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Investigation Discovery's re-run of the true-crime docuseries The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade is set to feature one of the most horrendous crimes on August 19, 2022, in an episode titled, The New Girl. 12-year-old Shanda Sharer suffered horrific torture and then death perpetrated by four teenage girls, who were led by then 17-year-old Melinda Loveless.
WARNING: This article contains graphic content related to physical and s*xual violence and murder.
Between January 10 and 11, 1992, unspeakable crimes were committed by four teenage girls that shook the city of Madison, Indiana to its core. Rumors abound regarding satanic and sinister influences. No one had reason to believe that four teenage girls could be behind such horrendous acts until two of them confessed to everything.
Melinda Loveless, 17, was described as the ring leader in the torture and murder of Shanda Sharer. Loveless' friend Laurie Tackett, 17, and Tackett's childhood friends Hope Rippey, 15, and Toni Lawrence, 15, were roped into the crimes under peer pressure.
Here's everything you need to know about the perpetrators of the crime explored in the upcoming episode of The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade.
1) Melinda Loveless
Melinda Loveless, 17, led the other three girls to Shanda's house on the pretext of simply intimidating her with a knife. She did not reveal her plans to kill her and the night eventually spiraled into something none of them could have possibly imagined.
Loveless hid in the backseat of the car driven by Rippey as the three girls lured Shanda into the car on the pretext of taking her to meet her then-girlfriendgirlfriend Amanda Heavrin. Once Sharer was inside the car, Loveless sprang out of the backseat, put the knife to Sharer's throat, and interrogated her about her relationship with Amanda.
She eventually forced Sharer to strip off her clothes and then beat her with a metal rod, even allegedly sodomizing her with it. Along with the other girls, Loveless mercilessly brutalized Sharer before taking her limp body to a field and burning her alive.
According to Aphrodite Jones, the author of Cruel Sacrifice, a novel chronicling the horrific crime against Shanda Sharer, Loveless was born and raised in a tumultuous household.
Her father was a violent army veteran, who had allegedly r*ped her mother while Loveless and her sister listened in. He would also allegedly molest Loveless and her sister.
2) Laurie Tackett
Born in Madison, Indiana, Tackett was brought up in a Pentecostal Christian family. She claimed that she was molested twice at the ages of 5 and 12. She also had an abusive mother who tried to strangle her when she caught her changing into jeans from a dress, leading to intervention by child services.
Tackett became rebellious when she turned 15. She cut her hair short, started wearing black clothes, and expressed her fascination with the occult. She even began engaging in self-harm and had to be checked into a psychiatric hospital.
She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and confessed that she had been experiencing hallucinations since she was a child. She dropped out of high school in September 1991.
She met Melinda Loveless in October 1991 and the two became friends. In the assault and murder of Shanda Sharer, Tackett encouraged Loveless' actions and even allegedly participated in brutalizing her and burning her alive.
3) Hope Rippey
Laurie Tackett's childhood friend Hope Rippey was 15 years old when she became an accomplice to the torture and murder of Shanda Sharer. Like the other girls, Rippey began engaging in self-harm at the age of 15.
She was one of the two girls who lured Shanda into the car. Later, she laughed at and taunted a brutalized Shanda. She was also the first one to pour gasoline on Sharer before Loveless and Tackett set her on fire.
4) Toni Lawrence
Toni Lawrence, 15, also had a troubled childhood owing to the abuse and r*pe she suffered at ages 9 and 14 respectively. She eventually became promiscuous, began to self-harm, and attempted suicide in eighth grade.
Lawrence mostly remained a bystander in the crimes committed by Loveless, Tackett, and Rippey. She did not actively participate in the violence and the arson, and remained seated inside the car through most of it. She eventually received the shortest sentence out of all four girls, on one count of criminal confinement.
The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade - Shanda Sharer was killed because of misguided teenage jealousy
As per media reports and the confessions of Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence, the entire ordeal was a result of misguided teenage jealousy and peer pressure. Melinda Loveless had an on-and-off relationship with Amanda Heavrin, who simultaneously began dating Shanda Sharer.
Loveless' jealousy drove her to commit unspeakable crimes after publicly threatening to kill Sharer. She got the other girls to accompany her under the pretext of simply intimidating Sharer for stealing her girlfriend, but the situation spiraled out of control.
Tune in to Friday night's episode of The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade on Investigation Discovery to learn more about the torture and murder that tore the Indiana community apart.
