Best Friend Killer: Angeles National Forest

In October 1985, 17-year-old Missy Avila left her home in California's San Fernando Valley to spend the afternoon with friends and never came home. Three days later, two hikers made a horrifying discovery in Angeles National Forest. As Missy's family desperately searched for answers, the people closest to them offered comfort and promised to help find her killer. However, the truth about what happened to Missy was far closer to home than anyone could have imagined. The Missy Avila Documentary YouTube Channel : https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCwpH_NKOZEl9Bqg11IWRKLA For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodes For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to this week’s partners! NUTRAFOL See thicker, stronger, faster-growing hair with less shedding in just 3–6 months with Nutrafol! Get $15 off your first month's subscription and free shipping at https://nutrafol.com with promo code NPAD. AQUAOMEGA AquaOmega: One of the highest-dose omega-3 supplements per serving, no fish burps, and for every bottle sold, removes 1 lb. of plastic and debris from the ocean and coastlines. Use code NPAD for 20% off at AquaOmega | World's Best Omega-3 Supplements . JONES ROAD BEAUTY Use code NPAD at Jones Road Beauty - Clean No-Makeup Makeup to get a Free Gift with your first purchase! #JonesRoadBeauty #ad QUINCE Find your new favorite everyday essentials at Quince! Shop premium cashmere, timeless wardrobe staples, and more at https://www.quince.com, or download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers. Enjoy free shipping and 365-day returns. Let Quince know you heard about them on National Park After Dark! BETTERHELP This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp works with more than 125 health plan networks, and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with insurance. Don't have insurance or don't live in the United States? You can still get 10% off your first month. Visit BetterHelp - Get Started & Sign-Up Today to explore your payment options. SMALLS For a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping, when you head to Fresh Human-Grade Cat Food Delivery | Smalls . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  There is a saying that when a child is born, a parent's heart begins to walk around outside of their body. Their entire world shifts. And suddenly, there is another person whose happiness, health, and safety becomes more important than their own. It's a level of love and vulnerability that's nearly impossible to understand until it's experienced. Parents spend years trying to keep their children safe while knowing that eventually they will have to let them go out and experience the world for themselves. As kids get older, that means giving up more control and trusting that when they say they'll be home, they'll

• 0:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  be home. So what happens when they aren't? Especially with teenagers, there's a terrible gray area between being pissed off and being terrified when they don't return on time. Maybe they're ignoring curfew, lost track of time, or somewhere they know they shouldn't be. A parent can spend hours cycling between anger and fear, waiting for the phone to ring or the front door to open, until eventually, late becomes missing. Hundreds of thousands of children are reported missing in the United States every single year. In 2025 alone, more than 300,000 missing person entries involving children were made in the FBI

• 1:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  National Database. For their parents, prior to that report, it can mean calling friends, searching neighborhoods, retracing their child's last movements, and eventually, calling the police because they can no longer find them on their own. And then comes the waiting. Waiting for a phone call, waiting for an answer, waiting for their child to walk through the door. Sometimes, that answer never comes, and sometimes, when it does, it isn't the one they were desperately hoping for. On October 1, 1985, 17-year-old Missy Avila left her home in California to spend a few hours with friends. She was laughing and joking

• 2:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  as she headed out the door and told her mom Irene, she'd be home later that evening, and that she loved her. But Missy never returned, and just a few days later, her mother received the news that every parent fears. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

• 2:46Danielle LaRock?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. My name's Danielle.

• 2:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I'm Cassie.

• 2:50Danielle LaRock?

  And this sounds like a really dark, depressing episode, right off the bat.

• 2:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, we're doing a true crime episode today, and it is messed up. Just a warning for people. This story does involve violence against children, and is really a tough episode. And I, it was hard, it was hard to read about and research, and it is, it was at one point very, very well-covered. And it happened in Angeles National Forest in California. So I wanted to tell it today for a couple of reasons. And one of those is that Missy's family has recently brought more attention to this case. So I will get into that more towards the end of the episode, but that is why I've chosen to tell it today.

• 3:37Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Well, timely. What's going on? Let's see. October. It's October.

• 3:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  It is. It's spooky season.

• 3:45Danielle LaRock?

  It's October 12th. If you're listening to this on the day it comes out, and I would bet a lot of money that my sister doesn't listen to this. But it's her birthday today. So happy birthday, Alyssa, if you're listening.

• 3:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Happy birthday.

• 4:00Danielle LaRock?

  And if you're not, guess, you'll never know that I've said happy birthday on my public platform. And that's a shame.

• 4:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's a shame.

• 4:10Danielle LaRock?

  You know, it's like, when you're like, do you even know what your friend does for work?

• 4:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 4:16Danielle LaRock?

  The answer's no both ways. I know Alyssa knows I have a podcast. I don't think she listens. And I have no idea what she does for work.

• 4:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Really?

• 4:25Danielle LaRock?

  I know she takes a lot of meetings.

• 4:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  No idea.

• 4:29Danielle LaRock?

  She takes a lot of meetings, and she works from home. I think it might be marketing? For who? I don't know.

• 4:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so funny. So funny.

• 4:42Danielle LaRock?

  But I love her, and I hope she has a great birthday.

• 4:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  And that's what matters.

• 4:47Danielle LaRock?

  Not doing marketing. And that's sisters. But anyway, okay. I just wanted to bring a little bit of levity before we get into a really dark, depressing episode, but I'm ready now.

• 4:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Can rub, it's so funny if people are watching on YouTube. It's just like you can rub Gator's belly, like, while things are getting sad. He's like a little comfort dog.

• 5:09Danielle LaRock?

  He is. This, I don't know who enjoys the Lola blanket more, Gator or me. Gator is obsessed with this Lola blanket. It's his favorite thing in the world. And I know they make dog beds. So I think I might have to get him one for Christmas.

• 5:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  That would be cute. Use our code, N-P-A-D.

• 5:29Danielle LaRock?

  Truly.

• 5:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, actually.

• 5:31Danielle LaRock?

  Not an ad, but.

• 5:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Actually, we are.

• 5:32Danielle LaRock?

  Kind of an ad.

• 5:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not an ad, but you can use our code.

• 5:37Danielle LaRock?

  If you want. Yeah. Anyway, okay. Yeah, he will be my comfort, my comfort Gator.

• 5:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  He's so cute. I can't stand it.

• 5:46Danielle LaRock?

  His one back leg. It's always just to the sky.

• 5:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Where's the other one, Gator?

• 5:52Danielle LaRock?

  That is him.

• 5:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  All right. Well, let's get into the story. On October 4, 1985, two hikers set out into the Big Tahanga Canyon area of Angeles National Forest in Southern California. Although they were only a short drive from Los Angeles and the sprawling communities of the San Fernando Valley, this part of the forest felt far removed from the city below. Big Tahanga Canyon cuts deep through the San Gabriel Mountains with steep, brush-covered slopes rising around a rocky creek that winds along the canyon floor. The hikers were near the remote Camp Colby area where a narrow road descended into a heavily wooded section of the canyon beside Big Tahanga Creek. Aspens grew along the water, and large rocks were

• 6:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  scattered throughout small clearings beside the creek. It was quiet and secluded, which was part of what drew hikers here, but it was also known as a place where local teenagers came to get away, drink, and party. As the two hikers made their way along the creek that day, they noticed something in the shallow water below. To their horror, they realized it was the body of a teenage girl lying face down in the creek, pinned beneath a large log. The log was roughly four feet long and weighed around 100 pounds. Beneath it was a small teenage girl, just four feet, 11 inches tall, and weighing less than 100 pounds.

• 7:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Her arms had been bound behind her back, and her long brown hair had been roughly hacked off in chunks with clumps of it scattered along the creek bank. The heavy log had been positioned across her body, holding her face beneath only a few inches of water. The hikers immediately left to find a phone and call police. When investigators arrived, they began processing the creek and surrounding riverbank. Nearby were cigarettes, beer cans, and a pair of men's overalls. It didn't take long to identify the body as 17-year-old Michelle Yvette Avila, who went by Missy, from a purse with her student identification inside. Missy's mother, Irene Avila, had last seen her daughter on the afternoon of

• 8:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  October 1. Around 3:30 that afternoon, Missy's friend Laura Doyle arrived to pick her up in her car. Missy was in a good mood, and she ran out of the house, laughing and joking with Laura. She told her mom that they were going to the park and that she'd be back later that evening by 8:00 PM, but she would call her if she was running late. The last thing Missy told her mom before shutting the door behind her was that she loved her. However, just a few hours later, around 6:00 PM, Irene received a strange phone call. It was Laura asking if she could speak to Missy. Irene was confused. As far as she knew, Missy was with Laura, but Laura told her that she wasn't. She claimed she had

• 8:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  dropped Missy off at Stonehurst Park in Arleta, the Los Angeles neighborhood where the Avila family lived, while she went to get gas. According to Laura, as she drove away, Missy walked over to two young men sitting in a blue Chevy Camaro and started talking to them. When Laura returned to the park about 20 minutes later, Missy was gone, and so were the two men in the blue Camaro. The phone call was unnerving for Irene, and when 8:00 PM came and went without any word from Missy, she began to really worry. As the night stretched on, Irene stayed awake with the front door unlocked, waiting for her daughter to come home. By 2:00 in the morning, part of her was still thinking like the mother of a teenager who

• 9:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  had broken her curfew. Missy was going to be in serious trouble when she finally walked through that door. But as more time passed, Irene's anger was being replaced by fear. She began to feel like something was seriously wrong. By the next morning, Missy still hadn't come home. Irene filed a missing persons report with police, and then she and Missy's brother began searching for her themselves. This was 1985, so it was long before cell phones or social media that could spread the word that a teenager was missing in the neighborhood. So the family went door to door through the neighborhood, asking people if they had seen her or knew where she might have gone. But no one had seen her.

• 10:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  For the next two days, Irene waited for any word about where her daughter had gone. Then, on October 4th, police arrived at the Avalos family home and broke the horrible news. Irene's agonizing scream could be heard throughout the neighborhood. Missy's funeral took place in one of the biggest churches in San Fernando Valley, and it was absolutely packed with grieving friends, family members, teachers, and classmates. Among them were Karen Severson and Laura Doyle, two of Missy's closest friends. The three girls had grown up together in the same Arleta neighborhood, attended the same schools, and were almost inseparable. One classmate described them as being like sisters.

• 10:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Karen and Missy were especially close. They had been best friends since they were eight years old, when they met living down the street from one another. From then on, Karen was constantly at the Avalo house, playing Barbies with Missy as children, and staying for dinner so often that Irene sometimes felt like she had five children instead of four. At Missy's funeral, Karen was hysterical. She sobbed and clung to Irene, promising her that they were going to find whoever had done this. Laura sat beside Karen and cried with her as "Lady Starlight" by The Scorpions, one of Missy's favorite songs, played during the service. The police didn't have much to go on in their initial investigation.

• 11:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  They knew Missy had been murdered sometime between leaving home on October 1st and the discovery of her body three days later. But there were few obvious clues pointing them towards who had done it. One of their only leads came from Laura, who told investigators the same story she had told Irene. She said that she had last seen Missy at Stonehurst Park in Arleta, where Missy had been talking to two young men in a blue Chevy Camaro. Laura said that when she returned from getting gas, Missy and the men were all gone. The problem was that there wasn't much investigators could do with that information. They didn't have the names of the men, a license plate, or much of a description beyond a blue Camaro.

• 12:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Police interviewed people in Missy's life and tried to reconstruct her final hours, but as the days passed, there was no arrest and no clear suspect was emerging. Just three days after the funeral, Karen moved into the Avalo family's home to look after Irene and help find answers about what had happened to her best friend. She cooperated with investigators, passed along possible leads, and accompanied Irene as they tried to push the investigation forward. But from Irene's perspective, nothing seemed to be happening. Neither her nor Karen were satisfied with the progress police were making, so they began taking matters into their own hands. At night, the two would drive around northern Los Angeles, searching for blue Camaros.

• 13:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Whenever they spotted one, they would follow it and stop the driver, sometimes getting out of their own car to confront them and demand to know whether they knew anything about Missy's murder. As Missy's best friend Karen settled into the Avalo home, she became a constant presence in Irene's life. She ate dinner with the family, and even slept in Missy's bed. She began drinking heavily as she struggled with the loss of her best friend, and she seemed increasingly consumed by the murder and the investigation. Karen covered the walls of her room in the Avalo house with newspaper clippings about Missy's case, following every update and searching for anything that might bring them closer to an answer. She also visited Missy's grave several times a week, bringing flowers and handwritten

• 13:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  letters to leave for her. When Christmas arrived in 1985, only a few months after the murder, Karen brought a Christmas tree to the cemetery and placed it at Missy's grave. Karen even returned to Big to Hunga Creek. Before it became the place where Missy's body was found, it had been somewhere the girls spent a lot of time together. Now Karen went back to the creek where her best friend had been murdered. At one point, she even told Irene that she had seen Missy's ghost. For Irene, Karen's constant presence became a source of comfort. She had known Karen for nearly a decade and had watched her and Missy grow up together.

• 14:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Karen had spent so much of her childhood inside the Avalo home that she had already felt like another member of the family. Now, with Irene's only daughter gone, Karen became almost like a surrogate daughter to her. Missy's other friend Laura wasn't nearly as close with the Avalo family, but she also came by the house several times after Missy's death. She appeared deeply depressed and overwhelmed by what had happened. At one point, Laura told Irene that she wanted to kill herself because she had been the last person to see Missy alive. Meanwhile, the investigation continued to stall. And for me, just like hearing this friendship and this dynamic, it reminds me so much of

• 15:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  my own friendships and stuff growing up. Like, I had a friend who lived right down the street, one of my best friends to this day, that I was like integrated in their family, and it's so hard to not imagine yourself in this situation with your own best friends of like, if something happened to them, what would I do? Would I, like, I would want to be there for their parents, I would want to seek comfort in like this family that is my second family. So, a lot of when I was researching this, I was really envisioning what I would be doing in this situation if that ever happened to my childhood best friend in high school that you spend all of your time with.

• 15:56Danielle LaRock?

  Especially during that time, because, you know, as people now in our mid-30s, who still have friends, you know, that we met back then and like have those experiences with, but the, our dynamics are different, you know, like, in the present, we have families of our own, or are moved away, or just, you know, life happens, but being transported back to when you're 16, 17 years old, your friends are your whole life.

• 16:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Truly.

• 16:25Danielle LaRock?

  So, just when something like this happens, it's devastating no matter what, but especially, especially at that point in time where your entire world is this smaller bubble of those other people and those other friends and family, you know, it's just like, it's your whole world. And when something like this happens, it shatters everything, not just a fragment of a larger life that you're living as you're older, you know what I mean?

• 16:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 16:58Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, at this point in time, when you're this age, I can see how it just absolutely rocks your world, especially because it's such a brutal, I mean, I know, we kind of just skipped on by your description of how she was found by those hikers, and it's absolutely horrific.

• 17:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it is.

• 17:20Danielle LaRock?

  And brutal. So, that layered on top of, not only did someone die, someone was brutally killed by another person or people, multiple people.

• 17:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  And there's no answers.

• 17:32Danielle LaRock?

  And there's no answers, so, yeah, there's just a lot going on here.

• 17:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  So, of course, all of this is happening, and as the case remained unsolved, fear began spreading through Arleta. If police couldn't determine who had done this or why, other families had no way of knowing whether their own daughters might be in danger. People began wondering if there was a predator targeting teenage girls, or perhaps even more frightening, whether Missy had been killed by someone she knew. But there was other information that police had yet to fully connect to the case. Missy was the kind of girl people noticed. She was small, with light brown eyes, and long, straight brown hair that fell down her back. She took a lot of pride in her hair and loved the attention it got her.

• 18:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Attention was something Missy received plenty of. She was pretty, charming, and popular, especially with boys. Her mom said there always seemed to be a boy coming around to see her, and one of Missy's friends described her as having that it factor that naturally drew people in. Of course, though, there was more to Missy than the attention she received. She was known for having a big heart, wanting to make people happy, and tending to see the best in everyone. She loved roller skating and spent weekends at an indoor rink with her friends, flying around the rink and easily skating both forwards and backwards. Academically, she had once shown a lot of promise, too. In elementary school, Missy had been placed in classes for gifted children, but things

• 19:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  began to change after 6th grade, when she, Karen, and Laura started skipping school more frequently and fell in with the older kids who drank, partied, and used drugs. As Missy missed more classes, her grades began to slip, and the three girls developed reputations of their own. Laura was known for having an explosive personality, and friends and classmates described behavior that could be intense and impulsive. On more than one occasion, she reportedly used a paperclip to carve the initials of whichever boy she was dating into the palm of her hand. Okay. I mean, I wrote it on a notebook, but that's another level.

• 19:46Danielle LaRock?

  I committed and put, oh, you're so embarrassing.

• 19:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  I can picture you like cutting their hair out and like, cutting a lock of their hair and putting it in your journal.

• 19:58Danielle LaRock?

  Um, I didn't do that. That isn't embarrassing to me. Like, the epitome of like, love and like devotion, which is creepy and weird to some, but remember the whole Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton, like, blood in necklaces situation? Oh. If I could find someone to do that with, yeah, I would. Like, I think that's so...

• 20:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Romantic.

• 20:26Danielle LaRock?

  Romantic, yeah, I almost said sexy, but, okay, anyway. Um, but back to the embarrassing, what I think is embarrassing is when I was a senior in high school, I put the initials of my boyfriend in my senior, like, under my photo.

• 20:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no, to live there forever?

• 20:45Danielle LaRock?

  Forever and ever and ever. I know.

• 20:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  You want to see it?

• 20:50Danielle LaRock?

  And since then, I, I don't post people. I don't, I mean, Ian, obviously, and only if you, I really think about it. I posted stuff with Ian and everything, like, here and there. You know, like, on my story and whatever, I mean, we were together for years. But, like, all his in-grid posts happened after he died. Like, I'm not...

• 21:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's private before.

• 21:17Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, like, I just, after I did that in my yearbook, I'm like, no one's getting a permanent place until, like, some real shit, serious shit happens.

• 21:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  You scarred yourself real young?

• 21:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, that didn't work out, I could never be public about a relationship again.

• 21:32Danielle LaRock?

  No, it's just like, I don't know, there's something about being private that I really value, and I learned my lesson when I was 17, but I don't even have my yearbook, I don't think, maybe my mom does, but...

• 21:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  I bet it's lying around somewhere.

• 21:46Danielle LaRock?

  So now that I'm kind of circling back on everything that I just said, when you said she was carving the initials into her hand, but I also, in the same breath, was like, I would wear somebody's blood around my neck? I know, it's confusing. It's confusing. I'm aware. I wouldn't, yeah, I don't know. It's, it's...

• 22:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  You're like, that sounds normal.

• 22:14Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's not normal.

• 22:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  They're like 16, 17 years old at this point.

• 22:18Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, no, no, I don't like that.

• 22:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I definitely didn't, um, self-mutilate myself for...

• 22:25Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 22:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Boys' initials.

• 22:30Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 23:15Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 24:00Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 24:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's nutrafol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com, promo code NPAD for $15 off. Be sure to use our code to support the show.

• 25:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, going back into their personalities, Karen could also be loud and confrontational with the tendency to run her mouth and start fights. Missy could certainly get into trouble alongside them, but she was generally less boisterous and confrontational than her two friends, and as the girls got older, those differences began complicating their friendship. Laura sometimes felt like an unwanted third wheel because of how close Missy and Karen were, while Karen could be extremely possessive of Missy and jealous whenever her best friend gave her attention to someone else.

• 25:36Danielle LaRock?

  Ooh. Oh.

• 25:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not a good dynamic. Sometimes, the girls escaped everything by leaving the city. They would drive up the winding roads into Angeles National Forest and spend time along the Big Tahunga Creek, often parking at Vogel Flats, a remote picnic and recreation area surrounded by steep forested mountain slopes. The site sat beside the creek and open clearings, scattered trees, and rough pull-off areas where visitors could park, drink, and spend the afternoon away from the city. It was one of their favorite places to go when they skipped class. They could drink beer, hang out along the water, and carve their names alongside the names of their boyfriends into the aspen trees. One of those carvings read, "85, Randy and Karen," while another nearby read, "Missy

• 26:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  and Karen Forever." But by high school, that forever friendship was becoming increasingly complicated. Missy and Karen were still incredibly close, but they were also fighting more, and their truancy and involvement with drugs eventually resulted in both girls being sent to a continuation high school while Laura remained at the traditional public school. At the same time, Missy's popularity continued to grow, and so did Karen's jealousy. During their sophomore year, a rumor began circulating that Missy was sleeping with boys at school who already had girlfriends. Eventually, some of those girlfriends had heard what was being said, and one afternoon,

• 27:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  a group of girls led by a teenager named Sonia Bond waited for Missy outside of school and badly beat her. Missy insisted that the rumors weren't true and wanted nothing to do with the conflict, but the assault became serious enough to result in court proceedings. Missy was scheduled to testify against the girls on October 8, 1985, just one week after the day that she was murdered.

• 27:32Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, no.

• 27:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  The rumors about Missy and the other girls' boyfriends didn't disappear, and they eventually began causing problems much closer to home. At the beginning of her junior year, Missy started dating an older boy named Randy, but the relationship only lasted about a month before she became frustrated with his constant drinking and partying and broke things off. Soon afterwards, Karen began dating Randy instead, and their relationship became serious quickly. Within about a month, Karen and Randy were living together. But Randy apparently wasn't completely over Missy. Even though he was now dating her best friend, he continued flirting with Missy, who repeatedly turned him down.

• 28:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Eventually, Missy decided Karen needed to know what her boyfriend was doing and told her about Randy's behavior. Instead of becoming angry with Randy, however, Karen became angry with Missy and accused her best friend of leading him on and trying to steal him away.

• 28:35Danielle LaRock?

  Oh my God, I just, I really hate thinking about high school. Like, I really hate this time. I, I don't know. I just, for me personally, I do not miss this time of my life. And I can just so easily be transported back to this type of, I've never been in this exact situation, but I've been near enough to it to remember the feelings of like, this whole, all of these rumors and flirting and the guys and like, having strife with girls and misunderstandings and just, I don't know. I just, I'm so glad that I am 20 years past that.

• 29:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  I agree. I mean, I definitely had conflicts with my friends over guys. And it was, you look back on it now and it's stupid. You never, you never mess up your friendships over men, ladies. But you learn that as you get older. High school is a hard time.

• 29:35Danielle LaRock?

  And also feeling like, I don't know, I just, you're painting the picture of two people, or three, I guess, that were close at one point when they were children. And as they're entering young adulthood, are realizing that maybe they're just growing apart. But instead of just having that happen, you just try and like, hold on to these friendships because you've, for maybe just the fact that you've just had them forever. So why not? Instead of recognizing that, hey, we're just becoming different people and it's okay to, you know, kind of just go on our own paths.

• 30:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Instead, there's a lot of drama.

• 30:18Danielle LaRock?

  Instead of that, yeah, there's just a lot of frustration and drama brewing. I don't like where this is going. I don't like where this is going at all.

• 30:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  I mean, we already started in a bad place. And it's just unfolding for all the other bad things that were happening. Around the same time, the old rumors began circulating again that Missy was sleeping with other girls' boyfriends. By mid-September, the tension had grown serious enough that Karen and Laura confronted her about what they had been hearing. Missy denied it and insisted she would never betray them in that way, reassuring both girls that they were her very best friends. What Missy didn't know was that Karen herself had apparently played a role in spreading the rumors, both that year and the year before. For about a week after the confrontation,

• 31:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  the friendship fractured and Karen and Laura barely spoke to Missy. Then, not long before October 1st, both girls reached out and said that they wanted to put everything behind them. Karen apologized for the way she had allowed her jealousy to escalate the situation. And Missy, who was quick to forgive and eager to have her friends back, accepted the apology. The three girls reconciled and quickly began spending time together again. They had only just repaired their friendship on the afternoon of October 1st, when Laura arrived at the Avila House and asked Missy if she wanted to go to the park. None of this information seemed pertinent enough to the case at the time, though, to connect the girls to Missy's murder, and the

• 31:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  police remained unsuspecting of them. However, that was all about to change. Almost two years after Missy's death, there was finally a major development. In September 1987, Karen contacted Irene, Missy's mother, and told her that she had gotten Laura to admit that she hadn't been telling the truth about the night Missy disappeared. The mysterious men in the blue Camaro apparently hadn't existed after all, and Laura was finally willing to tell police what had really happened. Karen, Irene, and Laura went to the police station together, where Laura changed the story

• 32:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  she had maintained for nearly two years. This time, she claimed she hadn't left Missy at Stonehurst Park with two strange men. Instead, she said she had driven Missy to the parking lot of Grace Community Church because Missy was supposed to meet a drug dealer there. According to Laura, Missy owed the man $500 for cocaine, and she had left her in the parking lot because the dealer was going to give Missy a ride home. Laura claimed she had lied because she hadn't wanted to damage her dead friend's reputation by revealing that Missy had been involved with drugs. For investigators, the admission was both promising and incredibly frustrating.

• 33:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  The blue Camaro had been one of their primary leads since the beginning, and now they knew they had spent nearly two years chasing a story that wasn't true. By this point, investigators were suspicious of both Laura and Karen, and believed the girls might know more about Missy's final hours than they were admitting. But suspicion was in evidence, and they had nothing that connected either girl to Missy's murder or gave them enough reason to treat them as suspects. So police followed the new lead they did have. They began looking for the supposed drug dealer Missy owed money to, and questioning people involved in the local drug scene who might have had some connection to her. But this lead ultimately went nowhere, too. The

• 34:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  potential suspects police identified either had alibis or couldn't be connected to Missy's murder. By the summer of 1988, nearly three years had passed since Missy's body was discovered, but the leads had dried up and Missy's case was effectively cold. Then, on June 26, 1988, another one of Missy's friends finally came forward with information that would change everything. Her name was Eva Charambala, a former classmate of Missy, who by this point was also Karen's roommate. Eva had known Missy since they were around 10 years old and knew

• 34:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  the Avila family well, but after Missy's murder, she had kept her distance. She hadn't even attended her funeral. For nearly three years, Eva had been keeping a secret. She was terrified of what might happen to her if she told anyone what she knew, and she believed her own life could be in danger. But in 1988, Eva's 18-year-old brother died by suicide, and experiencing that loss within her own family forced her to think about the grief Irene had been living with since Missy's murder. Eventually, Eva decided she couldn't keep quiet anymore. She went to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and told investigators that she

• 35:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  had been with Missy, Karen, and Laura the day that Missy went missing. This was huge new information. Laura had always been part of the timeline because she was the person who picked Missy up from home that afternoon. But Karen had never been connected to Missy on the day that she disappeared. According to Eva, she had driven with Karen to Stonehurst Park that afternoon, where they met Laura and Missy, who were sitting together in Laura's car. Soon afterwards, Laura pulled out of the parking lot with Missy still beside her, while Karen and Eva followed in a second car. As they drove towards Angeles National Forest,

• 36:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Karen told Eva that she and Laura planned to scare Missy because of what she said was her promiscuous behavior. Eva didn't know exactly what they had planned or how far they intended to take it. The two cars eventually pulled into a dirt parking area near the creek in Colby Canyon, a place all the girls were familiar with. Once they were out of the car, the real reason for the trip became clear. Karen and Laura began confronting Missy about the boys she had been supposedly been sleeping with, and Missy became increasingly distraught as her friends berated her. Laura specifically accused Missy of sleeping with her boyfriend,

• 36:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Victor, Vic Amaya, while Karen's anger centered around Randy Fernandez, who Missy had been dating before Karen. Missy was still inside the car crying when Laura grabbed her by the wrist and told her that they were going for a walk. The four girls made their way roughly 100 to 200 yards down a path towards Big Tahunga Creek, with Karen and Laura continuing to scream at Missy along the way. At one point, Laura grabbed Missy by her long hair while accusing her of sleeping with Vic, and she and Karen took turns cutting it off with a knife and bounding her hands behind her back.

• 37:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  When they've reached the creek, Laura stepped into the shallow water and told Missy to come with her. Karen pushed Missy towards the creek and Laura grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the water. That was when Eva became frightened enough to run. She turned and headed back up the trail towards the car, leaving the other three girls beside the creek. As she made her way back towards the parking area, she could hear Missy screaming for help, sounding as though she was gasping for air. A few minutes later, Karen appeared at the parking lot. She told Eva they needed to hide or cover Missy's body, then got into the car and drove away. Laura returned shortly

• 38:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  afterwards, wet from the creek. Eva got into the car with her and Laura told her that she and Karen had killed Missy. Eva asked if she was sure Missy was dead. Laura said that she was, and said, "Missy deserved what had happened to her because she had slept with her boyfriend." It wasn't until later that Eva learned what had happened after she ran back towards the parking lot. Karen and Laura forced Missy face down into the shallow water. The creek was only around eight inches deep, shallow enough that Missy could have easily lifted her head above the surface if she hadn't been forcibly held down. Karen and Laura held her there as she struggled to break free.

• 38:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  At one point, Missy managed to get her head above the water and scream, which was likely the cry Eva heard as she continued running away. But the girls forced her head back beneath the surface and continued holding her there until eventually Missy stopped struggling. Karen then noticed a large log nearby and kicked at it until it became dislodged. Together, she and Laura maneuvered the heavy log onto Missy's body, positioning it across her upper back and neck to keep her face submerged in the creek. They left her there beneath the log and made their way back towards the parking lot.

• 39:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  By the time Karen reached the cars, Eva was waiting there. Karen got into her own car and drove away, leaving Eva to ride back with Laura. And it was during that ride, of course, that Laura had confirmed what Eva had already feared had happened, that she and Karen had killed Missy. Eva's account left investigators with an unavoidable question. Why hadn't she done anything to stop it? Eva admitted that she didn't have an explanation. She only knew that she wished she had.

• 40:11Danielle LaRock?

  Oh my God, Cassie, can we just take a moment? Because that is so disturbing and heartbreaking. And just like, it makes me want to cry. You know, because it's like, Missy, just thinking that she's in the company of two people, friends that she trusted, and to have them turn on her in such a horrific way, and to fight for your life like that, over something that's so stupid. Like, it's so senseless. You know, it's just, it's like, really disturbing. And even like going after,

• 40:56Danielle LaRock?

  just a small detail in the grander scheme of things, but hacking her hair off and like the detail that you shared earlier about how she was so proud of it, and how like, it was a big part of who she was, like, and her identity, and probably what, you know, attracted a lot of people to her, and they like went after that specifically.

• 41:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was like these two girls who were supposedly her best friends, had this secret like hatred and jealousy towards her, and then in those final moments of her life, took that out on her even more. And it's just, this whole story is so horrific. And, and again, like I said earlier, I can't help but put myself in this situation with my own friend dynamic. And yeah, we had drama. Yeah, there were things that we said to each other that were unfriendly and not kind, and you look back and it's awful. But the way that this escalated and how brutal and horrible this is,

• 42:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  and like you said, you're, you're best friends, you're out doing something you have done for years together, and suddenly it turns like this and you're ganged up on, and then it's just like, the manner of how they went about this and killed her is so disturbing and...

• 42:21Danielle LaRock?

  And what's even more fucked up? Well, not more fucked up. There, I don't think it can get worse. But just another aside of just like incredible, is that Karen's fucking living with her mom.

• 42:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  I know.

• 42:38Danielle LaRock?

  Or at least was for a time.

• 42:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  And has been helping with the investigation this entire time.

• 42:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 42:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  And has been like banging on blue Camaro doors, demanding information about her dead best friend, and keeping up this facade.

• 42:56Danielle LaRock?

  And becoming like this surrogate daughter. It's like, and she just to, what's her name?

• 43:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Sorry, Irene.

• 43:04Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Oh God, it's like, that is another level of like, so scary. Like, not only are you capable of brutally murdering your best friend, which some people may be like, "I snapped, it was this whole thing," you know, whatever, I don't know what she's gonna claim, or how this is gonna shake out. But I can just see a world in which it's like, "I, you know, I wasn't in my right mind," and yada, yada, yada, whatever. It's like, that goes out the window. The second, now we learn that you're living with her family and pretending, for like, a long time.

• 43:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And you look at like, these details too, and this detail of where she has everything, like newspaper clippings and everything up on the wall about this investigation. You look at it, and before, it was like, she really wants to figure this out for her best friend. She's like, taking things into her own hands, and now you look back on it, and it's like, no, she was trying to keep like, one step ahead in front of the investigation and know everything that was going on, to make sure fingers weren't being pointed at her.

• 44:15Danielle LaRock?

  Oh my God. Okay, I'm gonna continue, because I just cannot even imagine Irene and her whole family's position. I mean, you said that she had siblings and all of that, and to know that, to come to find out that her, one of her murderers is literally sleeping in her bed, and you're feeding them, and clothing them, and hanging out with them.

• 44:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  You guys are hugging and crying together, and talking about Missy, and like, all your memories together.

• 44:43Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, God.

• 44:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's sick. It's sick.

• 44:46Danielle LaRock?

  It is sick.

• 44:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's so messed up. Well, of course, Eva's account of what had happened that night completely changed the direction of the investigation. And the following day, on June 27, 1988, nearly three years after Missy was murdered, police arrested Karen Severson, who is now 20 years old, and Laura Doyle, who is 21. According to authorities, the motive behind Missy's murder was jealousy, specifically Karen and Laura's belief that Missy had been sleeping with both of their boyfriends.

• 45:20Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, where are the boyfriends at? What, are they gonna pipe up and be like, that was, like, is anyone gonna stand up for, like, and didn't you say Karen was contributing to spreading those rumors? So did she actually believe that? Or was she just using that as sort of like this reason, I don't know, because she was jealous and other things?

• 45:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think that there's a possibility that like, somewhere in her mind, that she thought that this was true. From everything I have read, it doesn't seem like she was sleeping with either of their boyfriends.

• 45:54Danielle LaRock?

  I didn't think that for a second.

• 45:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 45:57Danielle LaRock?

  And even if she was, even if she was.

• 46:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Doesn't deserve that. Doesn't deserve that.

• 46:04Danielle LaRock?

  I'm just like, and I'm not, I know it's probably, you know, neither here nor there, but I'm just like, thinking about the guy, it's like, are you guys gonna say anything? Like, clearly, this is a huge rumor, it's being discussed and talked about, your girlfriends are all up in a tizzy about it. It's clearly not a secret. So are you gonna deny it?

• 46:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, it sounds like, especially for Randy, Randy was saying like, "No, this isn't happening." It sounds like Randy kind of switched the script and was like, "No, I'm not flirting with her. Like, she's the one coming on to me," kind of thing. And like, kind of like, flipped it, just like, stupid teenage drama. Yeah.

• 46:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 46:50Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 47:32Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 48:15Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 48:59Cassandra Yahnian?

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• 49:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, the arrests, of course, were especially shocking because of how we just talked about just how close Karen had remained to the Avila family after Missy's death. By 1988, she was no longer living with them, but that did nothing to soften the blow for Irene. When she learned that Karen and Laura had been arrested for her daughter's murder, Irene felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She started walking towards her bedroom in a daze and passed out in the hallway. For nearly three years, Irene had trusted Karen completely. This was the girl who had grown up alongside Missy and had been welcomed

• 50:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  into their home like another daughter. After Missy's death, Karen had comforted Irene, slept in Missy's bed, visited her grave, helped search for the blue Camaros, and discussed possible suspects with the family. She had even suggested the names of people who might have killed Missy, sending Irene and investigators looking in directions that ultimately went nowhere. Now Irene began seeing all of that behavior very differently. In her mind, kind of what I had mentioned earlier, Karen hadn't just been helping them search for the killer, she had been keeping herself one step ahead of everyone else and learning what the family and police knew about the investigation.

• 50:46Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, she's not doing it out of concern or sympathy.

• 50:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's not get caught.

• 50:52Danielle LaRock?

  It's, yeah, it's all selfish. And, yeah.

• 50:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Of course Irene couldn't understand how someone who had been so deeply involved in her family's grief could have been hiding something like this. She said Karen had fooled everyone, including Irene's son and daughter-in-law, because they had all trusted her. Karen wasn't just Missy's friend to them, she had become a part of their family. The arrests threw Irene back into the trauma of losing Missy all over again. She stopped eating and sleeping and found herself unable to trust the people around her. Irene had known that Missy and Karen had argued over Karen's boyfriend Randy before Missy disappeared,

• 51:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  and she knew Karen could be possessive and jealous of her daughter, but the girls had fought before, often over boys, and Irene had never imagined their teenage arguments could lead to murder. The arrests were only the beginning of what would become a long legal process. Laura had been 18 when Missy was killed, but Karen had only been 17, meaning prosecutors first had to go through juvenile court to determine whether they could both be tried as an adult. Karen was eventually ordered to stand trial as an adult, and both women pleaded not guilty to murder. Karen also faced charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment,

• 52:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  and aiding in the commission of a felony after the fact. As the case moved toward trial, prosecutors began uncovering evidence that made the jealousy motive more compelling. Victor Amaya, Laura's former boyfriend, testified the weeks before Missy's death, Laura had confronted Missy outside his house after finding her there. Vic said Laura was furious and threatened to kill Missy before driving away. He hadn't taken that threat seriously at the time and never reported it to police. Vic also acknowledged that he and Missy had once had a sexual relationship, but said it had happened before he began

• 53:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  dating Laura. The case finally went to trial in January 1990, more than four years after Missy's death. Eva became one of the prosecution's most important witnesses, placing Karen and Laura with Missy in Angeles National Forest and recounting what she had witnessed before running back towards the cars. The defense attacked Eva's credibility and argued that she had been more involved than she admitted, but prosecutors maintained that she had not participated in the murder and had finally come forward because she could no longer live with what she knew. Prosecutors asked the jury to convict Karen and Laura of first-degree

• 53:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  murder, arguing the trip into Angeles National Forest had been planned and that the girls intended to kill Missy. After a two-week trial and about four hours of deliberations, the jury agreed that Karen and Laura were responsible for Missy's death, but they weren't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder had been premeditated. On January 31, 1990, both women were convicted of second-degree murder. Irene was relieved to finally see the two women held responsible for her daughter's death, but she was disappointed that the jury rejected first-degree murder. For her, there was no verdict that could undo what

• 54:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  had happened. Missy was still gone, and Irene had now learned, of course, that two girls her family had trusted had known the truth all along. On March 9, Karen and Laura returned to court for sentencing. Irene asked the judges to impose the maximum punishment, describing the women as heartless and telling the court that their actions had shattered her life. The judge agreed that the violence of the crime warranted the maximum sentence for second-degree murder and sentenced both women to 15 years to life in state prison. Missy's murder and the extraordinary deception that followed continued to attract attention long

• 55:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  after the trial. In 1992, the story became the basis for the CBS television movie, A Killer Among Friends. The filmmakers changed the characters' names and took creative liberties with parts of the story, but the central premise remained the same. A grieving mother welcomed her daughter's best friend into their home, never realizing that the girl comforting her had helped kill her daughter. But while Missy's story was being retold on television, her family was still living the real consequences of what had happened. Karen and Laura's sentences of 15 years to life meant that neither woman was guaranteed

• 55:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  to spend the rest of their life in prison, and as the years passed, the Avilas would repeatedly find themselves fighting to keep them there. Karen became eligible for parole first, with her first hearing taking place in 1997, seven years after her conviction. Her request for parole was denied that year, and again in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2009. Missy's mother and brothers continued showing up at the hearings, pleading for Karen to remain behind bars and forcing themselves to revisit the details of Missy's murder each time her release became a possibility. By Karen's sixth parole hearing in 2011, however, the

• 56:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Avila family was not there. This time, Karen was granted parole, and on December 9, 2011, she walked out of prison after serving approximately 21 and a half years. Shortly after leaving prison, Karen published a memoir called, I Lived It, My Life. And which she told her version of Missy's murder and wrote about her years behind bars. Karen maintained that she was the only person who could tell her story and began giving interviews about the case, including an appearance on Dr. Phil. Missy's mother and brothers were invited to appear alongside her, but they refused.

• 57:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I actually watched this episode of Dr. Phil. It's on YouTube. You can still still see it. And I mean, I'm sorry, but I watched it and you cannot believe a word out of this woman's mouth. Even even though the case has happened, even though she was convicted, Dr. Phil was like catching her in lies throughout the thing and she she her version on this is that she went down to the creek with everybody, but she went back up with Eva. And that she left and she was not a part of it and that the whole thing was Laura is her.

• 57:48Danielle LaRock?

  That's so much. It's like, okay, so Laura drowned her single-handedly, bound her hands behind her back, fought with her, totally overpowered her and moved a giant log on top of her all by herself.

• 58:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And well, in in it too.

• 58:03Danielle LaRock?

  And Eva's just making everything up.

• 58:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  And Eva made this whole thing up. Yeah. And she it sounds like she tries to act like she was like Eva's. She was like Eva's character. She's like, oh, no, I was doing like whatever. But in it, there's a lot of contradictions because Dr. Phil, he's like talking to her. He's like, well, if you ran up, I thought you just said you like pushed her in the water and I thought you just said this, like if you ran up, like, how are you still down here? And she was just like not taking any accountability. She said she never lived with Missy's mother, which is a bold-faced lie. And she just, the whole thing. And I'll get into it a little bit more later.

• 58:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  But Laura says that she watched the interview and agrees that a lot of the stuff that she said was a lie on Dr. Phil.

• 58:56Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, my God. I I don't blame Missy's parents or family for not wanting to be anywhere near that woman.

• 59:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And what they said is that they were not interested in doing the show, that they would respond after the fact. If there if she said anything that was untrue, they would give their response after the fact, but they had no interest in being in a room with her and having this conversation in real time. So during these appearances, while I mentioned, like, it feels like she's lying and you can't trust her, which I still believe, she did express some grief over Missy's death and at one point described the day that Missy died as the worst day of her life, while also placing much of the responsibility of what happened on Laura. In another interview, Karen continued to focus on the accusations they had made against Missy before her death,

• 59:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  complaining that Missy knew what she had done, but had never apologized. And she doubles down on it on Dr. Phil, too. She's says she's promiscuous and that they had confronted her. And she even like she goes, she's like, this was so hard. I was always Missy's bodyguard. I was always protecting her and blah, blah, blah. And I always was looking out for her. And this happened while I was there and I couldn't protect her because again, she's maintaining she ran away during this, even though that is not true. For the Avila family, statements like these made Karen's expressions of remorse difficult to accept. It's like you feel bad, but you're also still saying she's a slut and promiscuous and that she deserved it in the same breath.

• 1:00:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  So it's like, and not taking any accountability. Yeah.

• 1:00:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Then, of course, came another source of anger. Karen was making money by telling this story. Although her book, I Lived It, was not particularly successful, Karen retained at least some of the proceeds from the book while saying that a portion would go towards an anti-bullying campaign. She also discussed plans for the book to be adapted into a movie. Karen defended publishing the memoir in part as a way of supporting herself after prison, where finding employment could be difficult and she worked as a telemarketer after her release. It's like, well, what else am I supposed to do? I need to make money off of the my best friend who I murdered.

• 1:01:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  The idea that someone convicted of murdering Missy could potentially profit from the telling of that story of that murder caused outrage, particularly for the Avila family. Eventually, the controversy surrounding Karen's book would become about much more than one memoir or one murder case. In 2013, Karen published another memoir, Hope Beyond the Fences, this time under the name Kay Crane, focusing largely on her life and faith while incarcerated. That book would eventually go out of print. For the Avila family, Karen's book wasn't just offensive. It exposed what they saw as a major problem in California law.

• 1:02:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Karen had served her prison sentence, been released and was now free to sell her version of the murder book, documentary or movie without Missy's family necessarily even knowing that a deal had been made. California had once had what was commonly known as a Son of Sam law, designed to prevent convicted criminals from profiting from the stories of their crimes. But in 2002, the California Supreme Court struck the law down on First Amendment grounds. The government couldn't prevent someone from writing or speaking about a crime because that person had been convicted of committing it. So the Avalas began looking for another way to make sure victims and their families

• 1:02:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  weren't forgotten when those stories were sold. Missy's sister-in-law, Siobhan Avila, became particularly involved in that fight. Working alongside Crime Victims Unit in California Assemblywoman Nora Campos, the family began advocating for new legislation that could protect victims without violating an offender's right to free speech. Their goal wasn't to prevent Karen or any other convicted offender from telling their story. They wanted to make sure victims and their families knew when someone was attempting to make money from the crime and had an opportunity to pursue that money through the courts. At the same time, the Avalas took Karen to court themselves.

• 1:03:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  In March 2015, the family filed a civil lawsuit against Karen and others involved with distributing her book, accusing her of profiting from Missy's murder and seeking damages that included claims of wrongful death and emotional stress. For the family, it wasn't about collecting money. Siobhan explained that they wanted people to understand that as California law stood, crime could quite literally pay. Their campaign eventually became Assembly Bill 538, better known as Missy's Law. Rather than resurrecting the old Son of Sam law, Missy's Law took a different approach.

• 1:04:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  If a person or company entered into a financial contract with someone convicted of certain serious crimes to sell that story of the crime, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had to be notified. The state could then notify the victim or the victim's immediate family, giving them the chance to take legal action rather than discovering a book, movie or documentary about their loved one's murder after it had already been released. The law also gave victims and their family more time to seek damages from offenders convicted of serious felonies, extending that relevant statute of limitations from 10 years to 15 years after the offender was discharged from parole.

• 1:04:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  In 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation into law. Thirty years after Missy was murdered, her family's fight had changed California law. They couldn't stop Karen from telling her story and they couldn't undo what had happened to Missy, but they could make it harder for another victim's family to be blindsided the way that they had been. Laura Doyle was released from prison almost exactly one year after Karen in December 2012, after serving more than 22 years. Unlike Karen, Laura largely disappeared from public view after her release.

• 1:05:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  She didn't publish a book, go on television, or immediately begin giving interviews about Missy's murder. And for years, she turned down reporters who approached her asking to tell her side of the story. Laura said she had no interest in making money from Missy's death or being seen as someone trying to capitalize on her murder. But Laura did eventually want to tell her story to one particular group of people, Missy's family. Laura said she had wanted to speak with the Avalas after leaving prison, but as a convicted offender, she understood that she wasn't legally permitted to initiate contact with the victim's family.

• 1:06:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  That changed in 2015 when Missy's sister-in-law, Siobhan Avila, reached out to Laura on Facebook. Laura responded quickly and agreed to talk and the two began having phone conversations that Siobhan recorded. In those conversations, Laura offered a version of the murder that differed in significant ways from both Karen's account and some of what had been presented at trial. Laura said she believes Missy's murder was premeditated and that Karen intended to kill Missy that day with or without her involvement. She also disputed Karen's portrayal of events in her book, I Lived It,

• 1:06:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  pointing out factual errors in the book, including Karen getting Laura's age wrong, and said Karen never consulted her before publishing it. Laura had also seen A Killer Among Friends, watching it on a tiny television in prison with her bunkmate. She felt the movie was far more accurate than Karen's book, but still said it failed to capture the full story or her actual place within the girls' friendship. One detail Laura felt was important was by the time Missy was murdered, she wasn't attending school with Karen and Missy anymore. Karen and Missy had been sent, as I mentioned before, to the continuation school and she was at the public school and that was not portrayed in the movie.

• 1:07:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  So she kind of wanted to like say that that had happened. In the years since her release, Lauren has expressed remorse for what she did to Missy and has maintained that she doesn't want to financially benefit from telling the story. When she eventually agreed to speak about the murder, she framed her decision around the Avalas family's right to hear directly from her about what happened, rather than selling her story. Those conversations also gave the Avalas something they had never really had before. The opportunity to ask one of the women responsible for Missy's death, questions themselves. More than 30 years after Missy was driven into the Angeles National Forest with three girls she considered friends,

• 1:08:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  her family could finally hear directly from Laura about what she said happened that day. And now, some of those conversations are being made public. Siobhan runs a YouTube channel called The Missy Avila Documentary, where the family is currently releasing material connected to Missy's case, including portions of the phone conversations Siobhan recorded with Laura. Siobhan and her son-in-law, Chris Myers, are also working on a documentary called Deadly Betrayal, The Missy Avila Story, and the family has released a free preview on the project on YouTube. Through their work on the documentary, the family says they have uncovered new information,

• 1:09:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  overlooked records, and firsthand accounts that add more context to the case many people assumed they had already been fully told. More of Siobhan's recorded conversations with Laura are also currently being released through that YouTube channel, allowing people to hear Laura discuss the murder on her own role in her own words, and for Siobhan to ask her questions. So even more than 40 years after Missy's murder, her family is still working to understand exactly what happened to her, and perhaps, more importantly, making sure that this time, Missy's story is being told by the people who loved her.

• 1:09:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  And in the YouTube videos that they are creating, the end of each episode ends saying that this time, Missy gets the last say, and it's a voice recording of her.

• 1:10:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  And that is my story.

• 1:10:06Danielle LaRock?

  And that's happening right now?

• 1:10:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Right now, it's currently unfolding. New episodes are being released. So if people are interested, you can check it out on YouTube and you can support the family's side of the story and it being told in a way that they want Missy's story to be told.

• 1:10:24Danielle LaRock?

  Good for them. I mean, the amount of hell that they've gone through and still have like persevered enough all of these decades later to put something like this together is really admirable. And like, the entire time you were talking about Karen saying, you know, writing this book, that book, you know, making these statements, doing these interviews. I almost wanted to be like, who fucking cares what you have to say?

• 1:10:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:59Danielle LaRock?

  Like, I don't, no one needs to hear from you or wants to hear from you.

• 1:11:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  And why do you even have a space out here?

• 1:11:06Danielle LaRock?

  Right, to speak of this, you know, like, at least for Laura, is it Laura or Lauren?

• 1:11:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Laura.

• 1:11:14Danielle LaRock?

  Laura, you know, obviously terrible decision on her part that day to be involved in like, everything that she did to Missy. And all of that, it's, lives in its own space, but you, I do have to give her credit for her decision of basically just shutting her mouth and being like, I do not want to give statements, I don't want to be involved in this, like, you know, to basically just be quiet and take accountability for what you did and take a backseat to this and not put yourself in the spotlight like Karen did, you know?

• 1:11:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and to be willing to speak to the family. I mean, I imagine, I've listened to some of the tapes, and when you hear her speaking, she sounds really nervous and she flat out says at the beginning, you know, I was really nervous to have this conversation with you. She's like, I did something horrible and to talk to you is like really terrifying.

• 1:12:15Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  And so, to be giving this family answers and to allow them to directly ask her questions, I think is the very least that she could do, but still is a big thing that she doesn't have to be doing. And I think it does help give the family closure and answers that they need to something that they've been hearing so much of. And I think also speaks to her character versus Karen, who has been trying to place the blame on Laura. And it's like Laura is taking accountability. She's saying what happened, she's telling the story. Meanwhile, Karen is doing all this press and she's pointing fingers at Laura saying she did it all

• 1:12:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  and still not taking accountability.

• 1:13:01Danielle LaRock?

  And also saying like, kind of victim blaming with Missy and being like, yeah, well, she was sleeping with my boyfriend when I was 17 years old and that's what happened. Essentially, it was like she had it coming type of thing, which is crazy.

• 1:13:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Crazy.

• 1:13:19Danielle LaRock?

  Especially to double down on 20 years later.

• 1:13:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  After you've served time, you've been convicted, you've heard how, how awful the family has felt, like you, and you lived with her mom.

• 1:13:32Danielle LaRock?

  I know.

• 1:13:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, you fucking lived with her mom. Like, you were a sociopath, like something is completely wrong over there. And yeah, so it just.

• 1:13:43Danielle LaRock?

  Well, I'll definitely be looking into those YouTube videos and we'll obviously post all the links and stuff for everyone to do the same because I think that's a project that, I mean, I would imagine is healing in some way, shape, or form for the family.

• 1:14:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  And a way to keep Missy's story alive and like, don't forget that this happened, don't forget about her.

• 1:14:08Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Well, well, thank you for telling it, even though that was deeply disturbing and upsetting.

• 1:14:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's probably, I would say, one of the worst stories I've told on this podcast.

• 1:14:22Danielle LaRock?

  I agree, and I think it's also, it gives, um, in the beginning, I was kind of thinking, drawing some parallels to the Slenderman stabbings, that case that I did because those two girls ganged up on their third friend. You know, they were like 12.

• 1:14:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:39Danielle LaRock?

  And their friend ultimately survived the attempt on her life. So it is slightly different and the, um, kind of the source of all of that is different. But it's the same thing. It's like, and I think it kind of hits a little, I don't want to say close to home, but just as women who have had experiences similar to the origins of this whole thing, like, we know what it's like to be a girl in high school, is what I'm trying to say.

• 1:15:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's hard. It is hard.

• 1:15:16Danielle LaRock?

  It's just like.

• 1:15:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  But never once.

• 1:15:18Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, God, yeah, I don't know.

• 1:15:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Has this been the trajectory of, I, I don't know. I know that there's kind of like a pack mentality that can happen among friend groups and especially when you're bullying someone. I feel like that can definitely be heightened if you're in a group of other girls and you're all honing in on one person. I mean, we've seen it a lot.

• 1:15:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Of, I mean, I can remember seeing like some really awful stories of like, girls being beaten up by other girls and being ganged up on and just like really awful stuff that has happened. But there's just like, this is just unheard of horrific and just everything that unfolded afterwards and.

• 1:16:06Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. I mean, it takes it to a different level for sure, but just at its core, the themes of bullying and rumors and jealousy and all of that is just something I think a lot of people can relate to. And I'm not saying it doesn't also happen to young men, but as women, teenagers, young, you know, women, I just, it's something that's so prevalent and I think a lot of people can either relate to or remember or were victims of and, or perpetrators of. I mean, I'm not trying to say that like, I'm an angel over here. I'm sure that I contributed to somebody's discomfort by saying something mean or

• 1:16:49Danielle LaRock?

  being, you know, ganging up on somebody for some reason. And it's just like, it's just such a, like I said, circling back, I'm so glad that that time is over.

• 1:17:03Danielle LaRock?

  Because it was rough for, you know, it's a rough time in a lot of people's lives. And it's just really, really awful that Missy, Missy's life was ended over something that didn't have to be taken that far, you know, but was.

• 1:17:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And then, I mean, in the big scheme of things, didn't even matter, you know?

• 1:17:27Danielle LaRock?

  And I hate to say that because it's like, I know it didn't matter, but she was still brutally killed over it. So it did like culminate in something, but it doesn't matter. Yeah.

• 1:17:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  It doesn't matter. It's a stupid high school relationship. It's gonna move on. And I think, oh, one of the things about being in high school is you feel like that's your whole world and you're always gonna be there and this is life and that's just not true. You know, there is so much world and life beyond high school and that's hard to feel when you're in it. But, I mean, I look back at my relationships I had in high school and I had boyfriends like cheat on me or flirting with other girls in class or whatever. I don't give a shit about them anymore.

• 1:18:08Danielle LaRock?

  Who, who are you?

• 1:18:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't even remember your middle name anymore. Like, I don't know. It's just, it like, it truly, like, if anyone is in a situation where you are like, feeling like this is gonna be your whole world forever, like, it's truly not. Life moves on and you don't have to hone in on something so. So trivial.

• 1:18:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:35Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, well.

• 1:18:39Danielle LaRock?

  Once again, here I am with no positive. Whatever we do. Fun fact, palate cleanser, whatever we've been doing for on and off for years.

• 1:18:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  I have something nice.

• 1:18:52Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, okay, good.

• 1:18:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Someone did something nice for me the other day, and maybe we can get like a pay it forward kind of thing. I was at the gas station and I went up and I was just like buying some snacks. And I went up and the person who had been in front of me, their card hadn't worked and they had just like, you know, like tapped it and walked away. And the guy was like, hold on a sec, like, I'll be right back. And I didn't really realize what was happening in the moment. He's like, I gotta go get that guy. And I was like, okay. So he like ran out, called after him and he came back in. And. He was like, just let me get whatever she got to. And I was like, oh, you don't have to do that at all. That's no, he's like, no, no, no, I caused you an inconvenience.

• 1:19:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, let me just get all your stuff. And meanwhile, I have like a couple of drinks in my hand. I always like, with the dogs, I always get like, um, those cheese circles for them to give them little snacks in the car and stuff. So like, I got them stuff. I like, I had like, a couple of things. And I was like, no, no, no, it's totally fine. And he's like, no, no, no, I got it. He's like, just pay it forward. Do something for, do something nice for someone else.

• 1:20:01Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, have you done it yet?

• 1:20:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so nice. No, I haven't, but I will.

• 1:20:05Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 1:20:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:07Danielle LaRock?

  All right. Well, someone out there is about to get a random act of kindness from Cassie.

• 1:20:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  From me, yeah.

• 1:20:13Danielle LaRock?

  That movie wrecked me. Pay it forward.

• 1:20:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, that was. I cried in that one. Let's go back to depressing things for a moment. Pay it forward. If you want to cry.

• 1:20:27Danielle LaRock?

  Isn't, um, what's his face? Kevin Spacey? He was in it, right?

• 1:20:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no.

• 1:20:32Danielle LaRock?

  He was the teacher.

• 1:20:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:34Danielle LaRock?

  I know like something, he's bad now, but.

• 1:20:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:37Danielle LaRock?

  We didn't know that then.

• 1:20:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Rapist, yeah.

• 1:20:40Danielle LaRock?

  Oh.

• 1:20:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, yeah, really bad.

• 1:20:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:20:45Danielle LaRock?

  Come on, Kevin Spacey.

• 1:20:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe don't watch Pay It Forward, just in case you're still getting paid off that movie.

• 1:20:51Danielle LaRock?

  But the premise.

• 1:20:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  At the time, before we knew.

• 1:20:53Danielle LaRock?

  If you have it on VHS or something, maybe re-watch it. So he doesn't have it. He's not going to pay for that.

• 1:21:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, if you have a VHS.

• 1:21:02Danielle LaRock?

  I bought Titanic on VHS like two months ago.

• 1:21:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Do you have a VHS?

• 1:21:07Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 1:21:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well.

• 1:21:10Danielle LaRock?

  I just want it. I mean, I can go buy it.

• 1:21:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's two VHSs?

• 1:21:14Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, of course.

• 1:21:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Because it's like halfway. I remember that.

• 1:21:18Danielle LaRock?

  Of course. I had to get a new copy because my original copy was according to my mom, and I don't know if I really believe this. I could believe it, but like, I don't know if it's accurate or not, but she said she years ago had to throw it out because I had watched it so much that the tapes wore out.

• 1:21:42Danielle LaRock?

  Like, I feel like that's not true. You just didn't want it anymore.

• 1:21:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  She's like, I gotta get her to stop watching this movie.

• 1:21:50Danielle LaRock?

  But I did watch it a lot. So like, I could believe it, but I just feel like that was. I wasn't that.

• 1:21:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Either way, it's funny.

• 1:21:59Danielle LaRock?

  Out of VHS.

• 1:22:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  If you wore out a VHS, that's hilarious. And it's also hilarious if your mom was just like sick of hearing it in the background.

• 1:22:08Danielle LaRock?

  She's like, I.

• 1:22:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, she's got to stop watching this. It's gotta go.

• 1:22:13Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. All right. Well, that's great.

• 1:22:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  She's just like hearing that song in the background all the time and she's like, turn it the fuck off.

• 1:22:24Danielle LaRock?

  I follow this guy on Instagram. Oh, God, what is his, is his name? He's, it's strange. Um, he's a Titanic fan underscore ninety seven. He's the world's largest collector of Titanic on VHS.

• 1:22:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow.

• 1:22:42Danielle LaRock?

  And he has a room, or maybe it's now his whole house. That's wall to wall Titanic. Oh, my camera just died. It's a sign. We should stop talking about this, but it's wall to wall Titanic VHSs.

• 1:22:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's crazy.

• 1:23:00Danielle LaRock?

  And people send them to him. Like he has his P O box listed. So he, he collects them, but also people send him. VHS, he's not getting my copy. That's for sure.

• 1:23:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, that's, that's mine. Hold on to that.

• 1:23:16Danielle LaRock?

  But yeah, and he's, she's a little eccentric, uh, to say the least, but, um, you know what? I get the Titanic obsession, so can't knock him.

• 1:23:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, um.

• 1:23:30Danielle LaRock?

  Maybe that's where my mom sent. That's how this whole collection began.

• 1:23:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe he does have one of yours.

• 1:23:36Danielle LaRock?

  In his walls.

• 1:23:40Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, all right, let's get out of here. Uh, thanks for sharing your story. Thanks, everyone for listening. Um, we will see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

• 1:23:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  But watch your back.

• 1:23:50Danielle LaRock?

  Bye.

• 1:23:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye.

• 1:23:55Danielle LaRock?

  Thanks for joining us for another episode. We hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more MPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark. For more stories just like this one with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel. And if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.

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