The murder of Shanda Renee Sharer (June 6, 1979 – January 11, 1992) involved a 12-year-old girl who was tortured and burned to death in Madison, Indiana by four teenage girls. The incident attracted nationwide attention.
In 1990, Melinda Loveless met and began dating Amanda Heavrin. After her father left and her mother remarried, Loveless was erratic, depressed, in counseling, and fighting at school. In March 1991, Loveless came out of the closet to her mother, who was initially furious but eventually accepted it. In the fall of 1990, Loveless’s relationship with Heavrin deteriorated, and Loveless came to associate this deterioration with Shanda Sharer.
Heavrin and Sharer met early in the school year when they got into a fight; however, they became friends while in detention for the altercation. Loveless immediately became jealous of Heavrin and Sharer’s relationship. In early October, Sharer and Heavrin attended a school dance where Loveless found them and confronted them. Although Heavrin and Loveless never formally ended their involvement, Loveless began dating an older girl.
Loveless became increasingly jealous when Heavrin and Sharer went to a festival together in late October, and she began to discuss killing Sharer and threatened Sharer in public. Concerned about their daughter’s relationship with Heavrin, Sharer’s parents arranged for her to transfer to a Catholic school in late November, and the girls started drifting apart in December. Loveless and Heavrin never reformed their relationship.
On January 10, Toni Lawrence, Hope Rippey, and Laurie Tackett drove in Tackett’s car from Madison, Indiana to Melinda Loveless’ house in New Albany. Rippey and Lawrence, while friends of Tackett, had not yet met Loveless; however, upon arrival they borrowed some clothes from Loveless, and she showed them a knife and told them she was going to scare Shanda Sharer with it. None of the girls except for Loveless had ever met Sharer, although Tackett already knew of the plan to intimidate the 12-year-old girl. Loveless explained to the two other girls that she disliked Sharer for being a copycat and for stealing Loveless’ girlfriend.
Tackett let Rippey drive them to Sharer’s house in Jeffersonville, Indiana, stopping at a McDonald’s restaurant for directions. They arrived at Sharer’s house shortly before dark, and Loveless instructed Rippey and Lawrence to go to the door, introduce themselves as friends of Heavrin, and invite Sharer to come with them to see her girlfriend, who was waiting for them at a place called “The Witch’s Castle”. Sharer said that she could not go because her parents were awake, and told the girls to come back around midnight.
Loveless was angry at first, but Rippey and Lawrence assured her that they could return for Sharer later. The four girls crossed the river to Louisville and went to a punk rock concert at the Audubon Skate Park near Interstate 65. Lawrence and Rippey quickly lost interest in the music and went to the parking lot outside the skate park where they engaged in sexual activities with two boys in Tackett’s car.
Eventually the girls left for Sharer’s house. During the ride, Loveless said that she could not wait to kill Sharer; however, Loveless also said that she found Sharer attractive and would like to have sex with her and that she just intended to use the knife to frighten her. When they arrived at Sharer’s house at 12:30a.m., Lawrence refused to retrieve Sharer, so Tackett and Rippey went. Loveless, who had previously harassed Sharer many times, hid under a blanket in the backseat of the car with a dull knife.
Sharer was waiting for Tackett and Rippey. Rippey told her that Heavrin was waiting at the Witch’s Castle. Sharer was reluctant yet agreed after changing her clothes. Loveless was in the back seat hiding under a blanket with the knife. She put the knife to Sharer’s throat as they got in the car and drove towards Utica, Indiana and the Witch’s Castle. The Witch’s Castle was a ruined stone house, also known as Mistletoe Falls, located on an isolated hill overlooking the Ohio River. It was an occasional hangout for local teenagers. Tackett told the girls that legend said the house was once owned by nine witches, and townspeople burned the house to get rid of the witches.
At the Witch’s Castle, they took Sharer in and bound her arms and legs with rope. Sharer started to cry, and the girls were scared by the headlights of passing cars, so they left for a place near Tackett’s house, stopping for gas, then getting lost for a while before finally making their way to Madison, Indiana.
Tackett led them to a garbage dump off a logging road in a densely forested area. Lawrence and Rippey were frightened and stayed in the car as Loveless and Tackett made Sharer strip, then Loveless beat Sharer with her fists. Loveless then repeatedly slammed Sharer’s face into her knee, cutting Sharer’s mouth on her own braces. Loveless then tried to slash Sharer’s throat but the knife was too dull, and Rippey came out of the car to hold Sharer down. Loveless and Tackett took turns stabbing Sharer in the chest; they then strangled Sharer with a rope until she was unconscious, placed her in the trunk, and told the other two girls that Sharer was dead.
They went to Tackett’s nearby home and went inside to drink soda and clean themselves. They realized Sharer was screaming in the trunk, so Tackett went out with a paring knife and stabbed her several more times, coming in a few minutes later covered in blood. After she washed, Tackett got her “runestones” and told the girls’ futures with them. Lawrence and Rippey stayed behind as Tackett and Loveless went “country cruising” at 2:30, driving to the nearby town of Canaan. Sharer continued making crying and gurgling noises, so Tackett stopped the car; Sharer sat up, covered in blood and her eyes rolled in the back of her head, but was unable to speak; Tackett then beat her with a tire iron until she was silent.
They returned to Tackett’s house just before daybreak to clean up again. Rippey asked about what had happened to Sharer, and Tackett laughingly told them about the torture. The conversation woke up Tackett’s mother, who yelled at her daughter for being out so late and bringing home the girls, so Laurie agreed to take them home. She drove to the burn pile near Tackett’s house and showed the other girls Sharer. Lawrence refused to look, and Rippey sprayed Sharer with Windex and taunted “You’re not looking so hot now, are you?”
The girls drove to a gas station near Madison Consolidated High School, pumped some gas into the car and bought a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. Tackett emptied the bottle and refilled it with gasoline. They drove north of Madison, past Jefferson Proving Ground to a place with which Rippey was familiar off US 421 on what was called Lemon Road. They placed Sharer, still alive, in a blanket and carried her into a field by the gravel country road. Tackett made Rippey pour the gasoline on her, and then they set her on fire. Loveless was not convinced Sharer was dead, so they returned a few minutes later to pour the rest of the gasoline on her.
The girls went to a McDonald’s at 9:30a.m. for breakfast. The girls laughed about Sharer looking like one of the sausages they were eating. Lawrence, horrified, called a friend and told her about the murder. Tackett then dropped Lawrence and Rippey off at their homes and returned home with Loveless. They cleaned out the car, using a hose to wash the trunk. They then drove to Loveless’ house around 3:00p.m.. Loveless found out Heavrin was at River Falls Mall and had her paged, claiming an emergency, then told her that they had killed Sharer and arranged to pick Heavrin up later that day.
Loveless’ friend, Crystal Wathen, came over, and they told her about what had happened. Then the three girls drove to pick up Heavrin and bring her back to Loveless’ house, where they told Heavrin the story, who did not believe it was true, but comforted a hysterical Loveless. Both Heavrin and Wathen were convinced when Tackett showed them the trunk with Sharer’s bloody handprints and socks still remaining.
"Drunk at the matinee" is a collection of candid poetry about stupid shit that we all experience from day to day.
that's fucking awesome .
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