Forever 16 | Chapter 9

Transcript

Speaker 1 Hi, I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark Down East, a true crime podcast unlike any other. Why? Because every case I cover comes from the heart of my home, New England.

Speaker 1 From the rocky main coast to the historic streets of Boston to the quiet corners of Vermont and beyond, I investigate stories filled with untold twists, enduring questions, and voices that deserve to be heard.

Speaker 1 So if you're ready to explore the darker side of New England, join me every week for Dark Down East. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 14 Ten years after Sheila Eddie and Rachel Shoff took Schuyler Neese's life, Rachel appeared before the parole board facing an audience of three.

Speaker 14 Normally, the victim's family is physically present at such an event. But due to the pandemic, Laken patched the Neese family and friends into the hearing room over the phone.

Speaker 14 They couldn't see their daughter's killer in person,

Speaker 14 but they heard what she had to say for herself.

Speaker 14 After Rachel was finished, her father, Rusty Shoff, spoke briefly. First, acknowledging the niece's sorrow and their loss.

Speaker 14 He then went on to cite Rachel's prison education and religious faith, and said if released, she would be loved and supported by her family.

Speaker 14 He closed, saying she'd been rehabilitated and she was not a threat to any member of society.

Speaker 14 Then the parole board offered Dave Neese a turn to speak. This time, he accepted the opportunity.

Speaker 14 Through the phone, you could feel his raw pain and anger.

Speaker 15 And you may go ahead and address the board at what you'd like for us to take consideration, please.

Speaker 16 Ladies and gentlemen of the West Virginia Parole Board, thank you for the opportunity to tell you why this inmate should not be granted parole.

Speaker 16 Because of a malicious monster, my child will never get a limo ride to her prom. Instead, she got to ride in the corner's vehicle.
Also, there was no sparkling gaunt gown for Skyler, just a body bag.

Speaker 16 She will never have a certificate of graduation, only a death certificate, because of this inmate's actions.

Speaker 16 This cold-blooded killer is not sorry for the brutal murder of my only child. It's my belief she's proud she murdered my daughter in cold blood.

Speaker 16 The day after she plunged kitchen knives into my child, this devil was seen on a boat with a friend posing for photographs. The date of July 6, 2012 was chosen for a specific reason, you see.

Speaker 16 Miss Soph wanted the killing out of the way before she left her church camp. Okay?

Speaker 16 Just another task to mark off her list, like standing over my child. And I do quote this, saying, die, bitch, as she took her last breath.

Speaker 16 Thank you for listening to me. I've got a little bit more.

Speaker 16 I wasn't there to defend my baby girl from this diabolical killer on July 6, 2012, but I'm here today to do everything within my power to make sure she stays behind bars.

Speaker 16 This inmate has proven that she is evil and mentally unstable. No one can fix that kind of madness.
I believe if she's paroled, she will kill again. Murder is a game to this inmate.

Speaker 16 Ladies and gentlemen, this is insanity.

Speaker 16 This person had proved to be a narcissist and a dangerous person to society with no remorse in her soul. This inmate has destroyed so many lives when she murdered Skylar.

Speaker 16 This inmate is a rat who got a deal. That's the only thing that saved her from first-degree murder charges.

Speaker 16 She has she showed us where Skylar's body was. She's also the one that put her there.

Speaker 16 This vicious murderer sits here today asking for a second chance. Well, I want to ask you guys something.

Speaker 17 Where's Skylar's second chance?

Speaker 16 She doesn't get a second chance because of the inmates' soaps actions on July 6, 2012. An accident is when you bump into someone.

Speaker 16 An accident is when you step on someone's shoe. This was not an accident.

Speaker 16 Thank you.

Speaker 15 At this time, the boards go to a different site and we're going to deliberate and we'll come back with our decision momentarily. So everyone, please stand by.

Speaker 15 Off the record.

Speaker 14 From Wave Land, I'm Holly Millay.

Speaker 12 And I'm Justine Harmon. This is three,

Speaker 12 episode nine,

Speaker 12 Forever 16.

Speaker 14 Once you've made the decision to commit a murder, the very next question you ask yourself or your co-conspirator is, how?

Speaker 14 And while it's true to say Rachel and Sheila didn't have easy access to a gun, it's hard to believe they couldn't get their hands on one, especially in West Virginia, which ranks third in household gun ownership and where gun laws are especially lax.

Speaker 14 Of all the different ways to kill someone, stabbing is the most intimate, even in the act itself.

Speaker 14 If you can, imagine using a knife and attacking someone 10 times or 50.

Speaker 21 It's not our first inclination to stab someone.

Speaker 21 That's malicious intent. It's rage.
It's just determination.

Speaker 14 And

Speaker 21 to me, you know, it's...

Speaker 21 It's definitely very personal to stab someone. You know, the sounds that you'll hear,

Speaker 21 everything about a stabbing. You can shoot someone from any distance and it doesn't really affect you.
But being that close, they had to be covered in blood and everything else.

Speaker 21 That's not an easy thing to be around. And I think they enjoyed it.
I think they reveled in it whenever they were doing it.

Speaker 21 They were very, very close, which they had been close, but I think this brought them even closer.

Speaker 21 You know, blood bond and all would be how I would describe it. They've killed together.
You know, they're together forever. In that sense, they were the only two there.
They planned it.

Speaker 21 And, you know, that bond, I think, scared Rachel more than it did Sheila. I think Sheila enjoyed it.

Speaker 21 That connection that they had. And I think that's the ultimate thing that made Rachel freak out was, oh,

Speaker 21 I'm with this forever, and it's never going away.

Speaker 14 As the parole board deliberated over what they just heard, back on our side of the call, tensions were high.

Speaker 16 She was an actress in school, and she couldn't be an actress always, as to this crime. And that garbage about being so young, and she didn't know better.
Where'd she pull that one out of?

Speaker 16 They're gonna make a decision real soon, I think.

Speaker 14 At this point, Tom addressed me directly.

Speaker 18 I don't know if you heard, but we're we're waiting right now.

Speaker 18 Several people didn't get to speak, but I think it was clear that the board members were excellent and got her to admit things she didn't admit during the hearing, which was that she did premeditate it.

Speaker 18 She knew it was going to happen. She knew where the nighs were.
And that is completely different than from before.

Speaker 24 Yeah.

Speaker 23 Can you hear me if I talk to you?

Speaker 16 Okay.

Speaker 23 I know you're with Mary and Dave. How long will you be with them? Can I call you alone afterwards so that I can recap with you?

Speaker 16 Because I didn't get a lot of the audio.

Speaker 18 Okay, yeah, that'll be fine. We're just waiting.
Let's wait for the ending.

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Speaker 14 After just a few minutes, the three members of the parole board had reached a decision.

Speaker 15 We're back on the record.

Speaker 15 All right, Ms. Chaufa, the the board has deliberated, and at this time, the board is not ready to grant you parole at this time.

Speaker 15 We will see you again in May of 2024.

Speaker 15 At that time, hopefully, no more write-ups or no write-ups at all. Just like you

Speaker 15 keep doing what you're doing, and maybe you have a better decision at that time. You will get a decision of this hearing sent to you as soon as it's completed, ma'am.
Any questions?

Speaker 15 No, sir. Just thank you for your time.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you.
Good luck.

Speaker 15 Off the record.

Speaker 18 Okay, as you heard, it was denied.

Speaker 14 Right after, Tom called me back and we spoke about what had just happened.

Speaker 18 The headline should be a life sentence for the niece family.

Speaker 18 And that's how I looked at it. And she was trying to get off, but they were stuck with this life sentence.
And that is why, you know, when they asked me, well, why are you still here?

Speaker 18 And I said, you know, I want to be very supportive of Dave.

Speaker 18 I knew the three girls. I knew Dave.

Speaker 18 But

Speaker 18 as the closer we got and as things developed, we formed a bondship that as a parent who had a daughter, I could only imagine, you know, no, I can't even imagine.

Speaker 18 But, you know, that is how I approached it, as if it was my daughter. And we've become very, very close, Dave, Mary, and I.

Speaker 14 Dave's younger brother, Michael who spoke so lovingly about his niece Schuyler at Rachel's sentencing committed suicide in 2021

Speaker 14 there's no doubt her murder played a part in his decision to end his own life

Speaker 14 I asked Tom why this wasn't mentioned in Dave's statement to the parole board

Speaker 18 They talked to me about it and

Speaker 18 Mary decided she did not want to add that that to it

Speaker 18 i said to david mary that i don't want her to think that because of her actions she still has control you can't let her see or know anything about that because that is the final straw what they want

Speaker 18 right because then they still are controlling the situation and controlling you

Speaker 22 Rachel Chof came up for her first parole hearing, the parole board deciding no parole for her. Shoff said at the hearing today, she and the other defendant in the case had a romantic relationship.

Speaker 22 There was some fighting among the three friends that Skylar had threatened to expose their relationship.

Speaker 14 Rachel was despondent after the decision. Stormy heard from her friend still in Lake and

Speaker 17 She was so distraught that she didn't make parole that she didn't come out of her room all that day. She didn't call her mom.
She didn't call her dad. She didn't call her brother.

Speaker 17 She didn't call nobody. She stayed in her room that whole day.
Nobody talk to her. She didn't eat that whole day.

Speaker 17 You know, whatever. She said that it

Speaker 17 shocked her hearing Dave and Mary's voice after so long. Mind you, though.
We're allowed to watch Snapped, Dateline, anything we want to watch. Anytime they're on it, we're allowed to watch it.

Speaker 17 You've heard Dave and Mary's voice on that. You've heard them say

Speaker 17 how you've messed their life up. But for you to hear it in real life is a different story.

Speaker 14 Rachel Schoff will be eligible again every year up until her release date of 2028.

Speaker 14 The same date Sheila Eddy will be up for her first parole hearing.

Speaker 12 10 years after finding out that Schuyler Nice was murdered by her two best friends, Morgantown is still trying to heal from the violence, the betrayal that destroyed the trust in a small town.

Speaker 12 The crime looms large here. At one point during our reporting, we wandered into the historic old Stonehouse gift shop on Chestnut Street.

Speaker 12 When we mentioned why we were in town, the volunteer shopkeep's face changed. The store went cold.
It was time to leave.

Speaker 27 I don't say we never got over it. We're slowly, it's 10 years later and we're still getting over it because when it comes up, for example, the 10-year anniversary came up.

Speaker 28 Rachel was up for

Speaker 19 parole

Speaker 28 and it brought back all the feelings.

Speaker 27 I mean, thousands of people signed this petition. It's like they still don't want to be, they don't want it to come back in our community.

Speaker 27 The community was so

Speaker 27 that happens in Philadelphia. That happens in California.
No, that happens in New York City. Not here.
Not in, you know, lovely University High School or Morgantown High School.

Speaker 27 How could something like this happen and turn on each other and no one sees it? And this, I'll call it the cancer that's in the other big cities, is now here.

Speaker 27 So now the realism hits: hey, we're not immune to what really is going on.

Speaker 12 Star City Chief of Police Jessica Colbank agrees and adds another chilling observation locals have been forced to accept.

Speaker 21 I think society around here in the community, they were shocked that this could happen here for one and that these girls could do that because they're such pretty girls is what we kept hearing.

Speaker 21 You could be the most facially beautiful person with the most destructive demonic soul. And to me, that's how these girls were.

Speaker 21 It's not,

Speaker 21 everything isn't always as it seems. So I think that was the biggest shock for the community.

Speaker 12 While Morgantown carries on, there are those who moved away. Kelly Kearns, who'd been like a second mother to Rachel, relocated with her husband to Laramie, Wyoming.

Speaker 12 And Kim Keener, the chauffeur's next-door neighbor, eventually settled in Florida, far away from the cul-de-sac with the haunted memories.

Speaker 24 But that Morgantown man, I'll tell you, I was born and raised there, but now that I've been out of it about three years looking back, I'm going to tell you that it's just really after this stuff with Rachel,

Speaker 24 just was not comfortable in the neighborhood anymore. You know, that kind of thing.
I mean, my life was just wiped out from under me. I mean, just completely wiped out from under me.

Speaker 12 Patricia Shof and Tara Eddy are both gone now, too.

Speaker 12 Before leaving town, Tara had Mike Benninger send a package to Dave and Mary Neese.

Speaker 19 And

Speaker 19 it was a necklace, and I picked it up and right away I knew I saw it before. And the note said, Mrs.
Clendennon was cleaning out

Speaker 19 her daughter's room and found this necklace and knew it didn't belong to her and thought it might be Schuyler's.

Speaker 19 Five years later, it was five years ago, I get the necklace and I look at it and I ask Mary, I said, Mary, I've seen this somewhere where it wasn't.

Speaker 19 And then it dawned on me when last time she hugged me goodbye, the necklace flew out and hit me in the chin. And I said, you watch that necklace, you're going to give me a chin bleed.

Speaker 19 And she just giggled and walked in, you know.

Speaker 19 And to find that the Addie girl took it off her neck after she murdered her.

Speaker 19 That's, I'm telling you, that's serial killer stuff right there. And it's scary as hell.
It really is.

Speaker 19 For somebody that young to be that evil,

Speaker 19 are you born with it or did you grow into it?

Speaker 14 Dave Neese still sees his daughter everywhere. He talks to her all day long.

Speaker 14 One of the ways they keep her memory alive is through Schuyler's Promise, a series of talks they give around the country to high schools and prisons to share their story and prevent what happened to Schuyler from happening to anyone else.

Speaker 19 Mary told me the other day, she goes, why do we keep doing this? And I said, I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me.

Speaker 19 She said, Dave, every time I feel like I want to stop, 10 minutes later, something kicks me. I said, that's Skylar.
She's not bashful. When she wants something done, she makes sure it gets done.

Speaker 19 And people may not believe in spirits or stuff, but I do. And I believe

Speaker 19 things don't always happen for a reason, but every cloud has a silver lining. And Skylar's death, as horrible as it was, took away from the world so much.
I mean, she would have been,

Speaker 19 It's hard to tell what she might have been president of the United States. It's hard to tell with her.
But one thing, Skyda was full of love, and that's what she wants on earth. She wants love.

Speaker 19 And she doesn't ever want this to happen to anyone again.

Speaker 19 And I don't either.

Speaker 14 Later, Dave texted me something written by his friend, Jackie Morgan. I keep it on my phone.

Speaker 14 I am often told how strong of a man I am. That is not a true statement.
I do what is necessary to survive each day.

Speaker 14 Unless you have lost a loved one to a senseless and vicious murder, you will never be able to comprehend the pain faced every day as I waken only to remember once again that my daughter is no longer with us.

Speaker 14 It is as if I lose her again each and every morning.

Speaker 14 On a back road in Brave, Pennsylvania, my heart was ripped from my body and I will never be the same again.

Speaker 14 While others my age share photographs of their grandchildren, my child is frozen in time in a school photo in my wallet, forever 16.

Speaker 14 I will never have the opportunity to walk her down the aisle as the wedding march plays and lift her veil to kiss her. as I give her hand to another man.

Speaker 14 Her mother will will never have the occasion to hold her daughter's hand as she labors to bring forth new life.

Speaker 14 However, as insurmountable as our loss has been, it does not compare to what was taken from Schuyler.

Speaker 14 She had her life stolen from her before she could graduate from university high school with honors.

Speaker 14 She was never able to attend college and become the lawyer that she intended to be.

Speaker 14 Her kindness to those that were a bit different and to every living thing could have made a major impact on the world that she knew.

Speaker 14 The life of a spirited and loving young woman such as Skyler Nice,

Speaker 14 that is something that you cannot begin to grasp exactly what could have been.

Speaker 14 Absolution is not a possibility at this point in time. It is my honest assessment that it will never be a likelihood.

Speaker 14 Forgiveness is a process, a choice you have to make over and over until you are free of all hurt and pain.

Speaker 14 My precious daughter was not only viciously murdered by two individuals that she believed to be her most trusted friends, they also betrayed her on levels that a rational person could never comprehend.

Speaker 14 Due to sickness and evil, Schuyler will be forever 16.

Speaker 19 Skylar

Speaker 19 will forever be 16.

Speaker 19 It's the worst thing I've ever heard, but it's so true.

Speaker 19 You know, everybody else is showing pictures of their grandchildren.

Speaker 19 Skylar's frozen in time.

Speaker 19 It's so unfair.

Speaker 19 She didn't do anything to deserve that.

Speaker 19 Nobody does anything to deserve something like that.

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Speaker 12 Mary and Dave eventually moved away from Morgantown too.

Speaker 12 Never allowed a moment's rest after the case was closed. They left Star City and now live just over the West Virginia-Pennsylvania state line.

Speaker 26 Well, actually, it was was a few things.

Speaker 26 Mainly, it was, you know, people knew where we lived because we had had, we had celebrated Skylar's birthday, had a candlelight vigil there. So they knew where we lived.
Well, then we

Speaker 26 would,

Speaker 16 we would come home from work and there would be people there waiting for us.

Speaker 26 And they would want to visit and, you know, bring us little gifts or just say hello or how are you doing and at first you know it was okay

Speaker 26 well then it's

Speaker 26 as it continued it it gets on your nerves

Speaker 26 you know it's like just leave us alone and we would find stuff on our doorknob you know they would leave things with our neighbors that we didn't even know only

Speaker 26 you know that was pretty embarrassing and it that and the fact that every time we turned around

Speaker 26 you know you saw skyler

Speaker 26 she loved to sit out on the deck and sunbathe and she'd prop her feet up on the banister and her and lilu would be there in the sun and you know lilu would hide under the chair away from the sun sometimes but you know and

Speaker 26 even just walking past her bedroom door, it just got to be too much. And

Speaker 26 it was just time to go. You know, both of us knew it and we just decided we wanted someplace out of the way and quiet.
So that's what we did. We moved.

Speaker 12 Mary had a heart attack two years ago. She's since retired with other health issues.
But she and Dave are strong. And having survived the worst of tragedies, they're still together.

Speaker 26 And you know, we have heard that so much about how couples end up splitting up

Speaker 26 i don't know how it's like who would they lean on or depend on

Speaker 26 if they had split up i i just i don't understand

Speaker 26 you know i would think it would be more the other way but you know

Speaker 26 dave says a lot that

Speaker 26 We helped each other. When he was down, I would help him through it.
And when I was down, he would help me through it. And that is so true.

Speaker 26 I can remember so many times just losing it for no reason, you know. And he was there.
And the same thing. You know, he would come home and

Speaker 26 be all

Speaker 26 crazy. And I'd have to calm him down.
You know, it's just,

Speaker 26 yeah, we truly were there for each other. I couldn't have done it without him.
That's for sure.

Speaker 14 Even today, after so many years have gone by, no one, from the lawyers to the prosecutors, to the investigators to the families involved, can understand how three beautiful girls, best friends, could collide in such a violent event.

Speaker 14 Sheila's attorney Mike Beninger, who stated in court he could not find a reasonable defense for his client, has a theory that doesn't explain the why of what happened, but does address how, in another era, things might have ended so differently.

Speaker 13 Had social media, cell phones, and the internet, and cellular coverage not have been in existence

Speaker 13 in 2012, Skylar Nice would be alive today, it was my opinion. And here's why.

Speaker 13 These girls would not have said and transmitted tough talk,

Speaker 13 nastiness, their messages back and forth,

Speaker 13 because they wouldn't have said those things to each other face to face. across the table like we're sitting here today

Speaker 13 or within inches of each other. They wouldn't have done that because that would be unacceptable conduct in a personal, interpersonal exchange in real time in each other's presence.

Speaker 13 That's my view of this. And once it gets to the point where it's cumulative, anxiety is cumulative, hatred, it adds up.
It's a pylon effect.

Speaker 13 And when you have two on one, as we did in that instance, it's a cumulative.

Speaker 13 It's a force multiplier in the military terms.

Speaker 12 Many times during our reporting, I've returned to Skylar's Instagram page, which is still available online with the handle at high as the underscore sky.

Speaker 12 So many artifacts of her young life live forever on the page. A close-up of Lilu with the caption, When My Dog Cuddles With Me, a Dusty Rose Sunset.

Speaker 12 Avon Natural's body mist in pomegranate and mango scent, a Jolly Rancher brand candle, a handmade beaded necklace.

Speaker 12 Also on the grid, Rachel and Sheila, the last image of whom was posted less than two weeks before the murder with the caption, I love summer.

Speaker 12 Like the items Skylar left behind, her Wendy's work shoes, her hair straightener, her diary, her goodie, and the bra recovered by the FBI.

Speaker 12 The things she immortalized on her Instagram feed seem both ordinary and infused with meaning.

Speaker 12 The intricate set dressing of a character whose life ended in the middle of the scene, forever waiting for someone to come back and claim them, to make them real again.

Speaker 14 10 years later, Schuyler's cell phone, the one they found in the woods at the murder site, remains sealed in a small Ziploc bag with the FBI tracking number still taped to the front.

Speaker 14 Open up the plastic bag and the reflection from the mirrored screen is partially covered with dried mud.

Speaker 14 Schuyler's fingerprints and nails cross the screen from her who knows how many unlocks of the pattern match.

Speaker 14 It's an LG phone, barely half the size of a teen's phone, in 2024.

Speaker 14 The FBI recovered the phone not far from Schuyler's body. They most certainly were able to break into the phone, but now the nieces have it.

Speaker 14 The phone shouldn't work at all after sitting in the wilderness for those six months. The SD card is missing, but the phone still turns on today and gets a signal.

Speaker 14 Dave has looked at the phone for hours and hours, haunted by the unknown memories of Schuyler still locked inside.

Speaker 14 I saw a butterfly was right under there, and I walked over to read the bench, and it flew up out and into the sky.

Speaker 19 Yeah, that's got her. You know,

Speaker 19 they left her in her elements. She loved the outdoors.
She loved the wilderness. And, you know,

Speaker 19 although something horrible happened here, she's happy. She's happy it is what it is now.

Speaker 13 It's a place of love.

Speaker 19 And the people that did the bench put this grape thing up. And

Speaker 19 although I don't think they'll ever get anything to grow out here because the deer will eat it before it ever gets the chance to grow but Skylar would love that too yes she would

Speaker 19 she absolutely loved animals I wouldn't even love to kill ants for God's sake

Speaker 19 she she would

Speaker 19 definitely put her foot down I remember one time I had a fly land on me and flies are annoying and I went to slap at it like this and I missed it and she goes you're lucky you missed it take it outside and let it go and I'm like how do you catch a fly and take it outside and let it go?

Speaker 19 She goes, well, they don't deserve to die, Dad. And I said, she goes, it's here on earth for a reason.
And

Speaker 19 I never really dawned on me what she meant until she was gone.

Speaker 19 And it was here on earth for a reason.

Speaker 12 Stay tuned for a bonus episode coming to you next week.

Speaker 12 3 is an original production of Wave Lamp. The series is created and written by Holly Millay and me, Justine Harmon.
The executive producer is Jason Hoke, who produced and edited the series.

Speaker 12 Associate producers are Lydia Horne and Leo Culp. Fact-checking by Lydia Horn.
Sound engineering by Shane Freeman. Music by Robert Ellis.

Speaker 12 Studio recording at CDM Studios in New York and Wild Woods Picture and Sound in Los Angeles. Special thanks to Dave and Mary Neese in the city of Morgantown, West Virginia.

Speaker 12 If you love this series, leave a review and please tell your friends. Follow Waveland on Instagram at Waveland Media for more on this series and upcoming new shows.
Thanks for listening.

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