STAR CITY, W.Va. — This weekend marks two years since Skylar Neese, 16, was last seen at her family’s Star City home in Monongalia County.
Since the first anniversary of Neese’s disappearance last July, two other teenagers who were supposed to be her friends — Rachel Shoaf, 18, and Shelia Eddy, 18 — have been sentenced to prison time for her murder.
Daleen Berry, a journalist, and Geoffrey Fuller, an investigator, focus on what motivated both Shoaf and Eddy in their new book Pretty Little Killers: The Truth Behind the Savage Murder of Skylar Neese.
Pretty Little Killers expands on the e-book Berry and Fuller previously released.
“What we’re finding is a ton of people who actually did buy the e-book want this book too because it tells the reason why she (Neese) was killed,” Berry said.
The new book follows the January guilty plea from Shelia Eddy, 18, in Monongalia County Circuit Court. Eddy was sentenced to life in prison with mercy for first degree murder — meaning she’ll be eligible for parole in 15 years — for her role in stabbing Neese to death in rural Pennsylvania two years ago.
Eddy’s co-defendant, Rachel Shoaf, recently turned 18. She is currently serving a 30 year prison sentence for second degree murder for Neese’s death. Shoaf will be eligible for parole in ten years.
Fuller said many more people — including family, friends, investigators and other key sources like a friend of Shoaf’s mother — were willing to speak publicly about the case after it became clear Eddy would not go to trial on murder charges. Shoaf had entered her guilty plea in 2013.
“Afterwards, they were more talkative and also other people came forward,” Fuller said.
Berry and Fuller were guests on a recent edition of “Morgantown AM,” heard on WAJR-AM, a MetroNews affiliate. Hear their full interview with Jim Stallings and Kay Murray here.