The Cape Intruder

Teenage Drama Turns to Death: The Tragic Murder of Skylar Neese

June 26, 2022

Skylar Annette Neese was born on February 10, 1996 in West Virginia and was the only child of Mary and Dave Neese. At 16 years old Skylar was attending University High School, worked at Wendy’s, got excellent grades and wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer.

Skylar had two best friends, Shelia Eddy (born September 28, 1995) and Rachel Shoaf (born June 10, 1996). Skylar and Shelia had met when they were 8 years old and had been inseparable ever since. Rachel became friends with the two girls a few years later, but the three of them were best friends, you would rarely see one of them without the other two. 

On July 5, 2012, Skylar had returned to her home in Star City, West Virginia, after working her regular night shift at Wendy’s. The Neese family lived in an apartment building and later on surveillance video showed Skylar leaving her apartment from her bedroom window at 12:30 am on July 6, getting into a sedan. 

Skylar’s father Dave Neese later said that Skylar had clearly planned on coming back later that night, as she didn’t take her phone charger with her and she had left the window open. 

Skylar was at first considered a runaway by authorities and there was no Amber Alert issued for her disappearance because it was clear from the video footage that she had willingly left on her own accord. Skylar’s parents posted flyers about their missing daughter, hoping that someone would know her whereabouts. 

Police soon found out that the sedan that Skylar was seen getting into that night belonged to Shelia Eddy so they brought her in for an interview. Shelia did admit that she picked up Skylar that night, but they had only driven around for about an hour before she dropped her back off at her apartment. 

Rachel and Shelia were interviewed by the police several times, but their stories always remained the same. Shelia even helped the Neeses’ distribute missing persons flyers, and would come over to their house to cry with them about missing Skylar. 

As time went on, Shelia Eddy and Rachel Shoaf began to become suspects to the police, as other schoolmates were claiming they had heard the girls talking about committing a murder at school. One of the girls’ teachers even contacted the police to tell them she had also heard of them talking about murder. 

About 6 months after Skylar had disappeared, Rachel Shoaf admitted that her and Shelia Eddy had been plotting to kill Skylar for 9 months. Rachel claimed that the reason the girls murdered Skylar was because they didn’t want to be friends with her anymore. 

The seemingly perfect friendship the trio shared was anything but, as Skylar would often tweet about how Shelia and Rachel would leave her out of things. It seemed the girls would fight a lot, and Skylar had even written in her diary that Shelia and Rachel had a sexual relationship with each other, and would make-out or have sex in front of Skylar, making her extremely uncomfortable. 

Skylar’s body was found on January 16, 2013, less than 30 miles away from her home. 

Rachel told the police the whole story, claiming that on the night of July 5, 2012, Sheila and her had invited Skylar to go drive around with them. Apparently, Skylar was hesitant of this, as she had recently had a falling out with them, but after the girls texted and called her a few times she eventually agreed to sneak out. 

Rachel told police that her and Shelia had prepared “a serial killer kit” which included kitchen knives, paper towels, bleach, clean clothes, cleaning cloths and a shovel. They had hid the knives in their hoodies. 

When Skylar got into the sedan with the girls, they headed northwest from Star City toward Blacksville, on U.S. Route 19. Rachel and Shelia had originally planned on travelling along W.V. Route 7, but they changed their route once they saw a state police car in that direction. 

They arrived across the Pennsylvania state border, where all three of the girls would occasionally smoke weed there. When they got out of the car, they told Skylar that they had forgotten to bring a lighter with them. Skylar then volunteered to go back to the sedan to get her own lighter, and once she turned her back, Rachel and Shelia both counted to three, which they agreed would be their signal, and began to stab Skylar.

Skylar had attempted to run away, but was only able to get a few feet before Rachel got her on the ground and continued to stab her. At one point during the attack, Skylar had managed to get the knife away from Rachel and stabbed her in the leg, which caused Rachel to back off and stop the attack, though Shelia kept going. 

It was admitted that Rachel and Shelia stopped counting how many times they stabbed Skylar once they got to 50, and Shelia had stabbed Skylar until there was silence and her neck stopped making gurgling sounds. 

The pair attempted to bury Skylar’s body, but the soil was too hard and rocky to dig a hole, so they decided to hide Skylar’s body with rocks, fallen branches and dirt. They then returned to the sedan, cleaned themselves up, changed into clothes, and left. 

On May 1, 2013, Rachel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Rachel actually got a plea deal because authorities believed she had cooperated with them, so the recommended sentence for her would be 20 years of incarceration. 

On September 4, 2013, the prosecutors identified Shelia Eddy publicly as the second perpetrator in Skylar’s murder and stated that she would be tried as ana adult. Sheila was indicted on September 6, 2013, on one count of kidnapping, one count of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. She pleaded not guilty. 

The trial date was set for January 28, 2014. Shelia was facing additional charges from Pennsylvania authorities so she pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. During the trial, Shelia expressed no remorse and did not cry at all. She was sentenced to life in prison and is eligible for parole after 15 years. Because of her plea deal to plead guilty to first-degree murder, Pennsylvania did not file charges against her. 

On February 25, 2014, Rachel received a sentence of 30 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after 10 years. Both Shelia and Rachel are incarcerated at the Lakin Correctional Center in Mason County. 

Due to an Amber Alert not being issued in Skylar’s disappearance due to a waiting period of 48 hours before a teenager is considered missing and the fact that Skylar had left on her own accord and was not considered kidnapped, a new bill was introduced called “Skylar’s Law” which modifies West Virginia’s Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is missing and in danger, regardless if the child is believed to be kidnapped.

Rachel Shoaf will be up for parole next year, with the hearing on May 1, 2023, though according to WV DOC she will likely be paroled on April 28, 2028. Shelia Eddy will be up for parole in 2028.

Tamara Samsonova, known as the “Granny Ripper,” defied the common stereotype of a serial killer, as she was a 68-year-old grandmother. Her arrest in 2015 shocked the world and launched one of the most bizarre true crime cases in history.

Authorities arrested Samsonova on suspicion of murdering 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova, whose dismembered body was found in a pond. Samsonova shared an apartment with Ulanova and was caught on CCTV disposing of her body, which led to her becoming a suspect. When police searched the apartment, they discovered a gruesome diary containing details of not just this murder, but several others.

The diary contained Samsonova’s confession to killing at least 13 people, including her husband, whom she murdered in 2005, and another tenant. She described how she dismembered their bodies with a knife in the bathroom and disposed of the remains in different locations. Shockingly, Samsonova also confessed to cannibalizing her victims and getting rid of unwanted body parts and organs.

The Witches Chair from the Mermaid Inn, Rye, East Sussex.

Judith Blincow the owner of the Inn has this to say about it, 'It is a seventeenth century chair which used to belong to a witches’ coven and has a curse on it.' We always tell people not to touch it.’

are chimps as unpredictable and dangerous as people say? I remember there being a famous mauling story from a woman who had one as a pet, but he was drugged with xanax or something similar and was having withdrawals, something like that. Definitely not a normal set of chimp circumstances, so I was wondering if they are usually randomly violent and difficult for humans to predicts

Lets talk about Travis, the tragic chimp that famously mauled Charla Nash.

(source)

Travis was a chimpanzee that was raised in a human household and acted in several commercials in his youth. He was taken from his mother and sold to his owners at 3 days old and lived with them until his death at 13 years of age. What makes us think of Travis as dangerous and unpredictable is that when he was young he was known for being docile, intelligent, obedient, and kind to the humans around him. He even play wrestled with people and was known to stop if his wrestling buddy became overwhelmed or he was told to stop. Travis did not lead a normal or natural life for a chimpanzee by any means; not only was he socialized as human and was raised to do chores and take part in human enrichment (he even knew how to drive a car, which is absolutely not good), but as you can see he was very overweight as a result of eating ice cream, tea, and other human foods instead of the balanced and diverse diets chimpanzees need.

Circumstances escalated with Travis when one of his owners and their only son died, and his remaining owner Sandra Herold became increasingly attached to Travis. The two would sleep in the same bed and bathe together. This was all at a time when Travis was entering adolescence and the divergence between his chimpanzee instincts and human socialization was widening. While human teenagers are able to journal, have conversations, and express themselves in order to process the challenges of puberty, Travis had no outlets for the natural frustration, aggression, and challenges he was facing. This led to the 2003 incident where Travis was on the loose for several hours after a pedestrian threw an empty soda bottle at the car that he was in, which went through a partially open window and struck him while stopped at a traffic light. Travis unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and chased his assailant. He also escaped from a police car when apprehended and chased the police officers around the car. Basically, there were warning signs that Travis was becoming too much to handle 6 years before the incident where he mauled, but because he had been a member of the family and community for so long he was allowed to continue to live with Sandra Herold.

The main thing I take away from Travis’ story here, even before the mauling incident, is that Travis’ behavior makes perfect sense for a chimpanzee. Because he was anthropomorphized to the point where his owner essentially thought of him as her son, the media sensationalized the story as a beloved animal “turning” on his loved ones. The thing is though, he didn’t really act unpredictably at all, the signs were there from the beginning and his behavior escalated gradually before it came to a head in 2009, the people around him just ignored the warnings. Even taking xanax out of the question which can have some pretty adverse effects on humans let alone chimps, the 2009 incident began with Travis leaving the house with his owners car keys (his property, as far as he is concerned), and his owners friend Charla Nash trying to lure him back to the house with his favourite toy. Essentially, Travis was leaving his territory when he saw someone who he may not have recognized as a member of his troupe in his territory, with his treasured item. When he tried to defend his territory by attacking her, Herold began to attack him which escalated the conflict. Additionally, chimpanzees are 5-6 times stronger than humans and as he grew up play fighting with humans he was not really capable of conceptualizing how disproportionate his strength was.

Now, lets turn to talk about another chimp. Meet September: 

(source)

Like Travis, September started her life as a pet. She was raised as a human child would be, and when she reached adolescence her owners recognized that she was too large and strong to safely keep in the house, and began keeping her in a cage in their backyard. Luckily, her owners recognized that this was no life for a chimp and surrendered her and two other chimpanzees to Save the Chimps, a sanctuary in Florida in 2002 when September was 23. She is now 42 years old, and despite having tragically similar circumstances to Travis, is thriving. Due to her history as a pet, September found it very difficult to become accustomed to living with other chimps, even the two other chimpanzees that lived with her when she was a pet, but has become a member of a troupe and spends her days painting, braiding strips of fabric, and exploring her island home.

Basically, there are no bad chimps, only tragic circumstances. Even when chimps in the wild are violent there are rational explanations for their behavior such as territorial disputes and interpersonal conflicts. They are only difficult to predict if you expect them to act like humans, and not chimpanzees.

The Puzzling Case of Mateusz Kawecki

January 02, 2023

Mateusz Kawecki was a 30 year old man from Poland who had been working in Hanover, Germany as a construction worker. He lived with his father who also worked in Hanover. 

On March 28, 2018, Mateusz went to Poland to see his pregnant fiancé, who he was in a long distance relationship with at the time. His fiancé was about to give birth, and lived in a village called Lipia Góra, Poland. Mateusz began driving his 1998 BMW 525 around 11:30 pm to make it to the village. He was supposed to arrive there between 8-9 am the next morning, March 29. Mateusz never made it. 

Mateusz’s father spoke to him on March 29, around 10:30 am, and Mateusz told his father there was really bad traffic jams on his route and he was currently stuck in Szzecin at the time, which is a town on the Polish-German border. Mateusz had about 133 miles to go before he would reach Lipia Góra. Around this time Mateusz sent his fiancé a text message saying he would arrive in about 2 more hours. 

However, after not hearing from him, and several missed phone calls, his fiancé became worried and tried to contact Mateusz’s sister, Katarzyna Piotrkowicz around 5 pm, but could not get a hold of her either. 

Later in the evening Mateusz’s mom went to the police to let them know no one had any contact with her son for quite some time, but the police discouraged her from filing a missing persons report, claiming it was too early to do so. 

A few more days went by and in early April 2018, Mateusz’s family officially reported him as a missing person in Germany and Poland. The Germany police refused to investigate, claiming the Polish police were on the case. His family asked Polish police if they could locate Mateusz’s cellphone, but they were unable to do so as his sim card was German. It was also said that his cellphone had been on for a couple of days after he stopped having contact. 

The German police eventually began investigating but could not locate the cellphone either, as Mateusz had gone missing in Poland. Polish police later said that Mateusz’s phone was never connected to any networks so no one was sure how he had spoken to his father earlier on March 29.

Katarzyna, Mateusz’s sister, said that officials believed her brother had never crossed the German-Polish border as CCTV monitoring at the border showed Mateusz had never entered Poland. Mateusz’s family became frustrated with police efforts, and began their own search, including putting up posters with Mateusz’s picture around. The family spoke on TV several times in Germany and Poland claiming the police were not doing enough. 

However, the case took a strange turn on September 12, 2018, almost 6 months after the last known contact from Mateusz, when a neighbour went to Mateusz’s mothers house to ask about her barn, claiming that a horrible smell was coming from their barn since July and neighbours were starting to complain. 

The neighbour asked if he could check the barn and she agreed. Half of the barn was walled off, which created a room. There was an attic level on top of the room. The neighbour climbed up and saw a pile of clothes in the attic space. When the neighbour checked more thoroughly he found a severed head and torso. The remains were too decomposed to be identified. 

It was discovered that there were two rope nooses hanging from the roof and a backpack on the floor which was later identified as belonging to Mateusz. DNA evidence eventually determined that the remains were indeed that of Mateusz Kawecki. Some of his teeth had been knocked out and stuck to his clothes which had bloody patches on them. 

Inside the backpack were a Polish water bottle with cigarette butts inside and an orange juice box. Mateusz’s family claimed he never drank orange juice. A cellphone was also found in the backpack and showed there had been one call made to Mateusz’s uncle on March 30, 2018, but it appeared to be an accidental call as it lasted for less than a second and never actually went through. 

There was no DNA of another person found on any of Mateusz’s items. The police believed that this was a suicide and refused to investigate further, despite the families pleas. It was believed that Mateusz had planned his death and there was no evidence of foul play. 

Four days after Mateusz’s body was found, his family found his shoe in the barn with his detached foot still inside. This determined that the police hadn’t even searched the barn properly according to his family. 

Prosecutors gathered lots of evidence, including DNA, and an analysis of Mateusz’s cellphone. German police got security camera footage and searched Mateusz’s apartment in Hanover. All of this evidence was reviewed by experts in Warsaw. 

Prosecutors believe that Mateusz lied to his family on the day he disappeared. He had not been in Szczecin when he’d spoken to his father and was not driving at the time the phone call happened. According to them, Mateusz had still been in Germany according to the receipts found with his belongings. 

It is believed that Mateusz took a train to the German border, in Frankfurt an der Oder and walked over a bridge to the Polish town of Slubice about 24 hours after telling his family he was in Poland. Prosecutors believe he checked into a hotel in Slubice with another person. 

Mateusz then took a train to Warsaw the next day, followed by a bus to Zamość, which is the largest town close to his home village, Hutków. He arrived in Zamość around midnight, but it is unknown how he got to Hutków. 

Mateusz’s car had never been found despite a search for it, and there was never any evidence found indicating it had been bought or driven by a new owner. They keys to his BMW were also never found, but his wallet was in the backpack that was found in the barn. 

The attic where the body was found was visible from the ground, so it didn’t make sense that Mateusz had been there for months without his family noticing. Mateusz’s family also said that they had used the barn in the summer of 2018. 

Mateusz’s cousin, Edyta Dabska claimed the family does not think Mateusz was hanging in the barn because no one had seen him. 

To this day it is unknown how Mateusz got to the barn from Zamość and if he was in the barn for months how would his family not notice? There are so many unanswered questions in this case and hopefully someday it will make more sense. 

Cursed Petrified Wood

The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona has always attracted people with its beautiful fossilized logs of trees that existed over 200 million years ago. Even though it is prohibited to take specimens from the park, people nonetheless steal pieces of petrified wood all the time. But what has also been reported, as far back as the 1930′s, is that those who take anything from the park are equally cursed with bad luck. The museum at the park has an entire room dedicated to the confessions from these thieves, usually written as letters sent to the park along with the pieces of petrified wood that were stolen. There is also a “Conscience Pile” of fossils that sits at one of the entrances to the park, where countless thieves have quietly returned the fossils they stole. The rocks are not put back in the park, and merely sit as a monument to the curse of the petrified wood.

The Cannibal House Part 3 (pt. 1 | 2) — Armin Meiwes had a lonley childhood. His father left when he was young, with his two half-brothers following soon after. This left him alone with his controlling and strict mother that would often criticize him in public and insist on going everywhere with him. After his mother’s death in 1999, he was given ownership of their large mansion. It is rumoured that he created a shrine for his mother in the house, which included a mannequin that he would lay on a pillow each night. Even to this day, her closet is still filled with her clothes. Meiwes was arrested only three years after his mother’s passing, which suggests that her death may have fuelled his obsession with cannibalism.

Kajavia Globe was murdered in December 2015. Her body was found stuffed in a trash can and found by a horrified homeowner a day later. These unsettling images of an unknown person driving her car and using her credit card were captured just hours before she was found. The vehicle was later found abandoned. Although her boyfriend was charged with the murder, he claims that this was not him in the skeleton mask and was said to be “freaked the fuck out” by this surveillance footage.

The Disappearance of Mary Agnes Moroney

February 15, 2023

Mary Agnes Moroney was born on May 9, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois to parents Catherine and Michael Moroney. Catherine had married Michael when she was only 13 years old, and they had two daughters together, Mary and Anastasia. 

The Moroney’s lived at 5200 Wentworth Avenue and were extremely poor. Due to this, one of Catherines relatives had wrote to what was known as a needy-family service which was printed publicly. Usually this service did not print out the addresses of the families, however through this a woman had found the Moroney’s address. 

On May 14, 1930, Catherine was scrubbing the floor of the house when she heard a knock at the door. A woman stated that her name was Julia Otis and she had been sent by a social worker to deal with the Moroney’s case from the needy family service. The woman was described as being well-dressed, around 22 years old, with protruding teeth and a “cultured voice.” 

After listening to the Moroney’s problems, Julia asked Catherine if she could take then 2 year old Mary Agnes to California with her, adding that she would be “fat as a butterball.” Catherine said no, and the woman promised she would return and gave Catherine $2 before leaving. 

On May 15, 1930, Julia came back with baby clothes, as Catherine was actually pregnant with her third child at this time. Julia also claimed to have arranged for Michael to have a better job and offered to take Mary to the store to buy her new clothes and shoes. Catherine was reluctant to allow this but eventually gave her permission. 

Catherine later said that Mary Agnes was extremely upset to go off with the woman, and refused to do so through tears. The woman known as Julia took Mary with her and the two were never seen again. 

On May 16, 1930, Julia wrote a letter to the Moroney’s which read: 

“Please don’t be alarmed, I have taken your little girl to California with me. I have hired a special nurse to care for her. We’ll be back in two months. By that time you will be on your feet again and will be able to care for her. She didn’t even cry a bit. She is outfitted like a princess. In the meantime, I’ll help all I can to get you on your feet. Don’t worry about her or anything else. When you get this letter we’ll be on our way already. As ever, Julia Otis.”

This was the last time the Moroney’s ever heard from the woman claiming to be Julia Otis again. 

Two weeks after Mary’s kidnapping, a woman claiming to be called Alice Henderson, sent the Moroney’s a letter saying that Julia was her cousin and was “love hungry” as her own husband and baby had died the year before in 1929. 

However, Alice Henderson was never heard from again after this note and police determined that the letter written by Julia and the letter written by Alice were from the same person as the handwriting was the same. 

Over a year later, in July 1931, an elder Native woman named Martha Thompson was pushing a cart to join a circus. In the cart was a blonde, blue eyed 3 year old girl that looked similar to Mary Agnes Moroney. Martha claimed that the little girl had been abandoned by her mother, a woman named Florence Fuller and begged to be able to keep the girl. The Moroney’s did not identify the girl as being Mary Agnes. 

In 1952, 22 years after Mary was last seen, a 24 year old woman named Mary McClelland saw some photos of Mary Agnes’ siblings (Catherine and Michael had 6 more children after Mary disappeared) and believed she was Mary Agnes herself. 

Mary McClelland claimed she had been adopted within a year of Mary Agnes’ disappearance by a man and woman named Charles and Nora Beck. Her dental casts were compared and through that, plus her skull and blood showed she was a Moroney. 

However, a physician named Dr. E.W. Merrithew stated that he had delivered Mary McClelland to an unknown mother on November 17, 1927, and the mother had provided a baby picture of her from 1928. This proved that she had been adopted 2 years before Mary Agnes had been abducted. 

More evidence was discovered when McClelland did not have the same scar Mary Agnes had from a previous surgery. Further DNA testing proved she was not Mary Agnes. Mary McClelland died in 2005 and the abduction of Mary Agnes Moroney remains unsolved. 

 Further more, Mary Agnes underwent an operation for a ruptured navel, but McClelland did not have the scar Mary Agnes had at the time of her disappearance.[5] Further DNA testing proved she was not Mary Agnes. She died in 2005.[1] The Moroney kidnapping remains unsolved after almost 93 years. 

What is that? Strange figure caught on camera at Amarillo Zoo

The City of Amarillo is asking for help identifying a strange figure seen on surveillance...

KFDA reports security cameras captured the image around 1:25 a.m. on May 21 inside a perimeter fence at the Amarillo Zoo.

City officials said there were no signs of vandalism or attempted entry into the zoo and no animals or people were harmed.

Now, the city is encouraging the public to submit ideas for what the figure could be.