Michele Yvette "Missy" Avila (February 8, 1968 – October 1, 1985) was an American teenager who was murdered by her rivals and former best friends, Karen Severson and Laura Doyle, in October 1985.

Background

Michele Avila grew up in

Arleta, Los Angeles Arleta () is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It contains a high percentage of Latino residents and of people born outside the United States. Geography Arleta is bordered by the Los Ange ...

, in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

. Michele Avila and Karen Severson had been best friends since they were eight years old. The two girls began to grow apart when they entered

San Fernando High School San Fernando High School (SFHS) is a high school of the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located in the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles, in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, California. It is near and also serves the City of Sa ...

; Severson reportedly grew jealous of Avila because she was considered more popular and attractive. Severson was also upset because Avila began spending less time with her, opting to spend her time with boys. Severson later started a rumor that Avila had been sleeping with various boys. As a result, Avila was beaten up by a group of girls who accused her of sleeping with their boyfriends. During the girls'

junior year A junior is a person in the third year at an educational institution in the US and some other countries, usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. I ...

in high school, Avila began dating a boy named Randy. Avila broke the relationship off after a month due to Randy's constant partying. Shortly after the break up, Severson and Randy began a relationship and eventually moved into an apartment together. Severson later told Avila's mother Irene that she had witnessed Randy pulling Avila onto his lap at a party. At the time, Avila had told Randy she was not interested in rekindling their relationship and advised Severson to break up with Randy. The incident angered Severson and she stopped speaking to Avila. Ten days before Avila's death, the two got into a physical altercation in a neighborhood park. According to witnesses, Severson threatened Avila with a broken beer bottle and then pushed and slapped her.

Murder

On October 1, 1985, Avila told her mother that she was going out with one of her school friends, Laura Doyle. Doyle picked Avila up and the two left. Four hours later, Doyle called Avila's mother and asked to speak to Missy. After Avila's mother told Doyle that she thought her daughter was with her, Doyle told her that she had dropped Avila off with three boys driving a blue

Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...

. After getting

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

, Doyle said she returned to the location where she dropped Avila off, but she and the three boys were gone. On October 4, Avila's body was found face down in a

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

in Big Tujunga Canyon in

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in Southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabri ...

. She had been forcibly

drowned Drowning is a type of Asphyxia, suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Submersion injury refers to both drowning and near-miss incidents. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where othe ...

in six inches of water, her waist-length hair was hacked off and there was a four-foot log found on top of her body.

Conviction and aftermath

Irene Avila later said she had no reason to suspect Severson or Doyle were involved in her daughter's death. Both had attended Avila's funeral and Doyle sent the family a sympathy card along with $20. Severson also moved in with Irene Avila for a time to console her and become a " surrogate daughter" (although this is disputed by Severson). Severson was also seemingly obsessed with the murder. She visited Avila's grave several times a week, covered the walls of her room with pictures of Avila and newspaper clippings about the crime, and repeatedly visited the creek where Avila's body was found. At one point, she told Irene Avila that she had seen Michele's ghost. Police had no leads and the case went cold. On July 26, 1988, Eva Chirumbolo, another teen who had taken the 45-minute drive into the mountains, came forward and told police about the murder. Severson and Doyle were arrested and charged with

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

. According to the prosecutors, Severson and Doyle lured Avila to the creek and then proceeded to yell at her about her

promiscuity Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

. Both girls accused her of having sex with their boyfriends and told her that she had messed up too many relationships. The two then held Avila face down in approximately six inches of water. To hold her body down in the water, the two placed a , log on her body. In March 1990, Severson and Doyle were convicted of

second degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, ...

, and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The jurors later said they were not convinced that the murder was planned and rejected the first degree murder charge. Karen Severson was released from prison on December 9, 2011, after serving 21.5 years. Laura Doyle was released from prison in December 2012 after serving 22 years. After Severson got out of prison, she began promoting a memoir about the crime and her prison experience and made a deal to have a film produced. Avila's family sued her in 2015, seeking to take the profits of the sales. Because of this, the

State of California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

passed Missy's Law, requiring entities who are helping publish works made by criminals to contact the families of the victims about said works.

In popular culture

*The case inspired a book, ''

Missy's Murder ''Missy's Murder: Passion, Betrayal, and Murder in Southern California'' is a 1991 non-fiction book by Karen Kingsbury and published by Dell Publishing. It concerns the murder of Missy Avila, in the San Fernando Valley region in Greater Los Ange ...

'' by

Karen Kingsbury Karen Kingsbury (born June 8, 1963) is an American Christian novelist born in Fairfax, Virginia. She was a sports writer for the ''Los Angeles Times'' and later wrote for the '' Los Angeles Daily News''. Her first book, '' Missy's Murder'' (19 ...

, who covered the case. *The case also inspired a movie, ''

A Killer Among Friends ''A Killer Among Friends'' is a 1992 made-for-television movie that aired on CBS on December 8, 1992. Based on a true story, the film stars Patty Duke as a mother grieving for her murdered daughter (Tiffani Thiessen) and sets out to find the kille ...

'', starring

Tiffani-Amber Thiessen Tiffani Amber Thiessen (born January 23, 1974) is an American actress. Her roles as Kelly Kapowski on NBC's ''Saved by the Bell'' (1989–1993) and its spin-off media, and as Valerie Malone on Fox's ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1994–98) establ ...

and

Patty Duke Anna Marie Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016), known professionally as Patty Duke, was an American actress. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ...

. *On January 13, 2012, the case was featured on an episode of ''

Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) Television, network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted ...

'' called "Deadly Delinquents". *On March 31, 2013, the case was featured on an episode of '' Unusual Suspects'' called "Deadly Forest". *On December 17, 2014, the case was featured on the ''Dr. Phil'' show, including an interview with Karen Severson. *On October 5, 2018, the

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries, similar to corporate sibling HLN. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery's netw ...

series ''In Plain Sight'' documented the case in the episode "Circle of Distrust."

References

External links