June 24, 2025 • 28 mins
She thought they were her best friends... until they led her into the woods and pulled out the knives.
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the shocking murder of 16-year-old Skylar Neese, an honors student from Star City, West Virginia, who vanished after slipping out of her bedroom window one summer night.
For months, her disappearance remained a mystery—until one of the killers broke down and confessed to a crime so cold and calculated, it stunned the country. We follow the unraveling friendship between Skylar, Shelia Eddy, and Rachel Shoaf, and how petty teenage drama escalated into a deadly conspiracy. This story reveals the dark side of adolescent alliances, including chilling confessions and the justice that followed.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
In this episode of Murder U, we examine the shocking murder of 16-year-old Skylar Neese, an honors student from Star City, West Virginia, who vanished after slipping out of her bedroom window one summer night.
For months, her disappearance remained a mystery—until one of the killers broke down and confessed to a crime so cold and calculated, it stunned the country. We follow the unraveling friendship between Skylar, Shelia Eddy, and Rachel Shoaf, and how petty teenage drama escalated into a deadly conspiracy. This story reveals the dark side of adolescent alliances, including chilling confessions and the justice that followed.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/murder-u--6152042/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Abnormia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, These once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. I'm your host, Mattie. Join me
here each week as we investigate the bone chilling stories
(00:24):
of senseless murders occurring in and around our centers of education.
Welcome to murder You, an abnormia original. Hello, and welcome
(00:56):
to murder You. I'm your host, Matti, and the case
I have for you today is a real head scratcher. Obviously,
murder in any capacity is inconceivable to most people, but
the motive behind this one is still hotly debated. This
case involves teenage girls. As a former teenage girl myself,
I know how intense female friendships in high school can be.
(01:17):
We've seen it portrayed in movies like Mean Girls. Popularity
and fitting in can often feel like life or death
to the adolescent experience. Where high school popularity and fitting
in can often feel like life or death to the
adolescent experience, where high school is their entire world, but
rarely is it actually.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
But rarely is.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
It actually life or death. The twenty twelve murder of
sixteen year old Star City, West Virginia high schooler Skyler
Niece is one of the exceptions. Skaler was born on
February tenth, nineteen ninety six, to two loving parents, Dave
and Mary Niece. As an only child, she was her
parents' pride enjoy. They described her as sweet, well behaved,
(02:04):
and studious with a vibrant personality. She loved movies, books,
and like many teens in the twenty tens, when Scaler
wasn't at school or working at Wendy's, she was likely
on social media, documenting her feelings through status updates. When
Scaler was in high school, she began considering a career
as a criminal justice lawyer. When she asked her parents
(02:26):
what they thought of that, they told her that the
way she argued, she'd make an excellent lawyer. How many
young girls have been told that before. When she was eight,
Scaler befriended Sheila Eddie at church.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
The girls bonded.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Over being only children and became like sisters. They did
everything together. Sheila, coming from a divorced home, often hung
out at Schuyler's house. Dave and Mary graciously accepted their
daughter's best friend in to their lives, caring for Sheila
like one of their own. They knew she had a
stressful home life with the divorce and her father being disable.
(03:00):
They wanted their home to be a safe space for
Skyler's friends. Skyler and Sheila were inseparable despite having different personalities.
Skyler was sweet, responsible and respectful, and Sheila had a
bit of an edge.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
She was described as a wild child.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Often taking things too far. But as the saying goes,
opposites attract and the friendship seemed to have had the
perfect balance, so it's not surprising things changed once that
balance was disrupted. The girls went to different schools until
ninth grade, when Sheila transferred to University High School.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Where Skaler went.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
They were so excited to finally attend school together and
eventually graduate together. They grew even closer, now spending every
moment possible together. Then the girls met Rachel's shelf and
quickly connected with her. Rachel had an older half sibling
she didn't grow up with, so like the other girls,
she was an only child, and like Sheila, Rachel's parents
(04:00):
were divorced. The three hitted off and soon the duo
became a trio, they honestly were more like sisters. Researching
this case, you'll find dozens of photos of the girls
together growing up in the age of social media, it
makes sense that their friendship.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Would be so well documented.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
However, their tweets are a better representation of what was
going on in their friendship than all the smiling photos.
In summer of twenty twelve, Skylar's tweets became cryptic. Subtweeting
is a phrase used for when someone tweets out a
statement indirectly referring to a specific person or situation. Skyler's
(04:40):
Twitter account became fraught with tweets implying that someone a
close friend had been shady to her. She began tweeting
things like you're just as bad as the bitches you
complain about. You're a two faced bitch and obviously effing
stupid if you thought I wouldn't find out, And three
of my best friends are going out of town this weekend,
(05:01):
leaving me alone with no plans fml.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Sheila and Rachel began.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hanging out without Skyler. It seemed like they were intentionally
isolating her, and Skyler was not oblivious to this fact.
She often found out about it and would sub tweet
about the situation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And how angry it made her feel.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
At this time, the only positive tweets explicitly directed at
or about Sheila and Rachel were from February and March
of twenty twelve. By the summer, Skyler rarely tweeted about
them at all. For anyone reading the tweets, it likely seemed.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Like everyday teenage drama.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
By the summer of twenty twelve, they were about to
be high school juniors, and at this point, Sheila and
Rachel had grown close as their own twosome without Skyler.
There was even a rumor around their high school that
Sheila and Rachel were romantically involved, which could explain why
Skyler was edged out of the group. They were trying
(06:00):
to keep their relationship a secret, or perhaps Rachel was
jealous of the friendship Sheila and Skyler once had. Those
are both good explanations for why Skyler had been left out,
but could not possibly explain what happened next. On July fifth,
twenty twelve, Skyler found out that Sheila and Rachel had
made plans without her again.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
She spent that night.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
At her home with her parents, Dave and Mary understandably sad.
That night, she told her parents she was going to
bed early. She kissed them both good night, and then
went to her bedroom. Skyler's parents assumed everyone eventually went
to bed, but the next day, as her parents woke
and prepared for work, Skyler didn't answer when they knocked
(06:45):
on her door. They didn't think much of it. It
was early in the morning, they figured she was still asleep.
Dave headed out to his job at the local Walmart.
He'd made plans with Skyler to bring his car home
in the middle of the day so she could drive
it to her shift at Wendy's. He went through with
the plan, but discovered something strange once he got there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Skyler's door was locked.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It was odd, but he wasn't too concerned. Sometimes she
locked her door, but rarely in the middle of the day.
Dave knocked and called out for Skyler, but there was
no answer. Dave recalled that this was the moment fear
set in. He walked around the outside of the apartment
complex to view inside Skyler's bedroom window. There he found
(07:32):
a small stool propped underneath her window. He reasoned that
Skyler must have snuck out the night before, but usually
when a kid sneaks out, they come back, and it
was far too late in the day to assume Scaler
was still at whatever social gathering she'd snuck off to.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Her shift at Wendy's was soon, and.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
She never missed work without a good reason. Dave knew
something was wrong. He figured Skyler's friends would have some
information about what was going on. He called Sheila, who
said she'd spoken to Skeller on the phone around midnight,
but didn't have a clue where she was. Dave called
his wife, Mary, and she tried to calm him down.
She planned to call Wendy's to confirm Skyler.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Had shown up for her shift, but when.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She got home, Wendy's called to say Skyler hadn't shown
up for work. The Nieces finally began to panic. They
reported Skaler missing to the police and called everyone they
could think of who might know where Skyler was. In
that time, Sheila called them back with a piece of
information that she'd kept from Dave. She admitted she and
(08:39):
Rachel had picked Skyler up at eleven pm the previous
night and didn't want her to get in trouble for
sneaking out. She said they hung out a bit and
when they were done, they dropped Skyler off a block
away from home so her parents wouldn't hear her sneaking
back in. Sheila said they'd lied at first to protect Skyler,
but now this sh she'd been missing for nearly a day,
(09:02):
wanted to come clean with the truth. Skyler's parents didn't
hold this against Sheila. They believed she was trying to
be a good friend, but that still didn't answer where
Skyler went after she had been dropped off. Did something
happen to her in the short one block distance she
had to travel home. Skyler's mother, Mary, remembered that their
(09:22):
apartment complex had recently installed security cameras. There was likely
something on those cameras that could tell them where Skyler was.
They viewed the footage with their landlord and investigators, and
it showed Skyler leaving home at twelve thirty am and
getting in an unidentified car. The footage was so low
quality that it was impossible to even tell what kind
(09:46):
of car it was. I've seen the footage and it's
so true. The car just looks like a white blob.
But they at least knew Skyler was picked up by
someone at twelve thirty one am. Since and Rachel said
they'd picked her up and dropped her back off at
home earlier that night, far away from the apartment complex.
(10:07):
They figured it with someone else's vehicle. Investigators assumed Scaler
was a runaway who was unhappy with her home.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Life, so she just left.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And they say such a common thread in missing children's cases.
It's infuriating how often authorities will just assume a young
person is a runaway when they go missing. It just
makes it easy to assume they don't want to be found.
Dave and Mary tried to convince the authorities that Scaler
would not have run away. She was happy there with
(10:37):
them and loved her family and her life.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
She'd left behind too many things that meant.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So much to her, like her money, her toothbrush, and
sentimental items that she'd been attached.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
To for her whole life.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There was no way she'd.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Leave without them.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Her parents tried to get authorities to issue an Amber alert,
but incredibly, Skyler's case didn't qualify. For one, it didn't
match enough of the criteria. It looked like the search
for Skyler would be a community effort. The Nieces made
missing person flyers with Scaler's picture on them and posted
them across the county with the help of Sheila, who
(11:16):
was also distraught about Scaler's disappearance. Sheila regularly called Mary
and Dave for updates, which there never were. She'd tell
them over and over again how she wished she had
information that would help them find Skyler, but Skyler stayed
missing for days. After forty eight hours with no sign
(11:36):
of the sixteen year old, authorities began taking the case
more seriously, bringing the FBI into it and conducting interviews
with Schaler's friends. That, of course meant bringing Sheila in
for an interview, and to their surprise, Scaler's best friend
since the second grade, gave them a weird feeling. They
(11:57):
couldn't quite place it. But Sheila seemed to display narcissistic
tendencies and generally gave investigators a bad vibe, and the
fact that she'd inserted herself so heavily into the search
efforts seemed suspicious as well. And while Sheila was heavily
involved in looking for Skuyler and connecting with her parents,
(12:18):
Rachel seemed more avoidant. She went on a family trip
on the July sixth, and then immediately went to church
camp the following day, so she was not easy to
track down. When investigators finally caught up with Rachel via
a phone call, she was nonchalant about the whole situation.
She calmly answered questions and maintained that she had no
(12:41):
idea where Skyler could be. The day Skyler was reported missing,
Rachel had gone on a boating trip with her mother
and a family friend, who noticed a nasty cut on
Rachel's ankle but assumed.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Nothing of it.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Things got even more suspicious when investigators wanted to bring
Rachel in for an in person inner once she got
home from camp. Rachel returned home but didn't reach out
to investigators. You'd think someone whose best friend was missing
would want to help in any way she could, like Sheila,
but Rachel wanted no part of the investigation. When she
(13:19):
was finally interviewed, her story was the exact same as
it was on the phone, both in content and literally
word for word, almost like it was rehearsed. Authorities continued
to dig up any clues, even finding Schuyler's journal and
reading some interesting passages about her friendship with Sheila in it.
(13:40):
She described Sheila as manipulative and skilled at always getting
her way. She also detailed Sheila's sex life in the journal,
including one instance where the three girls had been at
Rachel's house and raided her mother's liquor cabinet. While intoxicated,
Rachel and Sheila hooked up up right in front of
(14:01):
Skyler while they were all locked in the bathroom awkward watch.
Skaler said in the journal she was comfortable with their sexuality,
but was uncomfortable with them doing all of that in
front of her. Understandably so, but the information this gave
was that Rachel and Sheila were now the twosome, with
(14:23):
Skyler on the outside. Skyler remained missing for weeks, and
the weeks turned into months. University High School's junior class
started their twenty twelfth school year with heavy hearts, knowing
that Skyler was still not found. With kids theorizing rumors
began to spread around the school that maybe she'd overdosed
(14:46):
and her friends disposed of her body.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Teenagers a University High School started to suspect that Sheila
and Rachel had something to do with Skuyler's disappearance, and
the authorities also continued building their care. Between Sheila lying
at the start of the investigation and Rachel's clearly rehearsed story,
they felt like the girls knew something, but Sheila still
(15:11):
appeared like the grieving best friend, posting many Facebook statuses
and tweets begging Scaler to come home, and Rachel remained
quiet about the whole thing. But and this is pretty wild, folks,
social media strikes again in this case because in October,
while the police were building a case against Rachel and Sheila,
(15:33):
two anonymous Twitter accounts were created under the pseudonyms Josie
Snyder and Mia Barr. The accounts followed Rachel and Sheila
on Twitter and began taunting them with tweets that implied
the girls had something to do with Schaler's disappearance. They
tweeted things like bring pretty liars down together, end quote. Yeah,
(15:54):
missing girl, her suspicious friends being taunted by anonymous people online.
This is all definitely starting to sound like an episode
of A teen mystery. Investigators began tracking what Rachel and
Sheila claimed they did with Skyler on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The night of the fifth.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
They seized their electronics and found that Sheila and Rachel
had been texting Skyler between eleven PM and midnight, the
time they said Scaler was with them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
That seemed odd.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
They also checked the CCTV footage from the places they
said they went to, including footage from a convenience store.
They realized that the car that Sheila drove, a Toyota Camery,
was the same car that picked Skyler up at twelve
thirty am in the security footage from the apartment complex.
The girls had never picked Skyler up at eleven and
(16:43):
dropped her back off down the street. They picked her
up at twelve thirty and never brought her back. At
this point, investigators began to theorize that maybe the high
school rumor mill was onto something. Maybe while hanging out,
Scaler overdosed on drugs or alcohol and her friends left her.
Not wanting to get in trouble, they decided to give
(17:07):
Rachel and Sheila a polygraph test. Sheila confidently took the
test with no hesitation and failed miserably. Rachel, on the
other hand, was being driven to her test by her
father and ended up jumping out of the car to
run to Sheila's house. At this point, I don't even
(17:27):
think Rachel needed to take the light detect her test,
she was clearly guilty of something. Rachel's mental health continued
to decline as the investigation closed in on her and Sheila.
She started getting into more altercations with her parents, who,
though divorced, had moved back in under the same roof
to support Rachel.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
At this time, she.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Would have intense emotional meldowns that involved screaming, crying, and
being generally inconsolable. Her parents even had to chase her
down the street and lock her in her room. The
Chauff parents also wanted to keep Rachel away from Sheila
because they'd become concerned about her influence on their daughter.
When Rachel was eventually placed in a five day psychiatric hold,
(18:12):
the staff had been given strict instructions not to let
she live visit. Once Rachel was released from the psychiatric hospital,
her parents took her to their family lawyer and finally
got her to do the polygraph test she'd been avoiding.
The authorities hoped that now Rachel would finally be able
to give them the truth that some sort of accident
happened with Skyler that night and Sheila and Rachel had
(18:34):
been covering it up. But when Rachel finally gave them
the truth they were seeking. It became clear that what
happened to Skuyler was no accident. After only being asked
a few questions, Rachel told them we stabbed her. They
picked Skyler up at twelve thirty one am drove her
(18:54):
just past the state line into a secluded wooded area
in a town called Blacksville, Pennceil. This was a spot
where they would often hang out and smoke pot. After
Sheila parked, the girls went to their regular smoking spot,
and Skyler realized she left her lighter in the car
As she turned around to walk back to the car.
(19:15):
Sheila and Rachel counted out one, two, three and began
stabbing Skyler with kitchen knives from their homes. Rachel stopped
after a while, but told police that Sheila kept going.
She stabbed Skyler repeatedly until finally the two girls stood
back and watched Skyler bleed to death right in front
(19:37):
of them, asking her two former best friends why through
strangled breaths.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Until she couldn't anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
They'd stabbed her over fifty times.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yep, just like that.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
After months of theorizing and searching and questioning, the answer
was so simple. Rachel and Sheila Eddie stabbed Skyler, niece,
their best friend, to death. That is definitely the most
shocking part about this case, considering how close the girls
had been for years. The motive behind the stabbing was
(20:14):
pretty shocking too. Rachel said that after a week of
fighting with Skuyler during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach,
Sheila said that Skuyler had to go, and now that
the murder had been revealed, it put some things into perspective.
For example, kids and teachers had overheard Sheila and Rachel
(20:35):
discussing how to dispose of a dead body during school
hours in the months prior to Schyler's death. Some kids
had even tried to warn Skyler about what they'd heard,
but Skyler dismissed it. She trusted her friends and didn't
think they would do anything.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
To hurt her.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
But little did she know, Sheila and Rachel had been
planning her murder for months and finally executed their plan
on the night of July fifth, twenty twelve. They picked
Skyler up at twelve thirty one am. Jeoffred just passed
the state line into a secluded wooded area in a
town called Blacksville, Pennsylvania. This was a spot where they
(21:16):
would often hang out and smoke pot. After Sheila parked,
the girls went to their regular smoking spot, and Skyler
realized she'd left her lighter in the car. As she
turned around to walk back to the car, Sheila and
Rachel counted out one, two, three and began stabbing Skyler
with kitchen knives from their homes. Rachel stopped after a while,
(21:39):
but told police that Sheila kept going. She stopped Skyler
repeatedly until finally the two girls stood back and watched
Skyler bleed to death right in front of them, asking
her two former best friends why through strangled breaths until
she couldn't anymore. They stabbed her over fifty times. And
(22:04):
if that wasn't disturbing enough, it turns out that Sheila
and Rachel had loaded the trunk of the car with
all of the things they thought they might need to
get away with murder towels, leech, clean clothes, and a shovel.
It's absolutely insane how premeditated this was. They intended to
bury Skuyler out there, but couldn't dig past the rocky dirt,
(22:26):
so they just placed her body under a tree and
covered her in dirt and leaves. They then cleaned themselves up,
put on fresh clothes, disposed of the evidence, and got
home by six a m. When Rachel was asked why
they would do something so horrible and violent to their
best friend, her only answer was because they quote didn't
(22:49):
like her and didn't want to be friends with her
end quote. They felt this was the only way they
could get rid of her. Look, if not liking someone
was a valid reason to kill, I don't think there'd
be many people left in the world. Despite this confession,
investigators still had to confirm everything Rachel said before arresting Shila.
(23:12):
They agreed with Rachel that they wouldn't arrest her just
yet if she'd help them get a confession out of
her friend and eventually turn herself in. She even wore
a wire to hang out with Shila one day, but
failed to get any sort of confession out of her.
But that didn't stop them. They were going to get
the truth out of Sila one way or another. Authorities
(23:32):
got a warrant to seize every knife in Sheila's home
and search her car, where they found blood in the
trunk and sent a sample off to get tested. Shortly
after confessing, Rachel brought police to the area they left
Skuyler's body, but due to it being winter at this point,
the entire area was covered in snow. They had to
(23:53):
wait until it melted to retrieve Skyler's body, which they
did on January sixteenth, twenty thirteen. They informed Dave and
Mary that they had found Skyler, but it wasn't until
March that they released to the public that Skyler was
confirmed to have been murdered. During this time, even though
(24:13):
they were under investigation and Rachel knew she'd confessed, Sheila
and Rachel were still posting on Twitter, saying things like
rest easy, Skyler, you will always be my best friend,
and rest in peace, baby, May you finally have justice?
So bizarre like at this point they would have been
(24:33):
better off deactivating their social media entirely, and on April first,
twenty thirteen, Sheila posted the most incriminating tweet of all,
which said quote we really did go on three, a
clear reference to the fact that they counted to three
before stabbing Skyler. Finally, one month later, Rachel turned herself
(24:57):
in per her agreement with the police that also allowed
her to plead guilty to second degree murder instead of first.
And finally, the test results from the blood in Sheila's
carr came back as a match for Skaler's blood, so
the police had evidence against both of Skyler's murderers. Now
they arrested Sheila outside of a local cracker barrel where
(25:20):
she'd been having a meal with her mother. I have
to admit the comedic timing of the police was excellent
at this moment. Getting arrested for first degree murder outside
of cracker barrel, thought's pretty funny. Both Sheila and Rachel
were tried as adults. Of course, this case sent the
(25:41):
media into a frenzy, just as the anonymous Twitter accounts suggested,
this was like a real life Pretty Little Liars. People
were so invested in the teenage girl friendship that turned deadly. However,
at University High School, kids weren't feeling the same kind
of excitement. One of their classmates was dead and two
(26:03):
of them were on trial for the murder. Cases of
anxiety and depression ramped up across the school from all
of the unwanted attention so much that they had to
bring in counselors to be there in case any students
needed to talk. Skuyler's murder greatly affected her hometown, and
her parents wanted to do something in her memory, so
(26:24):
they helped to pass a bill called Schlar's Law.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Skyler's Law states.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That law enforcement is now required to report a missing
minor to the Amberreller authorities in the initial stages of
the investigation. Since Scaler wanted to be a criminal justice lawyer,
Skyler's Law is a beautiful way to ensure that she
gets to help victims receive justice in a different way.
This case is so wild. You don't think that any
(26:51):
of your petty high school drama could turn fatal, But
in the case of scholar niece, it did. Her best
friends simply stopped liking her and decided they'd be better.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Off if she was dead.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
They didn't uninvite her to their parties, they didn't unfollow
her on social media. They did the most extreme thing
by killing her, not taking into account her family, who
mind you treated them like family for years, or the
beautiful future that she was planning for herself, and they
did it all because they didn't like her. It's sickening.
(27:30):
Shila is given a life sentence and will be eligible
for parole in twenty twenty eight, Rachel Chauff was given
thirty years in prison. She was eligible for parole in
twenty twenty three, but was denied. It looks like they
are receiving the same amount of mercy that they showed
Scalar that night, which is none. Thank you for listening
(27:51):
to this episode of Murder You, and remember, if you
or anyone you know is struggling with mental illness, you
can contact the Samsung National Helpline at one eight hundred
sixty six y two Help. That's one eight hundred sixty
six two four three five seven. Be sure to liken
subscribe to Murder You on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music,
(28:14):
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Abnormia. From high school hallways to expansive college campuses and
the sanctity of their homes, These once secure spaces have
transformed into hunting grounds for sinister individuals seeking to inflict
harm on the unsuspecting. I'm your host, Mattie. Join me
here each week as we investigate the bone chilling stories
(00:24):
of senseless murders occurring in and around our centers of education.
Welcome to murder You, an abnormia original. Hello, and welcome
(00:56):
to murder You. I'm your host, Matti, and the case
I have for you today is a real head scratcher. Obviously,
murder in any capacity is inconceivable to most people, but
the motive behind this one is still hotly debated. This
case involves teenage girls. As a former teenage girl myself,
I know how intense female friendships in high school can be.
(01:17):
We've seen it portrayed in movies like Mean Girls. Popularity
and fitting in can often feel like life or death
to the adolescent experience. Where high school popularity and fitting
in can often feel like life or death to the
adolescent experience, where high school is their entire world, but
rarely is it actually.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
But rarely is.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
It actually life or death. The twenty twelve murder of
sixteen year old Star City, West Virginia high schooler Skyler
Niece is one of the exceptions. Skaler was born on
February tenth, nineteen ninety six, to two loving parents, Dave
and Mary Niece. As an only child, she was her
parents' pride enjoy. They described her as sweet, well behaved,
(02:04):
and studious with a vibrant personality. She loved movies, books,
and like many teens in the twenty tens, when Scaler
wasn't at school or working at Wendy's, she was likely
on social media, documenting her feelings through status updates. When
Scaler was in high school, she began considering a career
as a criminal justice lawyer. When she asked her parents
(02:26):
what they thought of that, they told her that the
way she argued, she'd make an excellent lawyer. How many
young girls have been told that before. When she was eight,
Scaler befriended Sheila Eddie at church.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
The girls bonded.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Over being only children and became like sisters. They did
everything together. Sheila, coming from a divorced home, often hung
out at Schuyler's house. Dave and Mary graciously accepted their
daughter's best friend in to their lives, caring for Sheila
like one of their own. They knew she had a
stressful home life with the divorce and her father being disable.
(03:00):
They wanted their home to be a safe space for
Skyler's friends. Skyler and Sheila were inseparable despite having different personalities.
Skyler was sweet, responsible and respectful, and Sheila had a
bit of an edge.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
She was described as a wild child.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Often taking things too far. But as the saying goes,
opposites attract and the friendship seemed to have had the
perfect balance, so it's not surprising things changed once that
balance was disrupted. The girls went to different schools until
ninth grade, when Sheila transferred to University High School.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Where Skaler went.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
They were so excited to finally attend school together and
eventually graduate together. They grew even closer, now spending every
moment possible together. Then the girls met Rachel's shelf and
quickly connected with her. Rachel had an older half sibling
she didn't grow up with, so like the other girls,
she was an only child, and like Sheila, Rachel's parents
(04:00):
were divorced. The three hitted off and soon the duo
became a trio, they honestly were more like sisters. Researching
this case, you'll find dozens of photos of the girls
together growing up in the age of social media, it
makes sense that their friendship.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Would be so well documented.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
However, their tweets are a better representation of what was
going on in their friendship than all the smiling photos.
In summer of twenty twelve, Skylar's tweets became cryptic. Subtweeting
is a phrase used for when someone tweets out a
statement indirectly referring to a specific person or situation. Skyler's
(04:40):
Twitter account became fraught with tweets implying that someone a
close friend had been shady to her. She began tweeting
things like you're just as bad as the bitches you
complain about. You're a two faced bitch and obviously effing
stupid if you thought I wouldn't find out, And three
of my best friends are going out of town this weekend,
(05:01):
leaving me alone with no plans fml.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Sheila and Rachel began.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Hanging out without Skyler. It seemed like they were intentionally
isolating her, and Skyler was not oblivious to this fact.
She often found out about it and would sub tweet
about the situation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And how angry it made her feel.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
At this time, the only positive tweets explicitly directed at
or about Sheila and Rachel were from February and March
of twenty twelve. By the summer, Skyler rarely tweeted about
them at all. For anyone reading the tweets, it likely seemed.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Like everyday teenage drama.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
By the summer of twenty twelve, they were about to
be high school juniors, and at this point, Sheila and
Rachel had grown close as their own twosome without Skyler.
There was even a rumor around their high school that
Sheila and Rachel were romantically involved, which could explain why
Skyler was edged out of the group. They were trying
(06:00):
to keep their relationship a secret, or perhaps Rachel was
jealous of the friendship Sheila and Skyler once had. Those
are both good explanations for why Skyler had been left out,
but could not possibly explain what happened next. On July fifth,
twenty twelve, Skyler found out that Sheila and Rachel had
made plans without her again.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
She spent that night.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
At her home with her parents, Dave and Mary understandably sad.
That night, she told her parents she was going to
bed early. She kissed them both good night, and then
went to her bedroom. Skyler's parents assumed everyone eventually went
to bed, but the next day, as her parents woke
and prepared for work, Skyler didn't answer when they knocked
(06:45):
on her door. They didn't think much of it. It
was early in the morning, they figured she was still asleep.
Dave headed out to his job at the local Walmart.
He'd made plans with Skyler to bring his car home
in the middle of the day so she could drive
it to her shift at Wendy's. He went through with
the plan, but discovered something strange once he got there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Skyler's door was locked.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It was odd, but he wasn't too concerned. Sometimes she
locked her door, but rarely in the middle of the day.
Dave knocked and called out for Skyler, but there was
no answer. Dave recalled that this was the moment fear
set in. He walked around the outside of the apartment
complex to view inside Skyler's bedroom window. There he found
(07:32):
a small stool propped underneath her window. He reasoned that
Skyler must have snuck out the night before, but usually
when a kid sneaks out, they come back, and it
was far too late in the day to assume Scaler
was still at whatever social gathering she'd snuck off to.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Her shift at Wendy's was soon, and.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
She never missed work without a good reason. Dave knew
something was wrong. He figured Skyler's friends would have some
information about what was going on. He called Sheila, who
said she'd spoken to Skeller on the phone around midnight,
but didn't have a clue where she was. Dave called
his wife, Mary, and she tried to calm him down.
She planned to call Wendy's to confirm Skyler.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Had shown up for her shift, but when.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She got home, Wendy's called to say Skyler hadn't shown
up for work. The Nieces finally began to panic. They
reported Skaler missing to the police and called everyone they
could think of who might know where Skyler was. In
that time, Sheila called them back with a piece of
information that she'd kept from Dave. She admitted she and
(08:39):
Rachel had picked Skyler up at eleven pm the previous
night and didn't want her to get in trouble for
sneaking out. She said they hung out a bit and
when they were done, they dropped Skyler off a block
away from home so her parents wouldn't hear her sneaking
back in. Sheila said they'd lied at first to protect Skyler,
but now this sh she'd been missing for nearly a day,
(09:02):
wanted to come clean with the truth. Skyler's parents didn't
hold this against Sheila. They believed she was trying to
be a good friend, but that still didn't answer where
Skyler went after she had been dropped off. Did something
happen to her in the short one block distance she
had to travel home. Skyler's mother, Mary, remembered that their
(09:22):
apartment complex had recently installed security cameras. There was likely
something on those cameras that could tell them where Skyler was.
They viewed the footage with their landlord and investigators, and
it showed Skyler leaving home at twelve thirty am and
getting in an unidentified car. The footage was so low
quality that it was impossible to even tell what kind
(09:46):
of car it was. I've seen the footage and it's
so true. The car just looks like a white blob.
But they at least knew Skyler was picked up by
someone at twelve thirty one am. Since and Rachel said
they'd picked her up and dropped her back off at
home earlier that night, far away from the apartment complex.
(10:07):
They figured it with someone else's vehicle. Investigators assumed Scaler
was a runaway who was unhappy with her home.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Life, so she just left.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And they say such a common thread in missing children's cases.
It's infuriating how often authorities will just assume a young
person is a runaway when they go missing. It just
makes it easy to assume they don't want to be found.
Dave and Mary tried to convince the authorities that Scaler
would not have run away. She was happy there with
(10:37):
them and loved her family and her life.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
She'd left behind too many things that meant.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So much to her, like her money, her toothbrush, and
sentimental items that she'd been attached.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
To for her whole life.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There was no way she'd.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Leave without them.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Her parents tried to get authorities to issue an Amber alert,
but incredibly, Skyler's case didn't qualify. For one, it didn't
match enough of the criteria. It looked like the search
for Skyler would be a community effort. The Nieces made
missing person flyers with Scaler's picture on them and posted
them across the county with the help of Sheila, who
(11:16):
was also distraught about Scaler's disappearance. Sheila regularly called Mary
and Dave for updates, which there never were. She'd tell
them over and over again how she wished she had
information that would help them find Skyler, but Skyler stayed
missing for days. After forty eight hours with no sign
(11:36):
of the sixteen year old, authorities began taking the case
more seriously, bringing the FBI into it and conducting interviews
with Schaler's friends. That, of course meant bringing Sheila in
for an interview, and to their surprise, Scaler's best friend
since the second grade, gave them a weird feeling. They
(11:57):
couldn't quite place it. But Sheila seemed to display narcissistic
tendencies and generally gave investigators a bad vibe, and the
fact that she'd inserted herself so heavily into the search
efforts seemed suspicious as well. And while Sheila was heavily
involved in looking for Skuyler and connecting with her parents,
(12:18):
Rachel seemed more avoidant. She went on a family trip
on the July sixth, and then immediately went to church
camp the following day, so she was not easy to
track down. When investigators finally caught up with Rachel via
a phone call, she was nonchalant about the whole situation.
She calmly answered questions and maintained that she had no
(12:41):
idea where Skyler could be. The day Skyler was reported missing,
Rachel had gone on a boating trip with her mother
and a family friend, who noticed a nasty cut on
Rachel's ankle but assumed.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Nothing of it.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Things got even more suspicious when investigators wanted to bring
Rachel in for an in person inner once she got
home from camp. Rachel returned home but didn't reach out
to investigators. You'd think someone whose best friend was missing
would want to help in any way she could, like Sheila,
but Rachel wanted no part of the investigation. When she
(13:19):
was finally interviewed, her story was the exact same as
it was on the phone, both in content and literally
word for word, almost like it was rehearsed. Authorities continued
to dig up any clues, even finding Schuyler's journal and
reading some interesting passages about her friendship with Sheila in it.
(13:40):
She described Sheila as manipulative and skilled at always getting
her way. She also detailed Sheila's sex life in the journal,
including one instance where the three girls had been at
Rachel's house and raided her mother's liquor cabinet. While intoxicated,
Rachel and Sheila hooked up up right in front of
(14:01):
Skyler while they were all locked in the bathroom awkward watch.
Skaler said in the journal she was comfortable with their sexuality,
but was uncomfortable with them doing all of that in
front of her. Understandably so, but the information this gave
was that Rachel and Sheila were now the twosome, with
(14:23):
Skyler on the outside. Skyler remained missing for weeks, and
the weeks turned into months. University High School's junior class
started their twenty twelfth school year with heavy hearts, knowing
that Skyler was still not found. With kids theorizing rumors
began to spread around the school that maybe she'd overdosed
(14:46):
and her friends disposed of her body.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Teenagers a University High School started to suspect that Sheila
and Rachel had something to do with Skuyler's disappearance, and
the authorities also continued building their care. Between Sheila lying
at the start of the investigation and Rachel's clearly rehearsed story,
they felt like the girls knew something, but Sheila still
(15:11):
appeared like the grieving best friend, posting many Facebook statuses
and tweets begging Scaler to come home, and Rachel remained
quiet about the whole thing. But and this is pretty wild, folks,
social media strikes again in this case because in October,
while the police were building a case against Rachel and Sheila,
(15:33):
two anonymous Twitter accounts were created under the pseudonyms Josie
Snyder and Mia Barr. The accounts followed Rachel and Sheila
on Twitter and began taunting them with tweets that implied
the girls had something to do with Schaler's disappearance. They
tweeted things like bring pretty liars down together, end quote. Yeah,
(15:54):
missing girl, her suspicious friends being taunted by anonymous people online.
This is all definitely starting to sound like an episode
of A teen mystery. Investigators began tracking what Rachel and
Sheila claimed they did with Skyler on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The night of the fifth.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
They seized their electronics and found that Sheila and Rachel
had been texting Skyler between eleven PM and midnight, the
time they said Scaler was with them.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
That seemed odd.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
They also checked the CCTV footage from the places they
said they went to, including footage from a convenience store.
They realized that the car that Sheila drove, a Toyota Camery,
was the same car that picked Skyler up at twelve
thirty am in the security footage from the apartment complex.
The girls had never picked Skyler up at eleven and
(16:43):
dropped her back off down the street. They picked her
up at twelve thirty and never brought her back. At
this point, investigators began to theorize that maybe the high
school rumor mill was onto something. Maybe while hanging out,
Scaler overdosed on drugs or alcohol and her friends left her.
Not wanting to get in trouble, they decided to give
(17:07):
Rachel and Sheila a polygraph test. Sheila confidently took the
test with no hesitation and failed miserably. Rachel, on the
other hand, was being driven to her test by her
father and ended up jumping out of the car to
run to Sheila's house. At this point, I don't even
(17:27):
think Rachel needed to take the light detect her test,
she was clearly guilty of something. Rachel's mental health continued
to decline as the investigation closed in on her and Sheila.
She started getting into more altercations with her parents, who,
though divorced, had moved back in under the same roof
to support Rachel.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
At this time, she.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Would have intense emotional meldowns that involved screaming, crying, and
being generally inconsolable. Her parents even had to chase her
down the street and lock her in her room. The
Chauff parents also wanted to keep Rachel away from Sheila
because they'd become concerned about her influence on their daughter.
When Rachel was eventually placed in a five day psychiatric hold,
(18:12):
the staff had been given strict instructions not to let
she live visit. Once Rachel was released from the psychiatric hospital,
her parents took her to their family lawyer and finally
got her to do the polygraph test she'd been avoiding.
The authorities hoped that now Rachel would finally be able
to give them the truth that some sort of accident
happened with Skyler that night and Sheila and Rachel had
(18:34):
been covering it up. But when Rachel finally gave them
the truth they were seeking. It became clear that what
happened to Skuyler was no accident. After only being asked
a few questions, Rachel told them we stabbed her. They
picked Skyler up at twelve thirty one am drove her
(18:54):
just past the state line into a secluded wooded area
in a town called Blacksville, Pennceil. This was a spot
where they would often hang out and smoke pot. After
Sheila parked, the girls went to their regular smoking spot,
and Skyler realized she left her lighter in the car
As she turned around to walk back to the car.
(19:15):
Sheila and Rachel counted out one, two, three and began
stabbing Skyler with kitchen knives from their homes. Rachel stopped
after a while, but told police that Sheila kept going.
She stabbed Skyler repeatedly until finally the two girls stood
back and watched Skyler bleed to death right in front
(19:37):
of them, asking her two former best friends why through
strangled breaths.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Until she couldn't anymore.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
They'd stabbed her over fifty times.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yep, just like that.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
After months of theorizing and searching and questioning, the answer
was so simple. Rachel and Sheila Eddie stabbed Skyler, niece,
their best friend, to death. That is definitely the most
shocking part about this case, considering how close the girls
had been for years. The motive behind the stabbing was
(20:14):
pretty shocking too. Rachel said that after a week of
fighting with Skuyler during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach,
Sheila said that Skuyler had to go, and now that
the murder had been revealed, it put some things into perspective.
For example, kids and teachers had overheard Sheila and Rachel
(20:35):
discussing how to dispose of a dead body during school
hours in the months prior to Schyler's death. Some kids
had even tried to warn Skyler about what they'd heard,
but Skyler dismissed it. She trusted her friends and didn't
think they would do anything.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
To hurt her.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
But little did she know, Sheila and Rachel had been
planning her murder for months and finally executed their plan
on the night of July fifth, twenty twelve. They picked
Skyler up at twelve thirty one am. Jeoffred just passed
the state line into a secluded wooded area in a
town called Blacksville, Pennsylvania. This was a spot where they
(21:16):
would often hang out and smoke pot. After Sheila parked,
the girls went to their regular smoking spot, and Skyler
realized she'd left her lighter in the car. As she
turned around to walk back to the car, Sheila and
Rachel counted out one, two, three and began stabbing Skyler
with kitchen knives from their homes. Rachel stopped after a while,
(21:39):
but told police that Sheila kept going. She stopped Skyler
repeatedly until finally the two girls stood back and watched
Skyler bleed to death right in front of them, asking
her two former best friends why through strangled breaths until
she couldn't anymore. They stabbed her over fifty times. And
(22:04):
if that wasn't disturbing enough, it turns out that Sheila
and Rachel had loaded the trunk of the car with
all of the things they thought they might need to
get away with murder towels, leech, clean clothes, and a shovel.
It's absolutely insane how premeditated this was. They intended to
bury Skuyler out there, but couldn't dig past the rocky dirt,
(22:26):
so they just placed her body under a tree and
covered her in dirt and leaves. They then cleaned themselves up,
put on fresh clothes, disposed of the evidence, and got
home by six a m. When Rachel was asked why
they would do something so horrible and violent to their
best friend, her only answer was because they quote didn't
(22:49):
like her and didn't want to be friends with her
end quote. They felt this was the only way they
could get rid of her. Look, if not liking someone
was a valid reason to kill, I don't think there'd
be many people left in the world. Despite this confession,
investigators still had to confirm everything Rachel said before arresting Shila.
(23:12):
They agreed with Rachel that they wouldn't arrest her just
yet if she'd help them get a confession out of
her friend and eventually turn herself in. She even wore
a wire to hang out with Shila one day, but
failed to get any sort of confession out of her.
But that didn't stop them. They were going to get
the truth out of Sila one way or another. Authorities
(23:32):
got a warrant to seize every knife in Sheila's home
and search her car, where they found blood in the
trunk and sent a sample off to get tested. Shortly
after confessing, Rachel brought police to the area they left
Skuyler's body, but due to it being winter at this point,
the entire area was covered in snow. They had to
(23:53):
wait until it melted to retrieve Skyler's body, which they
did on January sixteenth, twenty thirteen. They informed Dave and
Mary that they had found Skyler, but it wasn't until
March that they released to the public that Skyler was
confirmed to have been murdered. During this time, even though
(24:13):
they were under investigation and Rachel knew she'd confessed, Sheila
and Rachel were still posting on Twitter, saying things like
rest easy, Skyler, you will always be my best friend,
and rest in peace, baby, May you finally have justice?
So bizarre like at this point they would have been
(24:33):
better off deactivating their social media entirely, and on April first,
twenty thirteen, Sheila posted the most incriminating tweet of all,
which said quote we really did go on three, a
clear reference to the fact that they counted to three
before stabbing Skyler. Finally, one month later, Rachel turned herself
(24:57):
in per her agreement with the police that also allowed
her to plead guilty to second degree murder instead of first.
And finally, the test results from the blood in Sheila's
carr came back as a match for Skaler's blood, so
the police had evidence against both of Skyler's murderers. Now
they arrested Sheila outside of a local cracker barrel where
(25:20):
she'd been having a meal with her mother. I have
to admit the comedic timing of the police was excellent
at this moment. Getting arrested for first degree murder outside
of cracker barrel, thought's pretty funny. Both Sheila and Rachel
were tried as adults. Of course, this case sent the
(25:41):
media into a frenzy, just as the anonymous Twitter accounts suggested,
this was like a real life Pretty Little Liars. People
were so invested in the teenage girl friendship that turned deadly. However,
at University High School, kids weren't feeling the same kind
of excitement. One of their classmates was dead and two
(26:03):
of them were on trial for the murder. Cases of
anxiety and depression ramped up across the school from all
of the unwanted attention so much that they had to
bring in counselors to be there in case any students
needed to talk. Skuyler's murder greatly affected her hometown, and
her parents wanted to do something in her memory, so
(26:24):
they helped to pass a bill called Schlar's Law.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Skyler's Law states.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That law enforcement is now required to report a missing
minor to the Amberreller authorities in the initial stages of
the investigation. Since Scaler wanted to be a criminal justice lawyer,
Skyler's Law is a beautiful way to ensure that she
gets to help victims receive justice in a different way.
This case is so wild. You don't think that any
(26:51):
of your petty high school drama could turn fatal, But
in the case of scholar niece, it did. Her best
friends simply stopped liking her and decided they'd be better.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Off if she was dead.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
They didn't uninvite her to their parties, they didn't unfollow
her on social media. They did the most extreme thing
by killing her, not taking into account her family, who
mind you treated them like family for years, or the
beautiful future that she was planning for herself, and they
did it all because they didn't like her. It's sickening.
(27:30):
Shila is given a life sentence and will be eligible
for parole in twenty twenty eight, Rachel Chauff was given
thirty years in prison. She was eligible for parole in
twenty twenty three, but was denied. It looks like they
are receiving the same amount of mercy that they showed
Scalar that night, which is none. Thank you for listening
(27:51):
to this episode of Murder You, and remember, if you
or anyone you know is struggling with mental illness, you
can contact the Samsung National Helpline at one eight hundred
sixty six y two Help. That's one eight hundred sixty
six two four three five seven. Be sure to liken
subscribe to Murder You on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music,
(28:14):
or wherever you get your podcasts.
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