Shanda Sharer: Four Girls, One Victim, and Zero Remorse
Case File — Murder
"Soon you'll be the one burning."
— Laurie Tackett, to twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer, while taunting her with a lit t-shirtShanda and her mother relocate to Indiana so she can be closer to her dad. She enrolls at Hazelwood Junior High and meets Amanda Heavrin. The two become close — and eventually romantically involved.
At a school dance, Melinda Loveless — Amanda's ex — sees Shanda and Amanda together and tries to fight Shanda on the spot. In the weeks that follow, Melinda threatens Shanda publicly and writes Amanda a letter saying she wants Shanda dead.
Amanda later says she reported Melinda's threats to a youth prosecutor. No action was taken. Shanda's parents transfer her to a Catholic school, but Amanda keeps reaching out.
Laurie, Hope, and Toni pick up Melinda. Laurie tells Toni — who has just met her — that they're going to kill a girl tonight. Toni thinks it's a joke. Around 8pm, two of them go to Shanda's door with a cover story: Amanda wants to see her. Shanda asks them to come back at midnight.
Shanda leaves her home believing she's going to see Amanda. Once inside the car, Melinda jumps up from the floor, grabs Shanda by the hair, and presses a knife to her throat.
Shanda is taken to an abandoned property, tied up, beaten, stabbed, strangled, and left for dead — multiple times. She survives each attempt. At one point, still alive in the trunk, Hope sprays Windex into her open wounds.
The girls fill a 2-liter bottle with gasoline at a gas station. They carry Shanda — still alive — to a field off U.S. Route 421 and set her on fire. Melinda returns to pour the rest of the gasoline on her.
The four girls go to McDonald's for breakfast. They joke about how the sausages look like Shanda's body. While they eat, two brothers out quail hunting discover Shanda's burned remains and call the sheriff.
A hysterical Toni Lawrence walks into the police station with her father and confesses to everything. All four girls are arrested and charged as adults.
Toni released 2000. Hope released 2006. Laurie released January 11, 2018 — the 26th anniversary of Shanda's murder. Melinda released September 5, 2019.
"People will never not judge her. She just has to not care."
— Melinda Loveless, commenting on TikTok after her releaseMelinda didn't hint that she disliked Shanda. She wrote it in a letter to Amanda: she wanted Shanda dead. She tried to fight her in public. These were not vague warnings.
Amanda says she reported Melinda's threats to a youth prosecutor. Nothing was done. Shanda was transferred to a new school, but the threats didn't stop and neither did the contact.
Hope, Toni, and Laurie had either never met Shanda or barely knew who she was. This was not a confrontation that escalated. It was a planned killing carried out by people with no personal grievance against the victim.
Laurie told Toni within minutes of picking her up that they were going to kill a girl that night. Toni thought it was a joke. She got out of the car once — and then got back in.
She left her home at midnight because she believed she was going to see someone she cared about. The cruelty of using that against her is something that stays with you.
Melinda received 60 years and served 27. She is now active on TikTok, publicly lamenting how hard it is to be judged. Shanda's father died of alcohol abuse in 2005, broken. He was 53.
