markgribben.com » Deadly Love Triangle

8/22/2006

Deadly Love Triangle

Category: 1990s —

On January 10, 1992, Melinda Loveless, Lauri Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence picked up Shanda Renee Sharer at her father’s home and committed a shockingly brutal murder that horrified their small southern Indiana town on a number of levels.
Not only was the torture-murder of Shanda incredibly violent in its own right, its undercurrents of lesbian relationships and teenage promiscuity let the people of Jefferson County know in no uncertain terms that no place was safe from the temptations of the world.

For similar stories of senseless teen violence, see “She Just Felt Mean,” “Beyond Redemption“,”Me and My Big Mouth,” and “Actual Innocence?”

Shanda Renee Sharer Despite her tender years, Shanda had been involved with Amanda Heavrin, a 15-year-old girl whom Loveless, 17, claimed as her girlfriend. Shanda and Amanda struck up a friendship while sitting in detention and they began to exchange explicit notes of an intimate nature. Loveless, a New Albany, Indiana resident, wanted to put an end to the affair when she found some of the letters and she chose to frighten Shanda so that she would have no further contact with Amanda.
The four teenagers — Loveless, Tackett, Rippey, and Lawrence — went to hear a punk-rock group at a nightclub in Louisville, across the river from New Albany. Lawrence and Rippey were friends with Tackett, 17, but neither had met Loveless or Shanda before the night of January 10, 1992. Following the performance, Loveless started complaining that Shanda “was trying to steal her girlfriend.”
Melinda Loveless After Loveless suggested killing Shanda, the group headed back to New Albany and picked up their victim at her father’s home.
The attack began quickly. Shortly after the Shanda got into their car, Loveless, who had been hiding beneath a blanket in the backseat, pulled Shanda’s head back and put a knife to her throat in order to scare her. The girls took her to an abandoned house in Madison, Indiana. While at the house, the group teased and threatened the 12-year-old girl, but she was essentially unharmed when they left this house.
Lauri Tackett The girls went to Tackett’s house, where Loveless and Tackett battered Shanda. Loveless punched her victim in the stomach and kneed her in the mouth. Tackett choked and stabbed Shanda, then locked her in the car’s trunk. There was evidence presented in court that when Shanda began screaming Tackett took a small knife and cut her again. Loveless and Tackett drove around most of the night, stopping so that Tackett could beat Shanda with a tire iron.
After they thought Shanda was dead, the two girls returned to Tackett’s house to pick up Rippey and Lawrence. They decided to dispose of her body by burning it, apparently unaware of the fact that Shanda was still alive. Rippey suggested a good location in the country for burning the body and they drove there. Lawrence remained in the beat-up Chevy while the others went to the back of the car and opened the trunk. There, to their surprise, Shanda was still alive, clad only in her underpants with no protection from the cold or from the girls who wanted her dead. When the killers pulled her from the trunk and threw her to the frozen ground, the battered pre-teen could only gasp one last plea for help.
Hope Rippey “Mommy,” was all she said as the girls covered her with an old blanket and Rippey and Loveless doused her with gasoline.
They set her on fire, burning Shanda alive. The girls left the scene and went to eat breakfast.
The body was discovered that morning by a hunter who immediately called the police. An autopsy established that Shanda had died from smoke inhalation and burns, though there were a variety of other injuries, including sodomization.
Police in the rural community were not often called upon to handle murder investigations and their first impression was that such a violent crime could not have originated in their close-knit community.
“We didn’t have any missing-person reports,” Jefferson County Sheriff Richard Shipley told the Chicago Tribune. “I had to assume the body dumped here had come from another part of the world.”
The idea that a love-triangle was at the heart of the murder was disturbing to many adults in Madison who didn’t believe that “big city” ideas of sexuality had touched the community.
Youngsters in town, however, begged to differ. When the media descended on the 12,000 citizen community to cover the crime, teenagers spoke freely of early adolescent sexual activity.
But even among “enlightened” teens, homosexuality was still far from being accepted. Just how sexually active the members of the murderous triangle were remained a subject of debate. Many people wrote off the relationships as an expression of the close bonds young women develop as they mature.
Toni Lawrence Loveless, however, was no stranger to out-of-the-ordinary sexuality. Most of her experience was non-consensual and that helped shape her world view.
Her early life included what the the prosecution, in an audacious understatement, described as “bad family dynamics and an unorthodox childhood.” Her early years included being molested by her father as an infant. She also watched helpless as her father, a transvestite who several times attempted suicide, molested her sisters, cousin, and other young girls. On one occasion her father attempted to kill her mother in front of the children.
In 1993, after his children testified at Loveless’s sentencing hearing about his sexual abuse, an Indiana warrant charged Loveless with 11 counts of child sex abuse from 1968 to 1989, the years he lived with the family in New Albany.
Loveless could not turn to her mother for support, either. Her mother was also suicidal and when she learned her daughter showed lesbian tendencies, she rejected her.
“These sorts of experiences tended to produce in the developing and dependent child a perverse view of human relationships which made her incapable of recognizing or responding to the pain of others,” the Supreme Court of Indiana wrote in 1994 referring to Loveless’s childhood.
Together, Loveless and Tackett were a lethal combination. Loveless had been so abused during her formative years that she was unable to feel any sort of empathy. Tackett, raised in a conservative religious atmosphere that banned rock music and movies, rebelled in her late teen years and became interested in the occult.
Just why the two younger girls, Rippey and Lawrence, both 15, went along with the plan remains speculative. Experts watching the case blamed their participation on peer pressure and the adolescent need for acceptance.
Police quickly broke the case when in the company of her parents, Lawrence came to the Madison police station in a state of hysteria wanting to talk about the case. She told authorities what transpired the day before.
Around 3 a.m. on January 13, 1992, police received warrants to arrest Loveless and Tackett and they were taken to the Madison jail.
Jefferson County Prosecutor Guy Townsend reserved the right to seek the death penalty against Loveless and Tackett. Rippey, who turned 16 six months after the murder, was too young under Indiana law for capital punishment.
Lawrence agreed in April 1992 to plead guilty to criminal confinement and testify against the others. In return, prosecutors agreed to drop six charges against her, including murder.
In an agreement to plead guilty in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, Tackett and Loveless pleaded guilty in January 1993 to murder and two lesser charges. They both received 60-year terms and will be eligible for parole in 2020.
Toni Lawrence completed nearly nine years of her 20-year sentence for a criminal confinement conviction and was released in 2000.
In April 1993, Rippey pleaded guilty to murder. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison. She was released in 2006 after serving 13 years of her sentence that had been reduced by a judge to 35 years.

95 comments »

Mark,

The thought of this still sends chills down my spine. I live in near-by Louisville - of course everyone around here was shocked by what these ‘girls’ did to Shanda.

What a shame…

Comment by Butch — 8/25/2006 @ 6:46 pm
I just read the book, Cruel Sacrifice, and i was just appalled by what these 4 girls did.
They’re all under the age of 18, what the hell went through they’re mind when they were
planning to kill this innocent little 12-year-old ? I have sympathy for Toni Lawrence for being
at the wrong place at the wrong time. From what i understand she didn’t have anything to do
with the murder, but she knew ahead of time that it was going to happen, why didnt she get
help ? I feel sympathy but at the same time anger because she KNEW this was going to go down
and she didn’t think to tell anyone about it. She could have saved a life, but she decided not
to. I understand that she was afraid of Laurie Tackett and Melinda Loveless and what they were
capable of doing that night but she should of stood up and did something, even if it did cost
her life. She could of saved Shanda Sharer. For the rest of the girls, they deserve to rot in
hell for their actions! There is no excuse for this type of murder. They’re criminals and they
all deserve to rot in they’re jail cells for the rest of their lives. I hope the gruesome
murder of Shanda Sharer haunts them for the rest of their lives, Toni also. She might of not
helped murder the girl but she didnt do anything and for that, the murder should haunt her as
well. This crime is very disturbing and no one should get away with something like this. I’m
disgusted.

Comment by Breanna — 8/30/2006 @ 1:12 am
I also read the book, Cruel Sacrifice. I am very disgusted with the result of the sentencing as well as the testimony given by the Loveless family. If Melinda Loveless and her sisters were indeed molested and abused by their father, Larry Loveless, then the testimonies made in Melinda’s defense should’ve made a long time ago in the attempt to save a child, not to shorten the sentence of a murderer. I have no pity for Melinda or what so ever, because each year, thousands of children around the world suffer from child molesting/abuse. I am not saying that child abuse is right. What I am trying to indicate is that even though Melinda did have a tragic childhood, it does not mean that she is special and has the right to take another life. I just think her family members are reallyh pathetic. As for Laurie, I have nothing of say about her. She is merely a dangerous person that people need to stay away from. As for Hope, I am very angry that her sentence was shortened. Of all the girls, she deserves to be punished the most. If at that very fateful night, Shanda was killed by 4 mad people, then her death would be only tragic. However, there were two other sane persons who came from good families. They knew what Tackett and Loveless was doing. To make things worse, Hope not only didn’t stop the murder or run for help, she even helped Loveless and Tackett. If the justice system wants to make the point that murder is an unacceptable crime, then Hope Rippey should be back in jail and continue to serve her sentencing of 50 years.

Comment by Helene — 9/1/2006 @ 10:49 pm
I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME CAUSE IVE NEVER HAD THE CHANCE TO GRIEVE, WITH THE NEWS ALWAYS
BRINGING IT UP AND PEOPLE TALKI NG ABOUT IT LIKE THEY KNEW ANYONE. IN THIS STROY WELL, I DID
KNOW SHANDA AND I DID KNOW MELINDA AND I KNOW I DONT LIKE TO READ ABOUT EVERYDAY I CAN ONLY
THINK ABOUT HOW THERE FAMILYS FEEL.I TRY TO SLEEP AT NIGHT BUT CANT BECAUSE I NEVER WAS ABLE
TO LET ANY OF IT GO. I HAVE TO DRIVE BYE WITCHS CASTLE EVERYDAY AND KNOW THAT IS WHERE IT TOOK
PLACE AND NONE OF YOU ALL WILL NEVER KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE. THEY WERE GOING TO KILL ME BUT
I DIDNT SNEAK OUT TO MEET THEM BET YOU ALL DIDNT KNOW THAT ITS IN THE COURT RECORDERS .AND THAT
I SAW THE BLOODY TRUNK I WAS 14TEEN CAN YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID WHEN YOU WAS 14…

Comment by Amanda Heavrin — 9/13/2006 @ 5:05 pm
WELL ANYWAYS I HOPE YOU ALL READ THIS AND UNDERSTAND THIS IS MY EVERYDAY LIFE.YOU ALL GET TO GO HOME AT NIGHT FROM YOUR PERFECT JOB AND PERFECT LIFE AND GO TO BED CARE FREE.. NO WORRIES I BET NO ONE KNOWS I FOUGHT FOR MY COUNTY EVEN THOUGH IT HAS BROUGHT ME SO MUCH PAIN I FOUGHT TO KEEP YOU ALL SAFE AT NIGHT WHEN YOU SLEEP AT HOME WITH YOUR FAMILYS SO BEFORE ANYONE ON THIS SITE CAN SAY ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT ME THINK ABOUT WHAT I DID FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TO KEEP YOU SAFE AT NIGHT OUT OF HARMS WAY…. ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME. THANKS AMANDA L HEAVRIN PFC

Comment by Amanda Heavrin — 9/13/2006 @ 5:13 pm
Ummmm, Amanda. Why are you freaking out? If that even is you. Every story I have read said Amanda was 15 at the
time. You just claimed to be 14. And why would the cops let you see a bloody trunk? What were you going to
identify?

Anyways my grandparents are long time residents of Canaan, Indiana. They now live in Madison. Been visiting themn
there since I was born in 1974. My Grandpa’s farm was about a minute and a half from the “burn” site. Owns land all around
there. Drove by it 3 weeks ago on a visit to see them. Still out in the middle of no where and still creeps me
out.

Comment by J.T. — 9/18/2006 @ 9:31 pm
And you can cut the all caps thing you got going on too.

Comment by J.T. — 9/18/2006 @ 9:36 pm
This is for Amanda I hope it is you! I’ve read a few books now about this now. In small Sacrifice it does state that Melinda tried getting you first by coming to your home and having a girl named Kristie come to your window in October of 1991. They were trying to get a gun or knife before they came to your home. It was 5 a.m. when Kristie tried knocking on your window but she thought she saw someone so she took off. FOR THE COMMENT POSTED BY J.T. she saw the bloody trunk because Tackett and Loveless went and pick Amanda up from the mall told her what they did and she didn’t believe them so they showed her the trunk NOT THE POLICE. I very rarly respond to post but I was reading how you (Amanda) can’t sleep and how you are reminded everyday. I do remember being young and this one liking this one but the other likes someone else. It’s weird how people forget that crap! Also I couldn’t count how many times my friends would use the term i’m gonna F****** kill her or him never in a million years did I take any of them serious. You were a young girl attracted to someone else you took no part in any of this. I hope oneday you may rest your head and feel not guilt. I know you probly think only if I didn’t have a relationship with Shanda this would have never happened. No one can ever for see something like this. I lost one of my best friends suicide and she phoned me that night upset which she often was about a relationship and I didn’t go over. I got a call the next morning that she was gone. I always have guilt what if I went. It is a horrible thing to carry. We can’t be held accountable for other people! I don’t want to be mean but if you still have contact with those girls which I hope you don’t but if you do I don’t mean a word of what I wrote to you.

Comment by Krista — 9/23/2006 @ 1:51 pm
i think its so crazy. these kids (well thats what they were when they committed the crime) killing another kid. I could never imagine being shanda sharers mom and dad and just hearing that my little girl had been murdered. I have a 3 yr old little girl and if anyone ever killed her or touched her in any way- they wouldnt even know how dead they would be. and if not, i would make sure they suffer so long as i had anything to do with there lives. Only God can judge, thats true amanda heavrin, but how dare u bring up God in such an awful crime? How dare u tell these people and me that “oh we are tucked away safe and ive fought for this country” and play like your the innocent side of all this. you may not have actually committed the crime per say, but you are to blame to. You lured that 12 year old little girl into a web of a lesbian love. You enticed this kid. Shanda sharer is the true victim the only victim in this horrible murder. And are you jealous because we all have this “perfect life” you think we have? do u know why we do? Because none of us are crazy like you and the rest of those fucked up murderers. The whole story is just nasty and i hope it haunts the hell out of you for the rest of your entire life, after all isnt that why melinda killed shanda? all becuz of you???

Comment by Julie — 9/30/2006 @ 8:00 pm
I recentley stumbled across the book,’Cruel Sacrifice’.I read the book three times and tryed to understand why????? How could someone be so cruel to another human being?? Regradless who someone choices to be in there life,NO ONE DESERVED TO BE TREATED IN SUCH A CRUEL MANOR,but regradless of how many (whys?),we ask or how much we read,no one will ever really no the realt truth of what that poor child went through on that cold lonely night!No one but the accused.I formed my opinion after the third time of reading,but I am not one to judge,God will take care of that.

Comment by Pamela — 10/28/2006 @ 9:12 pm
I have read the horrifying story of Shanda Sharer and am still shocked at what took place. I don’t live in the area, not from the area but nonetheless, shocked. I remember being a teenager and making life-altering decisions. I remember not thinking of consequences to my actions, but murder is murder and these girls deserve their sentences. Amanda, get some help to get through this because it was not your fault. Even if you carried on a friendship with her, inciting jealousy from Melinda, nobody could have forseen the terrible tragedy that was going to take place. I don’t think the 4 women who participated (in whatever form) even grasped the full reality of what they did or were going to do. Thank you for fighting for our country and our freedom, but now free yourself and stop living in guilt. Nobody expects you to forget what happened (I know I cant)but living in misery, you may as well have let Melinda take your life too, because out of the three things humans are rightfully entitled to, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, two were taken from you at the hands of her. May God bless and keep you. You’re in my prayers.

Comment by ginger — 11/5/2006 @ 1:23 am
For everyone else posting, get off Amanda’s back. Don’t you think she has enough to live with, without your opinions, I mean? If she is still in contact with anyone involved, then maybe she found it in her heart to forgive. For that, she earns my ETERNAL respect as that is something I would have extreme difficulty doing in her position. If she is not in contact, then she is hopefully moving foward in life in a positive way. Let something good come out of this.

Comment by ginger — 11/5/2006 @ 1:33 am
Hello, I am currently reading Cruel Sacrifice. I am on page 271, Im not done yet. But I feel so sorry for that poor mother that has had to go thru all this. I belive they all should have recived the death penalty. They were all involved AND NONE OF THEM WILL DO ny good in my society.
I do not want animal as described in this book to roam amongst us, animals like that belong in a zoo.

I would love to take them aND DO TO EACH ON EXACTLY QHt they did to this poor child! They have costed us way too much money and they do not deserve to be alive they should be dead in HELL!

The good thing to this is Im sure they have been raped and molested in jail, hopefully brutally attacted as well.
To you 4 animals we the world hate you, and only pray that you can never be noramal, well actually you guys never were. Your parents didnt even care about you guys they hated you and mistreated you. Im glad!

Comment by Barbara — 11/13/2006 @ 10:43 pm
What Happened to Shanda Sharer is the most awful atrocity…it seems worse even that what Sylvia Likens endured…the perpetrators must surely hope that there isnt a God…cos if there is then surely they will rot in hell.

May God Bless Shanda and keep her in peace

Comment by Stephen — 11/21/2006 @ 10:53 am
I think Amanda needs to stop blaming the rest of the world for her problems. She is obviously deeply affected by this whole thing and needs a psychiatric counselor. There is no reason for Amanda to be rude to everyone, always assuming everyone has the perfect whatever - like she is so underprivledged. Poor Amanda. Maybe you did not go to the police out of fear for your life, but is it true that you never shed a tear for Shandra? Do you even care about what they did to that poor girl?

Comment by J Rivera — 11/28/2006 @ 12:22 am
This is to Amanda: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE RUDE TO ANYONE ON THIS WEBSITE. WE ARE NOT SAYING THAT YOU ARE TO BLAME. AFTERALL, YOU WERE JUST ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE KID WHO MADE MISTAKES OR DIDN’T KNOW ENOUGH THINGS ABOUT LIFE. BUT NOTE TO YOURSELF, NO ONE IS BLAMING YOU FOR THIS TRAGEDY AND PLEASE DO NOT BE ANGRY AT US FOR SAYING WHAT WE ARE SAYING. WE ARE SAYING THAT MEDLIND LOVELESS DESERVE TO BE JAIL AS WELL AS THREE OTHER GIRLS. YOU SHOULD STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE

Comment by Helene — 12/7/2006 @ 8:45 pm
AMANDA YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THOSE GIRLS IN YEARS!I HAVE!THOSE GIRLS WEAR THE BEST OF EVERYTHING DOES SHANDA?
I HAVE READ ALL THE COURT RECORDS AND NEWSPAPER HEADLINES BECAUSE MELINDA LOVELESS LET ME READ IT ALL. SO IF YOU THINK FOR ONE MINUTE THAT THESE WOMEN SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE ON WEBSITES WHERE MEN YES! MEN SEND THEM MONEY OH AND LET’S NOT FORGET THE WOMEN THEY ALSO GET MONEY FROM WOMEN TO BUY FUBU AND NIKE AND EASTBAY AND LET’S NOT FORGET THE JEWERLY THEY BUY BECAUSE THEY BUY IT ALL THE TIME. I KNOW I SEEN THIS CRAP GO ON FOR EXCATLY 4 YEARS. AGAIN I ASK YOU AMANDA DOES SHANDA GET TO WEAR NICE CLOTHES AND NEW JEWERLY AND ENJOY LIFE IN GENERAL? NO BECAUSE 4 YOUNG WOMEN TOOK IT APON THEIR SELFS TO
TAKE A LITTLE GIRLS LIFE OVER SOME CRAP. 2 OF THE 4 WOMEN ARE NOW FREE AMANDA, WILL SHANDA EVER BE FREE? LET US HOPE SO.
PERSONALLY I THINK THEY SHOULD STAY EXCALTY WHERE THEY ARE AND NEVER SET FREE.
AMANDA DO YOU THINK THAT HOPE AND TONI SHOULD BE FREE?

Comment by T. SOWERS — 1/3/2007 @ 10:43 pm
I just finished the book Cruel Sacrafice. I lived in Indiana at the time of this terriable crime, and my aunt lives in New Albany. I think this is possibly one of the crulest horrific murders I have ever read. I read many true crime books and I was deeply saddened and horrified by what these girls did to that poor baby In many ways I feel that the real truth of that night is yet to be revealed if ever…it is clear to me that both Laurie and Melinda were disturbed and no doubt were the main players in this murder. Melinda wanted to harm Shanda, in the worst way and I think her only remorse is she was caught. Laurie I do believe had a fascination with death and was looking for the right opportunity to experiance it She found that in Melinda’s vendetta against Shanda. I do feel that Toni was just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time and was a sacred kid who didn’t know what to do. She would not pose a threat to society today in mu opinion. hope Rippey, well she puzzles me, she poored gasoline on poor Shanda knowing what was about to happen, and she further showed her dark side by spraying windex in her wounds. I find it hard to have any sympathy for her when she clearly had none for Shanda. As for the other 2 girls, if there is any justice in this world they will never see the light of day again. i could care less about what they may have gone thru, that was no excuse to inflict torture and death on a poor innocent girl. My heart goes out to Shanda’s family, being a mother myself I’m not sure how I could go on knowing my child went thru such a terriable death…as for Amanda, if thats really her, no one is blaming you. but you are not special because you are in the Military, I happen to be a spouse of a Srgt Mjr,and in fact you do not even belong. Assuming you still are a lesbian,Homosexuality right or wrong is prohibited in the Military. I think if you were indeed in the Military as a PFC you would never devulge your past or draw any attention to you past as an active addmitted lesbian. I would watch who you profess that to. especially on a public forum. I feel for your situation, but again you are not special because you supposidly served this country. Rather you have broken several regulations by enlisting at all actually.I think you should be grateful that you have been spared of this horriable fate that could have been you rather than Shanda and live your life to the fullest as she cannot do any longer. rather than feeling sorry for yourself and how it” could have been” you, be glad you have another day to live. Feel soory for Shanda and her poor family,and seek therapy because I think you need it. Your self pity is almost an outrage.

Comment by lvailes — 1/4/2007 @ 2:01 am
Hope Rippey is a true sociopath. She took an active part in this horrific crime, then just hours later, went out to MacDonald’s with her friends, had a hearty breakfast, and joked about the crime. When the police took her mugshot, she grinned into the camera! How could she smile after the horror she perpetrated–she is just not normal. She is more culpable than the other two ringleaders because there was no abuse in her home. Then like many psychopaths she was able to “work” the system, taking classes and stuff just because she knew it would look good on her record. Someone this cold should’t be walking the streets.

Comment by eliza — 1/5/2007 @ 12:52 am
Amanda, are u Private First Class? Military? Anyway kids play games in middle school. Noone is blaming u, although I think u should have gone 2 the cops straight away. It doesnt make sense that u didnt, since u said u loved Shanda. She was just an innocent child regardless of what u guys did together. I think u could have tried harder to protect her. I hope Melinda gets the counseling she needs, but never get out of Jail. I think Mary is narcisstic and nothing will change w/ her, if we are lucky she will rot where she is.

Comment by Giulia — 1/8/2007 @ 3:38 pm
I wonder if the post made by amanda was REALLY made by Amanda. If so, then well, I don’t know what to say to you because I don’t know what part you played in anything. I only know about this case from the net. It does however make one wonder what kind of person you must be ( and yes, we make mistakes when we are young, but at 14 or 15 we already know enough to judge right and wrong ) in order to have dated something yes, SOMETHING NOT SOMEBODY, like Melinda who is indeed LOVELESS.

Now as for justice, or better yet “justice”, i am so appalled by the fact that two of the 4 freaks got out of jail. If the whole matter would not be so sad, then i would laugh at anybody stupid enough to believe Toni’s cry-a-lot story about being a victim who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and so on. If one word of what she said is true, and she took no part in any of the violenc committed against Shanda Sharer, then she is a disgusting coward who made herself JUST AS guilty by not getting help in time and stopping the murder before it occured.But yeah, “they were gonna kill me too…’ bla bla bla. Were they keeping Toni in the car at force without any chance to go into a public place where she could have called help? No. From all I have read, she actualy made at least one phone call and went into one gas station BEFORE Shanda was dead. So she is just as guilty of her death as the other 3 freaks are. I am against the death penalty in most cases but this is one of the very few cases that made me think that yeah, sometimes the death penalty IS the right way to go. And it is a pity that it wasn’t carried out on all four of them. I actually wish that they would have been burned alive. And the photos! Ugh. Shanda was SUCH a pretty girl, like seriously beautiful. The other ones were/are so hideous! Especially Toni, ewwww. It won’t get out of my head to think of how beauitufl Shanda mut have felt to be attacked by such ugly creatures in hateful, jealous, raging fit. I hope Shanda’s on the other better side now, and I also hope that the 4 freaks will, somehow, someway suffer forever. It’s good to know that Melinda already was abused and whatnot. Hopefully she gets abused in jail a lot now, too. -FenYa

Comment by Fenja MH — 2/4/2007 @ 12:39 pm
This was one of the most horrific, terrible crimes I have ever read about, and it truly hurts me to my heart that young Shanda Sharer had to die like that, all alone, cold and in pain no doubt. And it sickens me to no end what those girls have done and how two of them have already seemingly gotten away. There is not a HELl good enough for them. They all should be burned to the stake and crucified for their crimes. I feel neither remorse or pity for their situation or circumstance. Like somebody already said, I have never really believed in the death penalty, but in this case, it would be a pleasure. Those women were hideous inside and out, full of hate, and jealous that they could not have or be someone beautiful. My only comfort in this situation is knowing that there is a divine justice, a God on high who sees and knows everything. Those girls may not have paid for their crimes here on this earth, but they will all have to stand before God one day, and if I were them, I would tremble at the idea of the wrath that will inevitably be faced. As far as Amanda is concerned, I only hope that you had absolutely NOTHING to do with this otrascity and that you have learned from your mistakes…because if you are in cahoots with those evil, twisted women…you can hide from us, but you can’t hide from God and you will burn in Hell too.

Comment by Mya Kibalt — 3/6/2007 @ 4:05 pm
I wonder if Hope watches her back? I mean, I’ll bet theres someone out there who read this story and isn’t wanting to wait for Hell to come get her. I remember a t.v. show that used to have a line in it that was so neat…”justice may be blind, but it can see in the dark.” Hope has not yet seen justice.

Comment by Miranda Riane — 3/12/2007 @ 3:52 pm
One can go to Indiana website and find the prison(DOC) and look up when the last two skanks get out of the place they should never get out of until I come for them……

Comment by Lucifer — 3/27/2007 @ 1:05 am
You guys are being really cruel to Amanda. She felt that by warning Shanda and trying to still be friends with Melinda since they had already broken up-or HAD they broken up-it doesn’t sound like it, at all, actually it sounds more like SHANDA broke up with AMANDA and wanted ONLY to be her friend, and it sounds like that’s what Amanda was doing. Anyhow, in my opinion, Amanda’s warning Shanda and appealing to Melinda was her way of keeping her alive, and she must have felt that that’s all she needed to do. Don’t you guys think that if she even thought about going to the police that she wouldn’t have done it? Maybe she didn’t out of fear for her own life, however, maybe she didn’t take Melinda seriously, and thought that if she did go to the police, then Melinda WOULD decided to kill both of them. Amanda was FOURTEEN when it happened a LITTLE GIRL-little girls do not have much common sense, knowledge, life expirience or a good head on their shoulders at age fourteen, how can they? They’re just babies-little children. Amanda did what little children would do when faced in this particualr situation. If she had thought about the cops or Shanda’s parents or going to her parents, even, true Shanda might still be alive, however, we don’t know that for sure-Laurie Show’s parents knew of Lisa Michelle Lambert’s intense hatred and morbid obsession of Laurie and knew that Lisa wanted not only to see her dead, but to be the one to CAUSE her death, and were trying their hardest to save Laurie’s life-they could have had Tabitha not found out about the plan for Laurie to stay with her dad until Michelle stopped wanted her dead and even hurt-anyhow-they were in process of doing that and Michelle made a fake call to her mother which lured her mother out of the house for about twenty mintues-when she came back she held her dying daughter in her arms after taking the cord off of her neck so she could breathe easier and die more comfortabaly, which she did. See-even that KNOWLEDGE did not keep Laurie Show alive. Girls can be worse then guys when it comes to wanting to kill someone-and so there’s a good chance that nothing Shanda or anyone else could ahve said or done would have saved her life. I’m sure Shanda was apologiving to Melinda, begging her to forgive her, to believe that she would stay away from Amanda, begging Melinda even to be HER friend, I imagine, in a vain effort to save her life-just because that’s not in print does not mean taht she didn’t do just that-wouldn’t each and every one have done the exact same thing? So don’t blame Amanda, who treated Shanda like a queen and took care of her and looked out for her the best that she could and even tried to break off the relationship with her and turn it into friendship only before Shanda did just that-blame MELINDA, TONI, HOPE, AND LAURIE. Don’t blame a fourteen year old little girl whose ONLY involvement with Shanda was in being her best friend, her girlfriend (literally) her older sister figure, and her lover. Why are guys trying to make her feel bad for being sexually involved with Shanda-it was a consentual relationship after Amanda caused Shanda to fall in love with her-until then they were just friends, and there’s nothing wrong with a fourteen year old lesbian and a twelve year old girl (notice there’s just two years apart between these ages) experimenting and loving only Amanda in a sexual way-nothing wrong in the way that you’re thinking-that Amanda and Shanda’s relationship meant that Amanda’s relationship with Shanda and Amanda herself were negligent of Shanda’s death-that’s bull. I’m straight, so I don’t understand how two women could sexually love each other, but I do know these two thing: I am all for gay and by people being with people to make themselves happy just like all of us straight people are doing or are in the process of doing the same thing ourselves-children can fall in love, too-I’m twenty four but I remember thinking I was in love with this wonderful fourteen year old boy when I was fourteen-and Amanda is not a bad person for having a sexual relationship with Shanda and for still (you don’t go from being gay to straight if you were born gay) liking girls. She likes women-so what? Leave her the hell alone-because none of this was her fault!

Comment by Lorianna — 3/31/2007 @ 7:47 pm
i would just like to say, that i see NO reason why this girl had to die.
i dont really care what amanda feels, or what any of those disgusting people feel.
do you get what you did?
she wanted to be a nurse.
now what? she didnt even get to graduate or go to prom.
thats sick.
and i do hope you see her body everytime you close your eyes.
the 4 of them should rot in hell.
and i hope they do.

Comment by lh. — 4/4/2007 @ 6:18 pm
i have mixed feelings about some of the comments that people say on here
it is very sad that those girls did what they did to shanda
she was just a little girl.
she had high hopes for her future, and she never got to live like those girls that did what they did to her will. when they get out of jail they will get to live their lives, hopefully not normally because that would for surely not be fair.
but i also don`t agree what some people are saying to amanda.
she was more than likely in shock when she found all of this out. she probably didn’t know what to do, and the expression “you’ll do anything for the person you love” probably affected her thinking process. she knows what she did wrong and people should be glad they aren’t shanda sharer and go on with their lives instead of harassing amanda for what she already has to live with everyday of her life.
rest in peace shanda sharer

Comment by se. — 4/4/2007 @ 6:23 pm
I had read the book a year ago.. The reason I had to read it because my mom was thinking about all those things that had happened to Shanda would happen to me.. I told myself that it might happen, it might not. Never know.. I was scared that it would happen to me.. All my friends is back scabbers.. I hate it. It’s hard for me to make better friends.
I do not understand what Shanda ever did to you girls.. She was new there and trying to make new friends.. Yet she had made wrong friends. If Shanda was still alive but still gotten beaten up then turned them in then maybe she will understand that they are not good friends. But NOO those girls HAD to kill her over stupid little crap.. I still can’t understand why those girls is running around when they need to be death penalty! I had never seen anyone that beauitful.. I know she would have a beauitful life and have beauitful family and other stuff. Those girls are so stupid and dumb.. “To the Girls”- Why do you have to take Shanda’s life just over a stupid crap?! Why?! All she was tryin to do is make friends.. How stupid you girls are.. I’m sorry girls.. You will never goin to have better life after all those things that had happened to this beauitful girl. Everyone is going to know you girls and don’t even want to be around you. There will also be a lot of people out there in this world talkin about you girls for what you had done to this BEAUITFUL girl. Be AWARE you’re never going to have a better life.-Shanda L.

Comment by Shanda Lynn — 4/7/2007 @ 6:09 pm
I have one thing to say to Melinda Loveless, Do you have in your heart remorse on what you did to that beautiful child, because that what she was a child. You took away a mother’s baby for a stupid ridicules reason. This happened because of another girl. Just what your last name says that is what you are. Love less and no heart. I hope you can’t sleep at night and only see shanda’s face each and every night.

Comment by Jannet — 4/8/2007 @ 9:18 pm
In a perfect world this wouldn’t have ever happend. In a just world, Jannet’s hope would come true. However, the real horror, besides young Shanda loosing her life, is that these girls will probley smile to themselves if her face runs through their mind after the lights go out. The only consolation in this is…they have an eternity of Hell to look forward to…that, they can never escape from. So let them smile while they can. It won’t last forever. By the way…Lucifer…I LOVE YOUR COMMENT!

Comment by Miranda Riane — 4/30/2007 @ 7:18 pm
Amanda, why don’t you try powerful sleeping pills and meditation before climbing into bed each night? Just a thought. Does Shanda ever appear to you in dreams? Have you ever spoken to her mother after all of this happened? If so, what does her mother think of you? Lorianna.

Comment by Lorianna — 5/4/2007 @ 9:24 pm
lh,was your comment for me? I sure as hell don’t think Shanda deserved to die or had it comming to her, I NEVER have! No, she DIDN’T deserve death, or even getting beat up or treated cruelly or harrased for a long time before that night. I’m glad that there is a Heaven and that she is there with her dad. Lorianna.

Comment by Lorianna — 5/4/2007 @ 9:30 pm
Does anyone know how Jackie Vaught is doing?

Comment by Lorianna — 5/4/2007 @ 9:33 pm
Does anyone know if there is a website out there that quotes what the four girls that murdered Shanda have to say? I know they have had some years to think about it. I remember that Melinda Loveless was quoted, in the book Cruel Sacrfice, that she and the others had a lot of growing up to do. I read that book years ago and my blood still runs cold when I think about that quote. I am also curious about what kind of psychiatric help they have gotten. However, I really don’t think it would help. How do you brutally torture and kill a child and then say we have alot of growing up to do. There is no conscience in that statement. Thanks for any info. anyone has.

Comment by Bobbi — 5/9/2007 @ 4:16 pm
Does anyone know how Shanda’s mother is doing?

Comment by Lorianna — 5/14/2007 @ 3:41 pm
Amanda, aren’t you on here anymore?

Comment by Lorianna — 5/15/2007 @ 4:11 pm
I read that book cruel sacrifice about a year or so ago. I still have not forgotten it. It is so devastating. I think that Those girls should be in prison for the rest of their lives.

Comment by kate — 5/15/2007 @ 10:31 pm
Also, I don’t think that Amanda is to blame at all. I can see why she is being so defensive though. Hopefully she does move on and work past it. I would have a hard time being in her shoes. I can not imagine being the reason why such a terrible event took place.

Comment by kate — 5/15/2007 @ 10:34 pm
Well Clearly, Melinda Loveless (quite an ironic name, dont u think)…maybe Heartless is a more accurate description of her, Is a shallow and weak person, to kill someone just because they are seeing your ex—or current gf, I hope she suffers the same fate as Jeffrey Dahmer did in prison…If u get my drift

Comment by PD — 5/17/2007 @ 11:31 pm
This is all just so sick. Our judicial system is a joke to say the least for even considering letting these women out of prison. They deserve every year they were senteced to plus some and it is a real pity that the state of Indiana can’t do ONE thing right and keep these people in prison. It is bad enough that two murderes have been released(and I don’t care what anyone says, I don’t care if all they did was go along for the ride. They both knew what the night had in store, they lured Shanda out of her house on false pretences, and they still went along so they are just as guilty as Melinda), but I have since read that Laurie Tackett and Melinda Loveless have joined these “programs” to award them with good behavior and they will likely see an early release as well. My quesition is this: If they were all tried as adults, why weren’t ANY of them senteced to death. Clearly it is what they deserved. Well, even if they are released early, I pray that justice will be served, slowly and painfully.
Amanda- Stop being so hostile and quit feeling sorry for yourself, your not the one who died a horrible and torturous death. It wasn’t ENTIRELY your fault, though I would say that you could have warned SOMEONE of Melinda’s hostile tendecies, if not Shanda then at least your parents or the police, they would have known what to do. Anyway, if your lurking in these forums brings back painful memories or makes you angry at what people are saying, then you should just stop reading about it and move on with your life, your not helping yourself by constantly reading about it and reading what people have to say about it and it is clearly upsetting you.
If anyone deserves sympathy it is Shanda and her family. They will likely never see justice served and that is a shame. My sympathies go to Shanda’s mother, you are one strong woman for continuing to fight for justice, please don’t ever give up. I will continue to pray for you(shanda) and I hope that one day, TRUE justice is served!

Comment by suitepee — 5/28/2007 @ 10:41 pm
Help! I can’t ever read past this one posting I made a long time ago because I can’t forward and the go with the forward arrow brings me right back! What do I do? Lorianna.

Comment by Lorianna — 5/30/2007 @ 11:09 am
I’m reading the book, my 2nd one on this case, called, “little lost Angel.” In it Amanda seduces Shanda and Shanda herself quit being Amanda’s friend and was only from what I gathered, going to help her one last time. She had had nothing to do with Amanda for almost a month and wouldn’t even respond to her letters or phone calls, so why the hell did Melinda kill her? Did Melinda not know this? If she had and knew that Amanda was free and clear, then, why didn’t she leave her the hell alone? Shanda even in early January wrote to a friend of hers saying, “I wish she would stop following me and calling me and leave me alone” or something to that effect, adding, “I can’t take all this pressure.” Didn’t Amanda tell her? Shanda herself told Hope that she was having nothing more to do with Amanda, and then relented to talk to her one last time, Hope must have told Melinda this, surely Hope didn’t want a total stranger dead! From what I’ve gathered in the second book she didn’t want Shanda to die until she relaized that she was dying and that she was going to die whether they tried to save her or not (acutally she could have survived had she not been burned to death)so that they should just finish her off, so Hope must have told Melinda!!! Did you know all of this, Melinda? Surely you must have!!!! Then again, I sure hope you didn’t, because that means you weren’t as evil as I’m convinced you are. From what I’ve read about you, you ARE sorry, so why not get on this board and tell everyone you’re remorsefull? Why not try to make ammends to the best of your ability? The best thing you can do, if you haven’t done so already, is to ask Shanda’s family and friends to forgive you, but more importantly, ask Shanda herself, but don’t have a seance like Laurie wanted to do to talk to Shanda only hours after murdering her when she thought she was haunting her (and probably was), just say it quietly, in the privacy in your own cell, for yes, if you are really and truly remorsefull, God will forgive you, and you will not go to hell. Lorianna.

Comment by Lorianna — 6/3/2007 @ 6:34 pm
Remember Shanda’s family. I know her mother well and this event will never go away.

Comment by Richard — 6/10/2007 @ 1:55 pm
Hello,
what a terrible atrocity that took place.First of all my heart goes out to the family of these young people and i will never know the pain of how they must feel. My name is wade and i am doing a report, or paper on this tragic event and i need some help. i can go by the book and all the documented events, it would be easy. but could someone who really knows this event or has ties to it somehow please contact me for more information? Even to talk to someone from this town would be helpfull. thank you and have a good day.

Comment by wade allen gunner — 6/27/2007 @ 10:43 am
by the way my E-mail is www.gunner303030@yahoo.com
Thank you

Comment by wade allen gunner — 6/27/2007 @ 10:45 am
I just think that this is sick how young so called girls can do this to another human being is sick these girls should all get the death penalty a life for a life is what i say none of them should ever be realesed they are such a danger to other people

Comment by danielle — 7/13/2007 @ 8:37 am
children dont come out of the womb evil, do they? Do they?
we are victims of what society brings us. someone here tell me what its like to be raped repeatedly… tell me i want to know… then tell me why melinda did what she did… was it her deal, or was there something else at work here? Respond… Its not that i dont feel bad for shanda, but when are we going to take responsibility as a whole, and take care of our children? someone should have knocked larry loveless on his ass!!! i mean, beat the shit out of him. then, maybe this wouldnt have happened.

Comment by wade allen gunner — 7/15/2007 @ 3:21 am
So Danielle is wishing death on four more girls? Wow, Im locking my doors from now on…

Comment by wade allen gunner — 7/15/2007 @ 12:45 pm
Judge ye not least ye be judged! I have lived in Madison since 1961 and was neighbors of the Tackett family. Why can’t we let this rest and let the “true judge” take over?

Comment by lc — 7/17/2007 @ 8:25 pm
I would just like to say that this is a horrific crime. And, as someone wrote earlier “do girls come from the womb evil?”. I don’t know, that kinda gets deeper into psychology than it does discussing a terrible murder, huh? It raises the whole “nature VS nurture” debate. Were these girls born psychotic overreactive abusive slut-faced ho-bags, or did society make them that way? And even so, what happens in your head to let the events surrounding your life influence you to take the life of a 12 year old girl? The part that gets me the most about this story is Shanda’s watch. To me the watch embodies her innocence. It captures it. The girl is so young and helpless she wears a “musical, and almost whimsical, Mickey Mouse watch that Melinda claimed for herself”. Rediculous.

Comment by Penny — 7/26/2007 @ 9:18 am
why was shanda dating a 15 yr old if she was only 12? thts almost like a crime right?

Comment by Cady — 7/27/2007 @ 6:43 am
Together with Sylvia likens I only hope that Shanda Shearer is now at peace

Comment by Stephen — 8/3/2007 @ 7:07 am
I think what happend was way wrong. So somebody liked your girlfriend. So your gilrfriend was cheating on you with another girl. Get over it and break up with her. I was molested as a kid to but it didnt make me go all psyco. I feel bad for Melinda. But just a microscopic bit. Any kid that gets molested Ima feel bad for. I want to Know what Amanda Hearvin Looks like. Ive seen pictures of everybody else but Amanda was just as important to this story and nobody has ever seen a picture of her. Just curious as to why. Ive been in Melinda’s place a hundred time. But I WOULD NEVER EVER KILL ANYBODY OVER A GIRL.

Comment by Brandi — 8/29/2007 @ 6:41 pm
Read Cruel Sacrifice 4 yrs. ago, almost done with Little Lost Angel, in fact it came all the way from a store in New Albany. I think Toni doesn’t deserve to be haunted by Shanda’s death, yes she did nothing to stop the murder from happening but that was just because she was too scared and intimidated by Loveless and Tackett. Hope; I get mixed signals from her because in Little Lost Angel , it says that afterwards, she and Toni went to two boys and told them about this horrible atrocity they had just witnessed, but still Hope sprayed Windex on Shanda and taunted her and let’s not forget her mugshot in which she’s smiling from ear to ear. I don’t think they made a mistake releasing Toni early, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hope, since she was not the ringleader of this circus, I think she has most likely learned her lesson and will not contribute to any more murders in the future. Laurie, I think is seriously mentally ill and a very violent angry person and deserves to serve the rest of her 60 year sentence. As for Melinda, it all goes back to her and she’s the reason Shanda is dead and she deserves to stay in prison until she is an old woman herself, maybe then she will have learned her lesson completely and realize that what she did was absolutely horrible. I also think Melinda was incredibly sick, but her being so screwed up wasn’t her fault, it was her father’s.

Comment by Liz — 9/24/2007 @ 4:27 pm
get off Amanda’s back. Don’t you think she has enough to live with,

You’re kidding me right???? Oh poor Amanda… she has to live w/this…SHE SHOULD LIVE W/THIS. She may not have actively partipated in this … but she did nothing to stop it… makes her just as f’ing guilty in my book.

And I hope she hears those screams at night when she tries to sleep…. for the rest of her pathetic life…. just like the other murdering bitches. Every night… that should be the last sight they see…

The sympathy I have goes to Shanda & her family….. that’s it. While I do feel for the other girls families (who were involved in their lives) ~ they didn’t ask for their children to be like this…. the majority of my sympathy is and will ALWAYS be w/Shanda & her mother.

Comment by lorjac — 10/9/2007 @ 11:41 am
This is HORRIBLE… I dont think that ANY of the girls that did this should have ever left prison!!! And the ones that did I hope they never find happiness again. They ruined a family and God will make them pay. It is a shame that they were raised so poorly as to want to commit murder!!!

Comment by Heather — 10/10/2007 @ 11:40 am
This story sickens me to my very core.
I have no sympathy for ‘Amanda’ if that really is her. In fairness she has had fifteen years to come to terms with this murder. And although it is very unlikely that something like this can be forgotten, it amazes me that she still uses the murder of this child to provoke sympathy from others. To use Shanda Renee Sharer’s murder to paint yourself as a victim in the eyes of other people is not only sick, but it demeans the suffering this little girl went through.
Before I read the posts that were left by ‘Amanda’, I did not have a negative opinion of her, nor consider her to have anything to do with this murder.
But now my opinion has changed and I all I can see is a pathetic, selfish, attention seeker.
The ONLY victim here is Shanda Renee Sharer.
Amanda Heavrin is now a fully grown adult. All I have to say is do not demean the suffering of this child, do not undermine her death.
YOU are NOT the victim. Shanda is.
Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence are not worth the energy it would require to type what I actually think of them.
I hope they rot.

Comment by Leanne — 10/10/2007 @ 3:09 pm
I live in Hanover and work in Madison and when you read the books and hear the stories it makes you absolutely sick to be in or around this town!What she went through!?!?!Everyone just sit back and think about it.And two of the bitches are out????,and now Melinda Loveless is asking a judge to let her out early?????for good behavior??????? BURN HER ALIVE is what ought to be done.(EVERYONE involved!!)She’s as retarded(and ugly)as she is evil.Court system,for once,don’t fail us and keep that stupid bitch were she belongs…IN JAIL!!!!!!!!!!R.I.P Shanda

Comment by h.hall — 10/11/2007 @ 11:43 am
P.S. I think your a retard to Amanda.

Comment by h.hall — 10/11/2007 @ 11:47 am
Hasn’t enough evil been said and done?? I cannot believe some of the comments that have been posted here! Yes this was a horrific crime. A precious life was lost. Many lives have been forever changed. All the harsh comments do not make the situation any different. Please, please think of all those innocent people involved!!!!!!!!!

Comment by lc — 10/11/2007 @ 11:28 pm
i have wrote to melinda and she responded… she seems very sorry for what happened and as a person and getting to know her, she seems to me like a normal person that had some serious issues and i like to call her my friend…

Comment by wade — 10/14/2007 @ 4:42 am
Re comment by wade on 10/14/07: Well of course Melinda is going to “seem” sorry for what happened, she’s trying to get an early release from prison! Sorry or not sorry doesn’t really matter here anyway (except that she owes the Sharer family an apology). What matters is that she was sentenced to 60 years and should finish out her sentence. If she truly was sorry, she would take her medicine, so to speak, and not try to get out of this. If she was truly sorry, she would publically say so and admit that what she and her friends did was cruel, heinous, and disgusting. But has she ever done that? No.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Shanda Sharer. I am so sorry for your loss.

Comment by Michigan_Magpie — 10/14/2007 @ 1:23 pm
Atrocious!!!! Accountability. There is none here. No one should be getting (or have already gotten)out early for ANY reason. Wade…what in the hell is wrong with you?????? Do you realize what took place???? Why would you spend any energy trying to communicate with an animal, much less call that beast a friend? We all have our cross to bear, but we are ALL accountable for our actions. We are also accountable for our inactions. It is unbelievable that there is an overall lack of accountability for our actions as well as our inactions.
RIP Shanda
Prayers to Jackie and family.

Comment by kew — 10/22/2007 @ 1:53 pm
That any of these 4 monsters has received early release is a true travesty! Each is equally guilty of Shanda’s death. And the that Lawrence is any less culpable is nonsense. One the way BACK from the witch’s castle BEFORE the stabbings while Shanda was alive they stopped at a gas station. Lawrence made a phone call from the public place yet, made no mention. She was in a place of safety. She could have stopped this. But instead I think she was sickly thrilled by what was going on. There were 2 other CLEAR times when Lawrence or any of the 4 could have stopped this madness. Yet they actively chose not to.

Comment by KTScarlettOkity — 11/14/2007 @ 5:47 pm
I believe that Melinda Loveless needs to serve the entire sentence. If she was remorseful, she would not be asking for post conviction release. She STILL does not take responsibility for the cruelty she inflicted upon young Shanda.

Comment by bobbi — 12/13/2007 @ 7:38 pm
Amanda would have been a PFC in 1996 not 2006

Comment by drew — 12/29/2007 @ 1:38 am
Wade, write to me you LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you kidding? “I write to her and consider her a friend”!!!!!!! What a joke, who are your enemies Wade, I would not want to meet them. And fo rthe post that said stop being mean on posts, are you a nutcase like Wade???? Screw everyone of the 5 girls, I now count Amanada in because of her posts if those are heres, which is a 50/50 chance. There is a better chance that it is Amanada then there is of Wade being normal, the guy is friends with Loveless!!! The crime and the judicial system is a joke, period, I would KILL them all slowly, rip off their fingernails, beat them, you name I would do it.

BTW, I am NORMAL, I have a good job,work hard for a living, have no kids but I am a proud uncle, if Shanda was one of my nieces and Wade became friends with her killer, I would be infuriated, Wade, how many letters have you written Shanda’s MOM???? She is easily accesible!! What a clown you are Wade, you really are

Comment by scott — 1/3/2008 @ 10:38 pm
Wade, are you pen pals with Ted Bundy too?

Comment by scott — 1/3/2008 @ 10:40 pm
Here we go again!!!! Really, rip off fingernails!!!!You are sick!

Comment by dlb — 1/4/2008 @ 9:25 pm
Judge others and YOU will be judged. So who on here is perfect?

Comment by friend — 1/9/2008 @ 1:08 am
kill them all slowly, rip off their fingernails, beat them? sounds normal to me… sounds like you need help more then anyone… nutcase? who is the nutcase? And by the way Scott write me if you would like, Ill even give me my E-mail.

Comment by wade — 1/10/2008 @ 3:15 am
Pertaining to Melinda Loveless.. I have a different perspective as I have known her and her family since she was about 3 years old. If any of you knew even 1 % of the physical, mental and emotional abuse she suffered as a child you may not accept what she did but I guarantee you would understand maybe what took her down that road in life. It is a tragedy in the fullest extint of tragedies. Her father was a monster and he is responsible for what happened to Melinda, which makes him responsible for the role Melinda played in Shanda’s death. Too bad we cannot hold him accountable. About 5 or so years ago he escaped a mental institution, ran across a highway, got hit by 2 tractor trailers and was decapitated. I guess he was held accountable after all. Peace to all families involved. Any questions or comments my email addy is tracywilson314@yahoo.com I would like to know if anyone believes that if an offender is truly emotionally poisoned and it was at the hands of a parent or guardian….can the so called Justice System lock up the parents too?

Comment by Tracy — 1/10/2008 @ 6:03 pm
I lived in Madison when this murder occurred. My mother worked with Hope Rippey and her sister Tina - and her mother Gloria at Scotella Winery when I was in school. I actually partied a couple of times in the company of Laurie, but it never crossed my wildest imagination that she was capable of anything like this. Then again, I barely knew her (Thank God). I think Amanda should try to move on. Because of this case, I have pursued a career in writing about true crimes. I moved from Madison shortly after this murder, but I have never forgotten how horrified the entire town was and everyone who knew any of these girls were to find out they were capable of something so brutal. I hope one day Amanda will be able to rest knowing Shanda is in a better place. God does everything for a reason - we are not here to question his work, only to try to be sure we learn from the lessons he bestows upon us. Although Toni and Hope are both free right now, God isn’t finished with them. If anything, we should all use this case as a lesson for our own children on how NOT to become a victim of something so senseless. My heart truly goes out to Shanda’s family.

Comment by Babette — 1/15/2008 @ 5:41 pm
I produced a video about the crime it is here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BShBAKRD3uE

I’m correcting part 2 & 3 and should have them up soon. I visit and video some of the locations over the holidays. met Toni on her front porch and spoke to Hope on the phone, Hope was mean to me and hung up the phone.

Comment by Video guy — 1/21/2008 @ 6:31 am
I don’t think the justice system always works. I certainly don’t think it has in this case and the ringleaders here definately deserve to stay in prison until their 40’s, when they may have the maturity to appreciate what they did and what they lost in the process. Hope Rippey certainly seems to have got off lightly. It seems to me that punishment is a concept that has taken a back seat in the judicial system. It’s all about accepting your guilt and showing remorse in order to gain clemency or a leniency. But showing remorse is just that, A SHOW OF remorse. How do we know how true their remorse is??? Do we cut these girls open and turn them inside out to find the truth? Question their cellmates, who themselves may not be the most honest of souls? Why bother at all with remorse. They did the crime, they should serve the time.

I can’t help thinking, like with most events, it’s the factors that present themselves at the time that make that event happen. I don’t think individually any of these girls, including Melinda, would have done this without the support and cooperation of the others. They did it together, with some taking lead roles, as it were. I believe in Lawrence’s remorse. It’s easy to get swept along with the crowd, doing things we shouldn’t do: underage drinking, doing drugs and then realising we can’t extricate ourselves from the group without looking weak or foolish, and in this case, worrying about what the others might have done to her. The prosecution focussed on the fact she didn’t call for help when she had the chance but, neither did she barg about what she was doing. Which of us would admit to doing anything like what was going on if we called a friend at the time she did? That call may have been the breather she needed to try and focus away from what was going on without risking herself or continuing with the horror. It’s clear she wasn’t as motivated as the others but then she was involved and there were consequences ot the degree she was involved. I think hers was as close to fair a punishment as she got and I believe her when she says she was remorseful. A few more years would not have gone amiss, though.

But it has to be said that however cruel these crimes may have been, for justice to be served it cannot be from the likes of the folks on this site who are too full of their own emotional reactions to the crimes, like Scott who had to have a pop at Wade. When a jury has to decide on a case like this, no-one’s saying they shouldn’t be moved to tears, but in deciding a verdict on ANY crime, to get as angry as some of the people here are, is very dangerous. You have to examine the facts and remain cool to come to your decision. Wade has a right to his opinion and who he chooses to associate with. He should be respected as such. If you want to question his motives or loyalties, a site like this a just the place for that kind of debate. Take him to task, question him, tear at his logic… but to do it with hate or anger just makes those who post that way look like irrational morons who are ruled by their hearts not their minds and maybe they are best off listening to the kind of music that allows them to get off emotionally, or maybe they should go to WWF bouts to take sides and shout out their indignation and disgust at people who are paid to take it. Sites like this should be respected for their ability to provide healthy debate. That contributes to a healthy society… Not anger and hatred: the very qualities that caused this crime to happen in the first place.

I question Wade’s motives and loyalties but I find Scotts posts questionable and downright offensive. I find all of the hateful posts here questionable and offensive. And disrespectful to this site and the memory of Shanda. Hating people who trying to understand the perpertrators of this crime, however sympathetic they may sound, doesn’t honour the victim or her family in any way whatsoever. Even her family’s pain and anger has a grace that people posting here lack. Her mother has every right to want blood, but has shown herself to be eloquent and reined in when expressing her outrage at the fact these girls seem to be being released early. Only her family has a right to vent spleen. The rest of us could do with a fraction of the dignity shown by Shanda’s mother as we ‘ogle’ and ‘wallow’ our way through this disgusting crime. It fascinates and horrifys us, but we have no right to hate anyone here as they have done nothing to us personally. Some of the posts here are made by people who wouldn’t like out of place in the old Frankenstein movies, cast as the torch-bearing villagers who try and break down the door to the castle!

We should seek to understand why this crime happened so it doesn’t happen again rather then be filled with the kind of emotions that ensures it will.

That’s all I wanted to say except:

Have you noticed how the three who wreaked the worst on the Shanda have names that tip us off to the fact they may be cold and violent???? Loveless, Tackett and Rippey. So Victorian and melodramatic. Scary.

Comment by Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner — 2/8/2008 @ 8:05 pm
For those of you who feel so sorry for pathetic little Amanda, ask her why she said, AFTER she found out about the murder and saw Shanda’s blood in the trunk, she was “sticking by Melinda’s side.” Twisted beast. Amanda has not found justice and what she has had to live with is not as bad as she deserves. She is like the rest of the peices of shit, nothing but a freak who will rot in hell eventually. Asking for forgiveness from God doesn’t mean your given absolution. God knows true evil, and there’s only one way to hell. They have found it. Amanda has nowhere to go but hell. Hey, Amanda, do you ever lay in the dark at night, trying to sleep, and out of the corner of your eye catch something? I wonder if it is Shanda, stumbling through the dark towards you, coming back to erect some kind of retribution. Stranger things have happened, my dear. Amanda, if you didn’t see what was left of Shanda’s body after your loving “girlfriend,” you know, the one that was going to kill you first, did after she was done, don’t worry, you will. I doubt highly Shanda would appear to you the way she was when she was alive. Scary thought, hey? I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you. Of course, there’s little you can do against a ghost hell bent on revenge. Where are the vigilante groups? These “little girls” need to realize an eye for an eye means just that! By the way, I have a question, was Melinda’s mom messing around with the mailman or something, because Melinda looked half black, all that coarse, wirey hair, that large nose, she had so many black physical features. I don’t see how anyone could say she was pretty. The cover of Vogue? LOL LOL OMG…now I’ve heard it all! Amanda, Melinda, Hope, Toni, and Laurie enjoy HEll…I hope it hurts down there!!!!

Comment by Destiny Mendoza — 3/19/2008 @ 11:27 am
Also, I wouldn’t bother reading Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones. It is mostly about how these women who killed Shanda were abused as they were growing up. Like anyone cares. IF, and I stress IF, they were abused, I’m glad. I hope there is more abuse waiting for them in this world and the afterlife, although I think it was all just a sob, sorry attempt to gain sympathy which they didn’t get. The Jones book was a waste of time and the ten cents I paid at the garage sale for it. In fact, I think Ms. Jones has a soft spot for the truely damned. I think the real victims in this case was of course Shanda, and her family. Let’s try not to forget them in all of this as they are the ones with the real struggle in life. May they find peace, somehow.

Comment by Destiny Mendoza — 3/19/2008 @ 11:33 am
I say give Shanda’s mom ten hours alone in a room with Amanda, Melinda (IF she ever gets out of her home sweet home of prison ha ha) Laurie, and Hope with NO CONSEQUENCES FOR MOM! I would pay to see that. THAT would be justice, indeed! If I was on that jury, I wouldn’t convict mom, I would pin a gold metal on her for cleaning up the world.

Comment by Miranda Riane — 3/19/2008 @ 3:08 pm
How does one go about getting the home addresses of Hope, Toni, and Laurie?

Comment by Miranda Riane — 3/25/2008 @ 1:33 am
Destiny,
I disagree with you about the book. It shows what abused girls can do. I work with abused children, ages 13-19 and one of them who was only 14, had assulted her mother with a butcher knife. She was found to be bi-polar(aka manic-depression), and she was a drug addict, which didn’t help. I know that many abused people continue the cycle of abuse. I think that the book showed what abuse at the hands of a family member, or just in general can do to a person.

Comment by Andrea Weisbard — 4/9/2008 @ 7:35 pm
“Amanda Heavrin” and THOSE PEOPLE ABOVE INDULGING “HER” BY REPLYING TO “HER” LITTLE OUTBURSTS,

Anyone who masquerades online as someone associated with felons for some sort of sick thrill is as loathsome as the people they claim to know.
I suspect a quick investigation would reveal that more than one poster who defended “her” shares “her” IP, i.e. it’s the same creep.

Comment by M. — 5/23/2008 @ 11:53 am
I just finished reading Cruel Sacrifice, and let me tell you, that was seriously one of the most horrifying things I have ever read in my life. This girl was TWELVE YEARS OLD! TWELVE! I cannot comprehend the thought processes of ANY of these girls. Any of them. And never have I ever been so enraged in all my life over something that I have absolutely no control over. And it leaves me with so many unanswerable questions.

Why a fifteen-year-old girl would even consider having a romantic relationship with a twelve-year-old?
Why would a sixteen-year-old feel threatened by it?
Why didn’t anyone take this girl Melinda seriously when she stated time and time again that she was going to kill Shanda?
Why did her friend Crystal say, “then just do it? Kill the bitch.” And whatnot.
Why did this have to happen at all?

But, I guess that’s why they call senseless crimes, “senseless.”

I got the feeling that none of these girls were remorseful at all. That had/have not one ounce of guilt or sadness over what they did. Not even Toni, who participated the least. You know? Even Toni seemed wildly disassociated with the idea of consequences for her actions. She was in a criminal mental facility, writing about husbands and having a good job and a family ten years down the line. Like she was writing a diary entry in her bedroom and not in JAIL. Not ONCE did it seem like she thought, “I had the power to stop it, on more than one occasion that night, but I didn’t. And Shanda’s dead.”

Has it even really sunk in today with these women that they took a girl’s life? And for what reason? Because she was going out with with another girl’s girlfriend? Because she was seduced by a teenage Lothario who more than likely enjoyed the attention she got from both girls? Because she didn’t take Melinda’s threats seriously enough.

Why?

Comment by Amanda Leigh — 6/28/2008 @ 1:56 am
I know that this is a horrible horrible thing that happend but all the people that are saying that they dont understand its because you werent there, because you dont know what was going through their troubled minds, and i think that were getting left out of some of the events that led up to the murder. I honestly dont think they killed her because she was dating another girls girlfriend, that just dosent add up to me. Their has to be some other reason that the girls arent fessing up to all this dosent add up to me someone needed to take their job more seriosly in the interrigation room and got to the bottom of it, thats my thinking.

Comment by seth — 7/7/2008 @ 5:40 pm
My problem with this is everyone is talking that this is in gods hands now. My question is simply this. Where was God when this innocent child was being brutalized. The answer is this NOWHERE !!!!! god… What a joke, there is no god! I grew up a mile or less from Shanda’s dad’s house I am from Jeffersonville In. was in my mid 20’s when this occured.
Tis truly wrong when children do these things. but molestation is not a license to kill. otherwise i’d have killed someone myself. the fact that Amanda Heavrin can’t get over it is her own demon. MELINDA IS AN ABBORATION AND SHOULD FRY….DOES ANYONE KNOW THAT SHE HAD SEX WITH A JAIL EMPLOYEE AND GOT HIM FIRED FOR IT WHILE AWATING TRIAL.The only reason that they might be sorry is they got caught. kids today have no concept of the consequences for thier actions. Its all about instant gratification. and make no mistake if GOD was alive then why do so many innocent people suffer? If it is god’s will then he is no better than charles manson, ted bundy, richard ramirez,jeffery dahmer,and lets not forget melinda ,laurie,hope, and toni.
The world is truly a scary place today.

Comment by Terry — 7/31/2008 @ 10:27 am
As far as I’m concerned, I agree with “Terry.” At times, it’s difficult to accept the concept, that the almighty “God” would let an innocent child die brutally. But let’s not make this a religous issue. Instead, let’s focus on the facts. Tragically, countless people have been sexually molested. Yet, the majority of these victims don’t go out and kill. Do they? Of course not. In truth, Melinda Loveless is a true coward-and so for that matter, are Lauri Tackettand, Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence. My strong feeling is, simply, everyone of those girls should have gotten life-without any chance of parole! Nuff said.

Comment by George Penon — 10/10/2008 @ 12:27 am
I just heard about this story. I’m a 40 yr old attorney, the father of a three year old. I saw a show on TV that briefly profiled this crime - never heard of it until last week.

I was horrified. I couldn’t sleep - all I could think about was Shanda’s anguish. I thought of her parents’ terrible suffering when the natural order (child buries the parent)was reversed under the most heart breaking, malefic circumstances. I don’t shock easily - I lived in New York City and saw my share of big city crime. I saw the planes hit the towers on 9/11 at the corner of Fulton and Broadway. As awful as that was, Shanda’s story hurt me more. I always thought a terrorist strike would happen again at the WTC; I couldn’t imagine that 4 girls could torture and burn alive a child. I cried - crazy sentimental Irishman that I am. After the TV show, I kissed my daughter on her forehead as she slept in her bed. Like most parents, I can’t bear the thought of my child suffering. You’d give up your life to protect them. This understanding, which many of us heard so often from our own parents, doesn’t truly arrive until you’re a parent yourself. Then you know. And only then can you have at least an idea, limited as it may be, of the suffering Shanda’s parents and family must endure.

I hope Shanda’s mother takes what small comfort there may be from knowing that her daughter has not been forgotten, and that many of us pray her bereavement shall be eased by the grace of God. I am sure every day, even 16 years later, is still terribly hard for her. God bless that woman for carrying on - she is a stronger person than I could even be.

Comment by A Dad — 10/13/2008 @ 12:03 am
People do horrific things to one another everyday from. This tragedy is no more so than any other. Teenagers will grasp any emotional connection with anyone they can, especially in this pathetic excuse for a society we live in. A 15 year old who dates a 12 year old is not a far cry from the thousands of teenage girls that date older men. It is a psychological problem that unfortunately occurs rapidly in children from abusive and/or dysfunctional backgrounds. I have been through it myself and it has continued through my adulthood. Luckily it was not to such an extreme as these girls, but there are many struggles and regrets. Please do not judge these girls as though you know them, because none of you do nor I do. As senseless and tragic these events were, what is done is done. Let us all instead let Shanda’s memory live on and let us all pray that those involved in this crime have received mental help and learned to accept that their actions were inappropriate and reprehensible and change their behavior for the future.

Comment by B — 10/17/2008 @ 1:41 am
I have lived in Indiana for most of my life. I became involved in the prison system in the late 90’s. I read about Shanda and the torture that she endured from these women. I am not shocked by the lenient sentences that were given to Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence. It seems to be the way the Indiana judicial system works.

I don’t really know what happened in the background of these girls lives to trip a trigger that made them want to commit murder, but it matters not. There are many that have endured very hard childhoods that do not rape, torture or murder.

Melinda Loveless and Laurie Tackett are probably two of the coldest and ruthless people that I have ever read about. To read the public diaries of their lives since this happened is appalling. The stories have circulated on how Loveless bragged of killing Shanda. And Tackett wants everyone to believe that she has found God.

I have seen so many men leave the prison system, after “finding God,” only to return months later on similar or worse charges. I believe that forgiveness is for everyone. However, I don’t see forgiveness going to these two intrinsically evil women.

The other two had less of a hand in the actual crime. However, as stated during the trial, each had many occasions to get help and save this young lady. Instead, they gave into what was “easier and safer” for them. God forbid harm come to them in saving another person. As to these two women, they should have gotten the same amount of time for the crime.

As to Amanda Heavrin; so much has been published about his young lady. I cannot even begin to fathom the guilt she must feel. It’s unfounded guilt, as she had no part, and was only being a kid. We have all picked some winners of friends that turned out to be unsavory. No one can forsee a murderer.

My prayers go out to Shanda’s family, Amanda and her family, and all those affected by this atrocity.

I fear the day when these final two women are let out of prison. Society will have two more diabolical murderers on the streets.

Comment by Michael S — 11/20/2008 @ 2:00 pm
yo creo que todo esto es muy triste god bless you all.

Comment by la pitufa — 12/12/2008 @ 3:40 am
I just saw this story on the “ID” channel’s show “Deadly Women”. I was 11 and in the 6th grade when this crime occured which would make me a year younger than Shanda and frighteningly, I have lived only about 5 hours away in Tennessee my whole life. I cannot fathom what these girls did. I look at pictures of Shanda and see myself. A time when my biggest concerns were making the cheerleading squad, whether this boy or that boy liked me and what argument myself or either of my two best friends were involved in, we NEVER would have IMAGINED killing someone or each other. Granted, I grew up in a caring, loving, and thriving household, not all of my peers did. Still, the worst they ever did was cruel taunting that sent someone home in tears, at worst after a minimal physical altercation. These girls are way MORE than troubled. In my opinion, these are hopelessely flawed individuals. I think I read her attorney, Smalls, I believe, said that her sentence was based on being vindictive, not reforming his client. I say, she’s lucky. If his client had received a sentence based on reformation of her nature, she would have to be scrap metal. Flawed, and broken beyond further use. She will never be any way beneficial to society. We should wash our hands and move on, we couldn’t fix Hitler, now could we? If Jackie (Jacque) Vaught ever reads this, which I sincerely hope she does NOT, you are an amazing human being. May God be with you as you, your family, and your precious innocent angel are the ONLY victims here. I am 28 now which would make Shanda 29. I look at the all the events of my life from 11 to now, sporting events, homecomings, proms, graduations, weddings, a divorce, the birth of my niece, and my recent engagement. These are things that were not only robbed from Shanda but you as well. I would love to help you if only I could. Know that there are still some humans and humanity out there. With GREAT love from Northwest Tennessee!

Comment by Megan — 1/3/2009 @ 11:27 pm
This story is so sad. That was a child in the trunk of the car. A child they beat and burned . MY prayers and thoughts go to her Mother for i am a mother myself and could not be as strong as she. And for people to say it was a love triangle ? in what way ? this was a 12yr old child . The young lady’s who did this are pure evil . Who could stand and watch someone burn ? if not an evil person. They should of never let Hope Rippey or Toni Lawrence out of jail. That is just be on me. They could of did or said something in those “10″ hours. But instead they just watched and they should pay for that . No matter how well the behaved in jail. They did something or should i they took something that can never give back. That is a good enough reason for to say they did not deserve a chance . As for Loveless what the hell was a 16yr old doing with 14 yr old in the 1st place ? She is a sorry excuse for a human being .

Comment by nadia — 2/11/2009 @ 7:24 pm
Well… I personally know Lauri and Melinda. Whats done is done. These girls are not brutal killers! They are regular everyday people who happened to let the situation get out of control. I have spoke to both of them about what happened. They feel horrible. Their lives will never be the same. Shanda’s mother has no idea what really happened when she started having those books done. Most all of the books are lies. And that “child” was by far an active “child”. Not many young girls are virgins, and she wasn’t. She was all about being with girls and was the main player. I have done lots of research on this particular case and actually fully laid myself into it. The books are wrong. You want facts..I’ll give them to you.And for Amanda H….honey I know how you feel. Melinda is my best friend. I love her to death. And Lauri, I love her too. You keep your head up chick. Don’t let these people who don’t know the real story or you girls keep you down. If you need me, email me… michelleclark_82@yahoo.com

Comment by Michelle — 2/27/2009 @ 3:07 pm
So, is everyone going to ignore Toni Lawrence’s role in this? All of these posts, everyone mentions how horrible Laurie, Melinda and Hope are…Toni was there too. There are so many conflicting stories on her involvement, but regardless, she was a party to the entire thing. I have done extensive research on this case and Toni was given no less than 14 chances to get help for Shanda, alert someone or call the police. A few of the times the girls stopped at gas stations that night, Toni went in to pay for gas, alone! She even bumped into one of her friends at a station, yet never mentioned “Hey by the way, can you call the police, I’m pretty sure a girl in that car is going to savagely murder a 12 year old tonight…” She was given so many opportunites to stop this and chose to not say a word. I believe all girls should have been sentenced (and forced to complete) longer sentences, without possibilities of parole. Reports say they were too young to know what was going on. Bullshit. You mean to tell me at 15-17 years old you don’t know murder is wrong? Really? And don’t blame the tragedy on abuse from her father. There are hunderds of thousands of people abused, some worse than Melinda, that don’t choose to rape, torture and murder another little girl. That is just an excuse so the girls can not feel so guilty.
The fact that 2 of these girls are already free is disgusting. The fact that the other 2 girls are in prison, crafting ‘good girl’ stories to get out makes me sick. Laurie and Melinda are in the same prison! Is there only one prison in the 5 state radius they couldn’t plan better for that?

Im sorry to rant, but this whole thing is ridiculous. there will always be those people that make friends with the killers (hell, ted bundy was married in prison) and there will be people who tell us to leave them alone, they were kids. So what, even with a shitty childhood, people understand the concept of right and wrong, they don’t listen to that little voice in their head BY CHOICE! for those that are defending Melinda and Laurie, would you say the same if it was your daughter that was murdered?

Comment by Dna — 4/19/2009 @ 10:00 am
Destiny Mendoza, you are a RACIST.

No matter what you think of Melinda Loveless, why would you make a hateful comment like that? You obviously dislike black people. She is clearly white, as anyone can see.

With a surname like Mendoza, you’re probably not “pure white” so why are you talking shit about someone having black features when they don’t? It sounds like you’re trying to insinuate that being biracial is something to be ashamed of. First, Melinda is Caucasian. Second, most women of mixed race are beautiful, so why are you saying that black features are ugly? You mentioned that she looks part black, which is very strange because it is not true. What does race or her physical appearance have to do with this?

With that said…I would like to address Michelle Clark’s comment. You claim to know both Laurie and Melinda. It seems like you are intent on sullying Shanda’s memory. No matter how sexually active she may have been at the age of 12, there is no denying that she was murdered by them both. You are essentially blaming the victim here. You are also being disrespectful of Shanda’s mother by insinuating that she is lying about what happened. Her child was brutally murdered. Can you comprehend that?

Why are you defending their actions? I suspect that you really don’t know these people at all. You’re simply bored and trying to call attention to yourself, like the person pretending to be Amanda Heavrin.

If you actually do know them personally, then enlighten us. Share your “facts”. Explain why Laurie and Melinda are supposedly just decent everyday people. We’d love to hear all about it.

Comment by tellitlikeitis — 5/3/2009 @ 1:12 am
Cruel Sacrifices appeared in the trunk of my car, and I read about this case. At first I approached the book as if it were fiction because what happened to that child was the most horrific death I can imagine. As I was pulled into the reality of the abuse little Shanda suffered and began researching on the web, I became sickened that children would do something like this.

I want to say to Amanda, I found a photo of you when these events occurred and you looked like a 12 year old yourself. I don’t know if you have received counseling, but you should. It seems like you harbour a lot of guilt, when the fact is that you are not responsible for the actions of anyone but yourself. Not Melinda’s or Laurie’s.

As for Laurie’s conversion to Christianity, I would like to point out that Laurie was raised in a strict fundalmentalist Christian home and this actually played a part in her evil decisions, sending her in the opposite direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if a professional couldn’t find a correlation between her desire to burn someone and the constant ravings on hell fire and eternal burning she heard from her mother and her minister. Her conversion, in my opinion, is suspect at best, and at worst the working of a con artist.

Melinda’s mother and father are just as equally guilty as Melinda for the way they abused her. Her mother should have turned Larry Loveless into the police long before the damage was done to her girls. A mother has an obligation to protect her daughters. She is the one I wonder about the most. How did she react when she found out Melinda had brutally tortured and murdered a 12 year old? Does she have remorse or did she calmly go on with her life?

There is no telling how long the geneology of abuse runs in the Loveless family, or what kind of abuse Larry underwent as a child.

As a society we need to fight abuse, whether sexual, physical or verbal. When you suspect a child is being abused, please report it. If you were abused as a child, or if you are being abused, Please tell some one so the abuser can be stopped.

If there is someone you are afraid of, file a complaint with the police. If someone has made a threat on your life do not hesitate to take it to the authorities.

That said, none of these girls should ever have been released from prison. Especially Melinda or Laurie. Had they not been locked up, and had they gotten away with this, they both would possibly have become serial killers.

It is insane that we are letting these offenders out of prison early while people are being held for maximum sentenses for marijuana use. Our priorities are out of sync…

Comment by Pearl — 5/5/2009 @ 1:10 pm

8/22/2006

Deadly Love Triangle

95 comments »

Gotta Beef?