A Killer Among Friends

A Killer Among Friends is a 1992 made-for-television movie that aired on CBS on December 8, 1992. Based on a true story, the film stars Patty Duke as a mother grieving for her murdered daughter (Tiffani Thiessen) and sets out to find the killer. The film is based on the real life murder of Michele Avila.

Jennifer Anne Monroe (Tiffani Thiessen) is a typical American teenage girl, who has a falling out with her best friend Ellen Holloway (Margaret Welsh) and doesn't return home. Jenny's mother, Jean (Patty Duke), is worried for her daughter, and three days later, Jenny's body is discovered in a creek with a 100-pound log across her back. Furious about the murder, Ellen and Jean both try and track down the killer. Ellen and her daughter, Celeste (Heather and Shannon Beaty) move into Jean's house. Ellen had wanted Jenny's room, but Jean had Ellen sleeping in her bedroom, as Jenny's room was later turned into a nursery for when her grandchild would visit.

A year later with the police still unable to solve Jenny's murder, another friend of Jenny's, Kathy Pearl (Janne Mortil) comes forward out of guilt. Kathy tells the police she was brought along with the girls (Jenny, Ellen, and Carla) when they attacked Jenny by slapping her, chopping off pieces of her hair, and then finally drowning her. Kathy claims they did it because they believed Jenny had slept with their boyfriends, but during the trial it was revealed that the plain and overweight Ellen was jealous of Jenny's popularity and beauty and wanted "to be her". Kathy told the police that she fled town because Ellen threatened her if she talked. Ellen and Carla are then convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.