Pretty Little Killers (57 page)

When Shania said she would ask Tara if they could, Shelia would text Tara, saying, “Say no, just say no. I hate her. I don't want to hang out with her.”

That, Colebank said, is exactly what Shelia did to Skylar.

Since she seems to be right about that, it's hard to ignore Colebank when she casually brushes aside another “gut feeling” she had. That one involves Shelia and Rachel having sex after they killed Skylar.

It's not the first time someone in law enforcement or the mental health field has brought up that possibility. Besides, sex is one tool Shelia used in her life on the edge.

Colebank says Shelia lives for excitement—and Skylar paid the price. It wasn't enough for them to kill Skylar, either. She believes
Shelia and Rachel then had to defame Skylar's memory by celebrating at the very site where they murdered her.

Most likely, the female officer is right. While there were no beds available at Lakin when she was sentenced January 24, Shelia was transferred there not long afterward. Just as Colebank predicted, Shelia continues to use sex as a tool. Someone close to the case said Shelia's having sex with a male guard—who was then fired—got the teen killer an immediate transfer to the adult women's prison.

While in detention, Shelia has written letters to loved ones. Her own words indicate such behavior is entirely in line with her character. Lanning analyzed some of those letters and said Shelia lives in a make-believe world she has created. “She's already getting ready to move on,” he said, referencing Shelia's desire to “go back to the old times” when she gets out of prison. Times that, for her, included riding around in cars, playing carefree games, and smoking weed.

Lanning said Shelia's attitude is not based in reality. “She acts like this whole thing was just a bump in the road. She's going through life and then [she murders Skylar], now she's got to figure out how to regroup.”

Equally disturbing, she tends to blame her problems on two superficial factors. “So the two things that she suggests caused all of this,” Lanning said, “are moving to Morgantown and meeting Rachel.” These seem to her the biggest mistakes. If she could undo anything, it would be that—not scheming and killing Skylar, he added.

More important, Lanning's analysis found Shelia “seems to be in some kind of, almost, unwillingness to accept the reality of what she did.”

This might explain why Shelia didn't tell the Neeses she was sorry when she had the chance at her plea and sentencing hearing. Not only does she not feel any guilt or shame for her actions, Lanning said; she “doesn't hint at any remorse over what she did.”

People want to know why these girls killed Skylar, and in such a savage way. “It's not [a] simple answer,” Lanning said, adding that it's anything but. “In my opinion, it's a convergence of a whole set of circumstances.”

In addition, the expert behavior analyst believes Shelia is damaged in some serious way. “I think, rooted in that, is some type of flaw in this young woman's character. She's got some fundamental character flaw, whether it's genetic or whether it's rooted in some environmental problem. Most likely it's some combination of both.”

While Shelia seems, at least on the surface, to be a typical teenager, “there's something wrong with her,” Lanning said. “Lots of things that happened in this case happen every day in every high school across America, and no one gets killed.”

Colebank agrees. Not long after Shelia was transferred to Lakin Correctional Facility,
Dateline
aired an episode about Skylar's murder. Colebank was responding to a 911 call at CVS in Star City when a woman in her sixties recognized the young officer and mentioned the murder case.

“I don't believe it,” the elderly customer said, “I don't believe those two sweet little girls did that.”

That, Colebank told her, is because we live in a naïve society. The woman kept talking, and Colebank found it difficult to keep silent.

Why do people keep doing that? It's making me mad
. Even though she wanted to, Colebank didn't give voice to her thoughts.
Walk away, you need to walk away from me right now
.

Colebank's anger is justified. After all, she's one of the investigators who—along with Gaskins, Berry, and Spurlock—sacrificed countless hours to find the answers about Skylar's disappearance and then, later, unravel the mystery of her murder.

It's no wonder, then, after all this, that Colebank can't understand why people don't believe two pretty, fresh-faced teenagers could deliberately kill their good friend.

“Believe what you want,” she says, “but it really happened.”

Timeline of Events

1996

   
F
EB
. 10

       
Skylar is born
.

2003

       
As second graders, Skylar and Shelia meet and become friends at The Shack Neighborhood House, a local community and youth center
.

2010

   
S
EPTEMBER

       
Skylar and Rachel meet when they enter UHS as freshmen
.

   
O
CTOBER

       
Shelia transfers to UHS from Clay-Battelle High School when her mother, Tara, marries Jim Clendenen and the family moves to Morgantown. She and Skylar are ecstatic to be in high school together, and soon Rachel joins their little group. Before long, the three teens begin to argue among themselves
.

2011

   
L
ATE SPRING

       
Skylar, Shelia, Rachel, Floyd Pancoast, and Brian Moats are caught joyriding after curfew in Star City
.

   
A
UG
. 16

       
Shelia and Rachel have sex in Rachel's bedroom while Skylar watches; Skylar and Shelia fight afterward and Patricia Shoaf separates the girls
.

   
A
UG
. 21

       
Skylar angrily tweets she has learned a secret
.

   
A
UG
. 28

       
Skylar angrily tweets to Shelia, saying she hates her
.

   
S
EPT
. 6

       
Skylar threatens to tell the whole school “all the shit” she has on them, if she could; believed to have meant Shelia and Rachel
.

   
O
CTOBER

       
Shelia and Rachel are overheard asking how to dispose of a body in biology class, and mention Skylar's name at the same time. Another student tries to tell Skylar her two best friends don't really like her
.

   
N
OV
. 27

       
Skylar tweets about the pain of losing a best friend
.

   
N
OV
. 29