Shanda Sharer Short Story

At just 12 years old, Shanda Sharer’s life was cut short by a jealous female and her friends. The murder of Shanda Sharer occured in Madison, Indiana early in the morning on January 11, 1982. She was kidnapped, tortured and burned alive by four teenage girls. The four girls who took place in the events that occured that night are Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence.
In 1990, Melinda Loveless began dating Amanda Heavrin. After Loveless' father left the family and her mother remarried, she got into fights at school, and complained of depression, resulting in her receiving professional counseling. In March 1991, Loveless disclosed her lesbian orientation to her mother, who was originally furious but eventually

Lawrence, while a friend of Tackett, had not previously met Loveless. Upon arrival, they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife, telling them she was going to scare Shanda Sharer with it. While Tackett, Rippey, and Lawrence had never met Sharer prior to that night, Tackett already knew of Loveless’ plan to intimidate the 12-year-old girl. Loveless explained to the two other girls that she disliked Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing her girlfriend. Tackett let Rippey drive the four girls to Jeffersonville, Indiana, where Sharer had stayed with her father on the weekends, stopping at a McDonald's restaurant on the way to ask for directions. They arrived at Sharer's house shortly before dark. Loveless instructed Rippey and Lawrence to go to the door and introduce themselves as friends of Heavrin, then invite Sharer to come with them to see Heavrin, who was waiting for them at "the Witch's Castle", a ruined stone house located on an isolated hill overlooking the Ohio River. Sharer said that she could not go because her parents were awake, and she told the girls to come back around midnight, a few hours later. Loveless was angry at first, but Rippey and Lawrence assured her about returning for Sharer later. The four girls crossed the river to Louisville, Kentucky, and attended a

As they got in the car, Rippey began questioning Sharer about her relationship with Heavrin. Loveless then sprang out from the back seat and put the knife to Sharer's throat and began interrogating her about her sexual relationship with Heavrin. They drove towards the Witch's Castle. At Witch's Castle, they took a sobbing Sharer in and bound her arms and legs with rope. There, Loveless taunted that she had pretty hair and wondered how pretty she would look if they were to cut it off. Loveless began taking off Sharer's rings and handed each to the girls. Tackett further taunted Sharer, claiming that Witch's Castle was filled with human remains and Sharer's would be next. To further threaten Sharer, Tackett then retrieved from the car a shirt with a smiley design and lit it on fire, but immediately feared that the fire would be spotted by passing cars, so the girls left with Sharer. During the car ride, Sharer continued begging them to take her back home. Loveless ordered Sharer to slip off her bra, which she then handed over to Rippey, who slid off her own bra and replaced it with Sharer's while steering the car. They became lost, so they stopped for directions at a gas station, where they covered Sharer in a blanket. While Tackett went inside to ask for directions, Lawrence called a boy she knew in Louisville and chatted for several minutes to ease her worries, but did not mention