Discover the harrowing journey of Shanda Sharer, whose life was tragically cut short in a tale of friendships gone fatally awry. Join us as we delve into a story marked by adolescent betrayal, exploring the complexities of schoolyard dynamics and a love triangle that led to heartbreaking consequences. We'll guide you through the chilling events that unfolded in Indiana, shedding light on how the innocence of youth can sometimes mask a darkness waiting to erupt.
As you sip on your mimosa, prepare for a sobering discussion about the night that saw Shanda fall victim to the violent whims of her peers. We'll walk you through the disturbing events at Witch's Castle, where sinister plotting took a lethal turn. Listen closely as we analyze the motivations and indifference of the teenagers responsible for such brutality, leaving you to contemplate the depths of cruelty that can exist within the young.
Our conversation comes full circle by examining the aftermath and the troubled backstories of the perpetrators, probing into a legacy of abuse and the cycle of violence that shaped their lives. In an emotional conclusion, we reflect on the impact of Shanda's story on her loved ones and the community at large, underscoring the importance of being cautious with the friendships we form. Stay connected and join the conversation on social media as we honor true crime stories that teach us invaluable lessons, one episode at a time.
Discover the harrowing journey of Shanda Sharer, whose life was tragically cut short in a tale of friendships gone fatally awry. Join us as we delve into a story marked by adolescent betrayal, exploring the complexities of schoolyard dynamics and a love triangle that led to heartbreaking consequences. We'll guide you through the chilling events that unfolded in Indiana, shedding light on how the innocence of youth can sometimes mask a darkness waiting to erupt.
As you sip on your mimosa, prepare for a sobering discussion about the night that saw Shanda fall victim to the violent whims of her peers. We'll walk you through the disturbing events at Witch's Castle, where sinister plotting took a lethal turn. Listen closely as we analyze the motivations and indifference of the teenagers responsible for such brutality, leaving you to contemplate the depths of cruelty that can exist within the young.
Our conversation comes full circle by examining the aftermath and the troubled backstories of the perpetrators, probing into a legacy of abuse and the cycle of violence that shaped their lives. In an emotional conclusion, we reflect on the impact of Shanda's story on her loved ones and the community at large, underscoring the importance of being cautious with the friendships we form. Stay connected and join the conversation on social media as we honor true crime stories that teach us invaluable lessons, one episode at a time.
Welcome to the dark side of podcasting, welcome to Murder and Mimosas, a true crime podcast brought to you by a mother and daughter duo.
Speaker 1:
Bringing you murder stories with a mimosas in hand.
Speaker 2:
Just a quick disclaimer before we get started. Our show is Murder and Mimosas a true crime podcast. Before we get started, our show is Murder and Mimosas. It's a true crime podcast. This means that we do discuss crimes, including, but not limited to, disappearances, murder and sexual assault. All our episodes are told with the respect of the victims and the victims' families in mind. We strive to ensure that we provide factual information, but some information is more verifiable than others. With that, grab your mimosas and let's dive in. Welcome back to Murder and Mimosas. I'm Danica and I'm Shannon. Today, we're going to cover the tragic story of Shonda Shar. Grab your mimosas, you sip while we share. So Shonda and her mother were living in Kentucky. She attended a Catholic school there. She was extremely athletic. She did basketball, cheer, softball, gymnastics, and she did all of this while still making good grades. Sorry, mom, I didn't do that. No, I did make good grades, though you did, still making good grades. Sorry, mom, I didn't do that.
Speaker 1:
I did make good grades, though you did, you made good grades.
Speaker 2:
So her mother decided that they would move to Indiana so Shonda could be closer to her father and her stepmother and I do have to give her mother credit here Like that is truly some amazing co-parenting.
Speaker 1:
That's really good. And we could be like that.
Speaker 2:
That'd be amazing. But it doesn't always work that way and honestly, you know, being a single mother is hard and I'm sure that she could use the extra help. So at that time Shonda is entering a public school and this is a lot bigger than what she was used to. She begins seventh grade at Hazelwood Middle School in August of 1991. The first day she makes some friends and on the third day her friend wants to break up with her boyfriend and give a ring back that he gave her. And Shonda packs up. I'm sure she's, you know, wanting to make a good impression on her new friend and she's like I'll do it for you. Wanting to make a good impression on her new friend, and she's like I'll do it for you. So, shonda, shonda's over to the boy and hands him back the ring.
Speaker 1:
Wait, can we even talk about what this ring looks like at this age? Do you just keep it for future references?
Speaker 2:
I don't know, maybe it was like a Cracker Jack ring or something, but the boy told her this was, you know, none of of her business. He doesn't even know who she is, and the boy's cousin, who's 14 year old amanda hervin, comes over and tells her you know, you don't need to be butting in and then shoves her to the ground, which seems like it escalated quickly. So, jackie, who's shonda's mother, she gets a call from the principal about the incident and then Shonda and Amanda are both placed in detention for a week.
Speaker 1:
I'm sure this is not the way this girl wanted to start middle school, but there's always so much fear and anxiety about starting a new school and making a good impression and wanting to get friends Plus. I just want to say she shouldn't have been in detention. She wasn't the aggressor and she doesn't sound like she did anything wrong in my opinion anyway.
Speaker 2:
I agree. But you know you can't help what someone does to you. You can only help what you do to other people. But maybe there's more to the story we aren't being told, or we'll say the teacher. Sometimes, if you're not there, it's hard to know who to believe. So if they're both telling very different stories, sometimes the punishment comes down on both of them because you weren't there to be able to know who's telling the truth.
Speaker 1:
That's just maybe one side to the story.
Speaker 2:
Yes, so during this time in detention Shonda and Amanda actually end up becoming friends. And Jackie comes home one day and she sees Amanda there after she leaves and asks, you know, like isn't that the girl that got you in detention? And she's like, yeah, but you know, she's actually really nice and Amanda's only 14, but she has a girlfriend. Well, kind of she has like an on and off again girlfriend, and that was 16-year-old Melinda Loveless and she's in the eighth grade, so it's 1991. And being a lesbian isn't widely accepted, you know, it's still pretty taboo and it's usually kept pretty hidden. But these two girls are not hiding anything. You know, they're in middle school, they're openly gay. They're making out wherever they want.
Speaker 1:
You're saying middle school, but at 16 years old shouldn't she be in high school? What's up with that?
Speaker 2:
Well, melinda isn't what I would say is a studious I guess most studious student and she's been held back and again I said on, again, off, again. And one of the off times Amanda begins writing letters to Shonda asking her like does she like girls? And you know she's like hey, you know it's cool if you do.
Speaker 2:
So she's wanting to move from friends to something else, I'm assuming yes, it seems that way, and let me remind you that shonda's only 12, while amanda may be 14 and melinda is 16. Shonda's 12, and up until that time she'd only been interested in boys. But she's apparently also open to the idea of you know relationships with girls, and so her and amanda begin a relationship. Amanda even takes shonda to the school dance. So it's not really something shonda's trying to hide, except for maybe from her parents, and as far as they know, she's just going with a friend that's well.
Speaker 1:
I didn't let either review date and I don't know that her parents would have either. So no matter what sex she was interested in, I I just don't see this flying under the radar for her parents, because I'm assuming they're just thinking she's friends. But I mean no matter what age, I mean no matter what sex she wanted to date at that age. No, that's not happening.
Speaker 2:
You bet 12 year olds don't get to date, true, in my opinion yes, true, and it doesn't seem like they really know, and so it's kind of I guess I won't say easier. But when it's two females and the parents don't know that she may have feelings or relationships with another girl and they just assume that they're close friends, they probably don't have any idea of what's happening right under their nose. Now the thing is, melinda, amanda's ex, shows up to the dance and she's what some would say is very controlling, and it really just didn't sit well with her that Amanda had moved on. So she confronts Shonda and tells her to stay away from Amanda. And she's not the only one that tells her to stay away from Amanda. Shonda's grades start to fall and Amanda taught her how to forge her mother's signature on progress reports. So Shonda in general just becomes a different person hanging around Amanda, and her mother does not like the negative influences that Amanda's having on her daughter and so she says you know you can't hang out with her anymore.
Speaker 2:
Now that kind of discouragement usually doesn't go over well, and Shonda writes Amanda a letter and puts it in the mailbox. But this is where you remember like, oh yeah, she's 12 and she didn't put a stamp on the letter. So her mother opened it and read it, and her mother is in complete shock when she reads this letter. It's talking about missing your body and your touch. And her mother is in complete shock when she reads this letter. It's talking about missing your body and your touch. And her mother says she wasn't upset that her daughter might be gay, but she's flabbergasted that her baby's having like these kind of encounters at the age of 12.
Speaker 1:
I completely get that as a parent, you want to soldier your kids and keep them innocent as long as possible, and she's just too young for all this so jackie ends up calling shonda's father and he wants to figure out like she wants a solution.
Speaker 2:
And so they decide, you know, like let's switch shonda back to a catholic school to get her away from Amanda. Maybe that will help. She seemed to do better when she was in Kentucky in a Catholic school and it actually does seem to help. She goes back to getting into sports, making friends. Her grades start to improve. But Amanda's not giving up that easily on Shonda. She writes a ton of letters but Jackie trashes all of them. She calls Shonda's house but Jackie intercepts the calls.
Speaker 2:
Although Amanda's fixated on Shonda, melinda is equally fixated on Amanda and Shonda's at her father's house one weekend and they hear this knock on the door and so Shonda gets up and answers it. Her father can hear like snippets of the conversation, but they're two girls and they ask if Shonda's home, which makes it obvious that they don't know who Shonda is or what she looks like. And her father's questioning her after they left but felt like she wasn't really giving him the whole story. And once her father goes to bed the girls come back around about midnight and they tell her that Amanda wants to see her. So Shonda walks out, she gets in the car and she's looking around and was like where's Amanda? And they say that she's at the witch's castle and she wants you to come.
Speaker 3:
Dark Cast Network. The light shines brightest on our indie podcasts.
Speaker 4:
Welcome to Creepy Tapas, where we do the opposite of deep dives and bring you tiny tastes of terror connected by a common ingredient True stories to haunt and chill you and the pop culture they inspired, or at least the movies and books that remind us of them. Join us as we descend into darkness, Beginning with the lighter side of our weekly topic and wrapping with a full dark. No stars account of terror, madness, murder and more. It's Creepy Topics, y'all.
Speaker 2:
So Melinda's in the back seat of the car with a cover over her, of the car with a cover over her. And then, once Shonda gets in the car, melinda jumped up from the backseat and pulls Shonda's hair and then puts a knife to her neck.
Speaker 1:
Oh, no, is Amanda in the car at all? No, here are these other two girls that learned her how.
Speaker 2:
Okay, there are a lot of girls in this story, so this might get a little confusing, but I'm going to try to just give you their names, ages, and hopefully that'll help a little bit. So there's 17-year-old Laurie Tackett, 15-year-old Hope Rippey, 15-year-old Tony Lawrence and of course we know Melinda, and then we have Shonda, that's who is at this vehicle. So Laurie and Melinda know each other, but Hope and Tony have never met Melinda until that night when they go to Shonda's, and they're the two that ended up luring her out. While Laurie was the one doing the driving, Melinda had shown Hope and Tony a knife that she had and she said she's going to scare Shonda with it for stealing her girlfriend.
Speaker 1:
Okay, next, what on earth is Witch's Castle?
Speaker 2:
So it's this burned out stone house. From what I can understand, it still had the fireplace there there and it's pretty isolated. But the legend, according to Laurie, was that it was owned by non-witches and the town burned down the house to get rid of the witches. Drive them out of town and they do end up actually driving out to the witch's castle. And of course, shonda is crazy scared and she's crying. They end up having her get out and they take her inside of the quote-unquote castle and they tie her arms and legs with rope, they take off most of her clothes, they beat her and they attempt to slit her throat, but their knife is too dull and at some point during the night they end up sodomizing her with a tire iron oh my gosh, not hurt hurts for her.
Speaker 1:
She's outnumbered by girls older than her, and all she really wanted was just to have a friend and fit in yeah, she just chose the wrong friend.
Speaker 2:
So the girls get startled. Because a few cars have drove by and for a fear of getting caught, they pick Shonda up, put her in the trunk and take her to a burn pile Out behind Lori's house. They take her out of the car Her feet and hands are still bound at this point and Melinda has her on her knees and takes her knee and continues to knee Shonda in the mouth Sorry, I know that was a lot of knees. So Shonda has recently gotten braces. So not only is this a knee to the face, which is already awful pain, but now you've got cuts all in the inside of her lip. You know they stab her. So they stab her on the bottom of her feet, they stab her legs. Laurie and melinda take a rope and tie it around her neck and pull it until shonda goes unconscious. And of course they don't understand that that does not mean she's dead. So they are at the assumption now that she's dead and so they decide to put her back in the trunk and head into Lori's house.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's what I would do, right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean, makes sense. So while inside they begin to hear the dog bark just nonstop, will not shut up. They head outside to see why and they hear Shonda banging on the trunk and she's not dead. And Lori's like I'll take care of this goes over and hits her in the head with the tire iron and they have to figure out what to do. Now you know, this girl, shonda's just not giving up and Lori and Melinda are going to drive around and think about, like, what to do with Shonda, how do they get rid of her, and Hope and Tony say they are too tired and they stay and take a nap in Lori's room while Lori and Melinda are gone the two of them well with Shonda, three of them are gone for a total of four hours.
Speaker 3:
Coming to you live from Channel 25 Action News. I'm Edwina Kemper, and with me is Lavender Robenshaw, curator of the specialty podcast Early on Wednesday. Tell me, lavender, do you keep a fresh supply of cryptids?
Speaker 5:
Early on Wednesday has a list of 22 cryptids, and that list is growing all the time. We also like to dabble in demons, ghosts and anything else that goes bump in the night or maybe lurking around your house with a creepy smile.
Speaker 3:
Well, how haunted are your paranormal subjects?
Speaker 5:
Sometimes the creepy noises and odd experiences have a perfectly logical explanation, and we gorgeous ghouls love to dive in the psychology behind everything, but other times the only possibility left is that your house is haunted or perhaps a demon is trying to possess you.
Speaker 3:
Do you really have that many serial killer cases? Do you really have that many serial killer cases?
Speaker 5:
The Early on Wednesday database contains information on 4,743 serial killers and, sadly, there are 13,105 victims of serial killers and this is estimated. Some of these victims aren't linked to serial killers or have never been found. To fill your murder juice cup, we plan to cover them all Well you heard it here first.
Speaker 3:
It's early on Wednesday. Do you know where you're listening?
Speaker 1:
They're going to take a nap. I guess torture could really wear you out. I don't know, I haven't tried it, but this is the perfect time to call the police. They don't even know shonda and they shouldn't have any ill will towards her at all and they're just sadistic. But I mean seriously, you just go like I really need a nap now apparently, yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 2:
I guess it's hard work, I don't know. So you know, they get back and they're talking with Hope and Tony, who I guess at this point, have taken their nap and woken back up, and Tony says that she heard don't know where she heard this If you want to get rid of a body, you have to burn it. Gonna tell you right now spoiler alert Doesn't work like that. And they're all like yeah, great idea, because they're teenagers.
Speaker 1:
Wouldn't you think that's a great idea?
Speaker 2:
I guess that's how you cremate people, right? Yeah, what they don't know is it takes a whole lot more than a bonfire. So they leave and head to the gas station. They get a two liter bottle of Pepsi and pour it out so they can fill this bottle with gas. And our girl, shonda, she's still in the trunk, she's still trying to get out, and the girls actually have to move the car so that they can make sure that the clerk inside can't hear shonda this really has not given up.
Speaker 2:
No, she is, I mean literally fighting for her life. So they drive out to the country onto this gravel road, they lie her onto the side of the road and then set this poor baby on fire along with the knife, and then they drive off and melinda, for whatever reason, wants to go back because she's afraid that the fire may have gone out. Not, I'm afraid someone found it. Not I'm afraid I'm going to start a forest fire. Not, I feel guilty for what I've done. The fire may not be doing much. We got to go check. And so she pours the rest of the gas on Shonda and lights her own fire again, meaning that Shonda's cause of death ends up being smoke ventilation, ends up being smoke ventilation. Now they've just killed somebody. Right After torturing her, they have murdered her, and they're like what should we do? Let's go to McDonald's and get breakfast. There's clearly no remorse about what happened. They actually joke at one point that the sausage they're eating looks like Shonda.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh, seriously, I mean girls has nothing on these girls, but I don't even think I could eat if I'm like oh, this sausage looks like Shonda. I mean least of the some do these guys have the one of a sick and twisted person clearly. So at the shares home the next morning, sharon, at least some do these guys have the one of a sick and twisted person.
Speaker 2:
clearly True. So at the Shears' home the next morning, sharon, which is Shonda's stepmother, tells Steve that Shonda's not in her room, and this is roughly like 7 in the morning. So they spend the morning calling anyone they can think of and looking for her, and then they call over to Shonda's mother to tell her that they you know, shonda's missing. They can't find her. Jackie comes over and immediately they call the police and file a missing persons report. They continue making calls and even call amanda.
Speaker 2:
Now, january 11th 1992, a hunter it's always a hunter. Hunter comes upon what he thought was a burned mannequin. Also, it's never a mannequin, never a mannequin that morning. But on closer inspection it was in fact not a mannequin. So he calls the police and they told him to go back and wait on them. There was no missing person report in Madison when the police checked. Toni along with her parents go to the police in Madison that night and she has to tell them this crazy, sadistic tale. And they're interviewing her and ask Shonda's last name and she doesn't even know Shonda. So she doesn't know because she only met her the day before. But she does know she lives in Clark County.
Speaker 1:
I guess this was wearing on her and of course it's a little too late to save Shonda. But thinking back to teen years of course you want to fit in it may not have been the reason she did it that way. I mean you can imagine the fear Tony may have felt. I mean she thought she was going to threaten Shonda but beat her and kill her. She never did anything to stop it. Maybe she was too fearful, especially when you see what these girls are capable of. I mean, if I'm in her situation, I would like to think I'd do the right thing. But are you scared enough? Are you brave enough? I don't know.
Speaker 2:
But she was also left for four hours at the home and could have called the police. She had the opportunity to save Shonda because during that time that she was taking her quote-unquote nap, shonda was still living and I don't know. So let's start with the ring ringleader, melinda. Right, we clearly know that she is the problem. So melinda's father was physically and sexually abusive. She was the youngest of three girls. Her father was in the military and we know that looks can be seething.
Speaker 2:
So while it appeared to everyone else that he was a hero, marjorie, her mother, would describe larry again that's melinda's father as a sexual deviant. He loved to wear her underwear and makeup, as well as their daughters. This reminds me of as well as their daughters. This reminds me of what's his name Russell Williams. Is it Williams? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:
So he wanted to watch her have sex with other men and women to get his jollies off, but would later be jealous. He was unable to maintain jobs for long, and when he did work, he would not share the money with his wife for bills. So Marjorie worked, worked, but that doesn't mean that there was always enough food in the home. Marjorie attempted suicide many times over the course of her marriage, one being after an orgy at their house and their marriage ended when. So when he was caught spying on Melinda and one of her friends, and then Marjorie attacked him with a knife and Melinda actually had a pretty violent temper and was crazy jealous, as we can see and we can also see where maybe that came from she had actually sprayed a boy with mace one time for talking to Amanda, mace one time for talking to amanda. She continued to send amanda these very disturbing letters that she was going to kill shonda, and amanda's father ended up filing a complaint after finding all the letters melinda had written talking about killing shonda, but they didn't go anywhere wow.
Speaker 1:
She was only 16 and physically abused, which explains really a lot about why abusing others just seems like second nature to her, and it doesn't even give it any pause because she's not on the taking end for a change. She's sexually abused and it sounds like a lot of kinky stuff going on in the house. That probably became just normal for her.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so some good came of this. During Melinda's sentencing hearing, all the abuse of his wife, his daughters and the other girls was brought to light, and he ended up being arrested on charges of rape, sodomy and sexual battery and was placed in jail while waiting for his trial. Sadly, though, the statute of limitations ran out on a lot of his charges, so he did end up getting five years for sexual battery, which obviously all the awful things he did. That's not a lot, but it's something. Now let's talk about Laurie. She was like the driver she grew up with a devout pentecostal mother and her father was a convicted felon okay, right off, that sounds like an odd combination, but forgiveness and all I guess.
Speaker 2:
yeah, well, you know. So laurie claimed to be molested twice at the age of 5 and 12, and in 1989 her mother found out that laurie was changing from her Pentecostal dress to pants at school, and she confronted her about this and attempted to strangle her. This was reported to PCS and her parents were then subject to surprise visits to make sure that the abuse was not ongoing.
Speaker 1:
parents were then subject to surprise visits to make sure that the abuse was not going like ongoing. Really, she chokes her daughter because of pants and they're gonna make surprise visits.
Speaker 2:
Well, I don't know what's going on in this town, okay, but we both know taking a child out of a house takes quite a bit. And laurie. Rebellious behavior increased and she became fascinated with Satanism and witchcraft, which really just sounds like anything that could be the complete opposite of what her mother believed in. She was obsessed with killing someone, stabbing them and burning them. She also engaged in self-harm after a girl she dated was engaged in self-harm as well, and once her parents were made aware of this, they checked her into a hospital in 1991 and she was prescribed antidepressants and then released, but then only two days later, her cuts on her wrist were extremely deep and she had to be admitted into a psychiatric ward and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Speaker 1:
It sounds a lot like the Frenchers kids go to overbearing with their religion, that it makes them just want to completely explore something totally different and just rebellious in general, combined with the mental health issues. She's still in that yeah, exactly so.
Speaker 2:
All four girls pled guilty in order to take the death penalty off the table. Miranda and laurie were both sentenced to 60 years, and Lori was released in 2018, serving probation for a year after Melinda was released in 2019. Hope was sentenced to 60 years, with a 10-year suspended for mitigating circumstances. On appeal, a judge reduced her sentence to 35 years due to her cooperation and she was released in 2006. Tony was sentenced to 20 years and was released in 2000.
Speaker 1:
None of these girls served enough time, in my opinion. I mean I realized they were kids but wow, I mean I can't really say what would be enough. I just know, as a mother I would hate to see them out and about.
Speaker 2:
I agree. Shonda's father ended up drinking himself to death at the loss of his daughter. Her mother is trying to be a voice for her daughter. You know, we all want friends and we all want to be accepted, but we have to be cautious of who we let in to our circle of friends.
Speaker 1:
We always recommend more bubbly and less OJ Cheers.
Speaker 2:
If you'd like to see pictures from today's episode, you can find us at murdermimosas on Instagram. You can also find us at murdermimosas on TikTok, twitter, and if you have a case you would like us to do, you can send that to murdermimosas at gmailcom. And lastly, we are on Facebook at Murder and Mimosas Podcast, where you can interact with us there. Lastly, we are on Facebook at Murder and Mimosas Podcast, where you can interact with us there. We love any type of feedback you can give us, so please rate or view us on Spotify, itunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts.