The murder of Shanda Sharer
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (16) - Torture - Jealousy
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: January 11, 1992
Date of arrest: Next day
Date of birth: October 18, 1975
Victim profile: Shanda Renee Sharer, 12
Method of murder: Burned alive
Location: Madison, Indiana, USA
Status: Plead guilty. Sentenced to sixty years in prison on October 6, 1992. Projected date of released: February 8, 2021
The two bird hunters who found the body of 12-year-old Shanda Renee Sharer on that cold, sunny morning in January, said it looked at first like a department store mannequin, dumped off near some woods beside an isolated gravel road.
But as Donn and Ralph Foley walked up to the charred figure, just a few hundred yards from their home north of Madison in Jefferson County, they quickly realized that it was not.
Shanda's burned and tortured body was all too real. The chilling details of her death would leave the 12,000 residents of this picture-postcard Ohio River town deeply shaken and searching for answers.
Some in Madison have laid the blame on evils that seeped in from outside their town. But for others, Shanda's death has opened the shutters on a darker place in their own community, a place that stands in stark contrast to the nostalgic image they present to the tourists.
this video answers the question: can i analyze the case of Melinda Loveless and shanda sharer?. Phil episode but Melinda Loveless' release from prison has had me focused on Shanda's case once again through the files and true crime documentaries I've saved over the years).
