:52
Speaker 2: at year fifteen. If they didn't, if they were good
35:55
Speaker 2: in jail. It means that they're eligible, so they can
35:58
Speaker 2: be interviewed, it can be refe you, it'll be considered
36:01
Speaker 2: by the parole board and they'll either release her or
36:05
Speaker 2: center back in until the next year when they meet
36:07
Speaker 2: again with her, or whatever it is.
36:09
Speaker 1: Right, But in this prior episode when we talked about
36:11
Speaker 1: the screen murders, it's basically, I mean, you have very
36:14
Speaker 1: similar set of facts. You've got two boys with premeditated
36:18
Speaker 1: murder ages. They were I think they were sixteen ish
36:24
Speaker 1: right high school. They were friends with the girl a
36:27
Speaker 1: horrific crime with knives and yes, Cashe and Cassie Joe Stoddard,
36:31
Speaker 1: they were friends with her. They snuck into her house
36:34
Speaker 1: and they both attacked her with knives and murdered her.
36:38
Speaker 1: And I think and kind of boasted about it, right, right,
36:40
Speaker 1: They made up videos about it.
36:42
Speaker 2: They weren't like, oh my gosh, I can't believe we
36:44
Speaker 2: did this. We got to hide the body. It escalated
36:47
Speaker 2: too far. No, it's premeditated. They did it, they wanted
36:50
Speaker 2: it done. They were almost proud of it.
36:52
Speaker 1: Yes, and they were all friends. So in January twenty fourteen,
37:03
Speaker 1: Shila Eddie pleaded guilty to first degree murder, so she
37:06
Speaker 1: did not go to trial. She pled guilty. She received
37:09
Speaker 1: a life sentence with the possibility of parole. They were
37:12
Speaker 1: tried as adults. But she got the possibility of parole
37:16
Speaker 1: because we were talking about West Virginia and I read
37:18
Speaker 1: West Virginia abolished life sentences without parole for minors. OK,
37:24
Speaker 1: so she has the possibility of parole. In February of
37:27
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, Rachel Chauff pleaded guilty to second degree murder.
37:32
Speaker 1: She had a lesser sentence because she was the one
37:34
Speaker 1: who confessed and took them to the body, and she
37:38
Speaker 1: was sentenced to thirty years in prison. But because both
37:41
Speaker 1: defendants pleaded guilty of full trial was avoided for both
37:44
Speaker 1: of them. Skuyler's parents delivered emotional statements during the sentencing hearings.
37:50
Speaker 1: That's hard for me to watch. I have a hard
37:52
Speaker 1: time with that to just do you watch it? Yeah,
37:56
Speaker 1: you know, especially the dad, Dave. I don't know, he's
37:59
Speaker 1: just you know, only had one child. I always think
38:01
Speaker 1: about that too, not that it I.
38:03
Speaker 2: Don't know if it no, but it makes it so
38:06
Speaker 2: like if they had a few children and one was
38:10
Speaker 2: murdered in this fashion, then they could kind of pivot
38:14
Speaker 2: and find some comfort in your other children and your
38:18
Speaker 2: other children and kind of occupy yourself by caring for
38:22
Speaker 2: the other children, right and protecting them. But you're right,
38:26
Speaker 2: it doesn't make it any less of a loss.
38:28
Speaker 1: Right, But it just made me think, you know, when
38:30
Speaker 1: you only have one child and then someone takes that
38:33
Speaker 1: child from you, who murders that child, then you cut
38:35
Speaker 1: off grandchildren like you've just you've cut off the spring,
38:39
Speaker 1: the offspring that you know these parents aren't going to
38:41
Speaker 1: be grandparents now.
38:43
Speaker 2: It's just well, yeah, there's nothing else to look forward to,
38:46
Speaker 2: like wedding or graduation or accomplishments or just Thanksgiving dinner.
38:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I also know I did. I did
38:55
Speaker 1: find some solace in the fact that Dave and Mary
38:58
Speaker 1: were still together, because I do know that something like
39:00
Speaker 1: that causes divorces. There's so many times that something horrific
39:05
Speaker 1: happens and a family a tragedy like that, and then
39:07
Speaker 1: the parents don't stay together. I think it's just too much.
39:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't they say there's some rule when there's a
39:12
Speaker 2: death in your immediate family, there's some guidelines to you
39:16
Speaker 2: don't move, you don't change jobs, Like there's certain things
39:19
Speaker 2: you don't want to do for a year or two
39:22
Speaker 2: or something because it's too stressful. Yeah, so then it's
39:24
Speaker 2: going to be added strain on your relationships. The idea
39:27
Speaker 2: is to remain where you are and kind of rebuild
39:30
Speaker 2: yourself that way, and then you can make some type
39:33
Speaker 2: of change.
39:34
Speaker 1: So Rachel's s Chouf has been denied parole twice. So
39:38
Speaker 1: she's been up for pearl twice, in May of twenty
39:40
Speaker 1: twenty three and July of twenty twenty four. I also
39:43
Speaker 1: read so she was denied parol twice. Then she came
39:46
Speaker 1: up for a pearol again and she took a.
39:48
Speaker 2: Waiver like she was like, she didn't show up.
39:51
Speaker 1: No, I don't know the reason why. I couldn't find
39:53
Speaker 1: any information on that. But she chose to not just
40:00
Speaker 1: a participator where everyone are. She waved, she waved her right. Yeah,
40:05
Speaker 1: so I don't know what that was about. I don't
40:06
Speaker 1: know if she's just thriving in prison. She's like, I
40:09
Speaker 1: don't know, I enjoy it here.
40:11
Speaker 2: So it's pretty sweet. I want to give it up.
40:15
Speaker 1: She will become eligible for parole again in June of
40:18
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, so we must follow that because that's
40:20
Speaker 1: coming up. We'll see if she actually goes before the
40:23
Speaker 1: parole board or whether she waves her right to do that.
40:27
Speaker 1: And Sheila Eddie will not be eligible for parole until
40:31
Speaker 1: May of twenty twenty eight. I can't imagine that she
40:34
Speaker 1: would be given parole even when she goes up for
40:37
Speaker 1: Pearl and May of twenty twenty eight, because I know
40:40
Speaker 1: Dave Niece is going to be there. I would be
40:42
Speaker 1: there right, and so I can't imagine that she would
40:45
Speaker 1: get parole. But just the fact that she's eligible, it
40:48
Speaker 1: just doesn't seem like a lot of time and a
40:50
Speaker 1: lot of punishment for what those two girls have done. Also,
40:55
Speaker 1: I read that the facility that they're at, I forget
41:00
Speaker 1: the name of it, but they call it like it
41:03
Speaker 1: has like a nickname. It's called like cupcake something, because
41:06
Speaker 1: it's not the facility like the chip. I'm sorry, said
41:10
Speaker 1: it's called cupcake, So say what, Well, it's like it's
41:14
Speaker 1: it's like a term, it's like a cupcake something because
41:16
Speaker 1: it's easy. It's not it's not like a maximum maximum
41:21
Speaker 1: security prison with like lockdown and no I guess they
41:25
Speaker 1: have iPads.
41:26
Speaker 2: And I know why she passed up the prole Board review.
41:29
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just saw like a recent photo
41:33
Speaker 1: of both girls of Rachel and she'sa are in the
41:37
Speaker 1: same location, yes, okay, and both of them were looking
41:40
Speaker 1: good like it looked like they had makeup on. Rachel's
41:44
Speaker 1: hair was like bright red, her eyebrows were red, like
41:46
Speaker 1: she just like dyed her hair and her eyebrows. And
41:49
Speaker 1: I was like, well, what do these girls do it?
41:51
Speaker 1: They're just like they're just using iPads and.
41:53
Speaker 2: Probably in separate prisons, but these two are in the same.
41:57
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I mean, the Meninda's brothers are
42:00
Speaker 1: currently together, but they spent twenty years.
42:02
Speaker 2: Because of everything that's surface also and they got together.
42:05
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe because it's West Virginia, there aren't
42:07
Speaker 1: a lot of options. I don't know. But anyway, they're
42:09
Speaker 1: in some facility that apparently isn't all that bad. I
42:13
Speaker 1: guess that's why Rachel denied her right to go to
42:16
Speaker 1: before the parole board. She's like, I'm fine here, I
42:18
Speaker 1: got cable, I pad, I get my hair dyed.
42:22
Speaker 2: Sometimes I want to feel like, you know, I want
42:24
Speaker 2: to be committed. Go to Cupcake. You want to go
42:26
Speaker 2: to the Cupcake Hospital or Cape prison cake prison.
42:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. West Virginia eliminated life without parole sentences for juveniles
42:35
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, which is the same year the girls
42:38
Speaker 1: were sentenced.
42:38
Speaker 2: Oh, they got lucky.
42:39
Speaker 1: Then it might have been retroactive, though I don't know.
42:42
Speaker 2: No, I don't think they do that. No, allowing individuals
42:46
Speaker 2: right before the deadline.
42:47
Speaker 1: They yeah, they're like, if we're going to do it,
42:49
Speaker 1: what we got to do it now? Grabber today, allowing
42:52
Speaker 1: individuals who committed defenses under age eighteen to become eligible
42:56
Speaker 1: for parole after serving fifteen years. The law applies retroactively.
43:02
Speaker 2: All right, all right, all right, the law applies.
43:05
Speaker 1: Retroactively, requiring parole boards to consider factors like youth.
43:10
Speaker 2: Oh it goes like even to those in prison, not
43:15
Speaker 2: just who's on trial. Yeah, wow, okay, that's rare.
43:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, it requires parole boards to consider factors like youth, maturity,
43:24
Speaker 1: and rehabilitation. I don't know, those seem like very broad terms.
43:29
Speaker 1: I mean obviously youth, I mean they're young. That's why
43:32
Speaker 1: it's they're you know, minors. Life without Pearl is effectively
43:38
Speaker 1: abolished for minors in West Virginia. So that's why these
43:42
Speaker 1: these teams ended up with life, but with the eligibility
43:47
Speaker 1: for pearl within fifteen years at least that's for Sheila
43:49
Speaker 1: Eddie And again Rachel Shof only got thirty because she
43:53
Speaker 1: plea bargain because she confessed and also showed them where
43:56
Speaker 1: the body was. So just a little distinction from the
44:00
Speaker 1: juvenile sentencing in Idaho when we were talking about the
44:02
Speaker 1: Scream murder, life without pearl for minors is allowed. Is
44:06
Speaker 1: the case for Brian Draper and Tory Adam Chick. Judges
44:09
Speaker 1: often consider mitigating factors during a separate sentencing hearing for
44:13
Speaker 1: the most serious crimes. The state doesn't have a standardized
44:16
Speaker 1: process for reviewing the sentences of current juvenile lifers, so
44:20
Speaker 1: it's typically up to each inmate to file for a resentencing.
44:24
Speaker 1: So I guess as far as those two and the
44:26
Speaker 1: Scream murders Brian and Tory, they have to take a
44:28
Speaker 1: completely different route. It would be like a resentencing route.
44:32
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's the difference there. I just want to
44:36
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about. This is called Skyler's Law. So,
44:41
Speaker 1: following their daughter's murder, Dave and Mary Nice focused on
44:44
Speaker 1: keeping Skyler's memory alive and advocating for safety reforms so
44:49
Speaker 1: Skyler's Law was passed. In twenty thirteen, West Virginia passed
44:53
Speaker 1: legislation requiring faster Amber alert responses for missing children. Skyler's law,
45:01
Speaker 1: children who are merely proven to be in danger, as
45:04
Speaker 1: opposed to only victims of an abduction, are eligible for
45:07
Speaker 1: an alert. At the time of her death, niece did
45:10
Speaker 1: not meet the criteria for an Amber alert because she
45:13
Speaker 1: was considered a runaway as she had snuck out of
45:16
Speaker 1: her house to meet her friends. So instead of just
45:19
Speaker 1: being abducted, it's children that are missing or could be
45:24
Speaker 1: in danger. So basically, they couldn't use an Amber alert
45:27
Speaker 1: when Skyler was missing because she didn't fall within that criteria.
45:31
Speaker 1: So Skylar's Law has broadened it to be more than
45:34
Speaker 1: just being abducted. So a scholarship was also established in
45:38
Speaker 1: Skyler's name to help support West Virginia University law students,
45:42
Speaker 1: honoring her dream of becoming a lawyer. There we Are
45:45
Speaker 1: That is on Hulu. It's called Friends Like These You
45:49
Speaker 1: know what? Also, it made me think of it as
45:50
Speaker 1: a no there's three parts, I believe. Yeah, it's pretty
45:55
Speaker 1: in depth. I'll tell you I have watched so many
45:59
Speaker 1: crime documentaries because that's what we do, right, And I
46:03
Speaker 1: have come become numb to them because you obviously know
46:06
Speaker 1: you're watching a crime documentary. You know the outcome, right.
46:10
Speaker 1: But I would say this is the first one that
46:11
Speaker 1: I watched where I actually cried. I became very emotional.
46:16
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I think it was just I
46:18
Speaker 1: think the parents and just Dave and like him giving
46:21
Speaker 1: his impact statement, and just how like Sheila Eddie.
46:25
Speaker 2: Showed No, how was that different than the scream now
46:29
Speaker 2: that that was.
46:30
Speaker 1: I mean, that was very sad for me. I didn't
46:33
Speaker 1: I don't know what it was. I don't know if
46:34
Speaker 1: it was because it was girls. It may maybe it
46:37
Speaker 1: made me think about Annabelle and her friends, and it's like,
46:41
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't know. It just it made me
46:43
Speaker 1: realize that as parents. I don't know what the answer is,
46:46
Speaker 1: but it just seemed very real because you're talking about
46:50
Speaker 1: three average teenagers, going time friends, longtime friends, going to
46:55
Speaker 1: high school in West Virginia, doing all the things that.
46:58
Speaker 2: Teenagers doing at Wendy's, you know, working at.
47:01
Speaker 1: Wendy's, making good grades and you know, having tips with
47:05
Speaker 1: their girlfriends. But that happens, I mean, that's pretty normal.
47:08
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, and then to just go
47:11
Speaker 1: from that to escalate to the point of murder and
47:16
Speaker 1: a premeditated murder. It was just so so diabolical and
47:22
Speaker 1: sick to me and I I don't know, I saw.
47:26
Speaker 1: I was able to distinguish between Rachel's chauff and Sheila
47:29
Speaker 1: Eddie to me. Sheila Eddie to me, seemed like a psychopath.
47:32
Speaker 1: Like just in Nate, we talk about nurture versus nature.
47:36
Speaker 1: I think she was just born evil. She is probably
47:39
Speaker 1: nately evil. Why can you not be born evil? I
47:43
Speaker 1: think Sheila Eddie was born evil?
47:46
Speaker 2: How were you born not evil?
47:49
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say I was a perfect person, but I'm
47:52
Speaker 1: not doing what they were doing.
47:53
Speaker 2: So we can agree on at least that, Yes, we
47:55
Speaker 2: can agree on that.
47:55
Speaker 1: But anyway, it's called Friends Like These. It's on Hulu
47:58
Speaker 1: if you're interested in watching it, and also let me
48:01
Speaker 1: know your thoughts on it. Thank you for listening to
48:04
Speaker 1: Legally Brunette. Again, we also have episodes that go into
48:07
Speaker 1: two teas, but we also have our own feed where
48:10
Speaker 1: all of our episodes go, so make sure you follow
48:13
Speaker 1: us and also tell your friends and family. So thanks
48:15
Speaker 1: for listening.