She then attempted suicide again, and her daughters called authorities. Melinda Loveless has spent more than 7,000 sunrises and sunsets -- half her life -- behind razor wire. Once they had her in their car, they beat and tortured her for hours before finally setting her on fire. In 1965, Larry became a probationary officer with the New Albany Police Department, but was fired after eight months when he and his partner assaulted an African-American man whom Larry accused of sleeping with his wife. He would also "share" her with some of his friends from work, which she found disgusting. The four teenagers were eventually arrested, and initially, Melinda and Mary pointed the finger at each other for the torture-murder. Larry became a Baptist lay preacher and Marjorie became the school nurse. But the hands that once took life, now nurture it. After treatment of her wound, she was admitted to the hospital's psychiatric ward. And I'm doing it for Shanda.". [46], Detectives obtained dental records that positively identified Sharer as the victim. There she met Loveless; the two became friends in late November. 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. She got into fights at school and reported being depressed, resulting in her receiving professional counseling. Shanda Renee Sharer was an American girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana, by four teenage girls. The 12-year-old began to cry and tried to answer Loveless' questions, testimony showed. Heavrin promised she would not before entering her house. Meanwhile, Lawrence and Rippey stayed behind in Tacketts car. The perpetrators were four teenage girls who committed unspeakable crimes under the influence of teenage jealousy and peer pressure. While she was furious at first, she accepted her daughter's lifestyle. Age at death: 12 years old. Part 2: How fake witnesses, exposed surveillance operation unravel Grundy murder investigation, Burger Chef murder victim's mom had surprising thing to say after 1978 killings, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Witnesses also testified that Tackett, who was obsessed with the occult and the notion of killing someone, had proposed asking Sharer's ghost during a seance how it felt to die by fire, according to IndyStar archives. The incident attracted international attention due to both the brutality of the murder and the young age of the perpetrators, who were aged . He received a sentence of time served and was released in June 1995. Rippey was released on parole on April 28, 2006, from Indiana Women's Prison after serving 14 years of her original sentence. She remained on supervised parole until April 2011. Florida Grandma Takes Out Dentures To Scare Off Naked Intruder, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Meanwhile, Tackett and Loveless both received 60-year sentences. Melinda Loveless, now 43, left the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis after serving nearly 24 years of a 60-year sentence for the brutal murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer in 1992. [9] When Melinda was nine years old, Larry had Marjorie gang raped, after which she tried to drown herself. An unlikely alliance formed between the ringleader of the murder and Shanda's mother. Melinda Loveless, now 43, was released from the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis on Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Correction. [39][40], The girls went to a McDonald's restaurant at 9:30a.m. for breakfast, where they laughed about Sharer's body looking like one of the sausages they were eating. "Ididn't know Shanda at all. Now 36, she grew up in prison, in the shadow of her legacy: a crime of jealousy. The four girls who took place in the events that occured that night are Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence. Witnesses said thatLoveless plotted to kill Sharer because she believed Sharer had stolen her 15-year-old girlfriend from her. [59][60] A few weeks following his release, Larry unsuccessfully sued the Floyd County Jail for $39 million in federal court, alleging he had suffered cruel and unusual punishment during his two-year incarceration. 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. Melinda Loveless, mastermind of 1992 murder of Shanda Sharer, released from prison, Woman convicted of gruesome 1992 murder of Shanda Sharer released from prison, WDRB Meteorologist Marc Weinberg's Louisville weather forecast for Wednesday, SPORTS PAGE | Oscar Tshiebwe delivers message, responds with best performance, CRAWFORD | On Kentucky, Tshiebwe's rededication and the value of criticism, Tshiebwe's 37 points, 24 rebounds lead way in Kentucky's win, 2 friends from Louisville claim $1 million Mega Millions winnings, 18-year-old woman dies after hit-and-run in west Louisville, police searching for suspect, Thieves steal 4 cars estimated to be $100k at used car lot in Mt. As per the show, Hope and Mary poured the accelerant over Shanda, who was set on fire while she was still alive. Mary also grew up in a sheltered environment and was rebellious. They left soon after, fearing they had drawn attention to themselves. More: Part 2: How fake witnesses, exposed surveillance operation unravel Grundy murder investigation, More: Burger Chef murder victim's mom had surprising thing to say after 1978 killings. She was close to her mother, Jacqueline Vaught, who said her daughter was good at gymnastics, basketball, and baseball and was a cheerleader. 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. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Shanda Renee Sharer was born June 6th 1979 in Pineville, Kentucky. In March 1991, Loveless came out as a lesbian to her mother, who was initially furious but eventually accepted it. 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. Heavrin was horrified and asked to be taken home. Extended family members often described the Loveless daughters as visiting their homes hungry, apparently not getting enough food at home. [2] After Sharer's parents divorced, her mother remarried and the family moved to Louisville. Death of Innocence - The Murder of Young Shanda Sharer BY David Lohr Autopsy On Sunday morning, Dr. George Nichols conducted Shanda's autopsy. Clockwise from top left: Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. [51] Rippey was sentenced to 60 years, with 10 years suspended for mitigating circumstances, plus 10 years of medium-supervision probation. INDIANAPOLIS, IN (WTHR) - In January 1992, 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was lured from her home in Jeffersonville, tortured throughout the night and burned alive. [55], On April 28, 2006, Rippey was released from Indiana Women's Prison on parole after serving 14 years of her original sentence. At that point, Amanda was in an on-and-off relationship with another teenager, Melinda Loveless. She even carved an "M" into the stomach of one . Behind bars, she trains puppies to be assistance dogs for disabled people. For seven hours, the four girls brutally tortured Shanda Sharer before ultimately killing her. Shanda Sharer met classmate Amanda Heavrin at Hazelwood in 1991, soon after moving to the area with her recently divorced mother from Kentucky. She was kidnapped, tortured and burned alive by four teenage girls. [68], "Mean", an episode from the fifth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is based on the murder. In March 1991, Loveless revealed to her mother that she was a lesbian. The cause of death was smoke inhalation. Shanda was the kind of girl you wanted to be friends with; she was bubbly, outgoing and a lot of fun. [56], Tackett was released from Rockville Correctional Facility on January 11, 2018, the 26th anniversary of Sharer's death, after serving nearly 26 years, and has completed an additional year of parole.[57]. Upon further appeal, the judge reduced her sentence to 35 years. The three other girls assumed Loveless was simply going to scare Sharer into breaking up with Heavrin. [8], The Loveless parents would often visit bars in Louisville where Larry would pretend to be a doctor or a dentist and introduce Marjorie as his girlfriend. [43], Sharer's father, Steven, noticed his daughter was nowhere to be found early on January 11. 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. [24], Heavrin met Shanda Sharer early in the fall semester at Hazelwood Junior High when they got into a fight; however, they became friends while in detention for the altercation, and later exchanged romantic letters. He said that Loveless had been "profoundly retarded" by childhood abuse. The story was turned into a play by Rob Urbinati called Hazelwood Jr. High, which starred Chlo Sevigny as Tackett. Shanda Sharer was 12 years old on January 11, 1992 when she was brutally tortured and murdered by 4 teenage girls. Veteran journalist and host of Investigation Discovery's "True Crime with Aphrodite Jones", Jones reveals the shocking truth behind the most savage crime in Indiana history-the torture, mutilation, and murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer by four teenage girls. 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was murdered in 1992. On the morning of January 11, 1992, 2 hunters found Shanda's beaten and burned body. April 25, 2016. The grieving mother said she did it to honor her little girl, who she still thinks about every day. Her parents discovered the self-mutilation and checked her into a hospital on March 19, 1991. After this incident, Larry filed for divorce and moved to Avon Park, Florida. "I saw someone who was almost reborn.". Lawrence and Rippey were frightened and stayed in the car. [15] Tackett began to engage in self-harm, especially after early 1991 when she began dating a girl who was involved in the practice. MADISON, IND. I didnt go into that evening knowing anything was gonna happen, wanting anything to happen I didnt. Date of birth: 6 June 1979. By the end of the night, only four of them were alive. She was 12 years old at the time of her death. "[38], The girls drove to a gas station near Madison Consolidated High School, pumped some gasoline into the car, and bought a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. "Angel is in good hands. "I liked it because it wasn't planned," said Loveless. Lawrence then phoned a friend and told her about the murder. Thereafter, Minato and Miyano, then aged 15 and 18, respectively, and two other youths took her to a residence in the Ayase area of Adachi Ward . There, Lawrence and Rippey spotted a couple of boys and talked to them before once again getting back into the car and leaving, arriving some time later at the edge of some woods near Tackett's home in Madison. Lawrence and Rippey younger, less involved in the torture, and more forthcoming with authorities received lighter sentences, with Lawrence getting 20 years and Rippey getting 50 (shortened to 35 on appeal). Larry remained in prison for over two years awaiting trial; however, a judge eventually ruled that all charges except one count of sexual battery had to be dropped due to the statute of limitations, which was five years in Indiana. [31], Eventually, the four girls left for Sharer's house. She was sincere. Shanda Sharer, a young girl with a promising future, was the victim of a brutal torture death that has forever been imprinted into the minds of the locals. Despite a desperate search, there was no sign of Shanda, and the family filed a missing person report. Co-defendants Laurie Tackett, Toni Lawrence and Hope Rippey were earlier released from prison. The description matched his Jane Doe. And Im doing it for Shanda. Melinda was someone who had learned to nurture something, love it, then let it go, as she did with Odle last March. Known as one of the youngest serial killers ever, Mary was just 10 when she murdered two boys, age four and three, both by strangulation. She was 12 years old at the time of her death. Jacque said she still has no plans to meet face-to-face with her daughter's killers. [62] By November 2018 Shanda's mother Jacque Vaught stated that the scholarship fund had been depleted and is no longer accepting donations. They removed her jewelry and began threatening to cut off all Sharer's hair before they eventually lit a fire. The Abduction. [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. Shanda Sharer, a young girl with a promising future, was the victim of a brutal torture death that has forever been imprinted into the minds of the locals. [71], In May 2011, Dr. Phil aired a two-part series on the crime, which featured Shanda Sharer's mother and sister Paige, who both harshly confronted Hope Rippey on the show, and an interview with Amanda Heavrin. :confused:--If that's the book by true crime author Aphrodite Jones, I remember it very well 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. As a way of rebelling against her parents, the youngster shaved her head and started to engage in occult practices. [66], The poem The Whole World Is Singing by Daphne Gottlieb, is told from the point of view of Shanda Sharer and includes lines from notes written from Shanda Sharer to Amanda Heavrin. 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