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.

Plot

Jennifer “Jenny” Monroe (Tiffani Thiessen) is a beautiful and popular teenage girl who lives with her brothers and loving mother, Jean (Patty Duke). Jenny’s relationship with her childhood best friend, Ellen Holloway (Margaret Welsh), becomes strained due to Ellen’s insecurities and increasing jealousy of Jenny’s beauty, popularity with boys, and idyllic home life. Tensions grow worse after Ellen pressures Jenny into shoplifting and erroneously accuses her of sleeping with her boyfriend. One day, Jenny leaves to hang out with her friend, Carla Lewis. When Jenny does not return home, Jean becomes worried and alerts the police. Days later, Jenny is found in a creek, having been drowned, with a 100-pound log placed over her body. Jean is grief-stricken, and Ellen becomes her emotional support, eventually moving into her home. Jean becomes frustrated by the failure of the detectives to find Jenny’s killer. She and Ellen begin tracking their own leads, much at Ellen’s behest. Ellen’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and her obsession with the case intensifies, causing tension among Jean and her family, who feels Ellen is an unhealthy influence on her. Jean eventually asks Ellen to move out so that she can move on with her life. Some time later, a guilt-ridden acquaintance of Jenny’s, Kathy Pearl (Janne Mortil), goes to the police and confesses to witnessing Jenny’s murder. She tells them Carla lured Jenny out of her house and drove her to a secluded a wooded area in a National park, where Carla and Ellen confronted her with allegedly stealing their boyfriends. They taunted her, cut her hair, and forced her into a stream, eventually drowning her. After hearing the news, Jean is devastated but confronts Ellen at the police station, where she and Carla are arrested. After finally receiving closure, Jean attempts to move on with her family and find peace.