The Heartbreaking True Story Behind Friends Like These: The Murder of Skylar Neese

In July 2012, 16-year-old Skylar Neese went missing from her home in Morgantown, West Virginia, prompting a widespread search. Initially, police thought she might have run away, possibly climbing out her window during the night. However, as the investigation continued, certain details didn’t add up, leading investigators to suspect something more serious had occurred.

Hulu’s Friends Like These: The Murder of Skylar Neese tells the story of Skylar Neese’s disappearance and how investigators eventually solved the case. The documentary uses old footage, social media posts, and police files to reconstruct the events leading to the discovery of the truth.

The documentary’s director, Clair Titley, explains that the series takes a fresh approach to the case by focusing on the experiences of Skylar and her friends. Instead of rehashing existing reports, the filmmakers aim to build a detailed picture of their world and investigate the story from their point of view.

Close circle of friends

Skylar Neese was a high school student growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia – a town known for being the location of West Virginia University. She lived a fairly normal life for a sophomore, balancing part-time work at Wendy’s, good grades, and a close circle of friends.

Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were two of her closest friends, and the three girls spent a lot of time together. They were often seen at school and around town, whether driving around late at night or hanging out at each other’s houses.

Skylar’s parents shared that she and Shelia Eddy were particularly close. They first became friends as children and stayed that way through middle and high school.

Skylar’s mother, Mary Neese, shared in the documentary that Skylar and the other individual had been friends since childhood and were always together.

Even though they were close, problems started to surface among the group in the months leading up to Skylar’s disappearance.

Those conflicts, however, did not initially appear serious enough to alarm adults around them.

The night Skylar disappeared

Skylar came home late on July 5, 2012, after working at Wendy’s. Her father, Dave Neese, said she told her parents she was tired and was going to bed.

The next morning, Dave found Skylar’s bedroom door locked, which was strange because she usually left it open. When she didn’t answer his knocks, he had to force the door open and instantly knew something wasn’t right.

“The first thing I noticed was that the bed hadn’t been slept in,” he said.

Mary Neese was at work when her husband called with frightening news: their daughter, Skylar, was missing. Mary initially thought Skylar might be with friends, perhaps shopping with Shelia Eddy, and she started contacting people who might have seen her. However, Shelia said she didn’t know where Skylar was.

At first, Skylar’s parents thought she’d be back home before she was due at work that afternoon. Her mother said Skylar was very reliable and almost always showed up for her shifts.

By 4 p.m., Skylar still hadn’t shown up. Shortly after, her workplace, Wendy’s, called her family to see if she was planning on coming to her shift.

“She wasn’t like that,” Dave said. “She always showed up for work.”

He knew something was terribly wrong, so he called the Star City Police Department to report his daughter missing.

Early investigation

Officer Jessica Colebank, with the Star City Police Department, took charge of the investigation. She began by speaking with Skylar’s parents to learn about where the teen had been before she disappeared.

Soon after Skylar disappeared, Shelia Eddy went to the Neese family’s house with her mother, wanting to share what she knew about that night. Mary Neese said Shelia explained that she and Rachel had picked Skylar up late in the evening and taken her for a drive, dropping her off around midnight.

The Neeses checked their home security footage and saw Skylar leaving the house and driving away in a car.

The video didn’t show anyone dropping Skylar off at the beginning of the night. It only recorded Shelia and Rachel picking her up again, after she had already returned home.

Star City Police Officer Jessica Colebank stated that investigators carefully watched the video footage several times to piece together what happened and when.

A community search

After Skylar went missing, everyone – her friends and people from school – really came together to help find her. We made posters with her picture and put them up everywhere around town, in all the shops and businesses we could find.

News of the situation spread rapidly throughout the school and neighborhood, leading to a lot of questions and theories. Many people wondered if Skylar had left on their own or if something else, like a disagreement, had occurred.

The FBI joined the investigation as it progressed, following a request for help from local police. Special Agent Morgan Spurlock explained that the bureau stepped in to assist with the case.

By July 12, 2012, the amount of news coverage about the disappearance had grown considerably, leading to more leads and reported sightings.

A report indicated Skylar was spotted with two other girls on a North Carolina beach, one of whom had red hair, fitting the description of Rachel Shoaf. However, when investigators followed up at the church camp where Rachel was staying, the information turned out to be a false lead.

Growing suspicion

Even though no one had actually seen her, investigators started to find contradictions in the stories Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf were telling.

Rachel came back to Morgantown thirteen days after Skylar went missing and spoke with investigators. Her story matched what Shelia had already told them: the three girls had been driving around, using marijuana, and ultimately left Skylar close to her house.

As a true crime buff, I always pay attention to details like this, and it’s fascinating how easily things can get muddied. When the detectives went back over the girls’ journey with Shelia, they realized the stories just didn’t line up. One of them remembered turning left at a major intersection, but the other was certain they’d gone right. It was a small thing, but it immediately raised a red flag for me – and for the investigators, I’m sure.

Because it was a major road, investigators found it unlikely the two would confuse the route.

Colebank later explained that the matching wording in their statements suggested they had practiced what they were going to say.

Digital clues

It’s been about three weeks since the investigation started, and now the authorities are looking into the girls’ social media. Skylar, Shelia, and Rachel – like most teens back then – were really into Twitter and often shared what was happening in their lives online. It feels like they were putting pieces of themselves out there for everyone to see, and now those posts are part of the case.

One tweet from Skylar, posted shortly before she disappeared, caught investigators’ attention.

“You doing sh-t like this makes me never want to trust you,” the message read.

Police questioned Shelia about a tweet, but she said she didn’t understand what it was about. Friends later told officers that the group had been experiencing increasing conflict. Shelia and Rachel had become close during their sophomore year, which made Skylar feel left out. People who went to school with them said the three friends argued often in the months leading up to Skylar’s disappearance.

The evidence wasn’t just facts; it felt like a window into the teenagers’ actual lives. We showed their tweets and social media posts everywhere – on football fields, in lockers, even in bathrooms – to help viewers understand their secret world of communication. As Titley explained, the goal was to make the audience feel what it was like to be sixteen years old.

New leads

Investigators hadn’t found any significant clues for months, but then they got phone records for Shelia and Rachel. These records showed that both of their phones were in Blacksville, West Virginia, around 4 a.m. on the night Skylar went missing. This contradicted their statements that they were at home asleep.

Following this finding, investigators checked traffic camera recordings and security footage from nearby businesses.

Security cameras at a Sheetz gas station recorded a car that appeared to be Shelia Eddy’s driving past around midnight, heading towards Blacksville, according to authorities.

Seeing that car pick Skylar up earlier really solidified things for me. It made the investigators, and honestly me too, strongly suspect that Rachel and Shelia weren’t telling us everything they knew. It was clear they were holding back some really important details.

Seeing Sheila’s car on camera is a major turning point in the case, according to Titley. The filmmakers wanted the audience to feel the same shock and understanding as the investigators when they discovered it—the moment everything started to change.

The investigation intensifies

Investigators kept questioning the teenagers and analyzing digital information. Text messages between Shelia and two local acquaintances, brothers Dylan and Derek Conaway, indicated the group might have been trying to buy drugs on the night Skylar went missing.

Detectives searched Rachel Shoaf’s home and took her electronic devices and diary. Even though police were becoming increasingly suspicious, both teenagers stuck to their original story when questioned.

Since the investigation had reached a standstill, detectives decided to use lie detector tests to see if the people they questioned were being truthful.

A confession emerges

Shelia Eddy took a lie detector test given by FBI agent Rob Ambrosini. She admitted to picking up Skylar with Rachel around 12:30 a.m., but claimed she hadn’t hidden anything. However, the test results suggested she wasn’t being truthful. Ambrosini noted that security camera footage of the vehicle and inconsistencies in their timeline showed they were both hiding something. He said their denials were strong, but he felt they were starting to reveal the truth.

Shelia explained to investigators that after the car stopped, Skylar left following an argument. Skylar wanted to meet up with the Conaway brothers to smoke and spend time with them, but Shelia and Rachel didn’t want to go. Shelia stated that Skylar was determined to go by herself and walked off, and that Shelia and Rachel looked for her for a short while before going home.

Investigators then turned their attention to Rachel Shoaf, believing she might reveal more details.

Several months passed, and on January 3, 2013, Rachel finally agreed to talk to investigators. She told them she had been at the scene when Skylar passed away.

Initially, investigators found it difficult to believe the details of what they were being told. Rachel then confessed that she and Shelia had stabbed Skylar repeatedly – more than 50 times.

Rachel said the plan started with Shelia, who had become increasingly angry with Skylar. The two teens took knives, plastic bags, and other items from Rachel’s house before driving to a secluded spot near the Pennsylvania border.

Once there, Skylar stepped out of the car and began walking ahead of them.

Rachel stated that she and Shelia agreed to count to three before ambushing her. During the attack, Skylar reportedly asked, “Why?”

The girls tried to bury the body, but the ground was too hard. So, they pulled Skylar’s body into the woods and covered it with branches and leaves.

Rachel later led authorities to the location.

Investigators discovered the trip to Blacksville actually occurred after Skylar was already dead. Rachel Shoaf confessed that they went there in the hours following the attack to get rid of evidence.

Building the case

Eight hours after Rachel admitted what she did, investigators set up a meeting between her and Shelia that was secretly recorded. Rachel called Shelia while FBI agents watched and listened using hidden cameras.

Shelia seemed certain the authorities had no way to connect her to the crime. However, investigators still needed concrete, physical proof to directly link her to the murder.

Ambrosini explained how valuable recordings of agreements can be in investigations. He said that when two people are caught on tape planning a serious crime, it provides direct evidence of their intentions. This makes it very helpful for investigators to build their case, confirm what people have said, and move forward, even if the case doesn’t go to court. He emphasized that such recordings are a critical piece of evidence.

It broke my heart to learn that finding Skylar after the accident took weeks because of all the snow. Once they finally did, the authorities started the painstaking process of collecting evidence, hoping to understand what happened.

DNA from Skylar was found in blood inside Shelia Eddy’s car. This evidence led prosecutors to file charges.

The sentences

Rachel Shoaf eventually admitted guilt to second-degree murder and, nearly two years after the incident, was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a court in Monongalia County.

In court, she apologized to Skylar’s parents, Dave and Mary Neese.

In a 2023 parole hearing, Rachel discussed the circumstances surrounding the murder, explaining that her relationship with Shelia Eddy was very passionate but also damaging. She admitted she was worried about their hidden romance becoming public.

Shelia Eddy, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

The judge sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

Legacy of the case

The death of Skylar Neese deeply affected West Virginia. After her parents tirelessly campaigned for change, the state passed “Skylar’s Law” in 2013.

This new law requires state officials to send out Amber Alerts as soon as a child is reported missing.

Rachel Shoaf has been denied parole twice and is currently scheduled to be released in April 2028. Shelia Eddy can first apply for parole in May 2028.

Even after ten years, this case stands out as a deeply disturbing instance of teenage violence—a tragedy that didn’t involve outsiders, but stemmed from a friendship gone horribly wrong.

2026-03-07 02:09