Pretty Little Killers (40 page)

“You've ruined my life,” Rachel insisted between sobs. “I'm going to kill myself!”

Rusty managed to get inside and, despite her threats, by the time police arrived Rachel was subdued, sitting on the living room couch.

According to 911 logs, the State Police arrived at 7:10
P.M
., two minutes after Patricia called. Rachel sat there without moving while the two troopers explained to Rusty and Patricia how they could take
their daughter to the hospital and ask for a mental hygiene hearing. Rachel was eerily silent.

Patricia wanted Rachel arrested but the troopers explained only deputy sheriffs have that authority. Instead, they encouraged Rachel's parents to seek medical help. Patricia and Rusty took their advice, loaded Rachel into the family car, and drove her to the hospital.

Shelia told Shania all about Rachel's breakdown, but she framed it as a violent family fight. She said Rachel's screams grew so shrill that Tara rushed into Shelia's bedroom to investigate. By then, Rachel was yelling, “Help me! Help me!”

Shelia raced to the emergency room and waited four hours, trying to find out what was happening to Rachel. Her December 28 tweets,
wow literally worst night of my life
and
ugh hope my girl @_racchh is okay <3 loveee youuu
show Shelia's concern.

Shania later said by the time Shelia was allowed to see Rachel, “her face was all bruised and knotted and swollen, and she had marks all over her.”

Loved ones who saw Patricia in the days following Rachel's breakdown say her face was so badly discolored it took weeks for the bruising to disappear.

thirty-five

“We Stabbed Her”

Patricia knew Rachel was
going to miss her December 29 FBI interview, so she called Angotti and explained that Rachel was in Chestnut Ridge Center, the local psychiatric hospital. By then, Rachel's attorney knew the reason the police were so insistent that Rachel come in again for questioning: Rachel's story had changed. But Shelia's hadn't, at least not quickly enough.

“You need to bring Rachel to our office the minute she's released. Not home,” Angotti told Patricia.

Liz says Patricia was told to go directly to Angotti's office because the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office needed to talk to her before Shelia began controlling Rachel again.

Due to cutbacks in the mental health system, unless a specific diagnosis merits a longer stay, the average length of time for anyone who has been committed to a psychiatric facility is three to seven days.

So on January 3, 2013, Rachel Shoaf walked out the front door of the local mental hospital a free individual, finally ready to take her
polygraph test. Rachel was just in time for the climax, as the curtain opened on Act Three.

By then, police had heard rumors Skylar might have been killed in Pennsylvania. So the U.S. Attorney's office took the lead in coordinating case interviews. The office rescheduled its December 29 meeting with Rachel, the FBI, and the WVSP. When Corporal Gaskins got word Rachel was being released from Chestnut Ridge, he was glad the teenager was going straight to her attorney's office for another interview. He hoped they would get the truth this time—and he couldn't wait to hear what it was.

Patricia and Rusty had looked forward to taking Rachel home, but once Angotti told them the federal government was calling the shots they found themselves being told what to do. They were eager to help if it meant Mary and Dave would learn the truth, too, and have the closure they deserved. So on that cold January day, the Shoafs drove their daughter straight to her attorney's office downtown. Once there, Patricia and Rusty waited in the lobby while Rachel met with John Angotti, FBI Special Agent Rob Ambrosini, and Corporal Gaskins.

The State Police corporal was replaying the details of the case as he wove the cruiser through traffic. All the way across town, through the slush and snow still on the streets after the recent snowfall, he mulled over what Rachel might say. Gaskins had known the two girls were keeping a big secret, and the entire time he'd been working the case, he had hoped it would be that Skylar's death had been accidental. He still believed that was true.

Gaskins hoped Rachel would tell them what really happened to Skylar so law enforcement would have some answers. Perhaps they would finally learn if Skylar's disappearance was connected to the
bank robberies. Had Darek killed her to cover up something she had learned? Or maybe it really was as simple as an overdose, and Rachel and Shelia had managed to keep quiet. Gaskins thought of all the hours he and Berry had logged and all the time Colebank and Spurlock had put in. He thought about the dozen or so extra city, state, and federal officers who had helped and, along the way, become engrossed by the case. Now everyone would learn the truth.

Gaskins walked into the law offices, his face a mask. He greeted Rusty and Patricia, who sat waiting in the lobby, and went back to the conference room, where Ambrosini was waiting. The men said their hellos, exchanging small pleasantries about the weather or work, then took their seats at the conference table. The tension in the air was palpable.

When Angotti led Rachel in, she looked nothing like the girl who had stonewalled everyone for four months. She was shaking and she looked terrified. Rachel took the seat Angotti held out for her and immediately drew her legs up against her chest, hugging them tightly to her.

As soon as she began talking, Gaskins knew something was different. She no longer mentioned being too stoned to remember details. She wasn't flippant or careless. Clearly this girl wanted to talk. Rachel Shoaf was finally ready to tell the truth.

We're going to find out
, he thought.

“I need a wastebasket, because I'm probably going to throw up,” Rachel said.

While Ambrosini, known as one of the most skilled polygraph examiners in the FBI, led the interview, Gaskins waited for the teen to say she and Shelia had given their friend some kind of drug, an overdose. Or Skylar had fallen and hit her head, and when they couldn't wake her up, they'd gotten scared and left her behind. The seasoned investigator was expecting anything other than what he heard that day in Angotti's conference room.

“Was there a party?” Ambrosini asked.

Rachel shook her head back and forth, indicating
no
.

“Did she overdose?”

Again, Rachel shook her head.

“Did she choke?”

Another shake of her head.

Ambrosini and Gaskins looked at each other. They needed to change tactics, since they were getting nowhere.

“Well, what did happen, Rachel?” Gaskins asked.

Something like a tiny grin, brought about by sheer terror, appeared on Rachel's face. “We stabbed her.”

All three men almost fell out of their chairs. Ambrosini and Angotti were speechless. So was Gaskins.

He looked up from his written notes, staring directly into the teenager's eyes. “I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right.”

“Shelia and I, we stabbed Skylar,” Rachel said, her voice quivering and barely audible.

The pencil fell from Gaskins' hand.

“Are you saying you killed Skylar Neese?” Gaskins asked in disbelief.

She nodded.

Rachel Shoaf bared her soul, finally relieved of her heavy burden. She told them everything, including the way Skylar managed to grab Rachel's knife and used it to try and defend herself.

“I have the scar on my leg. Wanna see it?” With that, Rachel pulled up her pants leg—revealing a three-inch scar near her ankle.

After 181 days, Rachel held nothing back. She told them everything—everything except the reason they killed Skylar.

All Rachel would say is, “We just didn't like her.”