Murder: True Crime Stories - SOLVED: Missy Avila 2

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

After Missy Avila’s body is discovered, investigators search desperately for answers—but the truth is closer than anyone expects. As the case drags on, manipulation, false leads, and psychological games torment Missy’s family and friends for decades. This episode follows the long road to justice, revealing how jealousy and deception masked the identities of those responsible—and how one crucial breakthrough finally exposed a horrifying betrayal. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Murder True Crime Stories to never miss a case! For Ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of…, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Crime House 24/7, and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios YouTube: @crimehousestudios To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the Crime House original podcast, serial killers and murderous minds, we're diving into the psychology of the world's most complex murder cases. From serial killers to cult leaders, deadly exes, and spree killers, we're examining not just how they killed, but why? Is it uncontrollable rage, overwhelming fear? Or is it something deeper? Serial killers and murderous minds is a Crime House Studios original. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday.

Follow wherever you get your podcasts. This is Crime House. Being betrayed by a friend is one of the most devastating experiences in the world. When someone you trust takes advantage of you, it can warp your reality. Suddenly, you're looking back on the past and wondering if that person was ever being genuine. In the case of 17-year-old, Missy Avila, even the word betrayal feels like a understatement. After Missy was killed in 1985, the police and her family threw everything they had into searching for the culprit. All the while, her killers were right under their noses. Even worse,

they spent years twisting the knife, preying on her loved ones as part of a sadistic game. It would take years, but eventually the world learned the truth. The people who called Missy a friend were actually monsters hiding in plain sight, and they deserve to pay for what they did. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder, True Crime Stories, a crime house original powered by Pave Studios.

New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, with Friday's episodes covering the cases that deserve a deeper look. Thank you for being part of the crimehouse community. please rate, review, and follow the show, and for early ad-free access to every episode, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. This is the second of two episodes on the murder of 17-year-old Missy Avila in 1985. Last time, I covered Missy's close relationship with her childhood friends, Karen Severson and Laura Doyle. during their junior year of high school, teenage jealousy drove a wedge between the trio,

and on October 1st, 1985, Missy wound up dead. Today, I'll discuss the investigation into Missy's murder. While detectives quickly hit a brick wall, Missy's friends and family embarked on their own search for justice. It took years, but eventually the authorities got a tip that changed everything. And when the truth came into focus, it was more disturbing than anyone could have imagined. All that and more coming up. On October 4, 1985, two hikers found the body of 17-year-old Missyavila in the Los Angeles National Forest.

She was lying face down in a shallow creek pinned under the water by a heavy log. Clumps of her dark brown hair were scattered. nearby. An autopsy showed she died three days earlier of homicidal drowning, and evidence suggested there were at least two killers involved. The first lead in the investigation came from Missy's friend, 17-year-old Laura Doyle. She told police she last saw Missy on October 1st at a park in the San Fernando Valley about 10 miles southwest of where her body was discovered. The two girls had gone there to hang out, but Missy didn't stay long. As soon as she and Laura arrived, three young men in a blue Camaro pulled into the parking lot. Laura said Missy apparently knew them and got

into their car at around 3.15 p.m. That was the last time anyone saw her alive. Laura claims she didn't recognize the young men and couldn't even remember the color of their hair. Still, the authorities led by Deputy Sheriff Catherine Scott spent months tracking down and interviewing Camaro owners in the area. But without a detailed description of the young men, it was tough. All Laura knew for sure was that their car was blue. Eventually, Sheriff Scott felt like she had hit a brick wall. Meanwhile, Missy's three brothers, along with her mother, Irene, were caught in a spiral of grief. Missy's best friend, 17-year-old Karen Severson, stepped in to comfort the family. She and her almost three-year-old daughter, Andrea, even moved in with the Avila shortly after

Missy's body was found. That made it easier for Karen to hold meetings with Missy's family and a small group of friends. Every night, Karen led discussions about the investigation and kicked around theories about who may have been responsible. At first, she seemed to believe one of Missy's friends, who we're calling Samantha, was guilty. Around the same time that Karen voiced her suspicions, a mystery caller was harassing Samantha. But one day after visiting the site where Missy died, Karen came up with a new theory. She told the Avila's that she suspected her ex-boyfriend Randy had something to do with the murder. Randy used to have a crush on Missy and Karen believed he may have killed her in a sudden

bout of jealousy. The idea was especially disturbing because Karen was around four months pregnant with Randy's child. Not long after announcing her latest suspect, Karen called Randy and accused him of murder. When he denied it, Karen told him to watch his back. then hung up. Randy fumed over the incident as rumors spread through the neighborhood. All of a sudden, he was public enemy number one. A few days after the phone call, someone broke his car windows and slashed his tires. It was like everyone had decided overnight

that he was a killer. That was how much influence Karen Severson had. In late October, about a week after accusing him of murder, Karen called Randy again. This time, there was no trace of the righteous anger from before. She apologized for what she said and told him she wanted to make up. Samantha was having a party that night in Missy's honor. As a gesture of goodwill, Karen said she wanted him to come. Randy felt like he was between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't forgive Karen for what she'd said.

said, her hot and cold personality was the reason they had broken up months earlier. But if he refused the invitation, people might think he had something to hide. So he reluctantly told Karen he would go. She said she'd pick him up that night. The two of them pulled up to Samantha's house around 8.15 p.m. The moment Randy stepped out of the car, someone slammed a beer bottle into his head. He barely managed to stay on his feet as about a dozen young men marched towards him. The mob was led by two of Missy's former boyfriends,

19-year-old Victor Amaya, and a 17-year-old were calling Andy. Randy tried to fight back, but the group surrounded him. Eventually, Andy pinned him from behind as Victor beat him to a pulp. All the while, Karen and others shouted, do it for Missy. Once Randy was knocked unconscious, the gang disappeared. After about 15 minutes, he woke up and managed to drag himself to a pay phone, where he called for a ride to the hospital.

He had a broken rib and a major concussion, but he refused to file a police report. He was afraid Karen and Victor might attack him again if he did. when Karen learned that Randy survived the beating, she was disappointed. For the next month, she talked about wanting to finish him off, to kill him for good. And about a week before Thanksgiving, she took things even further. After everything, she decided she didn't want to have Randy's child. She told Irene that she was getting an abortion as revenge to punish him for murdering Missy.

Irene tried to calm Karen down, but it was no use. She terminated the pregnancy. And as time passed, she became even more adamant that Randy was to blame for Missy's death. Eventually, she met up with Victor and another friend who we're calling Mitchell. The three of them were desperate to make Randy pay, but they believe the police would never be able to find enough evidence to arrest him. so to bring him to justice, they had to take matters into their own hands. They would do it without Karen's direct involvement, though.

While she was a major force behind planning the hit, Victor and Mitchell were the ones who vowed to carry it out. Two nights before Thanksgiving on November 26, 1985, they showed up at Karen's family home with loaded guns in their truck. Karen met them out back and passed along a hand-drawn map of the parking lot outside Randy's apartment. She'd circled the spot where he usually parked and wrote down the time he typically got home from work. Before Victor and Mitchell left, Karen gave them an acid used to clean pools. She told them to pour it over Randy's body when they were done.

It would burn his face, making him unrecognizing. She also wanted them to cut off Randy's finger and bring it to her as proof that he was really dead. The request disgusted Victor and Mitchell, but at that point they felt like they were in too deep to say no. They nodded, took the acid, and drove away. At about 8.15 p.m., they crouched in the shadows outside Randy's apartment. guns in hand. He was supposed to get home around 8.30, but by 9 o'clock, he still hadn't arrived. Victor and Mitchell started to get cold feet. The longer they waited, the more likely that someone would spot them. Eventually, they decided to call the plan off. When she heard the news, Karen was furious.

She made them swear they would go back and do it the next night. The day. before Thanksgiving. This time, Victor and Mitchell arrived a little earlier. They waited in the same spot and watched Randy pull up just after eight. As he climbed out of his car, Victor leveled his gun. But just before he pulled the trigger, Mitchell batted his arm away. He told Victor, he wasn't so sure Randy was guilty. Victor hesitated. Then uncocked. his gun. In that moment, he knew Mitchell was right. Randy wasn't a killer, and neither was he. Victor and Mitchell crept back into their truck and went home with her hands clean. Randy narrowly avoided dying that night, but he wasn't the only one with a target on his back. Someone had been

calling Missy's friend Samantha nearly every night for the past month. The caller, who had a female voice, posed as Missy contacting Samantha from beyond the grave. She yelled at Samantha, called her a killer, and threatened her with arrest, or worse. On the same night, Victor and Mitchell decided not to kill Randy, someone, probably the mysterious caller, vandalized Samantha's car. She woke up the next morning to find her back window smashed and the word murderer plastered across her front windshield in soap. Like everything else connected to Missy's murder, news of the vandalism reached the Avila House, which made for an awkward Thanksgiving. And even though it was a holiday, Karen insisted on steering the conversation back to the elephant in the room. Over the past

couple of days, she said she had changed her mind about Randy. She now harbored serious doubts that he was the killer. But there were other possible culprits. The family listened as she named around a dozen people, and not at long as she emphasized how important it was to keep investigating. Missy's memory depended on them. So far, the police hadn't come up with a single, solid suspect. It was up to them to solve things on their own, and Karen was still determined to lead the charge. In the months ahead, her obsession with the case only ramped up. Controlling the narrative around Missy's murder made her feel powerful and important, but she was walking a fine line. It was just a matter of time until Karen slipped up.

And when that happened, the world would finally learn the truth about Missy's death. By June 1986, 17-year-old Missy Avila had been dead for eight months, and yet the police still didn't have a strong suspect to investigate. Searching for owners of blue Camaros led nowhere, and forensic analysis failed to yield any new leads. However, Deputy Sheriff, Catherine Scott, and her team did develop a clear profile of the killers during that time. They had come to believe that Missy's murderers knew her well. Whoever they were, she trusted them enough to follow them into a remote area of the woods. Since there was no sign of a struggle, she probably never expected them to attack her. and privately, Sheriff Scott continued to believe a woman was somehow involved because Missy's hair had been cut off before she was killed.

All of those factors called Laura Doyle's testimony about the Camaro into question. Sheriff Scott believed Laura knew more than she was letting on. The problem was she couldn't force her to talk. That left Sheriff Scott in a holding pattern. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Karen Severson had a seemingly endless list of potential suspects. And by then she'd abandoned the idea that her ex-Randy was responsible. She still sometimes mentioned Missy's friend Samantha, who continued to receive threatening phone calls from an anonymous number.

But Samantha wasn't Karen's only target. Sometime that summer, Karen told Irene, she suddenly remembered a classmate, who will call Rick, having a crush on Missy. She claimed that a few weeks before she died, Rick asked Missy out. After Missy rejected him, she apparently told Karen she was afraid for her safety. Up to this point in the conversation, Irene hadn't been paying much attention to Karen. This kind of musing was practically her daily routine. after eight months without any progress, Irene was starting to lose hope that they would ever catch the killer.

But this new revelation made her perk up. She was shocked. Karen hadn't remembered such a crucial piece of information until now. She picked up the phone to pass the new lead to the police. Before she could dial, Karen stopped her. She said she wanted to call Rick and interrogate him herself. Irene reluctantly let the 18-year-old take the lead. Karen used a phone book to find Rick's number and invited him over to the Avila House.

She wouldn't tell him exactly what it was about, but she urged him to come over immediately to have a chat. And with enough pressing, he eventually agreed. About an hour later, Irene welcomed Rick inside. He was intimidating, tall, muscular and tattooed, but he smiled and greeted her warmly. Irene led him to the kitchen table where he sat across from Karen. Her interrogation style wasn't exactly subtle before even saying hello she directly accused Rick of murdering Missy. In less than a minute, he was out the door again, shocked and infuriated by the accusations. Ultimately, Karen's suspicions about Rick

proved to be short-lived. Only a week later, she was back to openly accusing Samantha, and before long, Samantha had reached her breaking point. The constant creepy calls and death threats were too much. She moved out of the San Fernando Valley and settled in Long Beach, about 40 miles south. With her gone, Karen lost her favorite punching bag, and her personal investigation lost some steam. Not only that, but after all this time, she'd finally warn out her welcome at the Avila House.

By October, the first anniversary of Missy's death, she'd moved out. She enrolled in beauty school and seemed to get on with her life. But when she wasn't in class, she still spent a lot of time with Irene, and whenever she got the chance, she was sure to talk about Missy. That said, for the next year or so, there wasn't much to discuss. The official investigation was stuck in a rut. It wasn't until September 18, 1987, almost two years after Missy's death, that something changed. That was the night Karen called Irene.

She said she finally got the truth out of 19-year-old Laura Doyle, the last person to see Missy alive. According to Karen, Laura had been lying about the mysterious young men in the Blue Camaro. Something else happened the night Missy disappeared, and Laura was finally ready to come clean. By 10 p.m., Karen, Irene, and Laura were at the East San Fernando Valley Police Station. After two years of spinning her wheels, Sheriff Scott was excited for a new lead. She eagerly ushered Laura into an interrogation room. Less than 30 minutes later, whatever hope Sheriff Scott had was gone. Laura's most recent story was even more vague and difficult to believe than her first one.

Instead of last seeing Missy at a local park, Laura now claimed they had actually gone to a church parking lot. She couldn't remember the name of the church, but she said Missy demanded to be dropped off there for some reason. So Laura drove her to the church, then left. And that was it. That was the truth she had supposedly been hiding for, almost two years. Sheriff Scott wasn't convinced, but she couldn't get Laura to tell her anything more.

When she delivered the news to Irene and Karen, she couldn't hide her disappointment. Once again, she had gotten her hopes up for nothing. That's when Karen jumped in to save the day. She asked Sheriff Scott if she could speak to Laura in the interrogation room. Karen swore that she alone could get the real truth out. Obviously, that kind of thing normally wouldn't be allowed. But Sheriff Scott knew Karen had been playing an undefined, but strangely significant role in the investigation so far, and Laura had once been her best friend.

So Sheriff Scott figured, well, they had nothing to lose. She agreed to let Karen speak to Laura on her own. Lo and behold, around 11 p.m., Karen walked out of the room with a thousand-watt smile on her face. Finally, she said she had the real story. This one filled in some of the gaps in Laura's latest version of events. She now claimed that she dropped off Missy at the Grace Brethren Community Church on 1st Street in Los Angeles. Missy was there to meet a drug dealer, a man she owed $500 to.

Laura left her there in the parking lot because Missy said the dealer was going to drive her home. She hadn't told the truth up until now because she didn't want to ruin Missy's reputation by exposing her secret drug addiction. Over the next few weeks, the police threw everything they had into following the new lead. But it had been two years since Missy's death, questioning the owners of the church didn't do much to further the investigation. And even with Karen's help, Laura couldn't provide any. details on the alleged drug dealer. Instead, after her confession, Laura fell into a deep depression. Ever since Missy died, she had turned to drinking and drugs to cope. Ten days after talking to the

police, she entered rehab for cocaine. A month later, she walked out clean, but soon after that, she relapsed. And she wasn't the only one struggling to process her guilt of the over Missy. Over the next few months, Karen's behavior became increasingly bizarre. She told Irene she was having recurring nightmares about Missy on multiple occasions. Friends overheard her calling her five-year-old daughter Missy instead of her actual name, Andrea. Irene urged Karen to see a psychiatrist, but she refused. This time went on. Things only got worse. And by the summer of 1988, it had been three years since Missy's death. The case was officially cold.

Missy's family, friends, and even Sheriff Scott were starting to believe the killers would never be caught. Just when it seemed like all hope was lost. On the morning of July 26th, the San Fernando Valley Police Station got a call that changed everything. One of Karen's former friends, a young woman named Eva Tarumbollo, claimed to have new information about Missy's murder. Eva lived a few blocks away from the Avila's and was around the same age as Karen and Laura. She known them when they were all teenagers. Eva had held her tongue for the last few years because she was worried about her safety. But she couldn't keep this secret anymore.

She told Sheriff Scott that she was there when Missy died. She knew exactly who had killed Missy. And she could prove it. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding, horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying, true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious,

check out Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. On the night of July 26, 1988, Deputy Sheriff Catherine Scott raced to a third floor apartment in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. Hours earlier, a young woman named Eva Truumbullo had called, claiming to have crucial information about the murder of Missy Avila. For almost three years, the case had been eating away at Sheriff Scott. Failing to catch Missy's killer was the biggest regret of her career.

Now she hoped she might finally have a chance to redeem herself. But after so many false starts, she was also cautious. By that point, Missy's murder had practically become a local legend, a sensational crime that attracted tips from, all kinds of people who were just looking for attention. There was only one way to be sure if Eva was the real deal. Even after all this time, the police had carefully kept some critical details about Missy's death out of the press. No one other than the killers could have known that her hair was cut before she died or that her body was pinned beneath a heavy log when she was found.

That would be the test. The key to knowing whether or not to trust Eva. When Sheriff Scott arrived at Eva's apartment, the young woman led her into the living room. She was shaking, clearly nervous. Her brother and her boyfriend sat beside her for moral support. The first thing Eva told Sheriff Scott was that she was afraid. She was worried she would be thrown in jail for confessing what she knew. Sheriff Scott assured her that she wouldn't be prosecuted.

as long as she didn't participate in the crime itself. With Sheriff Scott's reassurance, Eva began her story. She started by saying that back in 1985, she knew Karen Severson. Sheriff Scott asked if that meant they were friends and took some prying, but finally Eva came out and said it. She and Karen Severson were roommates, though they weren't super-compet. close, they shared an apartment after Karen had moved out of her parents' home. Eva had seen the way Karen acted when no one else was around. It was the polar opposite of her public persona, and on October 1, 1985, it became outright terrifying. That afternoon, Karen invited Eva to hang out

with her at a local park. They arrived there around 3.15 p.m. and spotted Laura Doyle sitting with Missy Avila in the parking lot. Karen pulled up alongside Laura's car and quickly started shouting at Laura through the driver's side window. Both of them cursed at each other, arguing about something that Eva couldn't understand. After a few minutes of yelling, Laura peeled out and left in a huff with Missy. They drove northeast towards the San Gabriel Mountains. Karen and Eva followed in their own vehicle. They drove for about 45 minutes to the Camp Colby Ranch near Valley called the Big Tunga Canyon. Then the four of them got out of their cars and walked up a dirt trail along a thin stream. Apparently, Laura and Karen knew the area because they had hiked there before. That's when

Laura and Karen revealed the entire argument had been a ruse. They weren't mad at each other. They were just trying to lure Missy out into the middle of nowhere. She was their real target. In a flash, Karen and Laura turned on their former friend. Karen accused Missy of sleeping with her ex, Randy. Laura claimed she was trying to steal Victor Amaya. Both of them called her the worst names they could think of, shouting so loudly that she had no chance to respond. They berated Missy until she burst out crying.

All the while, Eva watched in mute shock. Finally, Laura lunged at Missy and grabbed her by the arm. Karen piled on, shoving her into the stream, which was only about six inches deep. Then Eva said they cut off clumps of her hair and held her under the water until she stopped moving. Sheriff Scott's breath caught in her throat. Up to that point, she had never even considered. that Karen Severson might be guilty. As she had suspected, Laura Doyle wasn't telling the whole truth,

but she never thought either woman was behind the murder. But the detail about the hair proved Eva was telling the truth. There wasn't any other way for her to know so much about the crime. Sheriff Scott made arrangements for Karen and Laura to come to the police station the next morning. And by then, Karen was used to, consulting with the cops about Missy's murder, answering their questions and tossing out theories about who might have been responsible. Laura hadn't come in nearly as often, but she knew she had to appear cooperative to maintain her innocence. Neither a 20-year-old was prepared for the trap

the police had set. The moment Karen arrived at around 10 a.m. on July 27th, she spotted Laura sitting in the waiting room. Sheriff Scott hadn't said anything about it. her coming in. Something was wrong. Karen only got more anxious after the police led her to an interrogation room and left her there for a full hour. In reality, Sheriff Scott was taking her time in the cafeteria, dragging things out to make Karen nervous. But when she finally showed up, she told Karen she had spent the last hour with Laura Doyle, and she said Laura had told her everything. It took less than five minutes for Karen to fold. She blamed Laura for the entire thing, claiming she was just a powerless witness to the murder. She was adamant that she hadn't touched

Missy at all. At first, she denied that anyone else was with them, but under pressure, she admitted that Eva Chorumelow had been there too. Unbeknownst to Karen, she had just officially confirmed Eva's confession, effectively signing her own arrest warrant. Sheriff Scott slapped cuffs on her wrist and led her to a holding cell. Then she walked down the hall to speak to Laura. Her interrogation took a lot longer. Laura spent most of that time sitting in silence with a blank expression.

unlike Karen, she knew she would be caught one day. Eventually, she did give her a side of the story. She claimed Karen was the ringleader, but she did admit to personally taking part in the murder while Eva watched in shock. According to Laura, the log was so heavy that she and Karen had to work together to place it on Missy's neck. After telling her story, Laura was arrested.

A couple of hours later, she and Karen Severson were on their way to a maximum security prison called the Sybil Brand Institute. Sheriff Scott was proud to finally have Missy's killers under lock and key, but the hardest part of the investigation was yet to come. Later that day, she met with Missy's mother, Irene, to deliver the difficult news. the person Irene had trusted the most since her daughter's death was the one who betrayed her. For over two and a half years, Karen Severson had been sharing secrets, offering comfort and grieving alongside her. After Missy's funeral, Karen had pledged to become Irene's new daughter.

She had moved in with the family, slept in Missy's bed, worn her clothes, and sat in her spot. at the breakfast table. And all that time, she was lying, manipulating, and scheming. The cruelty was difficult to imagine. And when Irene first heard what happened, she refused to believe it. She told Sheriff Scott that there had to be a mistake. Karen and Laura loved Missy. They would never hurt her.

But Sheriff Scott was firm. when she heard that both of them had confessed, the news hit Irene like a ton of bricks. Sheriff Scott watched as she fell back onto the couch and fainted. That evening, Irene woke up in the hospital. There, she was finally able to process what happened to her little girl, and it wasn't long until she was overcome by a burning desire for revenge. and anger like nothing she'd ever felt before.

Karen Severson and Laura Doyle had to pay for what they'd done. Sheriff Scott promised that they would, but the Avila would have to wait nearly two years to get the resolution they needed. On January 10, 1990, the trial against Karen and Laura, then age 22, began in Pasadena, California, the star witness was Eva, who described her account of the murder to the jury. She told the court that after Missy's death on October 1st, 1985, she and Karen returned to the apartment they shared. Though Karen didn't make any explicit threats, Eva was terrified Karen would kill her if she told the police what happened. So that evening, Eva invited her boyfriend and one of his friends over for protection.

and the three of them got into an argument with Karen over something petty later on. The dispute wasn't related to the murder, but it was enough to make Karen enraged. At one point, she grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to stab Eva and her boyfriend's friend. Her boyfriend managed to intervene and stop Karen before anyone got hurt. At that point, Eva decided to move out. She left the apartment and caught off all contact with Karen. Karen, only crossing paths with her by chance one time after that. Her testimony was persuasive, but some jurors wondered why she had kept silent for so long.

It seemed like she was hiding something. Under cross-examination, some of the details of her accounts became muddled. When asked why she didn't intervene to stop the murder, she didn't have much of an answer. And despite telling the police that Karen used a night. to cut off Missy's hair. Eva said she couldn't remember how it happened when she was on the stand. Still, there wasn't much doubt that Karen and Laura were guilty. The key question for the jury was whether they intended to kill Missy when they lured her to the woods. Eva said she believed Karen was originally only planning to scare her a little, but things got out of hand. Of course, this version of events didn't exonerate Karen and Laura, but it was a little.

would have made them guilty of second-degree murder instead of first, which held a lesser penalty. But the prosecution was adamant that Karen and Laura intended to murder Missy from the beginning. They argued that if the only plan was to scare her, Karen and Laura could have easily done that without driving 45 minutes up a secluded mountain path. It was up to the jury to rule. And during their deliberations, the deciding factor seems, to be Eva. Some jurors believe she wasn't telling the whole truth. Because of that, they couldn't be sure what had really happened to Missy or what was going through the minds of her killers as she

died. So on January 30th, 1990, they found Karen Severson and Laura Doyle guilty of second-degree murder. Both were sentenced to 15 years to life. In 2011, 44-year-old Karen was released on parole after serving 21 years. In 2012, Laura also received parole at the age of 45. Rather than put the ordeal behind her, Karen decided to cash in on her experience. She published a memoir about the murder and her time in prison. In response, the Avila family filed a wrongful death, to seize any profits from the book sales.

The suit resulted in new California state legislation in 2015, dubbed Missy's Law. It requires companies that publish work by criminals to contact the victims prior to publication. It's a small victory, but the Avelas felt it was an important step in the right direction. It ensures that Missy's memory continues to be honored and respected. Even so, the grief has never truly gone away for the avila. In 2012, Irene told the Los Angeles Daily News, there's never any closure. All I can say is, girls, watch out whom you trust.

Missy's killers spent years calling her a friend. In reality, all they did was used to. was use her as a punching bag, as an outlet for their own insecurities, and as a way to increase their own popularity. Eventually, they became consumed by jealousy, and Missy paid the ultimate price. But even once Missy was gone, she was never forgotten. In her 17 years on earth, she made more of a positive impact than most people. And no matter how long her murderers live, that's something they'll never be able to compete with. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected.

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You'll get every episode early and ad-free. We'll be back on Friday. Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Natalie Protofsky, Sarah Camp, Tara Wells, Hania Saeed, and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. What drives a person to murder? Find out from a licensed forensic psychologist on serial killers and murderous minds, a crimehouse original podcast. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.