The killing of Shanda Sharer

Shanda Rene Scharer was born in Pineville , Kentucky in the family of Steve Sharer and Jackie Vogt. She studied well at St. Peter's School, Louisville , Kentucky, was fond of sports. After her parents divorced, in July 1991, Shanda and her father moved to the town of New Albany , Indiana , where the girl entered Hazelwood High School. Earlier this year, she was transferred to the New Albany Catholic School, where she joined the women's basketball team.

Melinda Loveless

Melinda Loveless was born in Louisville, Kentucky; she was the youngest of the three daughters of Marjorie and Larry Loveless. Larry Loveless enlisted in the army during the Vietnam War and was considered a hero after his return. However, later his wife described Larry as a pervert who loved to dress in women's underwear and put on makeup, was unable to remain faithful and experienced an explosive mixture of jealousy and excitement when he saw Marjorie having sex with other men and women. All of Melinda’s childhood passed near New Albany.

After military service, Larry occasionally moonlighted on the Southern Railway. In 1972, he went to serve in the police, but eight months later was fired - Larry and his partner brutally beat a black man whom Loveless admitted to seducing his wife. In 1988, he worked for a short time at the post office and left after it turned out that he brought most of the mail to his home and methodically destroyed it.

Marjorie has worked periodically since 1974. When they worked with Larry, the financial well-being of the family was stable and they could afford to live in the suburb of Floyd-Nobs, where the middle class traditionally settled. Loveless usually did not share his earnings with his family, preferring to pay loans or buy various things, including weapons, motorcycles and cars. He went bankrupt in 1980 and distant relatives subsequently described how the three daughters Larry and Marjorie came to them hungry, because there was no food at home. Almost all the time, Larry was unfaithful to his wife, and very often they lived in the so-called “ open marriage ”. They often visited Louisville bars, and Larry pretended to be a doctor or a dentist , introducing Marjorie as his girlfriend. He often “shared” his wife with friends from work, and the woman considered this unbearably disgusting. Once, during a similar orgy with another couple, Marjorie tried to commit suicide . She repeated this act several more times when her daughters had not yet left childhood. When Melinda was nine years old, Larry forced his wife to engage in group sex, after which she tried to drown herself. Marjorie refused Larry sex for a month, and after that he brutally raped her in front of her daughters. In the summer of 1986, his wife refused to let him go home with two women whom he picked up at the bar, and Larry beat her so brutally that Marjorie had to be hospitalized, and he himself went on trial.

Whether Larry’s violence against children has yet to be clarified. Various testimonies accuse him that he did not fatherly caress Michelle when she was very young, raped the thirteen-year-old sister Marjorie, and also raped the cousin of his daughters Teddy for four years. Both of his eldest daughters said that he raped them, although Miranda furiously denied what had happened to her, although it is known that she slept with her father in bed until he left the family. In court, Teddy described a heartbreaking scene: Larry tied all three sisters in a garage and raped them, although not one of Loveless's daughters confirmed this. It is known that Larry was very rude with his daughters and shot a pistol in the direction of Michelle when she was seven, although she intentionally missed. He also embarrassed them by finding their underwear and sniffing it in front of other family members.

When Melinda turned five, the whole family joined the Baptist Church . Larry and Marjorie repented and stopped drinking and changing partners while they were her parishioners. Larry became a Baptist worldly preacher, and Marjorie became a school nurse. Subsequently, one of the priests conducted a five-hour rite of exorcism over Melinda, in a motel. Inside the church, Larry began to conduct marriage ceremonies, and once tried to rape one of the women, after which everything fell into place.

In November 1990, Larry was caught while he was spying on Melinda and her friend, and Marjorie stabbed him with a knife. Then she tried to commit suicide again, but her daughters called the police. After this incident, Larry filed for divorce and went to live in Florida, the town of Avon Park . Melinda was overwhelmed and disappointed, especially when Larry got married a second time. He sent her loving fatherly letters, playing on emotions, but suddenly cut off all contacts for no apparent reason.

Lori Tackett

Mary Loreen Tackett was born on October 5, 1974 in Madison, Indiana. Her mother was Pentecostal , and her father worked in a factory and was twice charged with particularly serious crimes in the sixties. At the trial, Tackett stated that she was raped at least twice when she was a child, at the age of five and twelve. In May 1989, her mother discovered that the girl was dressing in jeans at school and, after a fierce argument, tried to strangle her daughter that night. Social workers were involved in this case and the parents agreed to their visits with checks that the child does not suffer from violence. Lori often clashed with her mother, for example, one day her mother came to the Hope Rippy house after she found out that Hope's father bought a little table for the girls and stated that it was necessary to burn the table and to expose the Rippy house to the rite of exorcism.

Tackett became increasingly uncontrollable after her fifteenth birthday and became addicted to the occult . She often tried to amaze her friends, pretending to be possessed by the spirit of the vampire Diana. Lori began to hurt herself, cut her hands, especially in early 1991, when she met a girl who was involved in these practices. Lori's parents discovered the damage and sent her to the hospital in March 1991, where the girl was prescribed antidepressants and sent home. A couple of days later, in the company of that same friend and Tony Lawrence, Lori cut her wrists deeper than usual and was again sent to the hospital. After treating her wounds, Tackett was placed under the supervision of a psychiatrist . She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder , and the girl admitted that she had hallucinations in childhood. On April 12, Lori was released from the hospital, and already in September she left school.

Tackett stayed in Louisville to live with her friends. It was in October 1991 that she met Melinda Loveless, but they did not immediately make friends. In December 1991, Lori returned home to Madison, interested in her father's promise that he would buy her a car. She spent most of her time in Louisville and New Albany, and since December, her constant companion has been Melinda Loveless.

Hope Rippy

Hope Anna Rippy was born in Madison, Indiana in June 1976. Her father was an engineer at a power plant. Her parents divorced in February 1984, and she and her mother and siblings left for Quincy, Michigan, for three long years. Then her parents decided to reunite in Madison and, returning, Hope quickly made contact with her childhood friends - Laurie Tackett and Tony Lawrence, although her parents saw that Lori sets a very bad example. Like the other girls, Rippy began to inflict damage on herself, starting at the age of fifteen.

Tony Lawrence

Tony Lawrence was born in Madison, Indiana in February 1976. Her father was a welder. Tony and Hope have been the closest friends since childhood. However, Tony was abused by relatives and was raped by a neighbor boy at fourteen. After this incident, she went to a psychiatrist, but nothing goes unnoticed and Tony became closed, began to inflict damage on herself and tried to commit suicide in the eighth grade.

In 1990, Melinda Loveless began dating a certain Amanda Hevrin. After her father left the family, Loveless became suspicious, often depressed and got into fights at school. In March 1991, Melinda confessed to her mother's unconventional orientation, which at first was furious, but soon calmed down. In the fall of 1990, the relationship between Melinda and Amanda cooled significantly and Loveless began to associate this cooling with Shanda Sharer.

Hevrin and Sharer met at the very beginning of the school year at school in a fight, but they became friends. Loveless immediately began to be jealous of their relationship. In early October, Shanda and Amanda danced together at a school holiday, where Melinda discovered them. Although Hebrin and Loveless did not formally break off their relationship, Melinda began dating an older girl.

Loveless was very jealous when Hevrin and Sharer came together to the October festival, and Melinda began to loudly discuss how to kill Shandu. Having guessed about the relationship of Sharer and Hevrin, in November, Shanda’s parents transferred her to a Catholic school, and Shanda and Amanda began to periodically travel to each other without the knowledge of adults.

Prelude

On January 10th, Tony Lawrence, Hope Rippy and Laurie Tackett drove in Laurie's car to Melinda, in New Albany. Rippy and Lawrence did not know Melinda yet, but after arriving, they took her clothes off, and Melinda showed the girls a knife and told them that she wanted to scare Shanda Sharer. None of the company, except Melinda, met with her, although Lori already knew about plans to intimidate the twelve-year-old girl. Loveless explained that she hates Shanda for stealing her girlfriend.

Lori allowed Hope to take them to the Sharers' house in Jeffersonville , staying at the McDonald 's. The girls arrived shortly before dark, and Loveless said that Hope and Tony knocked on the door, pretended to be Amanda's friends and invited Shanda to meet with her, as if Amanda would be waiting for them in a place that had the characteristic name “Witch Castle”. Sharer refused because her parents did not sleep and the girls promised her to return around midnight.

At first, Melinda was furious, but Hope and Tony convinced her that they would return for Shanda later. The four girls returned to Louisville and went to a punk concert. Lawrence and Rippy quickly lost interest in music and went with two boys to the parking lot - kissing in Lori's car.

Abduction

Finally, the girls again went to the house of Shanda. While they were driving, Melinda said that she could not wait for Shanda's death, but she noticed that she was very attractive and it would be nice to have sex with her, and she would use the knife only to intimidate her. At half past five they reached the Sharer’s house and Tony refused to lure Shanda, so Lori and Hope went to the door. Melinda, who had repeatedly quarreled with Shanda, hid under the back seat with a knife in her hand.

Sharer was waiting for them, and Hope said again that Amanda was waiting for her at Witch's Castle. Shanda reluctantly agreed and changed clothes for the trip. They climbed into the car and drove towards the Witch’s Castle. It was an old ruined house located on a hill overlooking the Ohio River; local teens often gathered there. Tackett told the girls that the legend says that nine powerful witches owned this house and the townspeople burned the house to drive them out.

Melinda got out of her hiding place and put a knife to Shanda's throat. She held him all the way and asked Shanda about Amanda. In the Witch’s Castle, the girls pushed Shanda inside and tied her arms and legs with a rope. Sharer began to scream and the company was frightened by the lights of passing cars, how many people passing by would hear what was happening. As a result, they moved closer to Tackett's house, where they continued their work.

Murder

Tackett brought them to the trash where the abandoned road led, densely covered with forest on both sides. Tony and Hope were already pretty scared and stayed in the car while Melinda and Laurie stripped Sharer. Then Melinda beat Shanda and tried to cut her throat with a knife, but the knife was blunt, so Hope got out of the car to hold Shanda while Loveless and Tackett strangled the girl with a rope. When Shanda lost consciousness, they shoved her into the trunk and told Hope and Tony that Shanda was dead.

They returned to Lori's house to clean and drink. They heard Shanda screaming in the trunk and Tackett went out, taking a knife with her. She returned a few minutes later, covered in blood, after which she washed herself, took out the runestones and predicted the girls their future fate. After that, they parted, Hope and Tony stayed at Lori’s house, and Tackett and Loveless went for a drive. Shanda continued to fumble in the trunk, so Lori stopped the car and beat the victim with the car key until she shut up. They returned home to Lori before dawn. Rippy asked what happened to Shanda and Tackett, laughing, told them about the torture. The conversation was interrupted by Laurie's mother, grumbling that her daughter had come so late and brought her friends, so Tackett offered to take everyone home. She drove past a burnt pile near her house and showed Shanda in the trunk. Tony refused to watch, but Rippy poured the girl a window cleaner and said maliciously: “Something you look bad”

The girls stopped at a gas station, refueled the car and bought a two-liter Pepsi bottle. Tackett poured the drink on the ground and filled the bottle with gasoline . After that, they moved north to Madison, on Lemon Road. The girls took out still alive Shanda and carried it to the field. Tackett forced Rippy to pour gas on the girl and they lit a fire right on her. Loveless was not sure that Sharer was dead, and they returned a few minutes later to pour the rest of the gas on her.

They went to breakfast at the McDonald's around 9:30. The killer Loveless called her friend and told her about the murder. Then Tackett drove Lawrence and Rippy home and returned to her place with Melinda. They cleaned the car and drove home to Loveless. At home, she sent a message to Amanda Hevrin on her pager , writing that it was very important and then said that they had killed Shanda.

Crystal Whaten, Melinda's friend, went to visit her and was immediately notified of what had happened. Then the three girls drove for Hebrin and brought her to Melinda, where they told Amanda a story that no one believed, but which made Loveless as much as possible. Both Hebrin and Waten believed when Tackett showed them the trunk, which still contained Shanda’s bloody fingerprints and her socks.

Later, on the morning of January 11, two brothers from the city of Kanaan went to hunt, just in the same places. They noticed something suspicious at the edge of the road and called the police. Jefferson County Sheriff, Buck Shipley, and his assistants immediately went to the crime scene to get a forensic picture. Initially, they thought that everything was connected with the dismantling of drug dealers and could not believe that the crime was committed by local people.

Steve Sharer noticed that his daughter disappeared early in the morning of January 11th. After he called all the neighbors and friends, the man called his wife and together they turned to the sheriff’s office about the missing daughter.

At eight in the evening in the management of the sheriff with her parents appeared Tony Lawrence, who fought in hysteria. She called Shanda's victim, named her friends, and outlined the main events of the previous night. Buck Shipley contacted the Sheriff of Clark County and this allowed him to suspect that the victim was the missing Shanda Sharer.

Detective Howard Henry went home to Shanda's parents, where he discovered X-rays of her teeth, which coincided with the teeth of a charred corpse. Loveless and Tackett were arrested on January 12.

All four girls went through the proceedings as adults. To avoid a death sentence, all four went to a sincere confession. Tackett and Loveless were sentenced to sixty years in Indiana Women's Prison. For good behavior, they can be released in 2020. Lawrence was sentenced to twenty years in prison and was released for exemplary behavior in 2000. Hope Rippy was sentenced to sixty years, ten years in prison for extenuating circumstances, and another ten years were replaced by conditional release under moderate supervision. For exemplary behavior, she was released in 2006.

Links

• Video dedicated to the events of January 10-12, 1992
• The death of innocence. The Assassination of Shanda Sharer