Shanda was a young girl who had just moved to a new school when her life was completely flipped upside down. It was at this school that she met her first girlfriend. Though it certainly wasn't love at first sight, their relationship quickly blossomed. However, her new girlfriend had a very jealous ex. Her and her three friends would soon kidnap Shanda and brutally torture and kill her, all because the ex couldn't stand to see the two together. This case is the
murder of twelve year old Shanda Sharer. My name's Ben, I'm.
Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and.
Grim, a true crime podcast.
Warning the following podcast Dan's and material intended for a mature audience.
Listeners.
Question.
You had a look of like absolute disgust in your face when I was reading that intro. Are you good?
Yeah, I'm just like, oh boy, here we go.
Yeah, I mean that's kind of how it tends to be with true crime in all honesty.
Well, here, I was just like, I kind of was thinking it was going to be people of young age and then but I'm like, oh, maybe like sixteen, I mean sixteen is still young. Sixteen or eighteen or early twenties or something. But twelve.
Gosh, yeah, Shanda was quite young when her life was taken from her.
I feel like twelve year old shouldn't even have significant others.
I agree, I agree, But I mean, you are getting to that point in that time when like you know, you, you're starting to go through puberty, like you're in those early stages, so those things start to develop in an individual, right, So it's not out of this world to think that someone of the age of twelve would be considering that.
I know, I just feel like, I mean, kids grow up. I think it's even worse now. They just grow up so dang quickly, I know, and they don't stay kids for as long as they can.
I know, I know, I feel you one, But yeah, this one is not taking taking place in today's day and age. It is back in the nineties. So this is I mean, you and I grew up in the nineties, so we know what it was like back then. And I, certainly, at the age of twelve, was not a very grown up individual. I was still very much so a child at twelve, so I can't relate.
I know, you always see those tiktoks and reels and stuff where it's like twelve year olds now and they're just like they just have looked like they have like their shit together. They're doing like a dance or something. And then it's like me at twelve year old, at twelve years old, and you're just like embarrassing. Yeah, I still don't feel like I like, I still am embarrassing. Like I don't think I've gone out of that.
Yeah, I agree, you have not gotten out of that. You are embarrassing. I'm just kidding.
Well, those twelve year olds now, I'm like, I still don't even have that confidence or that like sass about me.
I know. I think that's growing up in the social social media age though, But yeah, Shanda definitely didn't grow up in that age. Are you ready to go into this case despite despite the hesitation you have.
Yeah, okay, I'm ready.
All right, Well buckle up because you're gonna need it. So. Shanda Renee Scherer was a twelve year old girl living in Indiana in the early nineteen nineties. She was born on June sixth, nineteen ninety or sorry, nineteen seventy nine, in Pineville, Kentucky. When she was still very young, her parents Stephen Scherer and Jacqueline Vought unfortunately would get divorced. Despite this, though, Shanda stayed clothes with both of her parents.
She was best friends with her mom, and she was also good in a good relationship with her dad and his new wife, Sharon.
Okay, that's really good.
Shanda was the kind of person everyone wanted to be around. She was very cheerful, extremely friend friendly, and then full of energy. At school, she was involved in many activities, you know, volleyball or cheerleading, and she liked going to the dances. At school, Shanda was popular, She was smart, and she did very well in school, you know, very academic.
She was always getting good grades. In June of nineteen ninety one, when Shanda had turned twelve, she and her mom would make a move to New Albany in India, so Shanda could actually spend more time with her dad. So basically moving to ensure that they're a little bit closer to still maintain that relationship, right, Like, moving can be tough on many families, but they wanted to ensure the the strong connection between not just one parent but both.
It was important for him right even after this divorce.
That's honestly, so good.
It is co parenting at its best, right. Yeah, so she was starting at a new school, Hazelwood Middle School. It wasn't easy. I'm sure it's not for many people starting in a new middle school, right, A lot of new faces, trying to fit in, trying to make those new friends. And shortly after the beginning of the school year, Shanda even got into a fight with a fourteen year old girl named Amanda Heathron. So this is a two
year difference, right, twelve to fourteen. The two were of course sent to detention because of this fight, and I'm unclear if it was a physical fight or just verbal or how it escalated exactly, but regardless, they're both in detention together now. Surprisingly, though, while in detention, this gave the two girls a chance to talk and work it out, and they ended up becoming pretty good friends as a result.
Oh my goodness.
Yeah, so they hated each other, fought, went her detention, and they walked out of detention friend best friends.
Wow. I just feel like that should be how everyone solves problems. Hey, yeah, that well, not the fighting and stuff, but the fact that you got in a disagreement, but then you're able to work it out.
Yeah, you sit down, Yeah, you talk it out, like what's wrong with that? Yeah, would be able.
You move on and you're in like a much better place.
Yeah. Unfortunately, some people can't sit down and talk it out and move on, so that leaves a little bit of a stifling situation for many people. But hey, these two girls were able to do it, and good for them.
Mm hmm.
Now, what started as an unlikely friendship soon began to worry Shanda's mom. So since Shanda had started hanging out with Amanda, her grades began slipping and she was even getting into trouble at school a little bit, something that had never happened before. Shanda was once a very good student, and it seemed to be changing, and her mother didn't exactly know why. Now, as Shanda and Amanda spent more time together, their friendship became even closer, eventually turning into
something a little bit more a romantic relationship. Even the two girls even began writing letters to each other, letters that were apparently pretty sexually explicit in nature, though this was kept all hidden from Shanda's parents. They always just pretended to be friends whenever they were together, and the parents were present. In October, the two girls attended a school dance together, you know, going out for a fun night, you know, kind of even a little bit of a
date sort of situation. Right, But while they were there, they ran into Amanda's ex girlfriend, Melinda Loveless, a sixteen year old girl with a troubled past.
Oh so, now this is like a four year difference for yeah.
Yeah, So Melinda had dealt with many problems at home and struggled with depression herself. Her difficult family life and personal challenges often caused her to get into fights and act out at school. Now it's a lot to get into, but Melinda's parents were involved in some sexually explicit stuff themselves, you know, some orgies, and apparently there were some pretty abusive sexual behaviors that occurred at home as well, which include sexual assaults.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. Anyways, this all affected Melinda's school work and resulted in her having to repeat a year of school.
Oh shit.
Melinda was open about her you know, sexual orientation, which was rare for being in a small town in nineteen nineties. You know, a fairly conservative area in Indiana is pretty rare. But she was pretty open about it. Anyways, when Melinda saw Shanda and Amanda together at the school dance, she was instantly filled with rage. She right away was wanting to fight Shanda right then and there, even though Shanda was four years younger than her. Luckily, though, Amanda managed
to stop her before things got physical. Now, you see, Melinda, it's kind of a little bit difficult here to explain, so bear with me. To Milinda, Amanda wasn't actually her ex girlfriend, she was still her girlfriend. What kind of oh? Even though the two had broken up, Melinda never accepted the breakup, thinking that they were just going through a tough time and they were going to get through it really. Meanwhile, Amanda was like, no, we're broken up and was moving
on and was now dating Shanda. So to Melinda, it felt like Shanda had stolen her girlfriend right out from underneath her and was rubbing her face in it by being at this dance together where everyone could see.
It, and she probably had no idea, correct, Shanda, I mean correct? Yeah?
Yeah, So it's about it.
That is kind of like a tricky situation, but also.
It is very much so huh okay your processing this.
I am I don't really know what to think now, because I'm kind of like, well, it's Amanda, right, Amen.
Which one's Amanda? The girlfriend is Amanda?
Yeah, Amanda was with Melinda.
Correct.
So I feel like, I don't know, someone wants to break up, someone just doesn't accept it, but like they're still broken up exactly. I don't know. That's it's kind of it's kind of.
Hard to Amanda did Amanda did nothing wrong. Shanda did nothing wrong exactly. Yeah, And Melinda has every right to be upset with the situation.
I guess if she still thinks they're kind of together.
Well, she she doesn't have say over whether they're together or not, because it takes two to tango, right, But Melinda has every right to be emotional, be upset, you know, be jealous. She just can't act on that because it's not her relationship, and so she has every right to have these feelings. They have every those two have every right to be together. No one's doing anything wrong right now. Everything is You're allowed to do that. Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, I know.
It's just it's just kind of it's weird. It's tricky because Melinda still thinks that they're kind of together. She's probably like almost thinking they're cheating a little, you know.
That's kind of how she's feeling, so definitely now. Although nothing serious happened that night, the weeks that followed were filled with a lot of tension. Melinda started to threaten Shanda, and she wasn't exactly quiet about it either. She was very open about how much she disliked her, and the threats became more and more serious over time. She even began writing letters to Shanda herself, which became increasingly violent, with Melinda going as far as saying that she wanted Shanda dead.
Okay, okay, this is real messy.
Yeah, Now, both Amanda and Shanda became very worried about these letters, and with good reason. The threats were very disturbing, and I mean very much so, like this is real, whether someone has the intentions of it or not, threats are very much so real. That's scary. So they eventually
to the letters to a local youth prosecutor. However, the authorities didn't seem to take the threats the seriously themselves, and there doesn't appear to be any evidence to point towards an investigation ever occurring as a result of these letters.
I mean, honestly, in that situation, like probably nine homes out of ten they aren't you know, serious, right.
Probably ninety nine point ten percent of time.
Yeah, but still you gotta there's the off chance that they can be exactly.
That's why you have to do your due diligence. You have to follow up on these things, right, So it's unfortunate, to say the least. Now, Shanda's parents eventually found out about her dating Amanda when they discovered some of the letters that they were sharing, right, they made the decision to transfer Shanda to another school as a result. It wasn't due to the same sex relationship, though they had no problem with that. It was more of the fact
that Shanda was twelve and her girlfriend was fourteen. Their relationship was seemingly to be very sexual in nature, so that age gap is kind of a little bit too much for them. And Shanda was also, on top of it all, not doing well in school and her behaviors were changing.
Right, Well, the younger you are, the more significant the age gap is. Right.
Oh, it's percentage wise really right, Yeah, Like when you're eighty and if you're with a ninety year old, that ten year gap.
Is nothing is not really a lot.
Yeah, but if you're twenty five and with a fifteen year old, that's not fucking cool.
Yeah, that is just not okay.
Yeah, So that percentage of the age gap, it definitely plays plays a role now either way. Though. The girls were attending different schools now, but they never broke up. They still wrote letters and talked in the phone whenever they could. Fast forward to the new year. It's January tenth, nineteen ninety two, so only a few months of past. We're just entering the new year now, right. It was a night that Melinda had been planning for for some time.
She she had invited three of her friends over. The friends were Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippy, and Tony Lawrence. She invited them over to her house this afternoon. The girls thought it was just going to be a typical hangout, but Melinda she had something else in mind. Once everyone arrived, Melinda revealed her true intentions for this meetup. She told them that she had come up with a plan to
get Shanda out of Amanda's life for good. As she explained her plan, she pulled out a kitchen knife, telling her friends that this was the weapon she was going to use to scare Shanda and make sure that she stayed away from Amanda once and for all. So it's going to be a threat, Okay, So you're scare okay. Melinda had somehow found out that Shanda was staying with her father on the weekends in Jeffersonville, and they were
going to go pay her a visit this weekend. So with that plan set, the girls piled into a car. It's unclear whether it was their car. I mean, they were about sixteen, right, unclear if it's there, car, borrowed car, I don't know. But they piled into a car and headed to Shanda's father's house. Most of the girls had no idea how far things were about to go. Melinda might have.
Known, oh man, so she was lying.
When they reached Shanda's house, two of the girls went to go knock on the door. When Shanda answered, the girls told her that they were friends of Amanda and that Amanda wanted to wanted them to pick her up so they could all go hang out together. So they're luring her by saying, hey, we're your girlfriend's friends. Yeah, and they told us to come pick you up.
Oh gross. I don't like this.
Yeah. They claimed that Amanda was waiting for them at the old an old abandoned spot called quote the Witch's Castle, which is a well known local abandoned house that's like kind of a landmark in the area.
Oh my goodness, there would be no way. I'd be like, cool, right, have fun with that.
Yeah.
And if, like they said, you were waiting there, I'd be like, awesome. I hope he enjoys just waiting there, because I wouldn't be going.
I'm not going to the fucking Witch's Castle.
There's no way.
Nope. I feel you. Thank you for coming and meeting me at the Witch's Castle. I appreciate that, just leaving me waiting to be I don't know, decapitated by a witch who knows well.
I mean, if you were in trouble, i'd come there. But if I was just to meet you there with some random people, like, it just wouldn't be happening.
Yeah, fair enough now. Shanda, though, she was excited to go out, but she knew that her parents wouldn't allow it, so she herself made a plan. She told the girls to come back at midnight, when her dad would be asleep. And then she could sneak out and they could all head off to go meet Amanda together at the Witch's castle.
This is just terrible, So like her dad isn't going to have any clue, any clue.
Correct. Although Melinda was frustrated by this, not being able to know get to Shanda right away, she had no choice but to wait. So as they headed to pick Shanda up a little bit later on that night, Melinda, growing more impatient, said she couldn't wait to kill Shanda.
So she admitted this to the other people.
Then she said this on the way to go pick her up. The other girls were shocked by her words at first. I mean, of course, earlier she said that, Hey, we're just gonna go scare her. Yeah right, I mean, despite how intense this sounded, they didn't take the threat seriously because, as we already mentioned, ninety nine percent of the time those threats are not real. Are empty. Yes, so that's what they assumed these were. We're just empty threats. Now.
At around twelve thirty am, the group returned to Shanda's house. One of the girls, Tony, hesitated and refused to help convince Shanda to get into the car, possibly spooked by Melinda's earlier comment, but I can't wait to kill her. But we're It's unclear as to why, but the other two girls went to Shanda's door while Tony and Melinda were still in the car, Melinda hid in the back seat under a blanket to avoid being seen.
Huh.
Shanda seemed a little unsure about going with them, but she trusted them because they claimed to be Amanda's friends after all, So eventually she climbed into the car, thinking they were going to go meet up with her girlfriend. And as they drove towards the Witch's castle, Melinda suddenly jumped out from underneath the blanket and pulled out the knife and held it right against Shanda's throat.
Wow, this is just so bad, hey, and it just it kind of shows too, I feel like the innocence of being twelve as well. No kidding, right, yeah, Oh, it kind of just breaks.
Your heart now. In an instant, Melinda started questioning Shanda about her relationship with Amanda. Shanda was completely terrified and in shock. She answered Melinda's questions, but no matter what she said, it only made Melinda angrier. So when the girls arrived to the abandoned Witch's castle. They tied Shanda up and brought her inside with them. Once there, Melinda and the others took Shanda's jewelry, including her favorite Mickey
Mouse watch. O man, I know, in case you didn't need another reality check of how old this gme?
Yeah, No, I didn't need that.
Yeah. As Melinda played with her knife, she commented about how nice Shanda's hair looked, and then cruelly wondered how Shanda would look if it was all cut off as she ran the blade through her hair. While she was speaking, one of the girls then went to the car and grabbed a T shirt that was in there. She brought it inside and set the T shirt on fire. It's unclear as to why. Maybe it was to wave it
around in a threatening attempt in Shanda's face. I don't know, but regardless, set this T shirt on fire, and the smoke from the burning shirt began to worry the group. They feared that someone passing by might notice it pouring out of the building, so in a panic that gathered Shanda up, put her back in the car and drove off, headed toward Madison, which is a town near where one of the girls Laurie lived now. Laurie then led the girls to a secluded logging road surrounded by thick forest
and trees. They drove far enough to ensure that no one would find them, and when they found a remote spot that was good enough, they stopped and pulled Shanda from the car. At this point, Melinda took charge, forcing Shanda to strip off her clothes while threatening her with that knife, holding her right at knife point.
What is even the point of that? And to make her after strip and stuff? And meanwhile, her dad's just at home, like sleeping. Yeah, has no idea, I mean and rightfully so, he has no idea, right like she she snuck out. But that's just heartbreaking.
Mm hmm. Now, in all honesty, like it doesn't make sense. But I think it's a power tripping situation to humiliate her, humiliate her, show that I've got the power. You're gonna do whatever I say. You're gonna leave Amanda alone, like whatever it is. If I have the fucking power, I can make you do whatever I want. And I think that's why she did that, But I'm sure there's more to it. I'm no psychologist. I don't claim to know
these things. I'm just offering my opinion thoughts, right, But Shanda was terrified and she had absolutely no choice but to comply, so she did what she was told, and once she was standing there without a close Melinda viciously attacked her. She didn't use the knife at first. She began punching and kicking Shanda over and over and over again, even neeing her in the face repeatedly as blood poured
from her nose and mouth. Two of the girls, scared by what was happening, stayed in the car at first, but Melinda convinced them to come out and help in the assault, and they eventually held Shanda down while Melinda continued the attack.
Well, they might have been afraid of Melinda as well.
They most likely were.
I mean, it's still so wrong that they're doing this and helping and stuff, But I feel like they're seeing what their friends get.
Capable of, right, Yeah, it's very possible now. Melinda, then, after beating her for a while, decided she was going to take the knife in her hands and use that.
Oh man.
Initially, she tried to slit Shanda's throat with the blade, but the knife was way too dull to do much damage. Oh gosh, I'm sure it cut her, but it did not cut nearly deep enough. Frustrated, she started stabbing Shanda repeatedly in the chest with the knife instead. After stabbing her several times, the girls retrieved a rope from the car, wrapped it around Shanda's neck, and pulled it tight until Shanda finally went limp.
Oh ho, man, that is just oh, that is unreal.
Yeah, it's a lot, and I'm gonna tell you now we're not done.
Oh okay. I I just can't comprehend, like even sixteen years old, that you would just be able to fulfill that having the.
Not only the physical ability to do it, like cause I mean, like if you are put in a situation where it's like you do this or you don't do it, whether it's like life or death situation like saw is a very good example, you know, like carve your own eye out to get the key or you die. Right to be able to take that thing and physically stab in your own eye regardless of the pain enduring, right, Like even just breaking that threshold, whether it's yourself or
someone else, that's mind blowing. But then to continue going forward and some of the stuff that occurs here that we're about to talk about. It makes I can't wrap my head around it.
Yeah, I just think I don't know. I mean, I get if you're angry and you're gonna like take out some frustration, but I just feel like there'd be a moment in there that you'd be like, Okay, this is enough, Like I need to stop what I'm doing.
But we talk about this every time there's one of these cases like that, and it's not I.
Know, I Danneline, I imagine it's like fueling you as well. But oh gosh.
Yeah. Now, the girls dragged Shanda's limp body to the car and stuffed her inside the trunk. Exhausted, they needed to regroup. They drove to Laurie's house to clean themselves up. There they drank some pop or if you're in the US, SODA's sorry it's it's called pop. I'm laying that down anyways,
trying to relax. They're drinking some pop after these this horrific attack, And while they're inside finishing cleaning up and drinking their drinks, they suddenly heard screaming coming from the inside of the trunk of the car that was parked in the driveway.
No, she was still alive.
Shanda was badly beaten and stabbed, but she was still alive and conscious in the dark, cramped space of the car she had just come to in the pitch black. Laurie quickly grabbed a small pairing knife from the kit and headed outside to the trunk of the car. She returned a moment later, and she cleaned herself up again, with all the blood printing off her hands. The screaming had stopped. Afterwards, Laurie and Melinda got back into the car and drove away. It was around two thirty am.
As they cruised along some quiet dirt roads along the countryside. To their shock, once again, they heard Shanda's screams beginning to come from the trunk of the car. They stopped the car on the side of the road. They pulled out a tire iron, this time, opened the trunk and dragged Shanda out onto the gravel road. Here they used the tire iron to beat her, and for whatever reason, also sodomized Shanda until she was once again no longer moving.
This one is very hard to digest.
I told you it's gonna get worse, and it keeps.
Going and I didn't really believe you. I was like, okay, well she's already like passed. What else are they going to do?
But okay, yeah, no, it keeps going. That's the highlight of what I have to say for this case. It is vicious, it is revolting, and it keeps going.
Well yeah, I mean they have no idea what they're doing. They have like no idea.
No, they're just well.
But I mean, gosh, you would think that after she woke up that you wouldn't continue doing this. I already thought it was crazy that they continued the first time, and now there's like two more times here. Yeah, gosh.
So early that morning, Laurie and Melinda returned to Laurie's house. The other two girls were still there and waiting for them to return, and when those two girls asked what happened to Shanda, Laurie laughed and went into great detail about what they had just done, even revealing that Shanda's body was still in the trunk of the car right now as they spoke. Realizing now they needed to get rid of a body because this crime isn't over and done with yet. There's still one more portion that they
needed to do. The group decided to take action. Later that morning, they all got back into the car with Shanda's body in the trunk. They drove to a nearby gas station where they filled up the car's gas tank and they bought a two liter Pepsi bottle. They dumped out all the pop because yes, it's pop, not soda, and they filled that bottle up with gasoline as well. From there, they headed to a remote location on Lemon Road,
just north of Madison. Once they arrived, they pulled Shanda's body out of the car and left her near the side of the gravel road. The girls, before leaving her, though, poured gasoline all over her body, and without hesitation, set her on fire before driving away and leaving her behind.
Oh, I mean, I saw that coming out with the whole filling up the two leader. But I was also thinking, maybe there's the possibility that she lives through this. But I'm thinking that's a hard null.
Well, the case is called the Murder of Shanda's.
Well, Okay, just all these incidents going about, though, it gives you hope, I guess right that, Okay, mate, Like she's fighting and maybe like she'll get through this. Like her body's fighting to stay alive, right even though what she's enduring. Plus, I didn't know what the fucking title was? Did I?
I said it in the intro?
Oh gosh, okay, well I missed that part here. I'm just like, okay, she's maybe she'll make it through. But no, no.
Well, to finish off, just how disgusted we are with these four girls. In the final chilling display of their lack of remorse, the group stopped at McDonald's for breakfast on the way home after burning Shanda.
Oh man, and we're not the fuck would eat after that?
Not done that yet? Hold on? While eating, they callously joked about how Shanda's burnt body resembled the sausage patties on the sandwiches they were eating.
You fucking me, Nope, that is Oh, I don't care. This case is just like I just want to keep swearing. But it's just I'm pissed. It's frustrating, It's extremely super pissed. This is that is absurd.
This case is frustrating till the end, and it keeps going.
I can Oh, I just made Ripley upset. She gets really upset when we get upset. I'm sorry, ripley.
Yeah, she's like, what's what's that like a sympathy m pass and she's like an m path. Yeah, she can like feel your emotions get upset, hit the counter to touche touche. That was a little bit of alarming for her. Gotta love dogs. Anyways, Late that day, Melinda met up with Amanda. Without any shame, She proudly told Amanda all about what she had just done to Shanda, presenting it as if it were some twisted proof of her love.
And at first Amanda didn't believe her, but Melinda took her to the car and showed her Shanda's bloody handprints all on the inside of the trunk. Horrified and ensure of what to do, Amanda agreed to keep quiet when Melinda begged her not to tell anyone.
Wow, just like peer evil.
Hey, pu're evil's showing off the bloody handprints on the inside of the trunk from a twelve year old who's trying to fucking escape with their life. Oh that is fucked up now. Shanda's remains were discovered that same morning on January eleventh, just hours after she had been set ablaze. Two brothers who were on their way to the Jefferson Proving Round for a hunting trip, spotted something strange on
the side of the road. At first, they thought it was a mannequin abandoned in a ditch, but when they got closer, they realized it was not that. It was the burnt remains of a person.
And literally just right on the side of the road.
Yep, exactly.
So they didn't even give a shit to try to hide what they did at all.
Nope, no, not at all. Now. The two brothers were shocked and immediately rushed to find a phone and called nine to one one. They waited at the scene until state troopers and detectives arrived, and the investigators processed the area,
gathering evidence and took statements from the two brothers as well. Initially, they suspected that the crime was gang related because of the way that Shanda's body had been posed suggestively, and there were severe burns across her body, but particularly the worst of it was on her face and hands, which made identifying her extremely difficult.
Oh okay, I see.
Yeah. So while the investigation was underway, Shanda's father Will up and realized that Shanda wasn't in her room, mind you this is still quite early in the morning, right.
But I'm sure just assuming that she like snuck out and would return, right.
Well, he searched the house and the surrounding area, but he couldn't find her. It was not like her to be gone like this or anything, right, she never did this sort of stuff. And I'm sure her sneaking out at midnight to go to the witch's cabin or whatever, it probably would have been the first time of her sneaking.
Out, Okay, So it was like really out of character.
Very much so out of character. So he was worried, and he called Shanda's mother right away and both of them began looking for them for their daughter. Together. By that afternoon, they couldn't find her, and they contacted local authorities and filed a missing persons report with the Clark County Sheriff's Department. Later that evening, at about eight twenty pm, Hope Rippy and Tony Lawrence, two of the girls involved in the crime, showed up to the police station with
their parents. The two girls were hysterical and struggled to explain what had happened, but eventually they confessed everything, revealing that the burnt body that was found earlier that day was the body of Shanda Sharer. They described the entire sequence of events in detail.
Oh why could they not have that conscience earlier?
Hey, right now, I do believe that, like you mentioned, as it was happening, that they could have been terrified of Melinda. It could have been scared, which I'm sure did play a role in this. They didn't know what to do. They are terrified for their own safety and stuff as well. But it's still why couldn't that have
come sooner? It's unfortunate. Now, Shanda's missing person's case was soon linked to the body found that morning, of course, and detectives obtained dental records to officially confirm her identity. The results tragically confirmed that, yes, indeed it was Shanda. Now. Doctor George Nichols conducted she AND's autopsy, which revealed the
extent of her injuries that she had suffered. Some of the things that they found were ligature marks in her wrists, and she had deep cuts on her head, neck, legs. Her fingers were badly damaged, so much so that they actually had to be cut off to obtain fingerprints. Most of Shanda's upper body was covered in third and fourth thor gree burns, But one of the most haunting findings from the autopsy was the soot in her airway, which indicated that she was still alive when the gasoline was
poured on her and she was set on fire. No, Ben, No, yes, she was still.
Oh my gosh, Okay.
I told you, this case keeps going.
Wow, wow, wow. I did not expect that.
Yeah, I was pretty mortified when I learned that.
Huh.
And I can't blame you and your reaction either, because that is heartbreaking. How many many times did she survive to just be knocked down again by these girls?
Holy shit, man, I mean they and I don't know if I can. I'll just say that. The problem too is like with young offenders, I feel like then just the chances of them get them getting out, like they still get to live their life at some point.
I guess it's just it's a very it's very frustrating to the end, I said, anyway, I digress, We're in for more than I digress. Let's continue.
Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can take any more of this.
The next day, Melinda Lovelace and Lori Tackett were arrested while Hope and Tony were already in the police custody right having confessed to the roles earlier. The four teenage girls were all charged as adults for their role in the torture and killing of Shanda Sharer. By April of nineteen ninety two, Tony Lawrence, the least involved in the violence, struck a deal with prosecutors. By accepting a plea bargain, she avoided harsher penalties and agreed to testify against the others.
She was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but was released on parole after serving just nine years. In the year two thousand, Hope Rippy, who had played a significant role in the crime but has seen as more of an influence seen more influenced by Melinda as we kind of already discussed a bit, also reached a plea deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to thirty five years in
prison In two thousand and four. Hope's sentence was reduced on an appeal, and she was eventually released on parole in two thousand and six after serving just fourteen years of her sentence. In the year two thousand, both Melinda Lovelace and Lorie Tackett, two of the main perpetrators, also accepted plea bargains, a decision that spared them from facing the death penalty. Both were sentenced to sixty years in prison for their roles in the torture and murder of
Shanda Sharer. However, Melinda and Lourie were both paroled earlier than expected. Laurie Tackett was released in twenty eighteen after serving twenty six years, while Melinda Lovelass was granted parole in twenty nineteen after serving twenty five years. All four girls are out of prison and free.
I'm just sitting here like glaring at you, Yes you are. Is it making you uncomfortable?
A little bit? For my own safety? At their uncomfortable? Just pissed, right, I told you. It's frustrating to the end.
Is there fucking more? There? Better not be anymore.
The aftermath of Shanda's death death left her family absolutely devastating. Well yeah, Steve Sharer, Shanda's father, struggled to cope the loss of his daughter and turned alcohol. His grief absolutely consumed him. Unable to find a way forward. After Shanda's murder, Steve his health deteriorated and he tragically passed away in two thousand and five from alcohol related complications. He was fifty three years old. He drank himself to death.
Oh man oh okay Okay.
Shanda's mother, Jackie Vaught, suffered her own immense grief, but her response to the events in the years that followed would take a surprising and compassionate turn. During Melinda's sentence hearing, it was revealed that she herself had been a victim of horrific abuse at the hands of her father, Larry Lovelace. As I kind of alluded to earlier, he had subject his family to years of physical and sexual abuse. In nineteen ninety three, Larry was arrested on charges of rape, sodomy,
and sexual battery. He spent two two years in jail awaiting trial, but due to Indiana's state statue of limitations, most charges were dropped, and ultimately he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual battery and was released in nineteen ninety five, having already served his time. Now, while in prison, Melinda sought a new path and became involved in the ICA N or the i CAN, which is the Indiana
Canine Assistants Network program where inmates train service dogs. She gained a reputation for her skill and dedication, often even being asked with help on dogs that were specifically difficult to train. Her work with dogs allowed her to show love and compassion in a way that contrasted sharply with her past actions. Shanda's mother, Jackie, eventually learned of Melinda's
work with the I CAN. She was contacted by a man named Charlie Petrizo, a burn victim and breeder for the I CAN, who shared footage of a mo into training the dogs in prison. After Jackie watched the video, she was actually struck by Melinda's sincerity and compassion. In twenty twelve, Jackie made an extraordinary decision to donate a puppy that she named Angel to the program in Shanda's honor, allowing Melinda to train that dog. Reflecting on her decision,
Jackie said, quote, Melinda was sincere, she was compassionate. I think the IKAM program allows her to have something in her life that she can show love back to and there's never betrayal on either side.
Jackie. Okay, Well, first of all, we're just like all having a process this at once, and I guess Jackie has had a bit of time. But like she is a fucking saint. Yes, like that is unbelievable. Yes, that you could. I don't know even you know be that strong.
I agree.
Wow.
Now there is a bit of, of course, controversy surrounding Melinda and what she endured growing up, which I do not doubt played a part in her actions upon Shanda. But we've said it on this podcast before. It doesn't excuse your actions. In my opinion, it does not excuse your actions. Your history may shape you, but you have control of your present and future. Your actions are your own.
Of course, I mean there's always room for argument within that, but that's a general statement, a blanket statement or that. But Jackie sees it as Melinda suffered too, and at the hands of Melinda, her daughter suffered. But that doesn't mean that more people have to suffer, whether it's her, whether it's Melinda suffering more. That's what I see. She's wanting to put an end to that psych of suffering.
Melinda's father made her suffer, Melinda made Shanda suffer. Why does Jackie have to make or why does Jackie have to make Melinda suffer or Melinda make Jackie suffer, so props to her. I don't know if I could do it, but she's wanting to put an end to that cycle of suffering that it seems just incredible to me. Yeah. Now, although the girls serve time for their roles in Shanda's murder, their early release have been met with very much so
mixed emotions from the public. For many, the pain of Shanda's death has not faded, and her legacy remains a very haunting reminder of the senseless brutality of her murder and what those four girls did that day. And that's the case of Shanda Sharer.
What just like a just a complete pile of shit case.
I thought you were gonna say, what the fuck just happened?
Well that too, I don't even know, Like I don't even know what's where I am right now.
I told you, it's frustrating to the end.
But this is the end. There's nothing else, is okay. I'm like, you literally drop something else, like I'm done, No, I'm leaving.
This is it. That's the end. We're done. Laptop being closed, that's it, the end. That's the story.
I know it is. It's actually quite hard to process this one. I'm not gonna lie. It is and I don't necessary. It's hard to even talk about it now because I don't know. It is like yeah, because Melinda was like very abused, but I'm not okay right now with what happened, So I can't look at it like the mom did right yet you know, understandable, like it's just something you have to process. I think, and whole that was unreal like.
As I said, past actions or past things you've gone through, past traumas. It doesn't excuse murdering a fucking person. No, it never will. It just doesn't. And in my mind, Shanda was murdered four times. They beat her to be unconscious, and she came back and they did it again, and then she came back and they did it again, and they lit her on fire and left her behind, and then she finally died.
Well in that time, well, I mean each time they thought that she was.
Dead, right, I guess, so they murdered her four times. Yeah, they're like, yeah, we killed her. Oh she's actually alive. They let us kill her.
They made that decision four times.
They made the decision to murder her four separate times, which.
Is just just like she pure evil hate.
Yeah, like you don't get a second chance, let alone a third earf Like how many people would say if I could go back and correct my actions, Like how many people who have killed someone and they're sitting in prison and they are so remorseful about it. There's people out there, and if I could turn back that fucking clock. These girls were given the opportunity to turn back the clock, and four times they chose to kill.
Well, yeah, you're just I'm curious. I guess if they show if they're remorseful now, I feel like it would just be so hard to go about. I mean, like living your life after that. Gosh, I feel like that's all you would ever think about, or I see in your head.
I don't doubt that every single one of them is remorseful now, in my opinion. I don't know for a fact, but that's gonna be my guess. I'm assuming none of them are sitting here thinking, yeah, you know, I'm happy I did that. I'm pretty sure they're all remorseful of it.
Many of us are, as you already said, remorseful of what we looked like at twelve years old, and so to be doing something that harsh when you're that young and you grow up and you're like, holy fuck, I'm pretty sure they're remorseful of it.
Well. No, If I'm being honest, though, I'd rather be embarrassing at twelve year olds twelve years old than what twelve year olds are nowadays. I prefer my embarrassment.
You don't want to be like doing all those tiktoks now stuff. No, no, you don't want to be a little like twelve year old instagrammer. No, fair enough. I just collected Pokemon back in the day when I was twelve, and honestly, that sounds great. I do that now at thirty six. I should do that now at thirty six. I haven't played Pokemon going a long time. I should.
What were we just saying before I had something to say?
Oh?
Sorry, well no, I can't remember now. What were we just saying prior to.
This about being remorseful about how old?
Okay, yes, well it wasn't really exactly about that. But these these girls, they still are living like a significant chunk of life.
Yep, right, yep.
Because I'm just trying to like, I'm trying to calculate it in my head, say they were born like seventy five or something I'm thinking around.
Then we'll put it this way. Melinda was sixteen, she served twenty five years, she got a one.
That's a much easier way.
Just add the two numbers.
My brain is just like mush at this point. I can't even comprehenate, like life. Yeah, that is a big chunk of life that they get to live.
And the largest served time was twenty six I'm assuming she was sixteen as well, so that means the oldest would have been forty two. Yeah, the oldest age being let out of prison was forty two.
I mean, it is a big chunk of time also being served. But then yeah, you get to just like live your life, and they took that away from someone, which is what's hard, right. Yeah, Yeah, Okay, Wow, you really really did this to us today. I'm sorry, and don't be afraid for Ben's life. He is quite fine. But I was just like I couldn't even look at you at times. I'm just I was just so livid.
Oh my god, what don't I'm sorry.
Who could take that seriously? That's bad. Ben's quite fine.
I am very fine. I am safe in my own I am very safe home I'm.
Joking, searching. I came home with snacks for you.
That's so nice you did.
I also gave you a little bowl of cheeses and then some sort of little alcoholic beverage.
It was delicious.
So you are. I am kind to you.
You. You definitely are.
Sometimes maybe not, but the majority of.
The time, sometimes maybe not a majority. I'm a good person. I'm not terrible.
I mean, no one is good percent of the time. Like I mean, not like terribles and murdering people, but like you can be an asshole at times.
I can be an asshole the time.
People can Oh my gosh, I'm rambling. We got it. Where this is done.
I could just do this for hours, just like loop you around and just mess with you. Oh man, Okay, anyways, thank you guys for being here. I am definitely safe. Do not take those things that I said seriously. I was joking. I feel very safe at home with the calls. She is the love of my life and we are very happy. We are happy that you guys are here with us through this podcast, So thank you very much.
It means a lot to us. You can check out the description of the show, find all our links Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, you name it. It's all down there, including the last few tickets to our events. Our event coming up which is a local event only, so you can't buy the ticket and attend virtually you have to be in here
in person, in town. But there's last few tickets left for that murder mystery that's available, and I believe, Yeah, if you go through our Facebook, the event is there and you can find that link to buy those tickets.
I did put the link on Instagram.
There we go. Fantastic.
You can find it many ways.
Yeah, so thank you for being here, and until Tuesday, stay wicked.
