Death of Innocence - The Murder of Young Shanda Sharer

When the group got to Tackett's house, the girls went upstairs to her room, and Tackett pulled out some stones and tried reading their future. Just as Tackett said that their futures looked good, her dog began barking. When the girls listened out the window, they could hear Sharer's muffled screams. Tackett ran into the kitchen, grabbed a paring knife, and ran outside. She threw open the trunk and without warning stabbed Sharer multiple times, hoping to silence her. Finishing, Tackett closed the trunk and returned to her room, where the others were waiting. She was covered in blood. After a brief pause, Tackett announced that they needed to go for a ride. Rippey and Lawrence refused, so Loveless and Tackett left by themselves.

As Loveless and Tackett drove around, deciding what to do next, they stopped to see whether Sharer was dead. When the trunk lid opened, Sharer sat up, covered in blood with her eyes rolled back in her head. She tried to speak, but was only able to utter the word, "mommy." Tackett then reached into the trunk, picked up a tire iron, and struck Sharer on the head. She then closed the trunk and they were on their way again.

A short time later, as they traveled down winding back roads, they heard gurgling noises coming from the trunk. Tackett quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road to assess the situation. Loveless stayed inside while Tackett walked to the rear of the car and opened the trunk. Sharer was lying on her side. She looked as though she had been painted red and strange gasping and gurgling noises were emanating from her chest wounds. Tackett grasped the tire iron again and brought it down hard on Sharer's head several times. One of the blows was so severe that a chunk of Sharer's skull broke off. Satisfied with her handiwork, Tackett shut the trunk and walked back to the front of the car. When she got inside, she placed the end of the tire iron under her nose and smelled it. She began laughing as she explained what had happened and waved the tire iron under Loveless' nose.

The sun was starting to rise, so they decided to head back to Tackett's to burn Sharer's body. Along the way, they stopped several times to try to quiet Sharer with the tire iron. Back at Tackett's, the two girls woke up Rippey and Lawrence and bragged about the blows they had inflicted upon Sharer. Afterward, they explained their new plan, and Rippey and Lawrence followed them to Tackett's burn pile.