MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One of two women convicted in the July 2012 murder of Star City teenager Skylar Neese will have her first parole hearing on May 1.
As a 17-year-old Rachel Shoaf was sentenced to 30 years in February of 2014 because circuit judge at the time, Russell Clawges said sentencing her as a juvenile “would not be justice.”
Shoaf and Shelia Eddy, then 18, admitted to stabbing their University High School classmate to death in Greene County, Pennsylvania in July of 2012. After unsuccessfully attempting to dig a makeshift grave for Neese they covered her body with brush, sticks and rocks. About seven months later, Shoaf led police to the body after suffering a nervous breakdown and confessing to the crime.
Both Shoaf and Eddy are being held in the Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County.
Supporters of Skylar Neese and the Neese family recently started an online petition calling for Shoaf’s request for parole to be rejected by the state Parole Board. It had several thousand signatures after a few days.