Episode 6 - With Friends Like These - The Murder of Skylar Neese

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
On that Dead Bundy show, wetalk about death and murder, and at
times we may use explicit language.Yeah, well we're late again, like
two days late. Yeah, wellit happens religious holiday, college football in
the South. Are people in othercountries are not going to get to us?

(00:24):
Well, I'm sorry. Think ofit as as soccer football. So
as you could tell, I didn'tstab him in the neck with or without
my favorite pan. He's still here. Yes, I'm still here. But

(00:48):
if something happens to me, itwasn't an accident. There, I've said
it now, So all right,guys, So this way, we're gonna
bring you a story of modern dayunfriending. I mean, when I was
a teenager, you just beat theirass in a parking lot and you were

(01:11):
done. But or just stop talkingto them, right, But this happened
to be in a time where there'salready social media and camera phones and there
was evidence of everything. I mean, I can't imagine growing up like that.

(01:34):
I know our kids are and Iknow our kids did, but like
I can't imagine, Like I hada cell phone, but it was one
of those brick ones, remember thebig I'm old people, we're grandparents.
Yeah, we're sexy grandparents. ButI mean I had that phone, but
of course it was a literal thebig brick one, the drug dealer looking

(01:57):
one, and you didn't have.Okay, her, the story's fucked up.
On Thursday July fIF twenty twelve,sixteen year old scholar and Knees came
home from work around ten pm.She walked in and she kissed her parents.
She told him she was tired.She'd been on her feet probably for
what six eight hours? Was toshift like that teenagers, I don't know,

(02:22):
because she was sixteen, probably she'dbeen on her feet. She worked
at Wendy's. So she told herparents she was tired and she was going
straight to bed, and that's thelast time they would see her alive.
They wouldn't know what exactly happened toher for what eight months, I believe
six eight months? Yeah, soQ, those kids that creep tem out.

(03:05):
I think those kids creep a lotof people out. The creep Naudio
our own kid. Okay, guys, welcome to episode six of that dead
Body show, The Murder of scholarniece. So that next morning, Friday,
July sixth, her parents wake up, go to work and her dad
comes home around lunch from I believeWikipedia said he worked at Walmart, came

(03:31):
home to get her the car andto for her to carry him back to
work, so she would have thecar to go to work. And I
guess what, maybe the mom pickedhim up. You know, That's what
I was wondering, because in everything, like both of the date it was
a date line and a twenty twentything, and he says it in both
of them like it was a normalthing. So I would guess, right,

(03:52):
and she was leaving, it almostseems like a normal thing that maybe
she would sleep in sometimes. Yeah, I mean because he I mean,
he was like in the interview anyway, he was like he said, honey,
wake up. They work. Theyliterally worshiped the ground she walked on,
so I could totally let him seehis little princess sleep in, Like
I mean, I can't see itreally, and in everything, like I

(04:15):
think it was, I don't knowit was even the twenty twenty of the
date line when that he says herecalls them having a tea party. Did
you say that right? Right?And she had been using toilet water the
whole m and he and like themom says that's a funny memory now,
but can you image, because like, okay, first of all, my
thing is, if you've got atoddler and they keep bringing you water to

(04:35):
pretend tea, where are you gettingup water from? Right? Right?
I mean no, hunter was alreadypretending to metals or ash it too and
knocked un was was not a girlygirl, really, no, Okay,
So anyway he comes home and she'snot in her room, but and the

(05:00):
door's lock from the inside. Fromthe inside of course. Yeah, so
he uh, he says, hegets a coat hanger and Jimmy's the door
open, which to me tells mehe had to do it before. I'm
just saying, yeah, okay,yeah, well she had for a while
there. She had been, youknow, doing the rebellious teenager thing of
going out and doing you know,typical teenage stuff smoking a little plot,

(05:21):
drinking, drinking, you know,staying out beyond curfew or sneaking out if
she didn't come home. Yeah,I mean, normal teenage stuff. Well,
okay, except for our kids,who at least two of them listen
to this, and will Piller wouldbe going, we didn't get to do
that, right, sorry, butone of them's in nursing school now,

(05:43):
but you're not dead either. Sohe Jimmy's opened the door and sees that
her bed is not slept in,it's made, which to me just seems
really weird that maybe maybe she wokeup and made the bed. But then
again, maybe that wasn't normal.But you know, you're kids. Caleb
was a bed maker, Naudia wasa I'll just lay on whatever is available,

(06:04):
right she covered up with a teatowel or something. Okay, I'll
just roll my jacket up as apillow. Yeah. So, I mean,
you know, if we came inand Naughtia's bed was made, I
would probably think that was a signthat she was abducted. I mean,
I'm just saying he knew was onkids. They made the bed before they
took her. Okay, you wantto take any of the other one the

(06:28):
dishes on your way out. Sohe's he freaks out and he calls his
wife, have you have you heardfrom Skyler? Okay, so trying not
to panic, and since I'm nota smoker, I don't quite get this.
But the dad goes outside to takea smoke break and kind of pasting
around and he sees a bench outsideof Skyler's window, Yeah, right outside

(06:51):
of the window, and then noticesthat the windows open just enough to get
fingers in to reopen the window.So she's knuck out again. So he
immediately calls her bestie, she laEddie. Right now at this point,
is that when he said, whenshe says she doesn't have any idea?
Right right? She says she doesnot know anything about anything. She says,

(07:15):
oh, no, I talked toher on the phone around midnight,
and you phone, who does Imean? She doesn't know anything. So
him and his wife decide to waituntil about four o'clock, right, you
know, because Skyler has to beat her job at Wendy's around then,
and she's really responsible. So atfour or five, Wendy's actually calls him

(07:36):
and says, is Skyler coming intoday anyway she's sick or what? So,
which to me tells me how upstandingshe really was, because I feel
like that meant she was must havegotten there, Like if she had to
be there at four, she mighthave got there at like three forty five
or something, you know what I'msaying at four, Like they knew by
four or five something was wrong.Right right. So his phone rings and

(08:00):
it's Sheila, and she says,I've got to tell you the truth,
and he said, you're like,what the truth about? What? It
would have been nice in the firstplace. But she admit to them to
Skylar sneaking out to go with hereleven Yeah, around eleven is, which
still contradicts her very first statement becauseshe said she talked to her at midnight,

(08:22):
but she said they dropped her offjust about minute. Okay, I'm
sorry, So yeah, yeah,anyway, so she tells the dad that,
yeah, you know, I didsee her. We snuck out and
we all went joy riding to smokesome weed and drink and go meet some
boys, and I don't know,I dropped her back off and she said,
you know, she said that Skylarsaid she wanted to go home.
Yeah, right then, right then, right now. So they and didn't

(08:45):
want them to drive up to theto the place, so they parked at
the end of the alley or theroad or whatever and let her out,
which okay, so was they notworried about waking them up or the first
time? I guess. I mean, I'm just saying, like, because
because we're parents, I'm looking theydidn't show up on the video driving through

(09:05):
any time but around the midnight hour, right, So maybe she snuck out
because the camera's just on the parkinglot. There was there was video of
a car pulling up. See andthere we go again when the mom does
say, okay, you know,let's let's look guys, there's surveillance video
of the parking lot and they're lookingat it because by then Sheila and her

(09:28):
mom had showed up and we're gonnahelp them look, right. So Sheila
was there when this damn video wasplayed, and she wasn't like, oh,
that's my car. But why ifyou're best your child's best friend,
who she's known since she was eight, why do you not know what Sheila
drives? Why did these parents notknow that? Well, the video is

(09:50):
kind of grainy and marshed out,though, I mean it really is.
Maybe I'm overly suspicious, I know, damn well, you're overly suspicious.
I just feel like I'd have beenlike, oh m, Sheila, it's
at you. I mean, whywould you not know what your child's best
friend drives? If she comes overto your house all the time, vice
versa, you're taking you know,they hang out together. They go to

(10:11):
high school together. Why would younot know? Why was this car misidentified
from day one? Literally? SoSheila and her mom Tera come over.
And this isn't out of the waybecause Skylar and Sheila have been friends since
they were eight years old and onlyrecently the yearbook since about the past maybe
year before this had a little bitof a falling out. Um a new

(10:37):
girl had joined their click and RachelRachel shuff okay, so Rachel joined joined.
The two became three, right,and after a while the three became
two again, right, but Skylerbeing the odd man out. Yeah,

(10:58):
and it was pretty it was prettyshittily done too, because they started like
dressing alike and leaving her out onpurpose, like they would wear striped shirts
and not tell her like it wasstriped shirt day or I mean just mean
girls. I mean I can seethat being like the Heathers. This has
been compared to the Heathers movie,which is one of my favorite movies.

(11:20):
Actually, because I'm a Christian Slaterperson. I know it's horrible. I
know, to pump up the volume, baby, wouldn't he In the Legend
of Billy Jean, Yeah, yeah, it was Helen Slater's brother. Yeah,
but they're really aren't they really brotheror they're not related? No,
no, they just both have Slateranyway. Okay, so sorry guys,
but we digest. Yeah, Iknow I'm saying it wrong. For all

(11:45):
of those out there who don't think, I know, we're gonna get emails.
It's Digress, and I bet it'llbe the same woman who said we
talk over each other like Digress.Okay, this way to the Egress baby.
Anyway. So it all started becauseapparently in the summer of twenty eleven,
Scholar was the third wheel when Sheilaand Rachel had quote drunken sex,

(12:11):
and she apparently just had to witnessit, Like I guess she couldn't.
I mean, could she just notwalk out? I'm so lost? Right,
there's actually a picture out there ofher selfeeing herself with them in the
background. Yeah, and her faceis like what the fuck? Right?
I mean, okay, you've selfeedit, move on? But did you
My question is did she post thator was that found after all of this?

(12:33):
Huh? Because around a little bitafter all of this, this is
when she starts tweeting stuff like Iwould tell everybody all the shit I have
on everybody hashtag if I could onlyget away with it right, She felt
she felt like she had been slidedby these two girls, and and and

(12:54):
was hesitant that night when they calledher to go out. But they did,
and as Sheila says, they reallywent on three right. So that
night they did meet up with Skyler. Yeah, they picked her up,
but it wasn't at eleven. Itwas at midnight, yea. And in

(13:16):
their trunk they had a change ofclothes, a change of clothes, bleached
towels, a shovel. I don'tknow if the knife was back there,
probably not. They had the knivesconcealed in their hoodies, okay. And
they called Skyler to go and smokesome weed with them. Skyler get goes
out of her window and the carthat she meets on the on the tail

(13:39):
is them. But it's not goingto be until December. And this is
in July. It's not going tobe until December that anybody knows what we've
just told you. These girls goall of these months acting like nothing's wrong
except when at school is buying it. No, nobody at school is buying
it. And a couple of monthsinto it even Scholar's mom's not buying it.

(14:01):
She makes like a big, huge, long, three or four paragraph
post on Facebook pretty much stay intell the trees. I don't think that
anybody thought that what happened actually happened. I think that almost everybody thinks that
they let her overdose or kid.You know, something happened out in the
woods. But during the during theprevious year, when they were not friends,

(14:24):
it had gone around the school theywere they were talking about. I
mean, it was almost as badas one of the previous cases we've covered,
but but there was no video evidence, right, like like our first
episode. Actually, but yeah,so there one time in science class,
one of them just kind of blurtout, we could kill her, and
the other one nod your head.Someone notices this, People notice this?

(14:46):
How did the teachers not notice thingslike this? But it did not get
past some of the students who actuallyaccused them of doing something to her.
Yeah, they like made um fakeTwitter account and was calling her. I'm
calling them both out. I don'tknow why they didn't just use their real
one. But I mean, sothis goes on for months. Um,

(15:11):
you know, Scholar and Rachel areboth posting on tweet on Twitter, you
know, are we miss you?You know, hashtag find scholar, all
this fake shit, and she wasactually helping, yeah, helping, Like,
yeah, she's inserting herself in itto make sure that she knows what
they're finding or not finding. ButRachel, Rachel has not been in the

(15:35):
investigation. Has kind of Rachel's asherself. She's like, I got some
shit to do over here, away away from this until December. Right
on December twenty eighth, Rachel flipsher ship. For lack of a better
She's done, She's over it.She's flipping out. She tells her mom.
She starts screaming and running around theneighborhood and telling her mom, which

(15:56):
I can't figure that out. Shetells her mom, you're a ruining my
life. And so her mom callsthe police and then they put her into
a mental institution for a few daysbecause they think evaluation right, And I
think her parents kind of chalk thatup to, you know, her new
best friend is gone missing and nowit's Christmas. Yeah, and now it's
Christmas and it's it's forever. Buton January third, she gets out of

(16:21):
Chestnut Yeah and says, you know, take me to the police, and
they've got her a lawyer at thispoint because I think, I think while
she was in there, and whileshe's in there, she keeps trying to
get into see her and they won'tlet her because I think by the end
the parents had figured out she lookskind of, you know, pulling the
button or pulling the strings, soto speak. But on July third,

(16:42):
she finally is like, no,I'm going to tell the truth. And
she tells the police what they didto or why they did it, where
they did it, and takes themto the body. Yes. And the
really the really sad thing to meabout it is when the police says why,
why, why did you do it? She just looks at them dead
ass in their face and says,we just didn't like her anymore. So

(17:07):
what happened after they picked her upat midnight? They drove to Eddie's Run
road and road actually named after SheilaEddie's family, and the girls had taken
that road several times on their wayto a member of Sheila's her father's house,
to Sheila's father's house. It actually, to me seems like a long
way to drive out just to smokesome wheat, just to smoke a doobie

(17:30):
or a blunt or whatever they're smoking. Especially, I mean, especially when
you have to be back in thehouse to go to work the next day
and you've actually snuck out. Yeah, it just seems like a long way
for me. No, it was. I mean, we'll post them out.
I mean it's a good bit ofway. It's probably what maybe an
hour for forty minutes, forty somethingminutes I think. So they drive out,

(17:52):
and they get out of the carand they walk off off the road
a little bit into the woods,I believe, and and they're like,
let's blaze it, dude, orwhatever they're saying. In twenty twelve,
and um, oh wait, weleft the lighter in the car, Skyler,
would you would you go to thecar and get in get the lighter?

(18:14):
And that's when we go on threecomes in. As she turns her
back to walk towards the car,they actually say one, two three and
starts stabbing her with snake state knivesthey had hidden concealed in their hoodies.
Yeah, so they they stab herand and just I mean she fights back

(18:41):
when she asked Kua and yeah,she asked. Rachel says that, and
she said that was part of whatdrive her to the middle ward is that
she kept here in Rachel asked Kua, but that does not Rachel, I'm
sorry, she scholar, So thatdoes? I mean? Plus, you
know, hey, if you're gonnaif you're going to be a marijuana smoker,
keep your own lighter on. You'regoing to be a smoker, period.

(19:04):
Don't let anybody tell you to goback to the car for anything.
This is a lesson children. Solater on, after this comes out,
they go back and they look ata lot of the social media posts and
and there is a post on Twitter. Don't remember which girl it was from,
but it says, we really didgo on three Sheila. So yeah,

(19:25):
so Sheila posted that, and Ibelieve Sheila actually provided the state knives
for At this point, they're havinga memorial candlelight visual type thing for Scholar,
and the police come there and tellthe parents, look, we know

(19:47):
what happened to her, and thisis who did it. And they were
floored because at this point they didn'tknow what happened to her. They knew
she was probably not coming back,but they didn't know that her two best
friends had actually murdered her. SoRachel actually stays free for a while,
actually, and they're trying to gathermore information and evidence against Sheila, and

(20:11):
so they they wire not only Rachel'sbedroom, hoping that she will say something.
But I'm almost positive that one ofthe shows I watched, I think
it was See No Evil maybe saidthat they also wired the parents' living room
and invited Sheila and Rachel labor.I know Sheila for sure, but she
would never even slip up on Mayfirst as prayer ratings. Rachel turned herself

(20:37):
in choosing to plead guilty to seconddegree murder and to testify in any prosecution
of right. But I think,honestly, I think she had immunity,
probably, but she knew that ifshe didn't, somebody had to have told
her, either her lawyer or maybeeven the DA that if she walked on

(20:59):
this, Pennsylvania still try her,so that Pennsylvania agreed not to try her,
right, and she was. Sheagreed to a twenty year plea deal,
right thirty. I thought it wastwenty. She might have, I
know, but it said thirty onthe thing that we were just reading.
So whether or not she might haveagreed to twenty, they might have decided
thirty. I don't know, butthey said that she would be eligible to

(21:21):
be released in ten years. Yeah, so that's in four years, because
ultimately she was sentenced in twenty fourteen. Sheila's parents, Uh, it's been
been said that they may have beenaware of the impending arrest of their daughter
and they they left. Brad's wifewas at Cracker Barrel, right, Brad's

(21:41):
wife hashtag Brad's wife, Justice forBrad's wife. Right. So the police
did call and Sheila's mom, Tara, Yes, Tara to tell her that
she needed to be questioned again,and she said, well, we're at
Cracker Barrel, so we'll come inlater. And of course I think that
was a set up. Yeah,you know, we're at Cracker Barrel,

(22:03):
we'll be in later. Come comeget us, you know in parentheses or
and yeah. So they they havethe patrol car that's closest, go there
and set up and make sure theydon't leave. They intercepted them in the
parking lot and arrested Sheila. AndI just still think that she was just
like thinking she was going to getout of the US. I don't think
that she realized how serious this wasor cared even if she did realize,

(22:27):
I don't think she cared at all. So four months go by from from
May when she's arrested. When Sheila'sarrested, Rachel turned herself in, right,
and Rachel turned herself into September whenthey bring Sheila up for arrangement,
and she's been moved from juvenil toadult status. So yes, so now

(22:49):
she's an adult, her name canbe officially released. I guess. But
everybody knew. Everybody knew it wasYeah, it was all over the internet.
Pardon me, it was all overthe internet. Everyone knew that she
killed her. Um. Plus shewasn't at school anymore. They have been
being home stooled anybody. Well,that was to protect to the other people.

(23:11):
Can you even imagine knowing that yourchild did something like that, right,
that's why my kids didn't get theywere on short least or whatever.
So she comes up for her arraymentin September, and um, please not
guilty, Please not guilty. Andshe wants to suppress Rachel's testimony based on
her mental status, which, hello, McFly, she wouldn't have a mental

(23:34):
status if you hadn't have killed yourbest friend. Right, So her lawyer
does produce a bunch of things hewants. He wants uh, he wants
to county. He wants to moveto another county. Were you talking over
me? I was talking over you. Oh, I'm sorry. He wants
it moved to another county. Hewants Rachel's or wants uh, yes,
Rachel's testimony stricken because she's crazy oraren't. And again I say, she

(23:59):
wouldn't be crazy if ye hadn't havedone this shit, but she also and
he does it. He wants thetrial moved to a to a to a
later date. The judge says,okay, well, we're gonna we will
allow it to be postponed until February. But he's gonna let Rachel right great,

(24:19):
Yes, he does not agree toto stricking her testimony from the record.
The pre trial hearing actually comes aroundat the end of January instead of
February, as a judge had agreedto. But I guess it just fit
in better that way. What's aweek, right, It's it's they're a
rumors circulating. I'm sorry, Idon't mean to talk over you. There

(24:41):
are rumors circulating that she is goingto plead guilty, and it's actually streamed
on the internet. Right, hewatched this, Right I did? And
she comes in and was she stillsmorking like she did in the other ones?
She she was not, she wasShe looked sad. At this point
she sat down cried because she knewher ship was cooked. She changed her

(25:03):
plea to guilty her lawyers. Herlawyer said, what he couldn't find a
reasonable defense right, looking at thepreponderance of evidence and Rachel's testimony, with
Rachel's testimony, that he saw nodefense that he could propose given. I
mean, how did that conversation goat the with her lawyer bit, you

(25:23):
might as well play guilty because weain't got shit. Yeah, it kind
of happens like that sometimes. Whenasked if she wanted to say anything,
she she whispered to her lawyer,and her lawyer and her went back and
forth just for a few seconds,and he spoke and said that she wanted
to express her her remorse for forwhat she for their laws, for their

(25:47):
loss, for the for the skylar. I don't think. I don't think
she has any remorse whatsoever. Idon't think that. But that's one of
those things. Oh, I know, there's something you kind of have to
say, but I do not thinkthat Sheila. I think Rachel is sad.
I think it fucked Rachel up.I do not think that Sheila is

(26:07):
sad. I think if Sheila getsout, if she's ever allowed to be
out, she will fucking kill somebodyelse. So in exchange for her guilty
plea, she would sentenced to fifteenyears to life, and Pennsylvania greed,
not the prosecutor, but she wouldsentenced to fifteen years to life. And

(26:30):
Skyler's father said that he would bethere at every Pearl hearing to make sure
that she never set foot outside herIf I'm not mistaken, there is a
petition for you to sign to keepher in jail. So on February second,
Rachel was sentenced formally and received thirtyyears for her part in the murder.

(26:51):
She actually personally apologized to the Niecesfor her part and what would happened
to her daughter. The daughter shelooked rough, I mean she she does
the picture of her, she lookslike she's not sleeping. She's really pale.
I mean she's she's definitely eating thoughshe looks really bloated, or she's
just or not, or you canbe bloated from not eating two when your

(27:14):
body is just like, what thefuck is happening here? Stress? And
all that they did say that youknow they were they were, even though
she did ask to be sentenced asa minor, which was rejected. Um,
there the family. Schyler's family toldher that all that they did,
except her apology, it would nevermake them feel better about what she had
done. And or they were gladthat she expressed remorse, but you know,

(27:37):
the apology was kind of worthless becausethey didn't bring their daughter back.
All three of these girls were onlychildren, so in a a in a
sense, all three families. Ofcourse, the two of them can still
go see their kids. I mean, I'm aware, I'm not comparing the
two, but in a in ain a sense, they all three.
He lost their daughters ones obviously inthe ground own in two with perfect behavior.

(28:03):
Um, Skylar, I'm sorry,Rachel. Rachel would be out in
ten years. She'll be the onlyone hopefully that can. But I think
she unless she gets help while she'sin jail, this fucked her up.
Yeah, so one good thing didcome out of this case. Skyler's Law
was passed, which is it's partof the Amber alert system, the thing

(28:25):
your phone does every now and thenthat everybody looks at you. Well,
because she was seen voluntarily getting inthe car, and she was a teenager,
right, they wanted to say,call her runaway. That's why they
didn't issue an immediate Amber alert.But now because of Skylar's Law, it
doesn't matter if it's possible that shemay be a runaway, they immediately release
an Amber alert. At least inWest Virginia. It passed there there,

(28:51):
it passed unanimously through their their lawmakingprocedure or whatever Congress or whatever they have
Senate, the States Senate. Iguess it passed unanimously that that when when
a teenager is missing, no matterwhat, an Amber allert will be released
immediately. I mean, this isactually a classic case of what I used
to tell my kids growing up isthat you never know what's going to happen

(29:15):
because just a month, just becausesomeone says to your friend, obviously you
know it cannot mean shit. Yeah, friendship means a lot less now,
I guess then then when we weregrowing up, Yeah, I mean,
do you remember when I took Nadiato that birthday party and way the hell
out in the country. I actuallytold your delic hat story. No,

(29:37):
I mean I told her. ThenI said, Noadia, you show these
people your friends, because there's nocell phone service here and I've got no
fucking clue where we're going, rightlike, and then the further we got
out, I mean, it waslike way off the road. And then
I said, not if these peopledecide that they're mad at you, nobody
would hear you scream. I rememberthat. I remember that, and she
laughed. I did not laugh atthis point. I about this case,

(30:00):
and growing up, had read aboutanother case of people who's supposed to be
your friends. And you know,obviously she did go to birthday party,
she came back. But still wedo have another episode here. Guys.
We're gonna get this all under controlsoon and make sure that we're not a
day or too late any anymore.Hopefully hopefully Baker's crossed. All right,

(30:29):
guys, See you next Friday.Stay tuned for a promo from one of
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(30:52):
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(31:18):
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