Hunger Games | Chapter 4

Hi, I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark Down East, a true crime podcast unlike any other. Why? Because every case I cover comes from the heart of my home, New England. From the rocky Maine coast. to the historic streets of Boston, to the quiet corners of Vermont and beyond, I investigate stories filled with untold twists, enduring questions, and voices that deserve to be heard.

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In late December 2012, Dave Neese, no stranger to the West Virginia Police Department over the past five months, walked up to the beige rectangular building and took the elevator to the third floor. He was a usual sight among the uniformed statees and overworked advocates who haunt the Crimes Against Children unit. It had been 169 days since Skyler went missing.

And the poor girl that was working on the front desk saw me coming through the door. She held her finger on the buzzer and just didn't even ask. She let me go straight back. And I was a mess. Somebody had told me that somebody had confessed. Somebody told me all kind of crazy stuff that wasn't true. And Ronnie let me right in, took me to a conference room. And he said, Dave, I got a call. I got to take it. I'll be right back.

And he came back. I'm pissed off. I just hated everything. And he said, that could be the best call we've had since this whole thing started. And I said, what was it? i can't tell you i said ronnie oh my god come on dude he said dave i think it's going to make things better we're going to get some answers and i'm shaking i'm crying i'm i just wanted justice. From Waveland, I'm Justine Harmon. And I'm Holly Millay. This is Three. Episode Four, Hunger Games.

It's spring 2012, four months before Skyler's disappearance. Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe has broken Billboard's top 10. Fifty Shades of Grey is on the New York Times bestseller list. And The Hunger Games... is the hot ticket in theaters. Shania, Sheila, and Skyler are sitting in the cool dark of the Hollywood Stadium 12 movie theater, waiting for the games to begin.

I can actually picture the whole thing. I was sitting on the end, and then I believe it might have been Sheila and then Skylar. Sheila was on her phone. was texting somebody and was asking like what she should say or something along those lines and Skylar was telling her and Sheila didn't want to do that. Skylar tried to grab the phone from Sheila. So Sheila kind of smacked her like in the face and Skylar hit her back. And that was all it was. It was really...

a smack to the face and then a hit back to the face. It wasn't like a big blow up argument. They were both mad, obviously. When we got to the car, there was a lot of yelling and screaming. But before we even left the mall, everybody had calmed down. It was diffused. Everything was fine. It didn't carry on through the night.

a very quick altercation that happened very out of the blue and a lot of yelling in the car once it was over and then it was done and then it was really never talked about again. That's why they had a lot of fights and the fights were very public that's former uhs counselor tom bloom again where the guys we do it to the side but the girls were openly that's how they like to do it

When they fought, everyone knew they fought. Dave remembers one such public incident that played to an audience of their classmates. Yeah, she was, I think, a sophomore, freshman. in high school, and she locked her in with Sheila, and a pregnant girl came walking down the hallway, and Skyler said, oh, can I touch? Can I feel the baby kick, please? And Sheila said to the girl, well, if you kept your legs together, it wouldn't happen.

She kind of turned around, I got witnesses to this, turned around and nailed her right in the face and knocked her inside the locker. The girl's anger could bring them to blows. But even on a whim, Sheila delighted in taking things next level. One day, Skylar came home in tears. I said, what's wrong, baby? She said, Sheila swerved to hit a squirrel.

And I said, oh my God. And she was, Skylar was crying. She was so mad. Dad, I just can't believe somebody would swerve to hit a squirrel. So this was when she was 16. Do people get like that or has she always been like that? I know a phone conversation I overheard. was Skyler was talking to Sheila and she said, Sheila, why do you want to go to the expense and everything and get another cat? They keep running away. But Skyler stayed loyal on March 9th, 2012.

Sheila posted a mirror selfie with her two best friends. All three teens are fresh-faced in pajamas, with Skylar wearing her reading glasses. While Rachel and Sheila look at the phone, Skylar, half a head shorter,

gazes adoringly at Sheila, her arms thrown around Rachel's waist. About two months after that sweet snap was taken, Rachel and Sheila were in science class bitching about how annoying Skylar was when Rachel made a joke. We should kill her. The two girls looked at each other and smiled in agreement. Whether at that moment they were serious or just playing a game, over the following weeks, they devised a plan.

Without question, Skylar was feeling the growing pains when one side of the triangle gets shortened. On March 24th, she tweeted, Too bad my friends are having lives without me. And then on April 14th, A girl, a girl, a bitch, a bitch. Daniel Hovater recalled an escalation in the animosity between the three. The drama was constant, off and on stage. Hovetta remembered another incident when Rachel and her mother had it out in the school theater before a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Kelly Kearns, who'd been like a second mother to Rachel, never witnessed the increasingly volatile relationship firsthand, though she'd heard about it through mutual friends. I never. ever saw patricia hit rachel or rachel hit her mom i understand from some other people things got heated but I'm guessing she was already starting to have trouble with her when she started hanging out with Sheila and really started skipping school, started doing all kinds of stuff. But as she got...

older and harder to handle. She didn't want Rachel coming running to me. So I did not end up with the closeness that I would have liked to have had. She told me one time Rachel was 14. She finally admitted Rachel had shoved her. Well, I flipped out because Rachel's a big girl. And I was like, this is not happening.

I confronted Rachel and said, if you ever do this again, we're going to have a problem. I suggested her go into the Mountaineer Challenge Academy for discipline, but of course her mom would not hear of it. Because she was going to be a Broadway star and blah, blah, blah. It wasn't, I understand from the girl next door that there had been some, because she could hear him all the time, some screaming matches.

Oh my God, yes. Yes, I would hear it in my house. I would hear it in my house. I would be in the house and I'd hear thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it started out, I think Patricia was a bully mom. You know, I'm not going to sit here and say Patricia beats Rachel. She didn't beat her.

hovered over her, she got in her face, she screamed at her, you know, bully stuff. And I think at some point, Rachel had enough. I think it really didn't get physical till after this happened. If you could stop a home break-in before it starts, why wouldn't you? Traditional home security systems only respond after a break-in. SimpliSafe is different. With their Active Guard outdoor protection, you can prevent crimes before they happen.

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It's December in Morgantown. Skyler has been missing for five long months. Christmas lights along High Street are ablaze. The college students have gone home for the holiday. Missing persons posters with Skyler's face are weather-beaten. The nieces didn't celebrate that first Christmas without Skyler. Yet there was one silver lining that holiday season. Skyler's Law. Mandating Amber Alerts to be issued for all missing children, even those not suspected of being kidnapped, is gaining traction.

But Skyler's legacy doesn't just live on in memory. It also lives on in Skyler's law. Under Skyler's law, state police could issue an Amber Alert for any missing child, even if an abduction is not suspected. On December 19th, Ronnie Gaskins shared with the Dominion Post the one thing he knew for certain. There are people who know where she's at, and they're not talking. Sheila, who had always flaunted her freedom around town.

was now shadowed by a parent or lawyer, even at the local hair salon, where she'd go to either highlight her dirty blonde hair or, depending on her mood, dye it coal black. Without even trying, Aunt Carol knew both girls' comings and goings. Where I get my hair cut, Sheila and her mom go there.

She, when she went to get her hair done, she wouldn't let Sheila say anything or talk to anybody. Like they would try to make conversation about something and Sheila's mom would answer and she wouldn't let Sheila talk. had flyers up in the shop. When they left, the flyers and stuff was gone. And so the girl that does my hair said, you know, it was really weird. She didn't let her talk.

She said, then the signs were gone, the posters were gone. And then she said, I'm pretty sure they had to take them because who else would do it? At one point, Mary and Carol went full-on amateur detective, trying to trap Rachel in a lie. Well, first she told me, will you go to Rachel's house and talk to her with me? And I'm like, well, yeah, sure. So a couple of days later, she said, well, we're going to go.

We're probably going to wear a wire so they can hear what's going on. She said, because we need to get it on tape. So what's going on? So I was like, OK. And then when the time come. Her mom said, no, she's not doing well. She's not feeling well or something. Carol, frustrated with all the false starts, began appealing to outsiders to conjure Schuyler's whereabouts.

I asked Mary, I said, can I borrow that goody? And she said, yeah. She said, what do you want it for? And I said, I just need to use it for a little bit. Well, she couldn't find it. Well, give me her curling iron. You know, she always liked to straighten her hair because she had the cutest little curls, but she wanted it straight. And so finally, I said, okay, Mary, I'm going to the psychic, and I want to take some of my scholars.

And so she's like, you're what? And I said, do you want to go? She said, well, of course I want to go. Didn't tell us like why they were coming. It's like it looked at Carol. She said, who's a girl in your life? Who's the girl that has the problems in your life? What's going on? And that's when they told her. She told us exactly where to find Skylar. We would find her by water.

We'd have to go over a bridge. She knew everything. She knew there was a red-haired girl and a black-haired girl. She said, you'll break the redhead, but you'll never break the black hair.

I mean, it was the creepiest thing. At wit's end on December 16th, Mary posted a 1600 word missive on the Team Schuyler 2012 Facebook page. intended to stoke the flames. She wrote, and have been caught in multiple lies to both the state and federal authorities. The original belief was that they were in fear of retribution or the consequences of others.

Within a day or two, the post was taken down at the request of the authorities. But by then, it had been shared ad infinitum. Skyler's family members weren't the only ones going rogue. Tired of spinning in place? Chris Berry leaked details of the investigation to Dave. I took a chance. I just needed that pressure. Should I have done it? No, I shouldn't have.

Ronnie called me now, did you tell the nieces anything? Like, no, I didn't. I didn't say anything. I wanted to get it out there. I wanted to see what would happen. And I feel bad for lying to Ronnie for that. And I really do. you know, what this case saw. And on top of that, I was already pissing off sergeants and politics from the way I handled things as a trooper. I was a rough trooper.

There was times to get nasty and ugly, and I got nasty and ugly. For me to throw some people around, I got answers. But I got complained a lot. The stunt got Barry kicked off the case, just like Jessica Colbank before him. Again, Mary decided to take matters into her own hands. One night I was on the computer. I was on Facebook. And Rachel sent me a private message and wanted to know how we were doing. And could they do any, her and her mom do anything for us? I said, well, we're.

Still plugging along. I said the only thing you can do is tell me where she is. I said she needs to be put to rest. The proper way. And she replied back, she says, what do you mean? And I said, you know exactly what I mean. What if you could cover your gray hairs without damage? With K18 Molecular Repair Hair Mask, you can have strong, soft, bouncy hair. And keep your root touch-ups. Because it doesn't just cover up damage, it's a deep damage fix. Patented K18 Peptide.

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The girl came unhinged. Patricia Shove placed an emergency call. She says, I have an issue with a 16-year-old daughter of mine. I can't control her anymore. She's hitting us. She's screaming. She's running through the neighborhood. Give me the phone. No, no, this is over. This is over. She just gave me a black eye. Oh God. Please hurry. Kim Keener.

whose house on the dead-end road was so close to Patricia's, you could, in her words, throw a rock from my porch and hit Rachel's bedroom window, heard the commotion. She's coming out of the house. Anyway, Rachel bent me. That's when she comes out of the house screaming. You ruined my fucking life. My fucking life. And then...

Bang, smack, whatever. That's when Patricia comes running out of the house and she's holding her face. She is holding her face. And Brian and I walk out, because I at that point know she's then been attacked. So her face is already black, like just black. And we are like, what is going on? What is going on? She said she picked up a lit candelabra and hit me in the face.

I've called 911. She said, and I said, are you okay? She said, I'm fine. I'm fine. They're on their way. I just went all ape shit on them. Her mom said that was enough. Called Dime One One. I knew she was on a self-destruct mode, is from what I understand. Because of the pressure of keeping this. And then all hell broke loose when I think lamps got...

And Patricia was telling Rachel, you know, that's enough. It's over. When the cops came, she asked if they could take her to the hospital instead of directly. to Yale. That night, Rachel was admitted to Chestnut Ridge, an inpatient psychiatric treatment center for teens. Over the next five days, Sheila would try twice to see her best friend.

When she was there, Sheila and her mom tried to get in because they wanted to know just what Rachel said. So I'm pretty sure Sheila's mom was in on all of this. I don't know at what point, but... And their whole theory was no body, no crime. And she just needed to hold out. Kara and Sheila were trying to get in chestnut rage and they didn't just go like one day. Like they went multiple days.

They tried to talk to one of the security guards because when you go to Chestnut Ridge, you can get in there and you can get on the elevator, but you can't get on the secured floor and you can't get through the door once you get out the elevator. So they had tried every which way to get on that secured floor.

at one point someone had a wig on sunglasses but of course they couldn't get in to see her because of security thank god for that because she probably would have convinced her to keep her mouth shut For the first time since they met, Rachel was beyond Sheila's reach and Sheila's tweets were no longer defiant. At 5.25 p.m. that day, she wrote, Wow.

Literally worst night of my life. And at 10.32 p.m. Ugh, hope my girl at Rach is okay. Love you. On January 3rd, 2013, after five days in Chestnut Ridge. Patricia picked Rachel up and drove to her lawyer John Angotti's office. Angotti had called the U.S. Attorney's Office and told them his client was willing to talk, if they could work out a deal.

When Rachel arrived, she asked her parents to wait outside the room while she spoke with her lawyer, FBI agent Robert Ambrosini, who specializes in polygraph tests, and Ronnie Gaskins. Rachel pulled over a waste paper basket in case she vomited and proceeded to recount the events in detail, unburdening herself of her sins. they carried it out.

Sheila had Rachel pick the date they'd take Skylar out for a joyride. Rachel chose July 5th, when unbeknownst to Sheila, she would be at church camp. Camp was delayed, and Rachel was able to go out with Kelly Kearns on the boat that day. I kept thinking, why wouldn't she have had Rachel pick the date? And I'm like, wow, she wanted Rachel to be committed, trying to get her more and more committed. And Rachel picks a date that she knew she wouldn't be in Morgantown.

Because she'd be off to church camp, correct? Correct. By the devil himself, that camp would be closed. And she couldn't go. And she ended up still being in Morgantown. Because I think she just would have put Sheila off and gone off to camp. The holidays were there. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, everything that revolves around family. And I think that societal need to be around family.

and give thanks and everything like that is kind of a driving force for her religion. Who kills somebody and then goes to church camp? On January 3rd... 2013, after confessing, Rachel agreed to lead authorities out to the murder site in the woods past Blacksville. Gaskins was there. Without a body to corroborate the crime, Rachel was permitted to go home under strict orders.

not to discuss the contours of her plea deal. That night, Sheila, who tried so hard to see Rachel at Chestnut Ridge, went to Rachel's house to welcome her home. She posted a picture of the two reunited and smiling. Finally got to see Rach. In the selfie taken by Sheila, who's smiling in a white zip-up hoodie and rectangle glasses. Rachel leans in behind her, only her face in full view. Her eyebrows are raised. There are dark circles under her eyes. She looks strained and with good reason.

She's wearing a wire. Next time on 3. He said they fucking did it. They stabbed her to death. They had FBI in the closet. They had FBI everywhere you can hide a human person. They'll never know. That's what she said. Keep your mouth shut. They'll never know. I do know she just heard a cell phone before he came back, and that made me think she knew, you know? She took a hammer to a cell phone. I couldn't solve that case. That eats me.

Three is an original production of Waveland. The series is created and written by Holly Millay and me, Justine Harmon. The executive producer is Jason Hoke, who produced and edited the series. Associate producers are Lydia Horn and Leo Culp. Fact-checking by Lydia Horn. Sound engineering by Shane Freeman. Music by Robert Ellis.

Studio recording at CDM Studios in New York and Wildwoods Picture and Sound in Los Angeles. Special thanks to Dave and Mary Neese and the city of Morgantown, West Virginia. If you love this series, leave a review and please tell your friends. Follow Waveland on Instagram at Waveland Media for more on this series and upcoming new shows. Thanks for listening.

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