Her body was found in January 2013, across the nearby state line, in Wayne Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania.

Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on January 24, 2014, and was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 15 years.

Skylar was an honor student at University High School in Monongalia County and wanted to become a criminal defense attorney.

Eddy had been friends with Skylar Neese since they were 8 years old, after having met at a local children's activity program called The Shack.

On July 5, 2012, Neese returned to her family's Star City, West Virginia, apartment after working a shift at Wendy's.

[1] Neese's father said she did not take her cell phone charger, contact lenses or solution, her window was left open, and that she planned on coming home.

Neese was initially considered by law enforcement authorities to be a runaway and an AMBER Alert was not issued for the then-minimum 48 hours in connection with her disappearance.

[7] Approximately 6 months after the murder occurred, Rachel Shoaf suffered a nervous breakdown, prompting her mother to call 911.

[11][12][13] David Neese stated that these two girls were among his daughter's best friends[14] and that Eddy had even helped the family by distributing missing person flyers.

The court transcript indicates that other students overheard conversations between Shoaf and Eddy about the murder plot, but failed to report it, mistakenly believing that the girls were joking.

In this entry, Shoaf wrote several pages about the "Skylar situation" and asked God for forgiveness for "what happened that night" and for "all these lies."

Shoaf further expressed remorse in her May 2023 parole hearing and finally gave a motive for the crime, which was that she and Eddy had been in a romantic relationship and this caused tension between the couple and Neese.

Neese had to stay in the room, fearing that if she left that she would encounter Shoaf's mother, who was known to be very strict, and did not want this to happen because they had all been drinking.

On September 4, 2013, West Virginia prosecutors publicly identified Eddy as the second alleged perpetrator of the murder of Neese and announced that she would be tried as an adult.

[32] Facing the prospect of additional charges from Pennsylvania authorities, Eddy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

[39] A West Virginia state legislator from the Neese family home district introduced a bill[40] called Skylar's Law to modify West Virginia's Amber Alert plan to issue immediate public announcements when any child is reported missing and in danger, regardless of whether the child is believed to have been kidnapped.

[21][41] Opinion columns appeared in both West Virginia and national media in support of Skylar's Law,[42][43] some of which also acknowledged criticism and drawbacks of the legislation.

[4] On April 12, 2013, the West Virginia Senate unanimously passed the law, but made minor technical changes to the bill which the House of Delegates voted to accept on the same day.