In October 1985, a woman killed her childhood best friend out of jealousy.
Michele Avila or known as ‘Missy’ grew up in the San Fernando Valley in California where she lived with her mother and her 3 brothers.
Missy had a childhood best friend named Karen Severson and attended San Fernando high school together. Like true best friends, they do everything together like dressing up and playing dolls. But things started to change as they grow older and drifted apart.
According to reports, Karen became jealous of Missy because of her popularity, and that Missy is better looking. Because of this jealousy, Karen started spreading rumors about her, saying that Missy slept with different boys at school.
Missy got beaten up by different girls because of a false rumor, and her former best friend enjoyed every single of it.
During their junior year, Missy started to date a boy named Randy but broke up a month after because of Randy’s uncontrollable vices. This is when Karen entered the scene once again and started dating Missy’s ex, and the two girls started to fight a lot because of the conflict.
Missy keeps telling Karen that Randy is not a good man, but instead of breaking up with him, Karen turned on Missy and keeps ignoring her.
Ten days before Missy died, the two former best friends got into a physical fight in a park where Karen threatened Missy with a broken bottle, pushed and slapped her.
Missy’s death
On October 2, 1985, Missy told her mom, Irene, that she was going out with Laura Doyle, a friend of hers.
Several hours later, Laura called Missy’s mother. Irene was shocked because she thought that Missy and Laura were together.
Laura then went on to tell Irene that she dropped Missy off and saw her get in a blue car with 3 boys. Laura told the worrying mother that she went running an errand and when she came back, Missy was gone with the 3 boys.
Three days later, Missy’s body was found facing down in a stream in Angeles National Forest. She drowned in 8 inches of water, her long hair was cut and there was a log on top of her.
According to reports, Irene never suspected Karen or Laura, especially that they both attended Missy’s funeral.
However, Karen seems to be haunted by what she had done. She visited Missy’s grave many times a week, visited where her body was found, and even had pictures and newspaper clips about the crime all over her bedroom walls.
Karen said that she helped the family after Missy’s death to be updated with the investigation.
“I also wanted to know how the police investigation was going,” Karen said. “I wanted to know who the suspects were and what evidence they’d found.”
Conviction
Reports said that the police didn’t have any leads and the case went unsolved for 3 years.
In July 1988, a girl named Eva Chirumbolo came forward to testify about what happened to Missy. She told the court that Karen and Laura lured Missy to the stream and yelled at her for allegedly having sex with their boyfriends.
In March 1990, Karen and Laura pleaded guilty and were both convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During the trial, Karen has stated that she only meant to “torment Missy,” and that things got out of hand.
On December 9, 2011, Karen was released serving 23 years in prison, while her accomplice Laura Doyle was released in December 2012 and served 22 years.