Read Online The Savage Murder of Skylar Neese: The Truth Behind the Headlines by Daleen Berry, Geoffrey C. Fuller - Free Book Online
Authors: Daleen Berry, Geoffrey C. Fuller
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shook her head. “In Skylar’s nightstand, same as always.”
“If Skylar had run away, she’d have taken Goody with her,” Carol insisted. The women were referring to a fuschia piece of cloth cut from Mary’s nightgown that Skylar had kept since she was a toddler. Any time she was sick or in pain, Skylar wanted Goody nearby.
With that shared realization, Mary and Carol cried together, long and hard on the small balcony outside the dining room. They talked and wept for much of the afternoon.
When Dave got home after his shift, Mary and Carol were on the deck.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his brows knitted together with worry.
Mary spoke quietly. “Skylar’s gone.”
“What?” He felt suddenly panicked. “How do you know that?”
“We just know.”
Dave didn’t want to hear that. The family was just pulling out of a rocky patch. Skylar had sensed the change and was once more becoming the amiable and happy kid she had always been. He couldn’t bear to hear that Skylar was never coming home.
***
One week after Officer Colebank first spoke with Shelia, the Blacksville branch of the Huntington National Bank was robbed. It was just after 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 16, when a sturdy man in all black wearing a full-face mask entered the branch carrying a backpack. He didn’t say a word—the large gun in his right hand said it all. The lone teller triggered the silent alarm. The bank robber either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He walked to the counter and handed the backpack to the teller, who filled it with the contents of the cash drawer. The robber fled through the back door. From start to finish, the crime took less than thirty seconds.
Corporal Ronnie Gaskins and Senior Trooper Chris Berry from the West Virginia State Police arrived first on the scene. Trooper Berry knew the bank well. He had been transferred to Morgantown to help solve the rash of recent bank robberies. Berry’s family was from the Blacksville area, so he was happy to spend time working in his hometown. His grandfather, a Monongalia County deputy sheriff, had been shot in the neck at the very same bank Berry was assigned to investigate. Luckily, the shot had grazed him and only required a few stitches.
Berry immediately liked Gaskins, his new partner. Both men were second-generation law enforcement. At one time Gaskins and his father were the only father-son state trooper team working the same West Virginia Detachment. While their personalities were like day and night—Berry, talkative and excitable; Gaskins, reserved and thoughtful—both men were driven. They also shared the same family tradition, which made for a good working relationship.
This was Gaskins’s and Berry’s second visit to the Huntington National Bank, Blacksville branch. The same bank had been robbed five weeks earlier, one month to the day before Skylar disappeared. Neither one of them yet knew that the bank robberies would draw them into the most complex case of their careers.
Chapter 12
Digging a Hole
Colebank sensed they were being watched.
She’d gotten that sensation as soon as she pulled her Star City Police cruiser into the Shoafs’ driveway just a few moments earlier. Sure enough, within seconds, a blonde woman appeared at the entrance of the house next door. Once she made eye contact with Colebank, the woman bustled down her walkway.
Still behind the wheel, Colebank grabbed her notebook and motioned to her male passenger. “Let’s do this,” she said, opening the car door. FBI Special Agent Morgan Spurlock followed her lead. In a suit and tie, Spurlock looked like a classic FBI agent—until he hoisted his ever-present backpack over his shoulder. Instead of briefcases, today’s federal agents carry backpacks.
Once outside the car, Colebank turned toward the blonde woman she thought might be Rachel’s mother.
“We’re here to see Rachel,” Colebank said.
“Oh, I’m not Patricia,” the woman said. “I’m a neighbor, Kim. Her
“If Skylar had run away, she’d have taken Goody with her,” Carol insisted. The women were referring to a fuschia piece of cloth cut from Mary’s nightgown that Skylar had kept since she was a toddler. Any time she was sick or in pain, Skylar wanted Goody nearby.
With that shared realization, Mary and Carol cried together, long and hard on the small balcony outside the dining room. They talked and wept for much of the afternoon.
When Dave got home after his shift, Mary and Carol were on the deck.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his brows knitted together with worry.
Mary spoke quietly. “Skylar’s gone.”
“What?” He felt suddenly panicked. “How do you know that?”
“We just know.”
Dave didn’t want to hear that. The family was just pulling out of a rocky patch. Skylar had sensed the change and was once more becoming the amiable and happy kid she had always been. He couldn’t bear to hear that Skylar was never coming home.
***
One week after Officer Colebank first spoke with Shelia, the Blacksville branch of the Huntington National Bank was robbed. It was just after 10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 16, when a sturdy man in all black wearing a full-face mask entered the branch carrying a backpack. He didn’t say a word—the large gun in his right hand said it all. The lone teller triggered the silent alarm. The bank robber either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He walked to the counter and handed the backpack to the teller, who filled it with the contents of the cash drawer. The robber fled through the back door. From start to finish, the crime took less than thirty seconds.
Corporal Ronnie Gaskins and Senior Trooper Chris Berry from the West Virginia State Police arrived first on the scene. Trooper Berry knew the bank well. He had been transferred to Morgantown to help solve the rash of recent bank robberies. Berry’s family was from the Blacksville area, so he was happy to spend time working in his hometown. His grandfather, a Monongalia County deputy sheriff, had been shot in the neck at the very same bank Berry was assigned to investigate. Luckily, the shot had grazed him and only required a few stitches.
Berry immediately liked Gaskins, his new partner. Both men were second-generation law enforcement. At one time Gaskins and his father were the only father-son state trooper team working the same West Virginia Detachment. While their personalities were like day and night—Berry, talkative and excitable; Gaskins, reserved and thoughtful—both men were driven. They also shared the same family tradition, which made for a good working relationship.
This was Gaskins’s and Berry’s second visit to the Huntington National Bank, Blacksville branch. The same bank had been robbed five weeks earlier, one month to the day before Skylar disappeared. Neither one of them yet knew that the bank robberies would draw them into the most complex case of their careers.
Chapter 12
Digging a Hole
Colebank sensed they were being watched.
She’d gotten that sensation as soon as she pulled her Star City Police cruiser into the Shoafs’ driveway just a few moments earlier. Sure enough, within seconds, a blonde woman appeared at the entrance of the house next door. Once she made eye contact with Colebank, the woman bustled down her walkway.
Still behind the wheel, Colebank grabbed her notebook and motioned to her male passenger. “Let’s do this,” she said, opening the car door. FBI Special Agent Morgan Spurlock followed her lead. In a suit and tie, Spurlock looked like a classic FBI agent—until he hoisted his ever-present backpack over his shoulder. Instead of briefcases, today’s federal agents carry backpacks.
Once outside the car, Colebank turned toward the blonde woman she thought might be Rachel’s mother.
“We’re here to see Rachel,” Colebank said.
“Oh, I’m not Patricia,” the woman said. “I’m a neighbor, Kim. Her
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