The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines by Daleen Berry, Geoffrey C. Fuller
Authors: Daleen Berry, Geoffrey C. Fuller
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done more online to try to locate her?” Colebank asked.
“I’ve been too upset.”
“That’s bullshit, and I don’t believe it for a second. If that was my friend, I’d be blowing up their Facebook page. I’d be blowing their Twitter account up if I didn’t know where they were at. You know where she’s at. So tell me.”
“I told you, we dropped her off,” Shelia said.
The story didn’t make any sense to Colebank, and she immediately suspected that Rachel and Shelia were lying. She just wasn’t sure what they were lying about.
Almost as an afterthought, Colebank asked Shelia why she hadn’t yet tweeted anything
about
Skylar. It was odd, she said, that Shelia hadn’t spread the word about Skylar’s disappearance. At that point Shelia started crying and mumbled something about missing her best friend. That’s when Tara shut the interview down.
A few hours later, two retweets went out from Shelia’s phone. A UHS girl had tweeted a pic of Skylar’s MISSING poster, and Shelia had sent it out for all her network to see. Another one had tweeted the same MISSING flyer and the message,
Hey guys this girl goes to UHS please retweet.
Shelia did.
Chapter 10
A Wild Child Runaway
Three days after Skylar disappeared, WBOY, one of three local TV stations, told viewers the local girl was missing. WAJR, a station with a popular call-in show, tweeted,
Police looking for a missing Star City teen
the same day, July 9.
One day later, the only newspaper in town,
The Dominion Post
, ran its own story. “Police, Family Seek Missing 16-year-old,” read the headline in the July 10 edition. The story described the teenager and the clothing she was last seen wearing. It also quoted Dave, who said Skylar’s cell phone was “shut off or out of power.”
The article ended on a poignant note, relaying the distraught father’s message for his missing daughter:
Just come home, baby.
That same day, as the media geared up to cover the story, the Star City Police Department received good news: Skylar had been spotted in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. She was reportedly seen hanging around a boardwalk with an unidentified red-haired girl. A local woman with West Virginia connections had learned about Skylar on Facebook and called in the tip.
Colebank was skeptical. She didn’t believe Skylar was a runaway and doubted the teenager would surface in North Carolina. She’d been wrong before, though, and she fervently hoped she was wrong again this time.
While Carolina Beach police tried to track down the lead, Colebank phoned the Neeses. Dave answered.
“Who has red hair, Dave?” Not having met her, Colebank didn’t know about Rachel Shoaf’s trademark tresses.
“That’d be Rachel. Why?”
“We may have something. I’ll call you back.”
Next, Colebank called church camp officials. It was possible that Rachel had left camp, and she and Skylar had taken a mini-vacation. Maybe they were skipping out on their responsibilities and worrying their parents, acting like typical teenagers. She hoped this was the case.
Colebank lost her optimism when camp officials put Rachel on the line. Skylar’s other best friend claimed she didn’t know the teen was missing. Colebank found that quite odd. Even if Rachel was out of touch at camp, she could have learned the news almost any time Friday before she left Morgantown. Rachel suggested that Colebank call Shelia, saying she wasn’t as close to Skylar as Shelia was. Colebank wasn’t sure that was true but said she would. Before hanging up, the young officer asked Rachel to stop by the department when she returned to Morgantown.
“I will,” Rachel promised.
***
Despite the lack of support from the AMBER Alert program and the absence of widespread media coverage, the news about Skylar was spreading. Momentum was building on social media, especially on Facebook. More and more people were sharing Skylar’s MISSING poster. On Thursday, July 12, Joanne’s daughter, Rikki
“I’ve been too upset.”
“That’s bullshit, and I don’t believe it for a second. If that was my friend, I’d be blowing up their Facebook page. I’d be blowing their Twitter account up if I didn’t know where they were at. You know where she’s at. So tell me.”
“I told you, we dropped her off,” Shelia said.
The story didn’t make any sense to Colebank, and she immediately suspected that Rachel and Shelia were lying. She just wasn’t sure what they were lying about.
Almost as an afterthought, Colebank asked Shelia why she hadn’t yet tweeted anything
about
Skylar. It was odd, she said, that Shelia hadn’t spread the word about Skylar’s disappearance. At that point Shelia started crying and mumbled something about missing her best friend. That’s when Tara shut the interview down.
A few hours later, two retweets went out from Shelia’s phone. A UHS girl had tweeted a pic of Skylar’s MISSING poster, and Shelia had sent it out for all her network to see. Another one had tweeted the same MISSING flyer and the message,
Hey guys this girl goes to UHS please retweet.
Shelia did.
Chapter 10
A Wild Child Runaway
Three days after Skylar disappeared, WBOY, one of three local TV stations, told viewers the local girl was missing. WAJR, a station with a popular call-in show, tweeted,
Police looking for a missing Star City teen
the same day, July 9.
One day later, the only newspaper in town,
The Dominion Post
, ran its own story. “Police, Family Seek Missing 16-year-old,” read the headline in the July 10 edition. The story described the teenager and the clothing she was last seen wearing. It also quoted Dave, who said Skylar’s cell phone was “shut off or out of power.”
The article ended on a poignant note, relaying the distraught father’s message for his missing daughter:
Just come home, baby.
That same day, as the media geared up to cover the story, the Star City Police Department received good news: Skylar had been spotted in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. She was reportedly seen hanging around a boardwalk with an unidentified red-haired girl. A local woman with West Virginia connections had learned about Skylar on Facebook and called in the tip.
Colebank was skeptical. She didn’t believe Skylar was a runaway and doubted the teenager would surface in North Carolina. She’d been wrong before, though, and she fervently hoped she was wrong again this time.
While Carolina Beach police tried to track down the lead, Colebank phoned the Neeses. Dave answered.
“Who has red hair, Dave?” Not having met her, Colebank didn’t know about Rachel Shoaf’s trademark tresses.
“That’d be Rachel. Why?”
“We may have something. I’ll call you back.”
Next, Colebank called church camp officials. It was possible that Rachel had left camp, and she and Skylar had taken a mini-vacation. Maybe they were skipping out on their responsibilities and worrying their parents, acting like typical teenagers. She hoped this was the case.
Colebank lost her optimism when camp officials put Rachel on the line. Skylar’s other best friend claimed she didn’t know the teen was missing. Colebank found that quite odd. Even if Rachel was out of touch at camp, she could have learned the news almost any time Friday before she left Morgantown. Rachel suggested that Colebank call Shelia, saying she wasn’t as close to Skylar as Shelia was. Colebank wasn’t sure that was true but said she would. Before hanging up, the young officer asked Rachel to stop by the department when she returned to Morgantown.
“I will,” Rachel promised.
***
Despite the lack of support from the AMBER Alert program and the absence of widespread media coverage, the news about Skylar was spreading. Momentum was building on social media, especially on Facebook. More and more people were sharing Skylar’s MISSING poster. On Thursday, July 12, Joanne’s daughter, Rikki
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