Something Wicked

Speaker 1 Grand Canyon University is one of the largest universities in the country.

Speaker 1 Praised for its community and impact, GCU integrates a welcoming Christian worldview and open discourse into over 300 online programs.

Speaker 1 Redefine your online education through GCU's industry-driven, academically rigorous programs. In 2024, online students received over $161 million in institutional scholarships.
Find your purpose.

Speaker 1 Private, Christian, affordable. Discover available scholarships at gcu.edu/slash slash myoffer.

Speaker 2 If you're a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility and your machinery isn't working right, Granger knows you need to understand what's wrong as soon as possible.

Speaker 2 So when a conveyor motor falters, Granger offers diagnostic tools like calibration kits and multimeters to help you identify and fix the problem.

Speaker 2 With Granger, you can be confident you have everything you need to keep your facility running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by.
Granger for the ones who get it done.

Speaker 3 Tonight on date line.

Speaker 4 She was beautiful. Her eyes were just remarkable.

Speaker 4 I was going to be there for her, and she was going to be there for me, didn't matter what it was.

Speaker 4 I thought that maybe she'd been kidnapped. There's nothing that I could have done, or anyone could have done.

Speaker 5 Skylar going missing was a tough pill to swallow. First impression was it could be a runaway.

Speaker 8 She slowly walked out to a car, got in the back seat, and she drove away.

Speaker 9 Something's wrong, something's bad wrong.

Speaker 11 It's always Sheila, Skylar, Rachel, always together.

Speaker 12 Sheila seems so upset to have lost her best friend.

Speaker 13 I told Rachel, if you know anything, you need to say what happened.

Speaker 14 Gossip going around that there was this teenage party, possible overdose.

Speaker 4 Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, things start to get ridiculously out of control.

Speaker 16 The locals would whisper in each other's ears.

Speaker 17 They planned that crime not just for hours, but days, weeks, months.

Speaker 19 This was diabolical.

Speaker 14 What are we dealing with?

Speaker 14 Evil comes in all shapes and sizes.

Speaker 1 Teenagers tangled up in a murder mystery.

Speaker 3 Who was behind it?

Speaker 2 I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.

Speaker 3 Tonight, Andrea Canning with something wicked.

Speaker 22 In the gentle rolling hills of northern West Virginia, in a sweet college town in the heart of Coal Country, lived three teenage girls.

Speaker 27 Their photos capture a moment in time.

Speaker 29 They were smart, talented, lovely.

Speaker 31 Everything a parent could hope for in a daughter.

Speaker 21 And so who could have guessed, just by looking, that some of them carried a dark secret about a friend?

Speaker 35 I have a a 16-year-old daughter. She has not been home, hasn't gone to work.
I am scared to death.

Speaker 36 These teens played a strange and haunting game.

Speaker 37 Would you guys rather suffocate or get shot?

Speaker 30 Get shot.

Speaker 20 A game of betrayal that would go way beyond typical teenage drama.

Speaker 7 She's calling out, help me. You know, why, why, why?

Speaker 40 And at the center of it all was a girl named Skylar.

Speaker 27 Dave and Mary Nice welcomed their only daughter Skylar to the world back in 1996.

Speaker 32 Tell me about the day she was born.

Speaker 34 Was that the greatest moment of your life?

Speaker 41 I wouldn't go that far.

Speaker 42 First time you saw her?

Speaker 41 First time I saw her, yes, I can say that was the greatest moment of my life. Yeah, it was instant love.

Speaker 43 They live in Star City, a small suburb of Morgantown, West Virginia, where Dave worked at Walmart and Mary at a medical office.

Speaker 44 Skylar was a whirlwind, a rambunctious, precocious toddler who owned her parents' hearts.

Speaker 14 Hey, Gorgeous. Hi, y'all.

Speaker 45 You beautiful baby.

Speaker 7 She was reading way before she was supposed to, doing math and stuff way before she was supposed to. So she was a very intelligent little girl.

Speaker 46 Thanks for me. Whee!

Speaker 21 When Skylar started nursery school, she made her first friend, Morgan Lawrence.

Speaker 20 Morgan was drawn right away to Skylar.

Speaker 32 Did she kind of light up a room?

Speaker 4 Oh, yeah. She had the the giggle and the laugh.

Speaker 21 The girls' families became good friends, too. Morgan's parents, parents, Dave and Cheryl, say Morgan and Skylar were like sisters.

Speaker 34 What are your memories of Skylar when she was this high? She giggled all the time. It just filled our house.

Speaker 2 She had the biggest eyes.

Speaker 45 You just wanted to hug her.

Speaker 50 They were good girls, got good grades.

Speaker 21 Morgan dreamed of becoming a meteorologist, Schuyler, a criminal lawyer. They also had a pact that they would always be there for one another.

Speaker 51 And you would both be in each other's wedding parties?

Speaker 4 Everyone has a sister to put in their wedding, and we had each other.

Speaker 28 As freshmen at Morgantown's University High School, the two girls drifted apart a little.

Speaker 26 With a new school came new friends.

Speaker 40 Classmate Daniel Hovater says the bubbly Skylar fit in right away.

Speaker 13 Friends came first with her. She was always about hanging out with friends if she didn't have work or school.

Speaker 21 Soon, Skylar had two new BFFs, Sheila Eddy, who the nieces had known for years, and Rachel Schof, a striking redhead with Broadway aspirations.

Speaker 47 It wasn't long before they were calling themselves the Three Musketeers, and in pictures, they looked the part.

Speaker 13 They were literally together every second of every day. It seemed like they hung out all the time.

Speaker 25 And like all teenage girls, they shared videos and photos with each other and online,

Speaker 21 giving us a glimpse into their world.

Speaker 29 Skylar and Sheila just having fun.

Speaker 37 Now let me try to get on your back once they get long.

Speaker 21 And of course they occasionally got into trouble, but even then, it was for typical teenage things.

Speaker 47 Dave and Mary weren't too concerned.

Speaker 34 She's a straight A student who loves her parents. Did you sort of chalk it up to, okay, we're not thrilled, but she's a teenager.

Speaker 41 Exactly.

Speaker 47 When summer rolled around after her sophomore year, Skylar seemed happy.

Speaker 30 She had a job at Wendy's, which she loved.

Speaker 55 On Thursday, July 5th, 2012, she came home after work and got ready for bed.

Speaker 7 She put her arm around her mom, gave her a kiss, and gave her a hug and said, I love you, mom.

Speaker 8 She turned to me and said, I love you, dad.

Speaker 7 And she went to the room.

Speaker 32 The next day, Dave planned to meet Skylar in their apartment at lunchtime.

Speaker 36 He was surprised that she wasn't there.

Speaker 24 A little worried, he called Mary.

Speaker 41 I thought she was out with one of her other friends. I figured they went swimming or shopping.

Speaker 60 Dave called her friends, including Sheila.

Speaker 53 No one had seen her.

Speaker 40 Next, he went outside and found more cause for worry.

Speaker 31 A small bench was tucked near Skylar's window, and the window screen was missing.

Speaker 7 At this time, I called Skylar's cell phone. I said, yeah, you're in trouble.
You better be calling me right away. So I called her cell phone about 10 times.
I called Mary again.

Speaker 21 Again, Mary told him to calm down.

Speaker 38 She said Schuyler was expected at work at 4.

Speaker 41 I said, we're not going to worry. I'll call them about 10 after 4, give her time to clock in, everything, see if she's there.

Speaker 21 But Mary didn't get a chance to call Wendy's.

Speaker 41 They called us first, wanting to know if she was coming to work.

Speaker 32 Was that a big moment for you? Yeah.

Speaker 50 A few minutes later, there was another big surprise.

Speaker 22 A call from Sheila.

Speaker 41 She said that she had to tell me the truth. And I said, well, what truth? She said, well, we did, we snuck out last night.

Speaker 61 Mary's heart fell.

Speaker 38 Skylar had done that once before, gone on a late-night joyride with Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 55 That time they'd been caught for being out after the town curfew.

Speaker 21 And now here was a worried Sheila saying they'd done it again.

Speaker 22 I said, where did you go? Where's Schuyler?

Speaker 41 And she said that Schuyler insisted they drop her off at the end of the street so we wouldn't hear her sneaking back in.

Speaker 21 Now that missing screen and bench outside Schuyler's window made sense.

Speaker 47 Schuyler had put it there to boost herself up so she could get back in.

Speaker 21 But it left them with a terrifying possibility.

Speaker 41 My first instinct was someone abducted her from the end of the street to our house.

Speaker 21 Dave called the police.

Speaker 35 I have a daughter that's 16 years old. Apparently, she sunk out of her room last night and she hasn't been seen since.
None of her friends can get all of her. I can't find her.

Speaker 35 What's her name? Skylar Niece.

Speaker 27 The niece's world had fallen apart. Their only daughter had disappeared into the night.

Speaker 60 And now she'd been gone for nearly 24 hours.

Speaker 26 Where was Skylar?

Speaker 63 Coming up.

Speaker 3 Concern for Skylar begins to grow.

Speaker 64 I just had this horrible feeling in my heart that something terrible had happened.

Speaker 3 A grainy piece of videotape is about to give police one giant clue. What can they glean from this?

Speaker 8 She slowly walked out to a car and she got in the back seat.

Speaker 21 Star City, West Virginia has just 1,800 residents, only one stoplight.

Speaker 5 Schuyler going missing was a tough pill to swallow for the entire community.

Speaker 21 Police officer Jessica Colbank caught the Schuyler niece case.

Speaker 5 First impression was it could be a runaway.

Speaker 5 There are kids that run away all the time.

Speaker 21 It wasn't long before Officer Colbank got the video from the security cameras at the niece's building.

Speaker 40 Schuyler's friend, Sheila Eddy, had said Schuyler was home around midnight.

Speaker 66 So what was this car doing pulling up around 12.30 a.m.?

Speaker 32 Who was in it?

Speaker 20 Dave Neese watched horrified as there on the tape, out walked Schuyler.

Speaker 7 She slowly walked down to a car that was sitting there waiting on her.

Speaker 8 And she got in the backseat, I could tell that.

Speaker 8 And she drove away.

Speaker 23 Police couldn't quite make out a license plate or tell the maker model.

Speaker 26 Schuyler's mom, Mary, had a theory.

Speaker 41 She made it home, snuck back in the window, then a second person or persons had parked behind the building and she snuck out a second time.

Speaker 30 But why? Who was in the car and where did they go?

Speaker 26 The police didn't issue an Amber alert since it looked like Schuyler left voluntarily.

Speaker 5 Once that video came out that she willingly got in this car.

Speaker 5 They're not going to come out and look for somebody driving around in a a car.

Speaker 21 Schuyler's friend Sheila came right over.

Speaker 7 She spent a lot of time here telling us that it'll be okay. She'll be home and I really miss her.
I love her. I want her back.

Speaker 61 The next day, Sheila sat with Mary on Schuyler's bed, both of them crying.

Speaker 32 Did it bring you comfort when Sheila would come by being Schuyler's best friend?

Speaker 7 It did me a little bit, yeah, knowing that how could Skylar leave her behind.

Speaker 21 Mary and Sheila took to the streets together, posting flyers for Skylar.

Speaker 7 They would knock on the doors and ask, have you seen this girl? And we kept showing the pictures to people. Nobody had seen her.

Speaker 12 Sheila was very, very worried about what had happened to Skylar.

Speaker 43 Chrissy Swanson was a close family friend of Sheila's and saw Sheila's distress firsthand.

Speaker 12 She was trying so hard to help them find anything, so hard to help them figure out what had happened.

Speaker 15 The Star City Police are still looking for a missing 16-year-old.

Speaker 32 Dave made a plea for help on local news station WBOY.

Speaker 10 We love her, baby. We want her home.

Speaker 25 By Sunday night, Schuyler had been gone the whole weekend.

Speaker 22 Her family, including her aunt Carol, was heart sick.

Speaker 64 I just had this horrible feeling in my heart that, you know,

Speaker 64 something terrible had happened and

Speaker 64 it wasn't like her to run away or disappear like she did.

Speaker 9 Mary told me at night, she said, something's wrong, Dave. Something's bad wrong.
wrong.

Speaker 21 The community held a candlelight vigil. Schuyler's school friends came, including Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 7 They were crying, came up and hugged me, and Mary just crying her eyes out.

Speaker 64 The only thing Mary could say was, what can we do to help these girls? How can we help these girls?

Speaker 26 Schuyler's family friend, Morgan Lawrence, was upset too.

Speaker 40 She was away at camp when she read on Facebook that Schuyler was missing.

Speaker 25 How worried were you?

Speaker 4 Oh, it was stuck to my stomach all the time worried.

Speaker 40 So was Officer Colbank.

Speaker 48 She was at it non-stop.

Speaker 5 I'd come back to the office in the evenings, you know, watching the video, getting Facebook records.

Speaker 21 Colbank was swamped with tips from people saying they'd seen Schuyler from Morgantown to New York and even California.

Speaker 20 Each sighting was a dead end.

Speaker 66 At the same time, Colbank pulled Schuyler's records.

Speaker 56 What she found was ominous.

Speaker 60 Schuyler wasn't using her cell phone or her ATM card.

Speaker 53 Colbank now had serious doubts that Schuyler had run away.

Speaker 5 Usually, runaways, they take items with them that they want, especially if she had contacts and glasses. She didn't take that stuff with her.

Speaker 25 And then police got an important new lead in the case.

Speaker 21 There had been two bank robberies in the nearby town of Blacksville.

Speaker 23 Both of them had gone down around the time Schuyler vanished.

Speaker 14 I was working with other investigators on those bank robberies.

Speaker 21 While looking into the robberies, Ronnie Gaskins of the West Virginia State Police was called into Schuyler's case.

Speaker 21 There had been a tip that somehow Schuyler had been at a party with the suspected bank robbers when something bad happened.

Speaker 36 What was the theory?

Speaker 14 There are just rumors, you know, gossip going around that there was this teenage party, there was a possible overdose,

Speaker 14 and people there were scared, so they hid the body.

Speaker 21 It seemed unlikely.

Speaker 20 Schuyler didn't use heavy drugs.

Speaker 5 It was just a lot of tracking down rumors, tons and tons and tons of rumors.

Speaker 60 All leading nowhere.

Speaker 23 By now, Skylar had been gone more than a month.

Speaker 57 Gaskins vowed he would find her.

Speaker 14 I don't like to make promises in my line of work, but the only promise I made to Dave was we would never stop. You know, never give up in trying to find out what happened to Skylar.

Speaker 21 Their search for Skylar had taken them across the United States.

Speaker 20 What they didn't know then was that the truth was right there in Morgantown at University High.

Speaker 63 Coming up.

Speaker 4 Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Things start to get ridiculously out of control.

Speaker 6 Whispers in the hallways.

Speaker 3 Was someone hiding something? Police are about to get a break.

Speaker 34 That was an aha moment.

Speaker 5 Finally, we have something to go on.

Speaker 3 When Dateline continues.

Speaker 49 Hey, everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrelson.

Speaker 49 It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and We're Back for Another Season.

Speaker 49 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 49 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrelson sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 70 A mochi moment from Mark, who writes, I just want to thank you for making GOP Ones affordable. What would have been over $1,000 a month is just $99 a month with Mochi.

Speaker 70 Money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight. Three months in and I have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet.
You're the best. Thanks, Mark.
I'm Myra Ameth, founder of Mochi Health.

Speaker 70 To find your Mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

Speaker 71 Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists and are compensated for their stories. Results may vary.

Speaker 69 Think advertising on TikTok isn't for your business?

Speaker 72 Think again. We've generated over 100,000 leads, which has converted into over 40,000 sales for our pet insurance policies.
My name is Trey Farrow. I am the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance.

Speaker 72 TikTok's Smart Plus AI-powered automation takes the guesswork out of targeting, bidding, and optimizing creative. If I can advertise on TikTok, you can too.

Speaker 69 Drive more leads and scale your business today only on TikTok. Head over to getstarted.tiktok.com/slash TikTok ads.

Speaker 62 The first day of school, the fall of 2012, was heartbreaking. One of University High School's top students, Skylar Nice, had disappeared during the summer.
Classmate Shania Ammons.

Speaker 73 Starting school without her, like, that was probably one of the hardest days through the whole thing.

Speaker 73 Like, Skylar was a go-to person, and she was just gone.

Speaker 21 Skylar's friend, Morgan Lawrence, was dreading roll call.

Speaker 4 I didn't have any classes with her, thank God.

Speaker 51 You didn't want to hear her name called?

Speaker 4 It's not the same. It's, you know, you can't tell the teacher.
We don't know if she's coming back.

Speaker 29 Sheila, come here. In some ways, life seemed normal.

Speaker 20 Skylar's good friend, Sheila Eddy, seen here in this video taken in the classroom, was back in school.

Speaker 74 I don't want that making it look like him.

Speaker 20 So is BFF Rachel Schof, singing for friends in this video.

Speaker 35 The world around me changes.

Speaker 27 Rachel got the lead in the fall play,

Speaker 22 but everyone was worried about Skylar.

Speaker 25 And in school hallways and on social media, rumors flew.

Speaker 4 Between Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, you just see things start to get ridiculously out of control.

Speaker 13 Kids saying things from Schuyler had overdosed and things that Skylar's in a different country.

Speaker 21 Daniel Hovater was in drama with Rachel and knew how close the three girls were.

Speaker 38 He wondered if Rachel and Sheila might be helping cover something up for Skylar.

Speaker 13 There had been rumors going around, oh, Rachel and Sheila know where she's hiding.

Speaker 26 Daniel knew Rachel and Sheila were the last ones to see Skylar.

Speaker 48 He wondered if they were protecting her or maybe protecting someone else.

Speaker 55 Either way, they had to know something.

Speaker 13 There were probably a good three, four, or five times where I told Rachel, if you know anything, you need to say what happened or where she's at.

Speaker 20 Daniel wasn't alone.

Speaker 60 Writers Daylene Berry and Jeff Fuller live in the Morgantown area and have written a book about Schuyler's case.

Speaker 38 They've spent hours combing through what kids were saying on social media.

Speaker 75 The one thing that stood out to me is that people, teens, were tweeting, Sheila and Rachel had to know something.

Speaker 65 Why don't you guys just talk? Just say something. Yeah.

Speaker 65 Tell us what you know.

Speaker 21 The heat got turned up on the girls when the FBI showed up and started interviewing students.

Speaker 13 I was only interviewed once. I guess I was nervous because I was like, it's the FBI.
Like, they're serious. They asked me about Rachel and Sheila if they seemed any different.

Speaker 13 And I was telling them they didn't seem different, but they were secluded to themselves more.

Speaker 27 The normal fall rituals like football and homecoming were punctuated with police visits to Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 21 Kids say Rachel left play rehearsal to meet with the FBI.

Speaker 21 Mary and Dave Neese, desperate to find their daughter, thought the police were were wasting their time investigating the girls they knew so well.

Speaker 7 I even went to the police and said, will you leave Sheila alone, please? I said, you guys are harassing her 24-7. The kid's going through enough right now.

Speaker 2 Leave her alone.

Speaker 7 She was like our daughter.

Speaker 21 But investigators were convinced the two girls knew more than they were saying.

Speaker 60 That fall, Ronnie Gaskins interviewed each girl repeatedly.

Speaker 21 How was Sheila's demeanor in these meetings you would have with her?

Speaker 8 Calm,

Speaker 8 collect.

Speaker 14 just would look at you right in the face, right in your eyes.

Speaker 40 He says Rachel seemed distracted.

Speaker 14 She would draw on the desk, play with the pencil, just her nonverbal cues, spoke a lot.

Speaker 21 Their story never varied. They picked Skyler up, drove around Morgantown, smoked a little pot, and dropped her off a few blocks from home.

Speaker 67 It was like a recording with these two.

Speaker 23 In the meantime, the officers had begun to collect physical evidence, and it didn't match up with the story the girls had been telling.

Speaker 36 Surveillance video from a convenience store put the girls' car not heading east, as they'd said, but heading west towards Blacksville.

Speaker 58 And the girls' phone records from that night showed Rachel's phone hanging off a cell tower in Blacksville.

Speaker 2 That was an aha moment.

Speaker 5 Finally, we have something.

Speaker 76 to go on that's different from their story.

Speaker 50 Now even Skylar's parents joined the chorus of people trying to get the girls to talk.

Speaker 41 I started posting on Facebook things about karma.

Speaker 61 Karma will get you.

Speaker 41 You can't hide.

Speaker 11 We were pushing.

Speaker 41 We were pushing the girls to get them to say what happened.

Speaker 21 By late November, the pressure seemed to be taking its toll on Rachel.

Speaker 40 In an interview, she surprised police by changing her story.

Speaker 55 admitting for the first time that they did drive to Blacksville that night.

Speaker 31 And that's where Schuyler told them to let her out of the car.

Speaker 36 Blacksville, where those bank robberies had happened.

Speaker 54 The next day, Sheila changed her story to say the same thing.

Speaker 34 That must have been a big red flag for you.

Speaker 14 Absolutely.

Speaker 21 At school, kids say Rachel was increasingly rattled.

Speaker 13 Rachel seemed distressed. She seemed like she was very

Speaker 13 upset over something. I mean, this was eating in her heart.

Speaker 40 Rachel's shoe was about to crack.

Speaker 63 Coming up.

Speaker 35 Christmas over.

Speaker 35 Please hurry.

Speaker 6 An emergency at home and an interview with police. What exactly was Rachel Shof about to reveal? We were speechless.

Speaker 62 Christmas 2012 came and went for Skylar Nice's parents, Dave and Mary. It had been six months since their daughter had disappeared.

Speaker 34 The holidays must have been very tough that year, Christmas time.

Speaker 41 We didn't celebrate.

Speaker 7 No.

Speaker 7 We didn't put up any tree.

Speaker 9 We didn't do anything.

Speaker 58 Just another day.

Speaker 14 Yep.

Speaker 62 Around that time, Rachel Schoff and Sheila Eddy stopped attending University High.

Speaker 21 Their few remaining friends told authors Daylene Berry and Jeff Fuller that Rachel seemed agitated.

Speaker 75 She was acting out, getting into

Speaker 75 more family altercations at home.

Speaker 76 So the walls were closing in on Rachel.

Speaker 35 Vaughn County, not knowing you have an emergency. I have an issue with a 16-year-old daughter of mine.
I mean, I can't control her anymore.

Speaker 21 And then, on December 28th, Rachel apparently snapped.

Speaker 23 Her upset mother called the police. She's digging us.

Speaker 46 She's screaming. She's running through the neighborhoods.
Give me the phone.

Speaker 35 Okay, no, this is over. This is over.

Speaker 37 My

Speaker 29 And Rachel was taken to a mental health facility.

Speaker 21 A few days later, Corporal Ronnie Gaskins got a big surprise. Rachel wanted to meet at her lawyer's office.

Speaker 61 She had something she wanted to say.

Speaker 32 Take us inside that attorney's office with Rachel.

Speaker 20 What was her demeanor?

Speaker 14 I remember her pulling up a wastebasket next to her. She's afraid she was going to throw up.
And then we started asking her the questions that we thought thought she would answer.

Speaker 14 She overdose was her party.

Speaker 14 And I remember she just, her face got really red and she just, you know, glanced at us and said we stabbed her.

Speaker 21 It wasn't an accident, it was a murder.

Speaker 38 And not only had Rachel and Sheila killed Skylar, they had planned it for months.

Speaker 29 All the while looking and acting like the best of friends, as Sheila and Skylar do in this video.

Speaker 55 As part of the plan, Rachel Rachel and Sheila settled on the night of July 5th as the ideal time to kill Schuyler.

Speaker 14 Earlier that day, Rachel had obtained the shovel from her father's residence. They put it in Sheila's trunk.

Speaker 14 They brought the clean clothes, cleaning supplies, and according to Rachel, Sheila had provided the kitchen knives.

Speaker 50 They called Schuyler to say they were on their way over.

Speaker 14 Port up to the residence.

Speaker 21 And there is Skylar sneaking out in that grainy surveillance video.

Speaker 66 The car is Sheila's, and inside are Skylar's two best friends.

Speaker 14 Skylar gets in the car, and they go driving.

Speaker 61 And they drove for nearly an hour, for miles and miles, on dark, winding roads out past Blacksville.

Speaker 14 They get to the scene. They parked a car and they found an area where they could sit and talk.
Skylar... leaves to go back to the car and then Rachel said on three.

Speaker 40 According to Gaskins, Rachel said she counted one, two,

Speaker 61 three, and on three the two girls began.

Speaker 14 That's when her and Sheila started stabbing Skylar

Speaker 7 from behind.

Speaker 26 Gaskins says Skylar fought hard to defend herself.

Speaker 34 Did Rachel indicate what Skylar's last words were, her final moments in that meeting?

Speaker 14 She said, Skylar just said, why?

Speaker 14 That's all she said.

Speaker 21 Rachel said the girls covered the body with dirt and branches, threw their bloody clothes in the trunk, and left Skylar there.

Speaker 34 Did Rachel express how she felt when the crime was over?

Speaker 14 Yeah, I just remember her saying that this was something she wanted to get done before she went to church camp.

Speaker 34 How did you feel when she said, I had to get this done before church camp?

Speaker 14 What are we dealing with?

Speaker 34 Did you ask Rachel why?

Speaker 34 Why did you two do this?

Speaker 14 She would not give us any specific details other than they just didn't like her. And then when I asked her, what do you mean you didn't like her, clarify that?

Speaker 14 She said, oh, nothing, we just didn't like her.

Speaker 21 After telling police the story, Rachel led authorities down that lonely road, past Blacksville, to a spot just across the Pennsylvania border.

Speaker 22 There, they eventually found a few scattered human remains and sent them to a lab for testing.

Speaker 14 I just couldn't imagine the pain and suffering and the fear she went through being alone in that place with her two best friends. And she knew what was happening when he started stabbing her.

Speaker 21 Authorities kept Rachel's confession secret, even from the nieces, while the investigation continued.

Speaker 60 The FBI told Mary and Dave only that remains, believed to be Schuyler's, had been found.

Speaker 41 I broke down pretty bad, yeah.

Speaker 7 Who must do that was a bad day.

Speaker 29 It was

Speaker 64 so lonely and

Speaker 64 so deserted.

Speaker 64 And it was a horrible thing to know that she had been there and no one knew.

Speaker 35 One, two,

Speaker 35 three, go!

Speaker 35 Happy birthday, Skylar.

Speaker 62 In February of 2013, just as they had since she was a little girl, I'm ready, Piglet. The nieces gathered with friends on Schuyler's birthday, this time without her.

Speaker 60 They quietly told the Lawrences their awful news.

Speaker 76 Did your heart just break for Mary and Dave?

Speaker 47 My heart was slowly breaking the entire time.

Speaker 4 I remember the first thing I felt, it was just like a surreal of, I know she's not,

Speaker 4 you know, out there in the cold.

Speaker 21 Ronnie Gaskins had a confession from Rachel, and she'd led him to a body, but it wasn't enough.

Speaker 34 Why wouldn't you arrest somebody right away who's confessed to killing someone?

Speaker 14 She had lied to us a number of times before, so we had to say, well, who's to say she's lying again? So we had to corroborate her statement.

Speaker 21 What's more, Gaskins needed Rachel, so he didn't arrest her. Instead, he was about to use Rachel to get Sheila.

Speaker 63 Coming up.

Speaker 49 Grieving or pretending?

Speaker 12 Sheila seemed like she was so upset to have lost her best friend. She even asked me, how could someone do this to Skylar?

Speaker 3 Would the truth catch up to Sheila Eddy?

Speaker 3 When Dateline continues.

Speaker 49 Hey everybody, Ted Danson here to tell you about my podcast with my longtime friend and sometimes co-host Woody Harrelson.

Speaker 49 It's called Where Everybody Knows Your Name and we're back for another season.

Speaker 49 I'm so excited to be joined this season by friends like John Mulaney, David Spade, Sarah Silverman, Ed Helms, and many more. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 49 Listen to Where Everybody Knows Your Name with me, Ted Danson, and Woody Harrison sometimes, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 19 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 19 Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zinn offers a robust rewards program.
There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zin at a store near you.

Speaker 19 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 70 A mochi moment from Mark, who writes, I just want to thank you for making GOP1s affordable. What would have been over $1,000 a month is just $99 a month with Mochi.

Speaker 70 Money shouldn't be a barrier to healthy weight. Three months in and I have smaller jeans and a bigger wallet.
You're the best. Thanks, Mark.
I'm Myra Ameth, founder of Mochi Health.

Speaker 70 To find your Mochi moment, visit joinmochi.com.

Speaker 71 Mochi members have access to licensed physicians and nutritionists and are compensated for their stories. Results may vary.

Speaker 21 Corporal Ronnie Gaskins was on a mission to put two girls behind bars.

Speaker 14 It was one of those where you couldn't get there fast enough.

Speaker 20 Rachel Schoff had just confessed to teaming up with Sheila Eddy to kill their friend, Skylar Neese.

Speaker 21 Now she was cooperating with police. Gaskins and his fellow investigators hatched a plan.

Speaker 54 Rachel would invite Sheila to her house.

Speaker 21 As hidden cameras rolled, she would try to get Sheila to incriminate herself.

Speaker 14 We were close by in case something happened.

Speaker 21 Sheila did come over.

Speaker 38 She tweeted this photo of herself and an uncomfortable-looking Rachel with the caption, finally got to see see Rach.

Speaker 21 But police didn't record anything to pin Sheila to the crime.

Speaker 14 The girls did not disclose anything specific. They were just very

Speaker 57 casual.

Speaker 40 A few days later, the police went to Sheila's house with a warrant.

Speaker 14 We seized every kitchen knife we could find. Then the FBI seized Sheila's car and they were able to find a presence of DNA in the trunk.

Speaker 21 DNA in Sheila's trunk.

Speaker 40 If it proved to be Schuyler's, it would be critical to Gaskin's case, a direct link connecting the girls to Schuyler's death.

Speaker 29 They shipped the sample off to the lab and waited.

Speaker 55 Meanwhile, Gaskins got a positive ID on the human remains found out past Blacksville.

Speaker 40 It was Schuyler.

Speaker 45 The search for Monagelia County teenager Schuyler nice is over.

Speaker 32 At University High School, confirmation that Schuyler had been found dead was heartbreaking.

Speaker 13 I was devastated.

Speaker 10 It was...

Speaker 13 It was crazy.

Speaker 21 Shania called her friend Sheila as soon as she heard the awful news.

Speaker 12 I was crying and she was crying.

Speaker 28 There was Sheila, suspected murderer, crying tears for Skylar.

Speaker 62 And she's like, who do you think could have done this?

Speaker 62 Why would somebody do that to Skylar?

Speaker 26 Sheila also cried with her friend Chrissy Swanson.

Speaker 12 And once Skylar's body was found, Sheila seemed like she was so so upset to have lost her best friend, she couldn't believe that something like this would happen.

Speaker 12 She even asked me, how could someone do this to Skylar?

Speaker 55 And Sheila let everybody know how sad she was.

Speaker 21 She tweeted things like, worst day of my whole life.

Speaker 43 The pain is real.

Speaker 21 And rest easy, Skylar, you'll always be my best friend.

Speaker 60 I miss you more than you could ever know. But social media revealed two sides to Sheila.

Speaker 40 She could mourn Skylar, but on Twitter and Facebook, she and Rachel also seemed carefree.

Speaker 21 As the police continued their investigation, Sheila posed in photos at the prom.

Speaker 21 Rachel tweeted, I need a mimosa, or 10.

Speaker 21 They were going about their lives, even while the police believed the girls were stone-cold killers.

Speaker 16 The locals would whisper in each other's ears and say, How are they still free?

Speaker 43 Blogger Cole Bartaromo started following this case early on and was struck by Sheila's tweets.

Speaker 33 Things like, ain't no rest for the wicked.

Speaker 43 And incredibly, this apparent reference to that countdown to Schuyler's murder.

Speaker 15 We really did go on three.

Speaker 16 It's unbelievable that she feels she's so invincible to

Speaker 6 tweet this publicly.

Speaker 62 And then finally, by mid-April 2013, Ronnie Gaskins got the one critical piece of evidence he needed, confirmation that Schuyler's blood had been found in Sheila's trunk.

Speaker 14 On top of the video surveillance, the phone records, Rachel's statement, at that point we felt confident we had the probable cause to make the arrest.

Speaker 21 Now authorities told Schuyler's parents the whole story.

Speaker 66 Their daughter's two best friends had killed her.

Speaker 35 Ellie wants to turn away.

Speaker 7 I think about it every day.

Speaker 7 I think about the misery my child must have been through. And I'm helpless.
I can't help her. She's calling out, help me.
You know, why, why, why?

Speaker 41 Animals got her. They didn't even care.

Speaker 7 Nope. They just threw her out like a bag of trash.

Speaker 21 On May 1st, 2013, in exchange for her cooperation with police, Rachel Schof pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Speaker 25 Within minutes, Gaskins raced across Morgantown, his heart pounding.

Speaker 14 Obviously, we were going lights and sirens because he had a murder warrant to serve.

Speaker 31 Sheila was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the parking lot of the local Cracker Barrel restaurant where she and her mom were having lunch.

Speaker 14 Sheila was crying and she kept asking her mother, is everything going to be okay? And her mother, I don't know, Sheila.

Speaker 40 Gaskins had promised Schuyler's parents he wouldn't quit until the case was solved.

Speaker 14 It felt good for once that she was coming with us.

Speaker 48 The question of who had been answered, but people were haunted by an unanswered question: Schuyler's last word.

Speaker 2 Why?

Speaker 63 Coming up.

Speaker 74 I became caught up in something that I did not want to do.

Speaker 3 The accused killers head to court.

Speaker 6 And the motive for murder?

Speaker 18 They planned that crime for days, weeks, months.

Speaker 3 What could that be?

Speaker 62 Sheila Eddy was not about to give in without a fight. There she was in September 2013, a lone blonde teen in a crowd of accused men, pleading not guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Schuyler Neese.

Speaker 62 This was terrible news for Schuyler's parents.

Speaker 7 I don't want to go through a trial and hear the grisly, gruesome details of all this. That would tear me apart.

Speaker 23 With a trial looming, the question on everyone's mind was why.

Speaker 21 Investigators Investigators wanted to know too, and in the halls of University High, they got glimpses of a motive, saw snapshots of a troubled three-way friendship.

Speaker 21 Morgan Lawrence saw a disturbing dynamic firsthand.

Speaker 4 I was not a huge fan of Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 21 As far back as freshman year, Morgan had worried that her friend Skyler was heading into a place she might not belong when she became close friends with Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 21 Morgan especially didn't like Sheila.

Speaker 4 She hung out with the wrong crowd. She had lots of friends that were 20-some years old.
That's just a little strange.

Speaker 21 Morgan says she'd watched, uneasy, as the three girls became inseparable.

Speaker 62 Schuyler's cousin Kyle adored Skylar and says he felt uneasy too.

Speaker 10 You would walk through the halls.

Speaker 11 You don't see one without the other. It's always Sheila, Skylar, Rachel, always together.

Speaker 26 By sophomore year, he saw changes in Skylar.

Speaker 11 And it seemed like about that time she didn't have that same nice

Speaker 9 quality to her.

Speaker 4 She was more sour, I think, toward people. She started almost acting the way that Sheila acted.

Speaker 51 Must have been hard to see her changing.

Speaker 4 It's difficult to watch it in general, and it's even harder whenever it's someone as close as someone that you called your family.

Speaker 60 Students told writers Jeff Fuller and Daylene Berry that by mid-sophomore year, the three girls' relationship had begun to deteriorate.

Speaker 25 They've written about this in their book, The Savage Murder of Schuyler Neese.

Speaker 65 Sheila and Rachel were dissing Skyler when she wasn't around and putting her down and that kind of thing. So it was kind of a two-faced situation.

Speaker 21 Students say that around this time, they started hearing Rachel and Sheila discuss the best way to kill someone. And Rachel's friend, Fantasia Liller, recalls a chilling conversation.

Speaker 77 Rachel was ranting to me how much she didn't like Skylar one day. Well, she said, word for word, I'm pretty sure, was, I wouldn't mind if she died at this point.

Speaker 29 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 22 Which makes this cell phone video all the more haunting because it was captured by Skylar six months before she was killed.

Speaker 37 You've said it two times.

Speaker 29 Sheila asked Skylar and Rachel to choose the best way to die.

Speaker 37 Would you guys rather suffocate or get shot? Get shot. Shot?

Speaker 37 Wait, depends on where. Would you rather in the head? Shot.

Speaker 34 There'd be no suffering at all.

Speaker 37 Drowning or suffocating?

Speaker 37 Suffocating. It's almost the same thing.
I know, but.

Speaker 21 An incredibly disturbing scene. Friends say in the months before Skylar's death, she and Sheila fought constantly.

Speaker 55 Late on July 5th, Skylar tweeted this.

Speaker 60 You doing blank like that is why I will never completely trust you.

Speaker 23 Later that night, Skylar is seen here on that surveillance tape, driving away from home for the last time.

Speaker 55 What were they fighting about?

Speaker 40 There's a possible answer.

Speaker 22 Hallway whispers that Rachel and Sheila had developed a sexual relationship and that Skylar knew and threatened to out them.

Speaker 32 Did they kill her to keep their secret?

Speaker 62 In January 2014, Dave and Mary finally got the news they'd been hoping for: a plea deal.

Speaker 78 Sheila Eddy, how do you plead to the offense of murder and the first degree of the felony charged in Count 3 of the indictment in this case?

Speaker 2 Guilty.

Speaker 23 Sheila's attorney, Michael Benninger, read a statement from Sheila and her family.

Speaker 68 My client and her family recognize that the niece family is in a constant state of despair, loneliness, and sadness as a result of Skyler's death.

Speaker 32 Sheila was sentenced to life in prison and is eligible for parole in 2028.

Speaker 62 A month later, Dave and Mary went back to court, this time for Rachel Schof sentencing.

Speaker 79 Rachel has a profound sadness at this loss and a profound sadness for Mr. and Mrs.
Niece.

Speaker 15 Therapist Patricia Bailey was hired by Rachel's family to meet Rachel in prison.

Speaker 79 From the day I met Rachel, she has said to me, I deserve to be in here. I did something terribly wrong.
I hurt somebody.

Speaker 79 Rachel does miss Skylar very much so. And then she also weeps for her because she knows that she cannot undo the past and that she will never see her again.

Speaker 28 In court, Rachel apologized directly to Dave and Mary.

Speaker 74 I don't know if there's a proper way to make this apology because there are not even words to describe the guilt and remorse that I feel each day for what I've done.

Speaker 74 I became scared and caught up in something that I did not want to do. I never realized the gravity of my actions and how many people I've hurt.

Speaker 32 Skylar's dad, who had once defended the girls, didn't mince words.

Speaker 7 Yes, Rachel Schofe did cooperate. And Rachel Schofe also murdered my daughter in cold blood.

Speaker 7 She can take her apologies and everything else and sit on them because that's about what they're worth to me and my wife. She has done nothing but make our lives a living hell since this day one.

Speaker 38 She did cooperate. Dave and Mary wish they'd known more about what was going on in Schuyler's life in the months before she died.

Speaker 34 What is your biggest regret, if you have one?

Speaker 41 Not knowing the girls better.

Speaker 41 And I don't know if anyone could have known them that well.

Speaker 41 But there had to be a sign somewhere. There had to be a clue.

Speaker 78 Rachel Schoff, would you please stand?

Speaker 20 Rachel was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Speaker 15 In May of 2023, she went before the parole board and said she and Sheila had been in a romantic relationship and Schuyler.

Speaker 33 They feared Schuyler would tell their secret, so they decided to kill her.

Speaker 32 We reached out to Sheila's mother, but she declined to comment.

Speaker 15 Rachel was denied parole.

Speaker 43 Prosecutor Marcia Ashdown says, don't be fooled by the girl's appearance.

Speaker 17 They planned that crime not just for hours, but days, weeks, months. The horror of that really is what strikes us in the end.
Not how those girls look in shackles.

Speaker 14 Young, old, attractive, unattractive. Male, female, doesn't matter.
Evil comes in all shapes and sizes.

Speaker 50 These days around Morgantown, there's lingering damage.

Speaker 33 People who feel they'll never trust anyone again.

Speaker 77 After I had heard all that, I didn't really want to become friends with anybody else.

Speaker 12 It's like finding out your little sister was a murderer.

Speaker 13 I still to this day have trust issues.

Speaker 33 Skylar's friend, Morgan Lawrence, told us she thought about all the milestones she and Skylar planned to mark together.

Speaker 51 You two should be doing everything alongside each other.

Speaker 4 Yeah, they didn't just, you know, take away a bride. They took away a bridesmaid.

Speaker 40 Skylar's second parents say they'll miss out, too, when Morgan walks down the aisle.

Speaker 75 Yes. Skylar won't be there.

Speaker 58 She will be.

Speaker 34 She'll be watching over. She will.

Speaker 32 In June 2013, Dave and Mary had a memorial service at the site where Schuyler was killed.

Speaker 66 And they're proud to have helped pass Schuyler's Law, which requires amber alerts even when police suspect a teen has run away.

Speaker 32 A national version of Schuyler's Law was passed by Congress in February 2019.

Speaker 22 It's peaceful here now.

Speaker 21 They come here often, even in the winter, to tend the small garden they've built for Skylar.

Speaker 51 Mary, how do you want Schuyler to be remembered?

Speaker 58 The happy, loving little girl that she was.

Speaker 7 And

Speaker 7 a smile. That smile could light up a room.

Speaker 2 That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt.

Speaker 3 Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 19 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 19 Zinn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.
There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 19 Check out Zen.com/slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 19 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.