It's stories like the murders of Shanda Sharer and Junko Faruta that just break the heart. Like Junko Faruta, 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was kidnapped, tortured, and eventually murdered by four teens in Madison, IN. Only these teens were all girls. What's equally stunning is how young they were.
The ringleader, Melinda Loveless (16), wanted revenge of the worst kind against Sharer for dating her former girlfiend, Amanda Heavrin (14). Loveless convinced three other friends, Laurie Tackett (17), Hope Rippey (15), and Toni Lawrence (15), to aid in the killing. Two of the girls convinced Sharer to sneak out of her parent's house after midnight, claiming that Heavrin was waiting for her nearby. As soon as she got in the car, Loveless came out of hiding and held her at knifepoint. For the next several hours, while driving around to various locations, they forced Sharer to strip, beat her, tried to cut her throat (the knife was too dull), stabbed her, and beat her with a tire iron. In between each attack, they threw Sharer in the trunk, even parking outside Tackett's home for a time. Thinking she was dead, they drove Sharer to a final location and set her on fire, not realizing at the time that she was still barely clinging to life.
That night, Lawrence and Rippey both confessed to their parents what they had done. All four girls were tried as adults and eventually excepted plea bargains to escape the death penalty. Toni Lawrence was given 20 years, but served only nine. Rippey was sentenced to 50 years, but only served 16. Currently, Loveless and Tackett are still in prison (having also received 60-year sentences), trying to get their sentences reduced as well.
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