Melinda Loveless

Case identification

Defendant: Melinda Loveless Victim: Shanda Renee Sharer

Background

Shanda Renee Sharer was born at Pineville Community Hospital in Pineville, Kentucky on June 6, 1979 to Steve Sharer and Jacqueline Vaught. Sharer attended fifth and sixth grades in Louisville at St. Paul School, where she was on the cheerleading, volleyball, and softball teams. After Sharer's parents divorced, her mother remarried and the family moved to Louisville. When her mother divorced again, the family moved to New Albany, Indiana in June 1991, and Shanda enrolled at Hazelwood Middle School. Early in the school year, she transferred to Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, a Catholic school in New Albany, where she joined the school's female basketball team.

Melinda Loveless was born in New Albany, Indiana on October 28, 1975, the youngest of three daughters, to Marjorie and Larry Loveless. Larry was drafted into the US Army during the Vietnam War, and he was treated as a hero upon his return. His wife later described him as a pervert who would wear her and her daughter's underwear and makeup, was incapable of staying monogamous, and had a mixture of jealousy and fascination with seeing her have sex with other men and women. They lived in or near New Albany, Indiana throughout Melinda's childhood. Larry worked irregularly for the Southern Railroad after his military service; his profession allowed him to work whenever most convenient for him. In 1972, Larry became a probationary officer with the New Albany Police Department, but he was fired after eight months when he and his partner assaulted a black man whom Larry accused of sleeping with his wife. In 1988, Larry briefly worked as a mail carrier but quit after three months and very little work, having brought most of his mail home to destroy it. Marjorie had worked intermittently since 1974. When both parents were working, the family was financially well, living in the upper-middle-class suburb of Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Larry did not usually share his income with the family, making the mortgage payments and impulsively spending any money he earned on himself, especially firearms, motorcycles, and cars. He filed for bankruptcy in 1980, and extended family members often described the Loveless daughters as visiting their houses hungry, apparently not getting food at home.

Through most of their relationship, Larry was unfaithful to his wife and they often had an open marriage. They would often visit bars in Louisville, where Loveless would pretend to be a doctor or a dentist and introduce Marjorie as his girlfriend. He would also "share" her with some of his friends from work, which she found disgusting. During an orgy with another couple at their house, Marjorie tried to commit suicide, an act she would repeat several times throughout her daughters' childhoods. When Melinda was nine years old, Larry forced Margie to participate in a gang bang, after which she tried to drown herself. After that incident, she refused him sex for a month, until he violently raped her as their daughters watched.

In the summer of 1986, after she would not let him go home with two women he met at a bar, Larry beat Marjorie so severely that she was hospitalized. He was convicted of battery.

The extent of Larry's abuse of his daughters and other children is unclear. Various court testimonies claimed he fondled Michelle as an infant, molested Marjorie's 13-year-old sister early in the marriage, molested the girls' cousin Teddy from age 10 to 14, and both older girls said he molested them, though Melinda didn't admit that this ever happened to her. She slept in bed with him until he abandoned his family when she was 14. In court, Teddy described an incident in which Larry tied all three sisters in a garage and raped them in succession; however the sisters did not confirm this account. Larry was verbally abusive to his daughters and fired a handgun in Michelle's direction when she was seven, intentionally missing her. He would also embarrass his children by finding their underwear and smelling it in front of other family members.

For two years, beginning when Melinda was five, the family was deeply involved in the Graceland Baptist Church. Larry and Marjorie gave full confession and renounced drinking and swinging while they were members. Larry became a Baptist lay preacher and Marjorie became the school nurse. The church later arranged for Melinda to be taken to a motel room with a 50-year-old man for a five-hour exorcism. Larry became a marriage counselor with the church and acquired a reputation for being too forward with women, eventually attempting to rape one of them. After that incident, the Loveless parents left the church and returned to their former professions, drinking, and open marriage.

In November 1990, Larry was caught spying on Melinda and a friend, and Marjorie attacked him with a knife, sending him to the hospital after he attempted to grab it. She then attempted suicide again and her daughters called authorities. After this incident Larry filed for divorce and moved to Avon Park, Florida. Melinda felt crushed, especially as Larry remarried. He sent letters to her for a while, playing on her emotions, but eventually severed all contact with her.

The offence

The offence involved the murder of Shanda Renee Sharer, born June 6, 1979 and killed January 11, 1992. The incident was described as the torture and burning of a 12-year-old girl in Madison, Indiana by four teenage girls. The four girls were identified as Melinda Loveless, Mary Laurine Tackett, Toni Lawrence, and Hope Rippey.

Events of January 10-11, 1992

Pre-abduction

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 her 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 back seat of the car with a dull knife.

Abduction

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.

Torture

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.

Burned alive

They 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 9:30 am 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 3:00 pm.

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's 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's house, where they told Heavrin the story; while she did not believe it was true, she comforted the hysterical Loveless. Both Heavrin and Wathen were convinced when Tackett showed them the trunk with Sharer's bloody handprints and socks still there.

Investigation

On the morning of January 11, two brothers from Canaan, Indiana were driving toward Jefferson Proving Ground to go hunting when they noticed something on the side of the road. They called the police at 10:55 am and were asked to return to the corpse.

The Jefferson County Sheriff, Buck Shippley, and detectives arrived and began an investigation, taking forensic evidence at the scene. They initially suspected a drug deal gone wrong, and could not believe the crime could be the work of locals.

Steve Sharer noticed his daughter missing early on January 11. After calling neighbors and friends all morning, he called his ex-wife, Shanda's mother, at 1:45 pm and the two met and filed a missing person report with the sheriff.

At 8:20 pm, an hysterical Toni Lawrence went to the Jefferson County Sheriff's office with her parents. She gave a rambling statement, identifying the victim as "Shanda", naming the three other girls involved as best she could, and describing the main events of the previous night.

Shippley contacted the Clark County sheriff and was finally able to match the victim to Shanda Sharer's missing person's report. Detective Howard Henry went to the Sharer's house, then obtained dental records that positively identified her as the victim.

Loveless and Tackett were arrested on January 12. The bulk of the evidence for the arrest warrant was Lawrence's statement. The prosecution immediately declared its intention to try both as adults. For several months, the prosecutors and defense attorneys did not release any information on the case, leaving the media only the statement by Lawrence, which was repeated in the arrest warrant and contained the general background of the crime.

Arrest and charges

All four girls were tried as adults. To avoid the death penalty, all four girls accepted plea bargains. Loveless and Tackett were sentenced after plea.

During plea agreements, Tackett and Loveless would plead guilty to charges of murder, arson and criminal confinement resulting in serious bodily injury.

Trial

Sentencing

Tackett and Loveless were sentenced to sixty years in the Indiana Women's Prison in Indianapolis.

Sentencing reductions were discussed as maximum time reduced for good behavior. With maximum time reduced for good behavior, Tackett and Loveless could be released in 2020.

For Loveless specifically, the case status reflected: pleaded guilty; sentenced to sixty years in prison on October 6, 1992; projected date of released: February 8, 2021.

Lawrence was sentenced to twenty years in prison, and with time reduced for good behavior, she was released in 2000.

Hope Rippey was sentenced to 60 years, with ten suspended for mitigating circumstances, and ten years of medium supervision probation. With time reduced for good behavior, Rippey was released in 2006.

Appeals

In October 2007, Loveless's attorney Mark Small requested a hearing to argue for his client's release. He said that Loveless had been "profoundly retarded" by childhood abuse and was not represented competently by counsel during her sentencing, which caused her to accept a plea only because of exaggerated claims about the chances of her being executed. Small also argued that Loveless, who was 16 when she signed the plea bargain, was too young to enter into a contract in the state of Indiana without consent from a parent or guardian, neither of which had been obtained.

If the judge accepted either argument, Loveless could have been retried or released outright. However, after Small was unable to see his client the night before the hearing, the hearing was delayed until December 6, 2007.

On January 8, 2008, a sentence reduction and request to overturn Loveless's guilty plea was rejected by Jefferson Circuit Judge Ted Todd. Instead, Loveless will be eligible for parole in 15 years, thus maintaining the original guilty plea.

On November 14, 2008, Loveless's appeal was denied by the Indiana Court of Appeals, upholding Judge Todd's ruling. Mark Small stated that he will seek to have jurisdiction over the case moved to the Indiana Supreme Court.

Outcome

Loveless pleaded guilty and was sentenced to sixty years in prison. Her appeal was denied by the Indiana Court of Appeals, upholding Judge Todd's ruling rejecting a sentence reduction and a request to overturn her guilty plea.

Other details

Victim family and related aftermath

Sharer's father died of cancer in 2005 at the age of 53. He was buried next to his daughter.

In an interview with Sharer's mother Jacque Vaught on the TV series Deadly Women, Vaught stated that Sharer's father was so destroyed by his daughter's murder that he "...did everything he could to kill himself besides put a gun to his head," and that he "...drank himself to death. The man definitely died from a broken heart."

The Shanda Sharer Scholarship Fund was established in January 2009. It is written in the contract that the recipient will receive a plaque or document of some type that tells Sharer's story. The fund plans to provide scholarships to two students per year from Prosser School of Technology in New Albany; one scholarship will go to a student who is continuing his or her education, and the other scholarship will go to a student who is beginning his or her career and must buy tools and work equipment.

In 2011, the Dr. Phil show aired a 2-part series on the crime, which featured interviews with Shanda's mother and sister, who also confronted Hope Rippey on the show.

In August 2011, Episode XI Studios interviewed and filmed both Melinda Loveless at the Indiana Women's Prison and Jacque Vaught at her office for a documentary they are producing titled "Charlie's Scars". Both Loveless and Vaught are closely featured in the documentary, which was submitted to the Sundance Film Festival in September 2011 for the 2012 Festival.

Documentation in books and media

The crime was documented in two true crime books, Little Lost Angel by Michael Quinlan and Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrodite Jones; Jones's book on the case became a New York Times Bestseller.

The story was turned into a play by Rob Urbinati called "Hazelwood Jr. High," which starred Chloë Sevigny as Tackett. The play was published by Samuel French, Inc. in September 2009.

Mean , an episode from the fifth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that aired on February 24, 2004, was based on the murder.

Cold Case second season episode "The Sleepover" is also based on this case.

Additional prosecution of Larry Loveless

In the wake of his daughter's sentencing hearing, in which extensive open court testimony about Larry Loveless was given, he was arrested in February 1993 and brought back to Floyd County, Indiana to face charges of rape, sodomy and sexual battery.

The majority of crimes he was accused of occurred from 1968 to 1977. Loveless remained in prison for over two years awaiting trial, however a judge eventually ruled all except one count, for a sexual battery incident in 1989, had to be dropped due to the statute of limitations, which was five years in Indiana.

Loveless eventually accepted a guilty plea for sexual battery and a sentence of time served, and was released in June 1995.

A few weeks following his release in 1995, Larry Loveless was briefly in the news again, this time for unsuccessfully suing the Floyd County Jail for $39 million in federal court, alleging he had suffered cruel and unusual punishment during his two-year incarceration. Among his complaints was that he was not allowed to sleep in his bed during the day and not allowed to read the newspaper.