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Narrator (True Crime Stories - Carter Roy) (5:32)

On October 4, 1985, two hikers found the body of 17 year old Missy Avila 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 October 1, 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 3:15pm 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 Avilas 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 Avilas 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. 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 8:15pm 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 payphone 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 believed 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 unrecognizable. 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 8:15pm 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 along 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.

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Narrator (True Crime Stories - Carter Roy) (18:08)

I wanted to give something to the fans that they didn't expect. The only thing left is to close.

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Narrator (True Crime Stories - Carter Roy) (18:34)

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 were 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. 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 we'll 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 worn 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 10pm 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 11pm 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 the Missy at the Grace Brethren Community Church on First 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 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. As 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 26, the San Fernando Valley police station got a call that changed everything. One of Karen's former friends, a young woman named Eva Cherumbelo, claimed to have new information about Missy's murder. Eva lived a few blocks away from the Avilas and was around the same age as Karen and Laura. She'd 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. A master murderer, Israel Keyes lives between two worlds. There's the person that everybody knows and loves, and then there's the guy who spends every waking hour planning on how he's going to kill someone. On Mind of a Monster, the Cross Country Killer, we find out how this deadly predator went unnoticed for so long. I've had some confessions in my history, but nothing to that detail. I'll give it blow by blood if you want. Listen to Mind of a Monster, the Cross Country Killer, wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Trumbalo 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 the 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, then took some prying, but finally Eva came out and said it. She and Karen Severson were roommates, though they weren't super 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 3:15pm and spotted Laura Doyle sitting with Missia Villa 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 a valley called the Big Tohunga 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 6 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. 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. 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 20 year old was prepared for the trap the police had set. The moment Karen arrived at around 10am on July 27, she spotted Laura sitting in the waiting room. Sheriff Scott hadn't said anything about 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 Cherumbalo 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 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 Avilas 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 1, 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. 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 cut off all contact with 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 account 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 knife 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 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 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 seemed 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 30, 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 lawsuit 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 Avilas 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 Avilas. 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 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. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. Support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. Will be back on Friday. 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 Benidon, Natalie Pertofsky, Sarah Camp, Tara Wells, Haniya Said and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.

Podcast Host (Serial Killers and Murderous Minds) (46:32)

What drives a person to murder? Find out from a licensed forensic psychologist on Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, a Crime House Original Podcast. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.