Melinda Loveless, the mastermind behind the cruel gang rape torture-murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer in 1992 was released on Thursday, Sept. 5, after serving more than 26 years in prison. "That's the one Jacque had touched, had held, had named. Laurie Tackett, now 43, was one of four women convicted in the 1992 death of Shanda Sharer. par ; mai 21, 2022 Died: 11 January 1992. Upon further appeal, the judge reduced her sentence to 35 years. Consequently, he was arrested in February 1993 on charges of rape, sodomy, and sexual battery. All four of them were tried as adults and received lengthy sentences instead of the death penalty due to the plea bargain they entered after pleading guilty to their crimes. Toni pleaded guilty to criminal confinement and received a 20-year sentence due to her cooperation. While she was furious at first, she accepted her daughter's lifestyle. She was abused by a relative at age 9 and was raped by a teenage boy at age 14, although the police only issued an order for the boy to keep away from Lawrence. Tackett was released from Rockville Correctional Facility on September 11, 2018, after serving nearly 26 years in prison and completing a year of probation. First, they took Sharer to a remote trash dump near a logging road in a densely forested area. Lawrence then phoned a friend and told her about the murder. After this look at the murder of Shanda Sharer, read about the disturbing killing of James Bulger. The fund planned to provide scholarships to two students per year from Prosser School of Technology in New Albany; one scholarship to a student who is continuing his or her education, and the other scholarship to a student who is beginning his or her career and must buy tools or other work equipment. When they divorced; Jacqueline remarried and moved to Louisville, Kentucky. An Indiana Department of Correction spokeswoman says 44-year-old Melinda Loveless was released from the Indiana Womens Prison in Indianapolis on Thursday after serving 23 years and eight months of a 60-year sentence for the murder and criminal confinement of Shanda Sharer in 1992. Tackett grew up in a strict religious household where normal teenager things were not welcome behaviors. One of the four women convicted ofbeating, burning and killing 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer in 1992 was released Thursday from prison on the 26th anniversary of the girl's body being found. Instead, they stabbed her in the chest and strangled her with a rope before throwing her in the trunk of the car, thinking she was dead. In January 1992, Shanda Sharer was brutally tortured and murdered by four teenage girls, led by Melinda Loveless, a 17-year-old girl from Louisville. Larry, who was violent and abusive, did not usually share his income with the family and impulsively spent any money he earned on himself, especially firearms, motorcycles and cars. After more than seven hoursof torture, the girls ended itby soaking Sharer with gasoline and burning her alive alongside a country road, evidence revealed. 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. Sharer would have been 40 years old this year. They became lost, so they stopped at a gas station and covered Sharer in a blanket. [25], After Heavrin and Sharer attended a festival together in late October, Loveless began to discuss killing Sharer and threatened her in public. Most of the crimes occurred from 1968 to 1977. In March 1991, Loveless revealed to her mother that she was a lesbian. Loveless ordered Sharer to tell the truth about stealing the girlfriend or have her throat slit. Moreover, she had not been represented competently by counsel during her sentencing, which caused her to accept a plea bargain in the face of exaggerated claims about her chances of receiving the death penalty. 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. Shipley then started the paperwork to get warrants for the arrest of Laurie Tackett and Melinda Loveless. There, Sharer and Heavrin were confronted by 16-year-old Melinda Loveless, who had previously been dating Heavrin for more than a year and was now extremely jealous of this new pairing. why taoism is often misunderstood as a superstitious religion because eric montross big grits eric montross big grits So Jacque Vaught did something remarkable. In exchange for her cooperation, Lawrence was allowed to plead guilty to one count of criminal confinement and was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years. [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. On this particular weekend Shanda had been staying with her father, Steve Sharer, and Melinda knew it. When the group of girls drove up to the house, Toni and Hope knocked on the front door; the girl's Daddy answered . Tackett made Rippey pour the gasoline on Sharer, and then they set her on fire. Murderpedia Shanda Sharer's killers. For nearly eight hours, the girls sexually assaulted and tortured Shanda Sharer, except for Toni Lawrence which refused to participate in the heinous act. That's all I've ever said.". In January 1992, Shanda Sharer was brutally tortured and murdered by four teenage girls, led by Melinda Loveless, a 17-year-old girl from Louisville. Please logout and login again. I read the book about the case. Tacketts motives aside, what would drive 16-year-old Loveless to mastermind such a brutal murder? Jun 20, 1992 at 12:00 am. Melinda was released in September 2019, and while in prison, she trained service dogs for those living with trauma and disabilities. The girls then drove to the field near Madison, covered her with a blanket, and poured gasoline on her. Tackett claimed that she was molested at least twice as a child at ages 5 and 12. She went into counseling after the incident but did not follow through. Shanda Sharer was a 12 year old girl living in the idyllic town of Madison, Indiana. During the episode, Tackett said that if she could go back, she wouldn't have been there that nightand she would have done everything in her power to stop it. Ralph's first thought was that the object was a body, though logic dictated that it were something else. The procedure revealed that she had suffered multiple injuries. Heavrin promised she would not before entering her house. Her family has long suspected that her killer is someone she knew, but they have never been able to prove it. The whole episode I refer to Shanda as Shandra. Social workers became involved, and Tackett's parents agreed to unannounced visits to ensure that child abuse was not occurring. In Dec. 1992,Loveless pleaded guilty to the Jan. 11, 1992 murder of 12-year-old Shanda Sharer of New Albany. Loveless instructed Rippey and Lawrence to go to the door and introduce themselves as friends of Heavrin (Loveless's former and Sharer's current girlfriend), then invite Sharer to come with them to see Heavrin, who was waiting for them at "the Witch's Castle", or Mistletoe Falls, a ruined stone house located on an isolated hill overlooking the Ohio River. She said her goal is to make Shanda proud of her, and she believes Angel would do that. They returned to the car but became lost again and pulled up to another gas station. The four girls crossed the river to Louisville and attended a punk rock show by the band Sunspring[30] at the Audubon Skate Park near Interstate 65. In seven years, Loveless has become one of the most trusted and competent trainers in the Indiana Canine Assistance Network (ICAN) program. At that point, Amanda was in an on-and-off relationship with another teenager, Melinda Loveless. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Below read an excerpt from the book and delve into the tragic . The foursome drove to where Sharer was spending the weekend with her father. Did The U.S. The incident attracted international attention due to both the brutality of the murder and the young age of the perpetrators, who were aged . Tackett was released in 2018, and served probation for one year. "Angel is in good hands. It's something that should have never happened.". Sharer's mother and sister were also guests on the show. Its my choice to make. Sharer was tortured, beaten and burned in a rural area of Jefferson County, Indiana. Jacque never wanted contact with any of Shanda's killers. The 12-year-old seemed to have things working for her, and when she went missing, she was enrolled in a Catholic school. Then, the three girls drove to pick up Heavrin and take her back to the Loveless home, where they told Heavrin the story. Now 36, she grew up in prison, in the shadow of her legacy: a crime of jealousy. All four girls who perpetrated the assault and murder of Shanda Sharer were tried as adults. Slaughter 35,000 Civilians During One Korean War Massacre Or Is It North Korean Propaganda? [17] Loveless, often described as the ringleader in the attack,[50] had the most extensive history of abuse and mental health issues. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of Shanda Sharer. [7], Mary Laurine "Laurie" Tackett was born in Madison, Indiana, on October 5, 1974. Vaught did something remarkable after seeing her daughters killer at work. And I know what my child would want. She was reunited with friends Tackett and Toni Lawrence, whom she had known since childhood, although her parents saw Tackett as a bad influence. 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. Sharer was tortured, beaten and burned in a rural area of Jefferson County, Indiana. Larry was verbally abusive to his daughters and fired a handgun in the direction of Melinda's older sister Michelle when she was seven, intentionally missing her. One of the dog breeders who supplies Indiana with pups is a burn victim, much like Shanda Sharer was. (Sun. I think the ICAN program allows her to have something in her life that she can show love back to and theres never betrayal on either side.. Shanda was born in Pineville, Kentucky on June 6th, 1979 to Stephen Sharer and his wife Jacqueline, who was later known as Jacqueline Vaught. Marjorie later described him as a sexual deviant who would wear her and her daughters' underwear and makeup, was incapable of staying monogamous, and had a mixture of jealousy and fascination with seeing her have sex with other men and women. Loveless immediately grew jealous of Heavrin and Sharer's relationship. And I'm doing it for Shanda.". While Tackett, Rippey, and Lawrence had never met Sharer prior to that night, Tackett had already known of the plan to intimidate the 12-year-old girl. She convinced three other teens -- Hope Rippey, Laurie Tackett and Toni Lawrence -- to participate in the crime because she believed Sharer stole her girlfriend. The girls then took Sharer into their car and told her they were going to drive her to the meeting place at the Witchs Castle, an isolated and abandoned house that served as a local teen hangout. Lawrence remained in the car while Tackett and Rippey wrapped Sharer, who was still alive, in a blanket, and carried her to a field by the gravel country road. For several months, the prosecutors and defense attorneys did not release any information about the case, giving the news media only the statements by Lawrence and Rippey. She had been stabbed, strangled, beaten and burned alive. She has chosen to keep her life private since then, and not much is known about what she currently does; her last known location remains to be Indiana. The killers looked no different than girls I knew in school who walked around, wreaking havoc and completely out of control. In 2012, Jacque Vaught made her first contact with Melinda Loveless since the trials, although indirectly. At around 7 am on January 11, 1992, Shandas father, Steve, realized that his daughter wasnt at home in Jeffersonville, Indiana; she had been staying with him at the time. Her parents resumed their relationship in Madison in 1987. During an orgy with another couple at their house, Marjorie tried to commit suicide, an act she would repeat several times throughout her daughters' childhoods. The fifth had been tortured and mutilated nearly beyond recognition. 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. 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. They both gave very rambling statements, identifying the victim as "Shanda", naming the two other girls involved as best as they could, and describing the main events of the previous night. Sharer was twelve year old girl from Indiana, USA. During the ride, Loveless said that she could not wait to kill Sharer; however, Loveless also said she just intended to use the knife to frighten her. [16] Tackett was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and confessed that she had experienced hallucinations since she was a young child. In October 2007, Loveless's attorney, Mark Small, requested a hearing to argue for his client's release. 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. [43], Sharer's father, Steven, noticed his daughter was nowhere to be found early on January 11. Ligature marks were found on her wrists, and she had several lacerations on her head, neck and legs. The man definitely died from a broken heart".[61]. Loveless hit the victims face with her knee until she bled profusely from her mouth. In 2012, Shanda Sharer's mother Jackie Vaught made headlines when she publicly forgave Melinda Loveless. And I would thank her. The girls drove Sharer to Witches Castle in Utica where they bound her legs and arms and began their torture of the twelve-year-old girl. In January 1992, a horrifying discovery out in a field near Madison, Indiana, led the authorities on a shocking inquiry that ultimately led to the conviction of four teenagers. She even showed Amanda the bloody trunk and Shanda's bloody clothes. Upon arrival, they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife, telling them she was going to scare Sharer with it. copilot vs ynab shanda sharer killers where are they now shanda sharer killers where are they now. Small also argued that Loveless, who was 16 years old when she signed the plea agreement, was too young to enter into a contract in the state of Indiana without consent from a parent or guardian, which had not been obtained. The Shanda Sharer Scholarship Fund was established in January 2009. In today's video, we talk about 1992 torture and murder of 12 year old Shanda Sharer where she was kidnapped, beaten, tortured, and then burned alive by four. She began attending Hazelwood Junior High School where she met Amanda Heavrin, 15, and developed a romantic interest in her. 'Wow.'". Be the first one to comment on this story. Furthermore, Melinda had a rough childhood, with her father being accused of sexual abuse. [67], The poem In God's Arms by author Lacy Gray dedicated to the family of Shanda Renee Sharer. Loveless is the last of the four to be released from prison. Her mom said that her daughter believed it was her destiny that she would murder someone in cold blood and spend the rest of her life in prison. She passed away when she was 12 years old. Sharer and Heavrin became fast friends and then romantic partners. But in 2004, five years were shaved off her sentence for good behavior. [63] A documentary produced by Episode 11 Productions, titled Charlie's Scars, captured Vaught's decision to allow Loveless to train dogs in Shanda's name. Sharer entered the car, not knowing Loveless was hiding in the back seat under a blanket, according to IndyStar archives. [72], The murder of Sharer was covered in the first of two segments in the Lifetime series Killer Kids, episode "Jealousy", aired: July 2014. She helped me to heal, forgive and grow, whether she wanted that or not. For seven hours, the four girls brutally tortured Shanda Sharer before ultimately killing her. 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. She confessed to her involvement and said three others were involved: Hope Rippey, then 15, Mary Tackett, then 17, and Melinda Loveless, then 16. When they pulled up in front of her house, Loveless kissed Heavrin, told her she loved her and pleaded with her not to tell anyone. 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was murdered in 1992. All four girls were tried as adults and accepted plea bargains in order to avoid the death penalty. Like Mary, Melindas last known location is Indiana. [42], Later on the morning of January 11, 1992, two brothers from Canaan were driving toward Jefferson Proving Ground to go hunting when they noticed a body on the side of the road. Melinda has groomed Odle as a courtroom dog for abused and traumatized children. Hope was released on parole in April 2006. I've given her medicine, her baths. The Abduction. [17], Tackett stayed in Louisville in October 1991 to live with various friends. The ringleader and jealous lover soon leapt out from under the blanket and threatened to slit Sharers throat if she didnt confess to stealing Heavrin away from her. Then they lit Shanda Sharer on fire and drove off. Jacque has faced criticism over her decision to let Shanda's killer honor her name. As the four girls ate breakfast at McDonalds just after the killing, the four girls laughed as they compared their sausage breakfast to Shanda Sharers burnt corpse. Melinda Loveless has spent more than 7,000 sunrises and sunsets -- half her life -- behind razor wire. She was kidnapped, tortured and burned alive by four teenage girls. The teens then bound, bludgeoned, choked, cut and sodomized Sharer at a remote location. By the next day, all four girls were in custody. [52], On January 8, 2008, Loveless's request was rejected by Jefferson Circuit Judge Ted Todd. Instead, they spent seven hours torturing Shanda, who would later suffer one of the worst deaths in history. Two days later, with her girlfriend and Toni Lawrence, Tackett cut her wrists deeply and was returned to the hospital. [1], Shanda Sharer was born in the Pineville Community Hospital in Pineville, Kentucky, on June 6, 1979, to Stephen Sharer and his wife Jacqueline, who was later known as Jacqueline Vaught. In March 1991, Loveless came out as a lesbian to her mother, who was initially furious but eventually accepted it. Loveless was 18 when she planned the crime. But Tackett also explained how after beating Sharerthey locked the injured but still-living girl in the trunk of her car and drove her to the spot where she was set on fire. [55], On April 28, 2006, Rippey was released from Indiana Women's Prison on parole after serving 14 years of her original sentence. He would also embarrass his children by finding their underwear and smelling it in front of other family members. And there's never any betrayal on either side," Jacque said. [3] When her mother divorced again, the family moved in June 1991 to New Albany, Indiana, and Sharer enrolled at Hazelwood Middle School. Her parents, Stephen Sharer and Jacqueline Vaught got divorced when Shanda was very young. "I liked it because it wasn't planned," said Loveless. [60], Sharer's father, Steven Sharer, died of alcoholism in 2005 at the age of 53. The incident attracted international attention due to both the brutality of the murder and the young age of the perpetrators, who were aged . Tackett told the girls that a local legend said the house was once owned by nine witches and that townspeople burned down the house to get rid of the witches.[33]. Again driving to a remote location, the girls hauled their still-alive victim now only able to whimper mommy out of the trunk, wrapped her in a blanket, and poured the gasoline on her. She was close to her mother, Jacqueline Vaught, who said her daughter was good at gymnastics, basketball, and baseball and was a cheerleader. [46], Detectives obtained dental records that positively identified Sharer as the victim. Shanda Sharer moved to New Albany with her mother in 1991. [45], All four girls were charged as adults. Concerned about the effects of their daughter's relationship with Heavrin, Sharer's parents arranged for her to transfer to a Catholic school in late November. Shanda Renee Sharer was born in June 1979 in Pineville, Kentucky. It was only when the puppy, Angel, ran into her arms the first time they met in a crowd of people that Loveless believed it. Shanda Sharer was born on June 6, 1979 to her father Stephen, and her mother Jacqueline. Her name was Shanda Sharer; her age--twelve. But a breeder who supplies dogs to the ICAN program at the prison forged an unexpected connection. He filed for bankruptcy in 1980. [76] McCarty's drawing titled Melinda Loveless, Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey, Laurie Tackett, and Shanda Sharer January 11, 1992 (1:39 am) (20002001) is now in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. I had never heard of Shanda Sharer before she was killed, but her murder has made me a fervent advocate for the prevention of crime. [10], The extent of Larry's abuse of his daughters and other children is unclear. 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. Shanda Sharer was born on June 6, 1979 in Pineville, Kentucky to Steve Sharer and Jacqueline Vaught. [73][74], The Investigation Discovery series The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade, episode "The New Girl" interviews Sharer's mother along with lead police officers, aired: November 2018. Jacque Vaught said she hopes to give away a service dog raised in prison every year in Shanda's name, and she is open to Melinda raising more of them. When both parents were working, the family was financially well off, living in the upper-middle-class suburb of Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Jacqueline was divorced from Shandas father, but they moved to New Albany, Indiana, to be closer to him. Court testimony indicates that the four girls lured Sharer from her home the night of Jan. 10, 1992, on the pretense that she was being taken to meet her new girlfriend. The four teenagers were eventually arrested, and initially, Melinda and Mary pointed the finger at each other for the torture-murder. Larry became a marriage counselor with the church and acquired a reputation for being too forward with women, eventually attempting to rape one of them. Small stated that he would seek to have jurisdiction over the case moved to the Indiana Supreme Court. Photos: Kent's killers; Then-Now - Sun-Sentinel The grieving mother said she did it to honor her little girl, who she still thinks about every day. The same morning, a hunter found a badly burned body out in a field in Madison and called the authorities. She was, by all accounts, a normal girl who made friends easily and had fun at school dances. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A classmate of a southern Indiana girl murdered in 1992 said the Indiana justice system should be ashamed of itself. Sharer's body was found the morning of Jan. 11, 1992. Loveless and Tackett took turns stabbing Sharer in the chest. Hope and Toni met Mary, their friend, on January 10, 1992, believing they would go to a concert. Your login session has expired. [18] In December, Tackett moved back to Madison on the promise that her father would buy her a car. Her parents divorced in February 1984, and she moved with her mother and siblings to Quincy, Michigan, for three years. MADISON, Ind. "I was the monster. Her parents discovered the self-mutilation and checked her into a hospital on March 19, 1991. Tackett told people in one interview that, I didnt know Shanda at all. Some of Shanda's friends have put up a wonderful blog that discusses all the many issues surrounding this horrific crime. She got into fights at school and reported being depressed, resulting in her receiving professional counseling. Melinda Loveless has a new lease on life as a trainer of service dogs for the disabled. Sharer was tortured, beaten and burned in a rural area of Jefferson County, Indiana. To further threaten Sharer, Tackett then retrieved a shirt with a smiley design from the car and lit it on fire, but immediately feared that the fire would be spotted by passing cars, so the girls left with Sharer. Shanda Sharer was 12 years old on January 11, 1992 when she was brutally tortured and murdered by 4 teenage girls. She then attempted suicide again, and her daughters called authorities. First, Melinda and Laurie stripped Shanda naked near a remote trash dump while Hope and Toni waited in the . Ididn't," Tackett said. Investigation Discoverys The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade: The New Girl chronicles what happened to Shanda and how four girls were responsible for her death. Her case attracted nationwide attention due to its gruesome nature. On the morning of Saturday, January 11, 1992, Canaan, Ind., resident Donn Foley and his brother Ralph were quail hunting in nearby Jefferson County when they spotted a strange object in a fallow soybean field near Lemon Road. Loveless was released from Indiana Women's Prison on September 5, 2019. [12], In November 1990, after Larry was caught spying on Melinda and a friend, Marjorie attacked him with a knife; he was sent to the hospital after he attempted to grab it.