Murder of Shanda Sharer - Events Prior To Murder

Events Prior To Murder

In 1990, Melinda Loveless met and began dating Amanda Heavrin. After her father left and her mother remarried, Loveless was erratic, depressed, in counseling, and fighting at school. In March 1991, Loveless came out of the closet to her mother, who was initially furious but eventually accepted it. In the fall of 1990, Loveless' relationship with Heavrin deteriorated, and Loveless came to associate this deterioration with Shanda Sharer.

Heavrin and Sharer met early in the school year when they got into a fight; however, they became friends while in detention for the altercation. Loveless immediately became jealous of Heavrin and Sharer's relationship. In early October, Sharer and Heavrin attended a school dance, where Loveless found and confronted them. Although Heavrin and Loveless never formally ended their involvement, Loveless began dating an older girl.

Loveless became increasingly jealous when Heavrin and Sharer attended a festival together in late October, and she began to discuss killing Sharer and threatened Sharer in public. Concerned about their daughter's relationship with Heavrin, Sharer's parents arranged for her to transfer to a Catholic school in late November, and the girls started drifting apart in December. Loveless and Heavrin never resumed their relationship.