By David Lohr
(Continued)
On January 11, 1992, Loveless, along with Laurie Tackett, 17, Hope Rippey, 15, and Toni Lawrence, 15, lured Shanda into Tackett's car and drove her to an abandoned stone building called the Witches' Castle. When the group entered the building, Loveless tied Shanda's hands as Rippey taunted her with a knife. However, the group soon became nervous when several cars drove by, and Tackett suggested they leave and go to an old logging road by her house.
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| Shanda Sharer |
After an hour's drive, the group reached their destination. Loveless untied Shanda's hands and ordered her to remove her clothes. Tackett then grabbed both of Shanda's hands and held them behind her back while Loveless punched Shanda and repeatedly slammed her head into her knee. Loveless then pulled out the knife and tried to cut Shanda's throat, but the knife was too dull, so Loveless and Tackett took turns stabbing her in the chest. The wounds were not severe enough to cause immediate death, so Tackett wrapped a rope around Shanda's neck and pulled it tight until Shanda's body became limp. The girls tossed her into the trunk and headed for Tackett's house.
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| Laurie Tackett |
Shanda was beaten and abused multiple times throughout the night, until the girls finally drove to Lemon Road to get rid of her. Once there, Tackett, Loveless, and Rippey carried Shanda several feet behind the car and laid her on the ground. Rippey then took a bottle of gasoline and poured a generous amount on Shanda, and Tackett struck a match and threw it down on Shanda's gas-soaked body. After the fire ignited, the girls sped off down the road, but Loveless then asked Tackett to turn around. She wanted to make sure the body was burning well.
Once back at the scene, Loveless grabbed the pop bottle with the remaining gasoline and ran over to Shanda's body. She stood there staring momentarily as Shanda curled up into a fetal position and her tongue began darting in and out of her mouth. After she felt she had seen enough, she threw the remaining gasoline on Shanda's smoldering corpse and ran back to the car. Loveless thought Shanda's movements were funny and bragged to the others about what she had witnessed.
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