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The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese

The Truth Behind the Headlines

Published by BenBella Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

New York Times Bestseller

Journalist Daleen Berry and investigator Geoffrey Fuller give you the little-known details behind one of the most horrific and shocking murders of our time.

One hot July night, three popular, pretty girls snuck out for a midnight joyride. Only two came back.

Stabbed so savagely she was almost decapitated, Skylar Neese was left bloody on the side of the road, buried beneath rocks and branches.

For six months, people wondered and waited, hoping Skylar would return. Instead, the community was stunned when Rachel Shoaf confessed to Skylar's murder. The budding actress and singer accused the third member of the inseparable trio, Shelia Eddy, of being the ringleader. People were even more shocked to learn the murder was not a crime of sudden rage—but premeditated.

Now, friends, family, and the public are left with so many unanswered questions: Why did investigators believe her murder was connected to a rash of bank robberies and an interstate heroin ring? What part did drugs and social media play in Skylar's killing and its aftermath? How did other high school students and even her own mother help discover who killed Skylar? And, if Rachel's confession is true, what would lead two teenage girls to kill their best friend in one of the most horrific crimes in recent years?

With firsthand interviews with those close to the case and written in cooperation with the victim's parents, Dave and Mary Neese, The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese is the most comprehensive, detailed and in-depth source on the Skylar Neese murder.

About The Authors

Daleen Berry is an award-winning journalist who writes about important social topics such as domestic violence, suicide and murder, sexual crimes, and mental illness. She is the author of Sister of Silence.

Geoffrey C. Fuller has made a living as a freelance writer-editor for 20 years, working with both fiction and nonfiction. He has edited literary and trade journals, as well as more than 75 books. Two titles he edited, The Devil's Son: Cap Hatfield and the End of the Hatfield and McCoy Feud and Monongah: The Tragic Story of the 1907 Monongah Mine Disaster, the Worst Industrial Accident in US History, were nominated by the Independent Book Publisher Association for Benjamin Franklin Awards. Monongah placed third nationally in 2008. His writing has appeared in newspapers and on radio, in literary and commercial magazines, and in anthologies, textbooks, and gift books. Fuller is the only writer to have been awarded prestigious West Virginia literary fellowships in all three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. In 2012, his crime fiction piece, "Figure-Ground," placed first in Writer's Digest's national contest. His novel, Full Bone Moon, was published in 2011 by Woodland Press.

Product Details

  • Publisher: BenBella Books (February 18, 2014)
  • Length: 219 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781940363110

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