Patricia knew Rachel was going to miss her December 29 FBI interview, so she called Angotti and explained that Rachel was in Chestnut Ridge Center, the local psychiatric hospital. By then, Rachel’s attorney knew the reason the police were so insistent that Rachel come in again for questioning: Rachel’s story had changed. But Shelia’s hadn’t, at least not quickly enough.
“You need to bring Rachel to our office the minute she’s released. Not home,” Angotti told Patricia.
Liz says Patricia was told to go directly to Angotti’s office because the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office needed to talk to her before Shelia began controlling Rachel again.
Due to cutbacks in the mental health system, unless a specific diagnosis merits a longer stay, the average length of time for anyone who has been committed to a psychiatric facility is three to seven days.
So on January 3, 2013, Rachel Shoaf walked out the front door of the local mental hospital a free individual, finally ready to take her polygraph test. Rachel was just in time for the climax, as the curtain opened on Act Three.
By then, police had heard rumors Skylar might have been killed in Pennsylvania. So the U.S. Attorney’s office took the lead in coordinating case interviews. The office rescheduled its December 29 meeting with Rachel, the FBI, and the WVSP. When Corporal Gaskins got word Rachel was being released from Chestnut Ridge, he was glad the teenager was going straight to her attorney’s office for another interview. He hoped they would get the truth this time—and he couldn’t wait to hear what it was.
Patricia and Rusty had looked forward to taking Rachel home, but once Angotti told them the federal government was calling the shots they found themselves being told what to do. They were eager to help if it meant Mary and Dave would learn the truth, too, and have the closure they deserved. So on that cold January day, the Shoafs drove their daughter straight to her attorney’s office downtown. Once there, Patricia and Rusty waited in the lobby while Rachel met with John Angotti, FBI Special Agent Rob Ambrosini, and Corporal Gaskins.
The State Police corporal was replaying the details of the case as he wove the cruiser through traffic. All the way across town, through the slush and snow still on the streets after the recent snowfall, he mulled over what Rachel might say. Gaskins had known the two girls were keeping a big secret, and the entire time he’d been working the case, he had hoped it would be that Skylar’s death had been accidental. He still believed that was true.
Gaskins hoped Rachel would tell them what really happened to Skylar so law enforcement would have some answers. Perhaps they would finally learn if Skylar’s disappearance was connected to the bank robberies. Had Darek killed her to cover up something she had learned? Or maybe it really was as simple as an overdose, and Rachel and Shelia had managed to keep quiet. Gaskins thought of all the hours he and Berry had logged and all the time Colebank and Spurlock had put in. He thought about the dozen or so extra city, state, and federal officers who had helped and, along the way, become engrossed by the case. Now everyone would learn the truth.
Gaskins walked into the law offices, his face a mask. He greeted Rusty and Patricia, who sat waiting in the lobby, and went back to the conference room, where Ambrosini was waiting. The men said their hellos, exchanging small pleasantries about the weather or work, then took their seats at the conference table. The tension in the air was palpable.
When Angotti led Rachel in, she looked nothing like the girl who had stonewalled everyone for four months. She was shaking and she looked terrified. Rachel took the seat Angotti held out for her and immediately drew her legs up against her chest, hugging them tightly to her.
As soon as she began talking, Gaskins knew something was different. She no longer mentioned being too stoned to remember details. She wasn’t flippant or careless. Clearly this girl wanted to talk. Rachel Shoaf was finally ready to tell the truth.
We’re going to find out, he thought.
“I need a wastebasket, because I’m probably going to throw up,” Rachel said.
While Ambrosini, known as one of the most skilled polygraph examiners in the FBI, led the interview, Gaskins waited for the teen to say she and Shelia had given their friend some kind of drug, an overdose. Or Skylar had fallen and hit her head, and when they couldn’t wake her up, they’d gotten scared and left her behind. The seasoned investigator was expecting anything other than what he heard that day in Angotti’s conference room.
“Was there a party?” Ambrosini asked.
Rachel shook her head back and forth, indicating no.
“Did she overdose?”
Again, Rachel shook her head.
“Did she choke?”
Another shake of her head.
Ambrosini and Gaskins looked at each other. They needed to change tactics, since they were getting nowhere.
“Well, what did happen, Rachel?” Gaskins asked.
Something like a tiny grin, brought about by sheer terror, appeared on Rachel’s face. “We stabbed her.”
All three men almost fell out of their chairs. Ambrosini and Angotti were speechless. So was Gaskins.
He looked up from his written notes, staring directly into the teenager’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right.”
“Shelia and I, we stabbed Skylar,” Rachel said, her voice quivering and barely audible.
The pencil fell from Gaskins’ hand.
“Are you saying you killed Skylar Neese?” Gaskins asked in disbelief.
She nodded.
Rachel Shoaf bared her soul, finally relieved of her heavy burden. She told them everything, including the way Skylar managed to grab Rachel’s knife and used it to try and defend herself.
“I have the scar on my leg. Wanna see it?” With that, Rachel pulled up her pants leg—revealing a three-inch scar near her ankle.
After 181 days, Rachel held nothing back. She told them everything—everything except the reason they killed Skylar.
All Rachel would say is, “We just didn’t like her.”
After Gaskins and Ambrosini finished taking Rachel’s statement, a shaken Angotti called Rusty and Patricia back to a private room. There he told them he knew the girls caused Skylar’s death, but he didn’t know any details. Angotti said they would need several hours with Rachel and suggested the police bring Rachel home after she led them to Skylar. After Rachel’s mind-blowing revelation, Angotti honestly didn’t know if Rachel would even make it back home or if the authorities would keep her. Until she actually led them to Skylar, several variables were up in the air, including whether Skylar was buried in Pennsylvania or West Virginia.
“I’m afraid your daughter is directly involved in the murder of Skylar Neese,” Angotti finally said.
Stunned, Patricia’s mind began spinning, as she reflected on all the lies Rachel had told her since Skylar disappeared. She thought of Rachel’s future—and the life her beautiful, talented daughter had thrown away. One part of Patricia’s mind couldn’t accept what Angotti was saying. The other part knew it was true. Patricia crumpled to the floor, weeping.
Gaskins and Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney Marcia Ashdown both knew after six months outdoors, exposed to the harsh elements, the crime scene and Skylar’s remains weren’t likely to yield much evidence for court. The best police could hope for was that there would be enough left to identify.
“Going to be a lot of snow in the woods,” Ambrosini said as he and Gaskins were getting ready to go. Ambrosini’s backup had arrived and was waiting in the parking lot outside the law offices. “Might not even be able to search.”
Angotti had Rachel in his office, awaiting Gaskins’ signal. It was time for Rachel to give them more than words—leading police to the body was the only way to prove she was telling the truth.
Driving the first of two cars, Gaskins thought Ambrosini might be right. Conditions didn’t look promising. The farther out of town they drove, headed northwest, the more the snow piled up on the sides of the road. Rachel rode in the back seat of the lead car so she could direct Gaskins where to turn when it came time. Angotti sat up front with Gaskins. The second car, with the two FBI agents, trailed close behind the State Police cruiser.
During her confession, Rachel claimed Shelia disposed of the knives, their bloody clothes, Skylar’s purse and iPod, the shovel, and the other tools the two girls had used to try to hide their crime. When Rachel said she had no idea where any of those items could be, she seemed sincere. But she had agreed to lead police to Skylar’s body in exchange for a plea deal.
On the way there, after passing through Blacksville and turning off onto a narrow gravel road, Gaskins knew they were about to cross into Greene County, Pennsylvania. No one else was surprised, since most of the twisting back roads in that part of the county snaked back and forth between West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Rachel had been up there partying many times before, so she was pretty sure the spot was in Pennsylvania.
Both cars turned onto Morris Run Road, a narrow country lane composed of asphalt and gravel. The entire terrain was bathed in white that cold January day as gravel crunched softly under the vehicle tires. Less than two miles in, along an isolated stretch, Rachel told them to stop. The officers, the lawyer, and the suspect got out. All eyes were on Rachel, as she surveyed the white forest, first turning this way, then that. But it was two seasons later, in the dead of winter, and everything looked much different than it had in July. Finally, she admitted she couldn’t tell where she and Shelia had left Skylar.
Gaskins and Ambrosini discussed how to proceed. In those kinds of conditions, who knew how long it would take to find Skylar? If they found her. They hated to admit it, but they had no choice: they would have to wait until the snow was gone.
The neighbors who saw Patricia and Rusty drive away not long after Rachel’s return didn’t understand why they would leave their daughter, newly released from a psychiatric hospital, home alone. They had heard Rachel’s suicidal threats, and could only assume Rachel must be greatly improved for her parents to feel it was safe to leave Rachel behind. Evidently, they didn’t see the strange cars scattered around in nearby driveways, or the police officers crouched down inside those unmarked vehicles, so the neighbors had no way of knowing Rachel was anything but alone.
Rachel texted Shelia saying her parents were gone so she could come over—just as Gaskins and Ambrosini had instructed. Then she sat back to wait, trying not to let her frayed nerves get the best of her. It had been a very long day—but it was far from over.
After five full days at Chestnut Ridge, she had left the hospital, gone to Angotti’s office and told them about killing Skylar, agreed to help police catch her best friend saying something incriminating, and then led them to the place where she and Shelia had killed Skylar. Rachel knew what she needed—the best actress face she had in her repertoire—and it had better be in place before Shelia arrived.
The authorities say Shelia, of course, didn’t know any of that. So Shelia probably stared out the passenger window as her mom drove toward the Shoafs’ neighborhood, thinking about Rachel’s hospitalization. It must have really unnerved her—God only knew what they’d done to Rachel while she’d been in that place, or how they had tried to brainwash her, but she was out now, and Shelia was anxious to see her best friend and lover. Since it was the first time she and Rachel had been separated since Rachel started falling apart, Shelia would have had a ton of questions. She was also worried Patricia and Rusty wouldn’t let Rachel hang out with her. Not now.
She didn’t know how much time they’d have. It was evening, and Rachel told Shelia her parents wouldn’t be gone long. Tara planned to drop Shelia off and wait for her, killing time by circling the block until Shelia came out again. The cul-de-sac was tiny, and Tara didn’t want to attract any attention by parking too close to the Shoafs’. She knew the neighborhood was full of gossips, so word would easily reach Patricia’s ears. Or what if Patricia and Rusty sensed Shelia and Rachel were up to something and turned around and came right back? When they pulled in front of Rachel’s house, Shelia breathed a sigh of relief: neither Shoaf vehicle was there.
Shelia had tried at least twice to see Rachel inside Chestnut Ridge. She was so persistent, security had to turn her away repeatedly. The first time was on a day set aside specifically for family visitation. Usually friends can visit, too, but only with permission from the patient or—in the case of minors—the parents. Patricia had left strict orders: “Family ONLY.”
Shelia learned this when Tara dropped her off and she went inside the red-brick medical facility, where she was told her name wasn’t on the list of approved visitors. It didn’t make any sense. Before, she would have been family. Shelia wasn’t sure what was going on. Still, she tried and tried—but failed to get past security.
When Patricia arrived to visit her daughter, she was surprised to see Tara waiting outside in her car. She immediately asked why Tara was there—where Tara was, so was Shelia—and sure enough, when Patricia walked into Chestnut Ridge, there was Shelia.
“What are you doing here? I told you only family,” Patricia told Shelia.
Without waiting for an answer, she turned to the security guard and warned him not to let Shelia in.
“She’s not getting past us, ma’am,” he assured Patricia.
Shelia tried again two days later. Again she was turned away.
Mother and daughter were together on January 3, when Tara dropped Shelia off at the curb in front of the Shoafs’ house, then began to drive slowly around the development. Rachel answered the door and Shelia slipped inside. Some people think Shelia had no clue what a busy girl Rachel had been earlier that day, that she didn’t have any inkling Rachel had told authorities she and Shelia had savagely stabbed Skylar to death. They assumed Shelia didn’t know Rachel had spent hours confessing to her lawyer, the State Police, and the FBI, and that nothing seemed amiss because Rachel wasn’t in custody.
People speculate Shelia didn’t know Rachel had agreed to gather evidence against her best friend, or that everything they said and did was being recorded on audio- and videotape.
They might be wrong, though. Shelia may have suspected all of that when she noticed Rachel’s new accessory: she was wearing a really fancy watch.
“Nice watch, Rach,” Shelia said. “I’ve never seen you wear a watch before.”
Those people also believe Shelia, apparently like some of the neighbors, didn’t notice the extra cars, either, or the officers inside those vehicles who were listening and watching the two girls’ exchange.
Outside was another matter. From their respective positions in the unmarked cars, Gaskins and his entourage were listening and watching what was going on inside the Shoaf home. Every few minutes, Tara would drive by, and the officers would have to stop writing and duck down, hoping Tara couldn’t see them.
“Man, I hope she can’t tell the windows are fogged up, and figure out what we’re doing,” Gaskins said.
“That would be bad,” Ambrosini replied, laughing.
For the entire time Shelia was inside with Rachel, the game continued: the officers would listen and watch and try to take notes—and then Tara would drive by again. By then it was so dark they knew she couldn’t see them, but they knew she might be able to see some of the LED lights from their equipment inside the vehicles. Of course, writing soon became difficult in the dark, but they didn’t have much longer to wait, because Shelia came out a few minutes later.
Despite all their efforts to catch Shelia in her lie, she didn’t say anything that would directly incriminate her. It was clear to the state troopers and FBI agents listening outside that the teens were involved in a conspiracy—just as Rachel had said—but bugging Rachel and Shelia’s “reunion” only produced one useful piece of information: the two girls spoke of “sticking together” in the coming days and weeks. Otherwise, the police got nothing else that helped their case.
However, this incident may have had an unintended consequence. Rumors that Rachel wore a wire started circulating in May, soon after the arrests. They persisted even after both Rachel and Shelia were found guilty of Skylar’s murder. Every member of law enforcement directly involved in the case denied the rumor at the time. The FBI audiovisual surveillance was probably its source.
At the moment of their reunion, Shelia was oblivious to all of that; her only care was telling the world how happy she was to see Rachel—her Rachel—again. When Shelia left, she happily tweeted, FINALLLLY GOT TO SEEE @_racchh <3. She attached a selfie of the pair.
In that revealing photo, the pair of matching smiles seems forced and one can see the stress Rachel was under, her eyes rimmed with dark circles and a look of exhaustion in her expression. Shelia said as much with her very next tweet: and i don’t even care how bad we look. Shelia never expected that tweet to be the last one she ever sent directly to Rachel.
Soon after leaving Rachel, Shelia was no longer happy. Police believe that’s because Rachel’s parents told Tara their daughter needed to stay away from Rachel—Shelia wasn’t allowed to try to call, text, or chat online with Rachel. That if Shelia tried, it would be of no use anyway, since they were taking Rachel’s cell phone and other electronic devices.
People who have tracked the girls’ tweets believed it could have been something else entirely; that somehow that night, Rachel told Shelia that the police were onto them, so she needed to be careful. They speculated Rachel could have handed Shelia a small piece of paper as she told her goodbye at her front door, or she could have called her on the phone right after that and given her a heads-up.
Whatever happened, Rachel’s parents did confiscate her cell phone. Then they left town. While Rachel was in Chestnut Ridge, Rusty and Patricia began reflecting on her behavior during the last six months, and how she had gone from being respectful to hateful and argumentative. They remembered how she seemed to be keeping secrets and looking to Shelia and Tara for approval. They wanted to get Rachel away from Shelia—and her mother. Rachel had grown far too close to Tara since Skylar’s disappearance, and Tara seemed to be trying to control Rachel as much as Shelia had been. United in their approach to parenting in a way they never had been before, Rusty and Patricia were determined to do whatever they could to make that happen. Under no circumstances were they going to allow Rachel to have any communication with Shelia. Or Tara.
Back home in the warmth and security of her mom and stepdad’s townhouse, Shelia’s next tweet, -_______-, shows clearly her world wouldn’t stay warm and cozy for long. The emoticon depicts a mouth and two squinty eyes, and is teenspeak for any feeling from dislike to hostility. The longer the line, the greater the displeasure. The line Shelia tweeted was quite long, indicating she was very, very upset.
She also tweeted, i dont have time to be wasting my time.