Sweat, Blood, Tears, and All | Chapter 7

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Speaker 4 The morning of May 1st, 2013, just hours before Sheila Eddy was arrested by FBI agent Morgan Spurlock in the Cracker Barrow parking lot, Rachel Schoff was allowed one final act of freedom.

Speaker 4 She was permitted to drive herself downtown to surrender to authorities.

Speaker 9 Schuyler's close friend, 16-year-old Rachel Schoff, has admitted to planning the murder and stabbing the victim in a remote part of Wayne Township, Pennsylvania.

Speaker 4 Her next-door neighbor Kim Keener, who for so many months had been in denial about the teens' involvement in Schuyler's disappearance, watched Rachel leave the cul-de-sac one last time.

Speaker 10 The last

Speaker 10 I saw of her, it was the day she was going to court, the day they were taking her.

Speaker 10 She had finally gotten her license. For kids, I just love when the kids get their license and learn to drive.
I mean, I was always bad for her that she didn't drive, you know?

Speaker 10 So anyway, and she drove herself to court. She's in a pretty white shirt, she backed out and gave me a wave in the rearview mirror as she drove herself into court to to be taken away for murder.

Speaker 10 I thought I was gonna choke, and I just stood there, but that's the last time I've seen her. Yeah,

Speaker 10 so oh,

Speaker 10 it was bad.

Speaker 4 16-year-old Rachel Schof, seen here in this picture from the examiner, smiling along with her friend Schuyler, admitted she killed her, but she said she did not do it alone.

Speaker 11 From Waveland, I'm Holly Millay,

Speaker 4 And I'm Justine Harmon. This is three,

Speaker 4 episode seven, sweat, blood, tears, and all.

Speaker 8 So you talked about you've represented child pornographers and murders and rapists, you name it, I've done it.

Speaker 11 Back in September 2023, our producer Jason Hoke sat down with attorney Mike Beninger in his Morgantown law office to talk about the role of a criminal defense attorney.

Speaker 8 Over hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of clients who have committed serious crimes, I'm talking about felony-level crimes,

Speaker 8 imprisonable crimes.

Speaker 8 Those people have demonstrated and said to me,

Speaker 8 I did not feel

Speaker 8 or I did not believe or I did not understand that those rules applied to me.

Speaker 8 And if they did, I don't care, because I had an emotional state

Speaker 8 that I wanted to intentionally do something. Every one of them have conveyed to me in words or actions

Speaker 8 or otherwise that they didn't believe the rules of good public policy legislated upon them in governing all of us in a civilized society applied to them.

Speaker 8 And if it did, they didn't care.

Speaker 11 Benninger is a big guy with black hair, dark eyes, and a booming voice.

Speaker 11 Super smart and grandly self-effacing, he's a real character right out of a movie.

Speaker 11 His wife Barbara is his partner in Beninger Law Firm, which specializes in personal injury and medical malpractice and defendants in deep trouble, which is why Sheila Eddy hired him.

Speaker 8 Well,

Speaker 8 I was engaged

Speaker 8 well before she was charged. I was her lawyer when she was being investigated.
She and others were being investigated. I don't remember how many months, but it would have been months to a year before.

Speaker 8 And I have worked with her since her sentencing.

Speaker 8 in confinement.

Speaker 8 Once you're someone's lawyer, you're always their lawyer. Because if something comes up that's related to that particular case, they usually call.

Speaker 11 Back in January 2014, when I first landed in Morgantown, West Virginia, it was like dropping into a snow globe.

Speaker 11 The woods all around were covered in white, surrounding a picturesque downtown below. It was freezing.
the packed snow crunching underfoot.

Speaker 11 In the historic district was the beautiful abandoned Art Deco Warner Theater, where the movie marquee was still showing the last film. The kids are all right.

Speaker 11 It was just down the street from the Monangelia Courthouse, this imposing red brick and stone structure built in 1891. Back then, the courtyard had a public whipping post, stocks, and pillories.

Speaker 11 The time on the clock tower was close to 1 p.m., and people were filing in to watch Sheila Eddy's murder trial begin.

Speaker 11 Inside the courtroom of Judge Russell Clodges, the benches were filled with spectators wearing purple, Schuyler's favorite color.

Speaker 11 Mary Nice was sitting in the gallery, a box of tissues at her feet. Dave sat next to her, gripping her hand.
On the other side sat Tara Eddy and her husband Jim Clenindon.

Speaker 11 both pale, looking shocked, staring straight ahead.

Speaker 11 The audio system, rigged to accommodate the pressroom down the hall, was picking up a staticky radio station so that Stevie wondered saying, isn't she lovely, as Sheila entered the room.

Speaker 11 She was shackled at the waist, wearing a short-sleeved orange prison jumpsuit with a long-sleeved black t-shirt underneath and white socks and sandals.

Speaker 11 Her hair was pulled back in a low, loose ponytail. She wore rectangular reading glasses, just like the ones Schuyler would sometimes wear.

Speaker 11 I was struck by how small Sheila was and how young she looked without makeup.

Speaker 4 She was not the teen in all those selfies smiling and posing and full of herself.

Speaker 4 She was not even the teen who had appeared four months earlier at her arraignment.

Speaker 4 with her long hair down, parted on the side, looking self-assured and pleading not guilty, then smiling towards the gallery and flipping her hair over her shoulder as she sat back down.

Speaker 4 And while the following month, at her pre-trial hearing, she appeared more somber, here today,

Speaker 4 she was so average.

Speaker 4 Everyone in the room had been eager to watch a trial, to hear Sheila speak, to hear what she could possibly say to defend herself against the charge of first-degree murder.

Speaker 4 Everyone also also wanted to watch Sheila face off against her co-conspirator and former best friend, Rachel Shove, who, as part of her plea deal, was now the state's star witness.

Speaker 4 But for once, Sheila decided not to fight. She would own up to killing Schuyler.
She had to.

Speaker 4 As Beninger stated at the beginning of the proceedings,

Speaker 16 We have thoughtfully, carefully, and in unison with Sheila Eddy and her family, have evaluated every piece of paper, literally every piece of paper, every video, every audio recording provided to us in discovery, pretrial proceedings.

Speaker 15 And I have found

Speaker 16 negligible, if any, factual basis upon which to develop a defense in this murder and conspiracy theories.

Speaker 4 With the exception of, yes, sir, and guilty, the girl who'd sent 4,374 tweets had nothing to say for herself. Her attorney spoke for her.

Speaker 15 I can state without hesitation or reservation that all concerned must know and understand that Sheila Eddy,

Speaker 14 my client, and her family,

Speaker 15 recognize that the niece family is in a constant state of despair, loneliness, and sadness as a result of Skyler Claire.

Speaker 15 For that, Sheila Eddy and her family are and will be eternally sorry.

Speaker 17 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 17 Guilty.

Speaker 17 The record will reflect that the defendant has entered a plea of guilty to the offense of murder and the first degree of the felony charged in Count 3 of the indictment in this case.

Speaker 17 What would the state have expected to prove in this case if it had gone to trial?

Speaker 20 Your Honor, on the night of July 5th and 6th, 2012, Schuyler-Neese disappeared and was never seen alive again.

Speaker 4 Prosecuting Attorney Marsha Ashdown continued.

Speaker 20 At a trial, the state's evidence would prove that Schuyler's disappearance and death were the result of a conspiracy between Sheila Eddy and Rachel Schoff to rid themselves of their friend Schuyler.

Speaker 20 by killing her.

Speaker 20 We have also recently received a report from the FBI laboratory that shows that a vertebrae of Schuyler that was collected from the scene of the murder shows evidence of injury that is consistent with having been caused by a knife blade.

Speaker 11 Judge Klodges, stoic, handsome, silver-haired, and bearded, turned his attention to Sheila.

Speaker 17 Ms. Eddie, have you heard what the prosecutor said the state's state's evidence would be?

Speaker 18 Yes, sir.

Speaker 17 Is that substantially correct?

Speaker 19 Yes, sir.

Speaker 17 Is that what happened?

Speaker 19 Yes, sir.

Speaker 17 Mizetti, are you entering a plea of guilty to the offense of murder in the first degree, the felony charged in Count 3 of this indictment, because you are in fact guilty of this offense? Yes, sir.

Speaker 17 Mizzetti, at this time, I would advise you of your right to allocution.

Speaker 17 That is, your right to make any statement that you might wish the court to consider before it passes sentence in this matter. Do you have anything that you wish to say at this time?

Speaker 16 On behalf of my client, she

Speaker 16 asked that she be permitted to remain silent.

Speaker 11 Then Schuyler's aunt Carol spoke of all the hopes and dreams Sheila had taken away from her sister Mary.

Speaker 11 From Schuyler's prom to graduation, having a wedding, being a grandmother, many in the gallery were crying.

Speaker 11 Next, Dave Neese walked up and stood at the prosecutor's table where prosecuting attorney Marcia Ashdown and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Perry Joe DeChristopher were both seated.

Speaker 14 My name is David Neese, my Schuyler's father.

Speaker 15 I'm here today with my wife, Mary.

Speaker 15 I speak to you on behalf of my daughter because she can't be here.

Speaker 15 On July 6th, she made the decision to leave our house and go through a window and

Speaker 15 supposedly go with two friends. And I use that term.

Speaker 15 I'm sure you know what I mean.

Speaker 15 When we learned that she was missing, we immediately went to the Star City Police who couldn't do anything with us. So they just listed her as a runaway.

Speaker 15 Since that date, my life, my wife's wife's life, has

Speaker 18 drastically altered. We are no longer a family.

Speaker 18 The person sitting before you, Scott's so-called friend, took her away from us without any remorse or feelings.

Speaker 18 You can look into the eyes of those who are responsible, but you can never hear what they heard as they were taking her life.

Speaker 18 You can see the faces of the killer, but you can't see Skylar's face.

Speaker 18 You can never understand the fear that she must have had

Speaker 18 as he took the knife and ended her life.

Speaker 18 You cannot imagine the pain that Scott must have felt and the pain that Mary and I now feel.

Speaker 18 Your heart started searching her face.

Speaker 4 Alex Lang recalls being there, reporting for the Dominion Post.

Speaker 19 The way she acted just seems devoid of most human emotions.

Speaker 19 I never saw any remorse.

Speaker 19 Sheila is a psychopath. I have no doubt of it in my mind.
If she didn't kill Skyler, she would have killed somebody else in her life. I say that because I always viewed Rachel as more of a follower.

Speaker 19 I think

Speaker 19 Sheila was the one that

Speaker 19 came up with the idea and Rachel kind of went along with it.

Speaker 4 Today, what we do know is that Sheila Eddy pleaded to the first degree murder of the girl that she once called her best friend, Schuyler Neese.

Speaker 4 The judge took it all in and made his determination.

Speaker 17 Sheila Eddy, for your conviction of the offense of murder in the first degree upon your plea of guilty,

Speaker 17 it is a sentence of the court that you'd be imprisoned in the West Virginia State Penitentiary for the rest of your natural life.

Speaker 17 Consistent with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States,

Speaker 17 that sentence is technically with mercy, which makes you eligible for parole after you have served 15 years.

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Speaker 11 The morning of May 1st, after surrendering to law enforcement, Rachel Schoff, in the presence of her lawyer, John Angati and prosecuting attorney Marsha Ashdown, signed a simple two-page guilty plea to murder in the second degree.

Speaker 11 A month after Sheila was sentenced, I was back in the same courtroom for Rachel's sentencing. She faced up to 40 years in prison.

Speaker 11 But regardless, given her plea deal, and the fact that she was only 16 at the time of the murder, Rachel at most would serve only 15 years.

Speaker 11 There were those in town who found the sentence too light given the nature of the crime. But Marcia Ashdown and Perry Joe de Christopher had their reasons.

Speaker 24 We had to take into account the fact that Rachel had been the first one to come forward. The belief at that time was that if she hadn't caved in, the case would have gone on and on unsolved.

Speaker 24 Potentially, after so much time passes, even in a terrible incident like that, or a child gone missing, people move on and it's not on the front of people's minds anymore.

Speaker 24 It's, you know, it takes a back seat and then more and more time passes and then maybe people begin to forget about it.

Speaker 24 The case goes cold, the investigation has reached a point where it can't continue. And so That was the deal that was made with Rachel Sho for her cooperation.

Speaker 25 If she hadn't given that statement, if the whole prosecution had taken place beginning to end without her giving a statement, without her testifying at trial, there would have been

Speaker 25 no way for us or law enforcement to know the details of the murder. But for that statement, that prosecution could have gone without any detail from her.

Speaker 25 It would have only had to have been put together by evidence that we had, which was super limited.

Speaker 24 As to why she blurted out that we stabbed her, as opposed to coming up with a milder version of what happened,

Speaker 24 they know they just need to come clean.

Speaker 24 And whoever comes in first to come clean might be in a better position than the one who didn't come in from the cold.

Speaker 26 So

Speaker 24 that's really how that happened.

Speaker 11 Those sitting in the gallery were familiar, as we'd all seen each other at Sheila's sentencing in January.

Speaker 11 People chatted, waiting for the proceedings to begin, when Judge Clodges came in and delivered a scolding lecture.

Speaker 11 It has come to my attention from a reliable source. People in the courtroom were tweeting or texting photographs during the proceedings.

Speaker 11 Was there anybody texting or tweeting or taking any photographs?

Speaker 11 Heads swiveled. Not a hand was raised.
With that settled, the back door opened and Rachel Shof, shackled and outfitted in orange like Sheila, entered and walked up the center aisle.

Speaker 11 She was also nearly unrecognizable. Having gained weight, her face was doughy, and her beautiful long red hair had been cut to her shoulders.

Speaker 11 Her mother Patricia and Father Rusty sat just behind her, clearly distressed.

Speaker 13 We are here this morning in the case of state of West Virginia versus Rachel Shof's defendant. It's case number 13F88.

Speaker 13 This matter is set for sentencing. The record will reflect the presence of the state of West Virginia by Marsha Ashdown, prosecuting attorney, Harriet Christopher, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney.

Speaker 11 Rachel's lawyer, John Ann Gotti, stood and addressed the judge.

Speaker 13 Rachel would like to speak to the court first, and then I would like to follow up after she's finished her statement. Okay, very well, Ms.
Schof. I would advise you at this time if you're right.

Speaker 11 Rachel stood and turned and locked eyes with Mary and Dave, then read to them what she'd written.

Speaker 28 I'm so sorry.

Speaker 28 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 11 Turning back, she faced the judge and kept going.

Speaker 28 The person that did that was not the real me. Not the person I am.
Not what I'm made of and not what I believe in.

Speaker 28 I don't think I ever thought this would actually happen.

Speaker 11 A subtle, squirmy energy filled the room. You could see people side-eye one another, press elbows with their neighbors, and steal glances over to Mary and Day.

Speaker 28 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 28 I hurt the Nice family and those who love Skylar. I hurt my parents and shamed my family.
I hurt my extended family and all of my friends who loved me. I hurt my teachers and those who believed in me.

Speaker 28 I hurt my church family, my community, and those who trusted me. And I hurt my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
May God bring eternal peace to Schuyler and the entire Neese family.

Speaker 28 Again, I'm so sorry, and I pray each day for everyone involved, and I pray each day for forgiveness.

Speaker 11 As Rachel was reading, Dave stared at her, his face tight as a fist.

Speaker 11 Mary, looking looking down, wept quietly.

Speaker 4 With that, Rachel sat down and wiped away tears with the Kleenex as her lawyer spoke of her, quote, genuine remorse and empathy for the Neese family, noting that it would be, quote, detrimental to Rachel's health to place her in a prison with Sheila Eddy.

Speaker 4 At the next table, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Perry Joe de Christopher sat stone-faced with her arms folded across her chest.

Speaker 4 Next to her, lead prosecutor Marsha Ashdown looked locked and loaded, ready to speak, armed with the details of Rachel's confession and law enforcement evidence.

Speaker 4 But first, members of Schuyler's family would give victim impact statements.

Speaker 4 Two sheriff's deputies quietly appeared between where Rachel was sitting and Dave Neese stood.

Speaker 4 He was brief, saying how their lives had been a living hell since Schuyler disappeared.

Speaker 4 And he asked Judge Clodges to sentence Rachel to 40 years plus.

Speaker 11 Lastly, Dave Neese's younger brother Michael approached the lectern. He spoke for over 10 minutes about how he'd Xeroxed 200 missing persons' flyers.

Speaker 11 and handed them out in the Kroger parking lot and tucked them under windshield wipers on cars.

Speaker 11 He didn't know that tears were rolling down his cheeks until a shopper stopped and asked him if he was okay.

Speaker 11 He said every time he was driving, his wife would tell him to look for Skylar. She could be walking on the side of the road and that he still looks for her.

Speaker 11 He spoke of the only time he went to Skylar's site and how Dave and Mary stood by the oak tree where she was found. He could hear them sniffling.
Mary, talking to Schuyler, said,

Speaker 11 I always told you to never sneak out.

Speaker 11 And Dave, so sad, said, you see where that got you?

Speaker 11 Michael was crying hard now, barely able to speak.

Speaker 11 Then he recalled the last time he saw Schuyler was at his mother's funeral, and she ran over to him. and hugged him so hard she put a kink in his neck.

Speaker 11 Mary was weeping. Many in the courtroom were crying, including Rachel, who covered her face in her hands.

Speaker 12 I know in my heart, Skylar fought that night for her life, and now she's gone. Your Honor, I'm here today to fight for her as hard as she did to stay alive.

Speaker 12 The admitted murder sitting here today

Speaker 12 has nothing nothing but blatant disregard for human life and deserves the maximum sentence for her role. And I quote, this extremely horrific and vile crime she committed on my niece.

Speaker 12 She may have admitted to murder, but at what cost, Your Honor? Showing no emotion or care in the world

Speaker 12 for six months

Speaker 12 should be dealt with with no compassion towards her because she never gave Skylar one ounce of mercy.

Speaker 11 He concluded with a single quote:

Speaker 12 Those given to harming others bear within themselves the seeds of their own destruction.

Speaker 21 Thank you very much.

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Speaker 4 The last to speak for Schuyler was prosecutor Marcia Ashdown.

Speaker 4 She wore a black suit, white button-down shirt, and black and white scarf. The courtroom fell silent as she stood and walked to the lectern.

Speaker 21 This is what Rachel Schoff finally told police on January 3rd, 2013.

Speaker 21 And this is information from the documentation of her statement to police on that day.

Speaker 21 She said,

Speaker 21 we stabbed her,

Speaker 21 referring to herself and Sheila Eddy. They killed Schuyler because the girls always fought with Schuyler.

Speaker 12 And she was, quote, in the way

Speaker 21 of the friendship between Rachel and Sheila.

Speaker 4 In an even tone, Ashdown recounted the events starting in the spring of 2012 when Sheila and Rachel sat in science class complaining about Schuyler and Rachel joked, we should kill her.

Speaker 4 And how at that moment, the decision was made.

Speaker 4 Rachel and Sheila discussed methods of murdering Schuyler. Without access to firearms, they decided on knives.

Speaker 4 As reflected in their tweets during the last months of school, the conflict intensified and the idea took hold.

Speaker 4 That first week of June, when Sheila and Schuyler were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, their fighting escalated, and once again, they came to physical blows.

Speaker 4 Back in Morgantown, Sheila told Rachel, and the two decided to kill Schuyler before Rachel left for church camp in July.

Speaker 4 Having set the stage, Marcia Ashdown then detailed what happened the night of the crime.

Speaker 4 Those in the gallery who'd attended Sheila's sentencing were braced for what they'd heard then, but still couldn't believe.

Speaker 4 Those hearing the facts for the first time sat stunned.

Speaker 4 The temperature on that terrible night, July 5th, 2012 was in the 90s, dropping to 80 degrees after midnight.

Speaker 4 Hot as it was, Rachel and Sheila wore hoodies under which they had knives Sheila brought from her mother's house.

Speaker 4 In the car trunk were a change of clothes, cleaning supplies, and the shovel Rachel took from her father's garage.

Speaker 4 Once in Brave, Pennsylvania, they were walking into the woods to get high when Skyler turned to go back to the car for her lighter.

Speaker 4 Rachel initiated the violence with their practiced on three

Speaker 4 command:

Speaker 4 one,

Speaker 7 two

Speaker 4 three

Speaker 4 at one point during the frenzy skylar got away but rachel tackled her in the struggle skylar managed to take rachel's knife and cut her below the knee but sheila caught up with them and skylar could not escape them both

Speaker 4 then marsha ashdown added a detail no one had heard before the image of which is unshakable

Speaker 26 rachel Schof described the scene as having lots of blood and it was never cleaned up following the attack and blood remained on the gravel road.

Speaker 26 Rachel Schof estimated that Schuyler was stabbed 10 times

Speaker 26 before she died

Speaker 21 and she explained that during the attack

Speaker 26 Schuyler niece's neck made weird sounds and they both continued to stab her until those noises stopped.

Speaker 4 Ashdown said that during the commission of that murder, Eddie and Rachel Shoff stabbed Schuyler with kitchen knives that they'd hidden on their bodies, and that the two girls stood over Skylar's body until the very last breath.

Speaker 11 As horrific and exact as Rachel's confession had been, she did not admit to the actual number of times they'd assaulted Schuyler.

Speaker 11 That was determined by the FBI's forensic pathologist who examined the nick marks on her bones. Chris Berry again.

Speaker 29 It's nothing against Marsha. She's going to base on Rachel, but we learned it was over 50 times.
That was from the medical examiner himself even quit counting

Speaker 29 because there were so many. She goes, we know we're at 50, but you guys, it could be more.
I couldn't figure that out why we couldn't find the knives.

Speaker 29 Well, the girls were going to tell us where the knives were.

Speaker 29 Honey and I, we looked and we looked, but

Speaker 29 I mean, it got to the point. It's like, fuck it, we got the confession.

Speaker 4 After the FBI seized Sheila's car on January 9th, they sprayed the trunk with luminol. And there, inside, Schuyler's blood DNA lit up in fluorescent blue.

Speaker 4 That was the ultimate evidence of the murder and who had committed it.

Speaker 4 Schuyler's DNA, unseen by the naked eye, had survived not only the July, August, and September heat, but also Sheila and Rachel's rigorous cleanup job after the crime.

Speaker 29 Leaders are sloppy about it. Blood transfer will go a long, long way.
Our crime scene,

Speaker 29 you know, I could

Speaker 29 prick my thumb over and put on that post. right by that plate in five years from now you can go test it and still prove it's been by my dna

Speaker 29 so

Speaker 29 blood goes for a long way. If they don't light this table, this fingerprint will stay here for another two years and you can still lift it.

Speaker 29 You could actually use the sweat, the DNA off of it, and prove it's me.

Speaker 29 Sweat, blood, tears, and all.

Speaker 4 While Rachel's lawyer, John Ann Gotti, had argued that Rachel should be sentenced to a juvenile detention facility until she turned 18, citing that her confession had solved the case, Marsha Ashdown countered that argument.

Speaker 4 She ended her statement to the judge with these words.

Speaker 21 Rachel Schof began to understand how she needed to and how she might be able to reduce her exposure. That's when she came in from the cold alone and first.

Speaker 21 That's when she confessed for a price.

Speaker 21 She sold her confession to police for the ultimate bargain of her plea to second-degree murder in West Virginia.

Speaker 21 That's what happens to solve some criminal cases. And to the extent that Rachel Schof's confession, for which she extracted this benefit,

Speaker 21 assisted the investigation, she has been compensated by the agreement for her plea to second-degree murder, and therewith her sentence of substantially less than a life term.

Speaker 21 That is her reward,

Speaker 21 and it is more than sufficient. Surely,

Speaker 21 for this oh-so-adult crime of cold-blooded, planned, premeditated murder, there is no proper sentence other than an adult sentence.

Speaker 4 Judge Clodges agreed. For her conviction of murder in the second degree, he sentenced Rachel Schof to 30 years in an adult prison, which would make her eligible for parole in 10.

Speaker 11 Marcia Ashdown stood in the back of the room with the Nice Nice family, surrounded by reporters, and answered questions.

Speaker 30 In the catalog of cases that cross your desk,

Speaker 30 how would you characterize this one?

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 24 murders are murders, and every murder is a loss to a family.

Speaker 21 It's a tragedy.

Speaker 24 This has been

Speaker 24 definitely up a few more notches because of the

Speaker 24 youthfulness of

Speaker 11 Schuyler,

Speaker 24 our victim, and the youthfulness of these girls and the

Speaker 24 evil character of it that really

Speaker 24 I'd say once again, I cannot understand. No one can understand that.

Speaker 24 And it's hard to look at.

Speaker 24 It's hard to think about.

Speaker 24 And

Speaker 24 I don't know what to say beyond that. I think everyone agrees that it's a horror.

Speaker 4 Kelly Kearns, who'd written a character reference on behalf of Rachel to the judge, recalls seeing Alex Lang's overnight coverage in the Dominion Post.

Speaker 31 I had to go to school the next day and I took the newspaper with me and I was subbing and I opened it and there across our newspaper with giant bold letters, it said guilty.

Speaker 31 And it had Rachel's picture.

Speaker 31 And I pretty much dropped to the ground, and they had to get a sub for the sub

Speaker 31 because I could not,

Speaker 31 I could not wrap my head around it. It was,

Speaker 31 I just, I, till I saw those words, I just could not believe

Speaker 31 that she actually did this.

Speaker 11 At the end of the the day, the big question was still unanswered. Why did Sheila and Rachel go to the extreme of killing Schuyler?

Speaker 11 As Ronnie Gaskins told me in 2014.

Speaker 19 That's something that I asked Rachel

Speaker 19 on the day of her confession,

Speaker 19 and her only response was, we didn't like her. I knew there was more to it than just that, you know.

Speaker 19 But to this day, I can't give you an actual and honest answer as to why.

Speaker 22 Well, what bothers me the most is

Speaker 22 she was very verbal i mean if she didn't agree with something

Speaker 22 she was very verbal about it

Speaker 22 so why was she not that way with those two

Speaker 22 it's like she let them run over her

Speaker 22 and

Speaker 12 guide her i mean

Speaker 22 just like them having their little

Speaker 22 tete a tete and having Schuyler locked in the room with them and you know why

Speaker 22 I cannot see Schuyler allowing that that blows my mind that it doesn't seem like Schuyler to me

Speaker 22 but and and even the night she snuck out if they were truly having

Speaker 22 those issues that all the kids are saying they would

Speaker 22 school and all this

Speaker 22 why in the world would she go with them

Speaker 4 next time on three

Speaker 4 every day they see each other all day they're on the yard together all the time when rachel first got there she look hustered out for telling order publicly like there were a lot of people witnessed who witnessed oh yes oh yes there is no secrets in prison we're coming to you through google meets uh through video to the lake and correctional Center.

Speaker 32 Ma'am, are you

Speaker 32 Rachel Schof with a DOC number 357-3506 and a

Speaker 32 date of birth of June 10th, 1996?

Speaker 19 Yes, sir.

Speaker 32 And ma'am, my records indicate this is your first time up in front of the parole board

Speaker 32 on this charge. Is that correct?

Speaker 19 Yes, sir.

Speaker 4 3 is an original production of Wavelamp. 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 4 Associate producers are Lydia Horne and Leo Culp. Fact-checking by Lydia Horn.
Sound engineering by Shane Freeman. Music by Robert Ellis.

Speaker 4 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 4 If you love the series, leave 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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