Shanna Widner Breaks Silence 20 Years After Infamous Cheerleader Murder Plot Case

Shanna Widner is speaking out for the first time in nearly two decades about the scandal that saw her mother convicted of trying to kill off her cheerleader rival.

Now 34 and a mother of two herself, Widner is finally sharing her side.

Widner tells People that her mother's 1991 arrest, trial, conviction and brief jail sentence for a crime that inspired TV movies left her with scars she still carries.

Then 14, Widner would rock herself to sleep at night, sobbing and cursing God: "I kept thinking, 'Why are you doing this to us?'" she remembers. "'I hate you!'"

Her mother, Wanda Holloway, was facing charges for allegedly hiring a man to kill Verna Heath, an ex-neighbor whose daughter, Amber, competed with Shanna.

Both girls vied for junior high school cheerleading squads.