Pair Convicted in Classmate’s 1985 Drowning : Crime: Women killed high school friend in a dispute over boyfriends, jurors find. But they reject first-degree murder charges, saying it may not have been premeditated.

Two Arleta women were convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder for drowning a 17-year-old high school classmate in a mountain creek because they thought she was having affairs with their boyfriends.

After about four hours of deliberations, a Pasadena Superior Court jury found Karen Severson and Laura Doyle, both 22, guilty of drowning Michele (Missy) Avila in a creek in the Big Tujunga Canyon area of the Angeles National Forest on Oct. 1, 1985. Authorities said strands of Avila’s long brown hair had been sheared off and her head held under about six inches of water until she drowned.

During the two-week trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tamia Hope argued that Severson and Doyle should be convicted of first-degree murder, as charged, because the evidence showed that they had planned to kill Avila when they drove her to the forest. But several jurors said afterward they were not convinced that the slaying had been planned.

Judge Jack B. Tso ordered Severson and Doyle, who remain in custody, to return for sentencing March 9. The usual sentence for a second-degree murder conviction is 15 years to life in state prison, Hope said.

The women’s attorneys said they are considering appeals.

Severson dabbed tears from her eyes with tissues as the verdict was read. Doyle, seated next to her, showed no emotion.

Members of the Avila family hugged each other and wept during the brief proceeding.

Afterward, the victim’s mother, Irene Avila, said she was disappointed with the jury’s verdict but relieved that the trial has ended.

“But it’s never going to be over because I don’t have my daughter,” said Avila, shaking and in tears as she talked to reporters. “When they killed her, they killed a part of me. If it wasn’t for my family, I would not have survived this.”

Avila said she never suspected Doyle or Severson--until after their arrest nearly three years after her daughter’s death when a witness to the slaying finally came forward. Avila said both women had attended Michele’s funeral, and Severson even moved in with the Avila family for a short time afterward to console them.

“She was close to me, like another daughter,” Avila said of Severson. “Karen was my daughter’s best friend. They grew up together.”

Avila and her three sons said the jury’s verdict was unfair.

“Second-degree murder just doesn’t make us feel any better,” said Mark Avila, 24, one of the victim’s brothers. He said the women deserved a first-degree murder conviction, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life in prison.

But some of the jurors said there was insufficient evidence to justify a first-degree verdict.

“There was no disagreement that they had participated in the murder,” said a juror who asked not to be identified. However, “There just wasn’t any proof to show that it was premeditated. We thought they just got carried away and didn’t know when to stop.”

The juror said several other panel members did not find the testimony of the prosecution’s key witness, Eva Chirumbolo, entirely credible. “I didn’t find her believable,” the juror said. “I felt she knew more, and was probably holding something back to protect herself.”

Chirumbolo, who was not charged with the crime, testified that on the day of Avila’s death she drove with Severson to Stonehurst Park in Sun Valley, where they met Doyle and Avila and drove to the forest, Doyle and Avila in one car and Severson and Chirumbolo in another.

Chirumbolo testified that Severson said during the drive that she and Doyle planned to scare Avila.

Once they arrived at the creek near Colby Canyon Ranch, Chirumbolo said, Doyle and Severson began arguing with Avila, accusing her of having sex with their boyfriends.

As the argument intensified, Doyle stepped into the creek and Severson pushed Avila toward Doyle, who grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the water, Chirumbolo said.

Chirumbolo said she became frightened and ran back to where the cars were parked. A few minutes later, Severson and Doyle joined her, and Severson jumped into her car and drove off. Chirumbolo said Doyle then told her, “We killed Missy.”

Chirumbolo said that she asked Doyle if she was sure Avila was dead, and Doyle answered that she was, adding that Avila deserved to die because she had sex with Doyle’s boyfriend.

Two days after her family reported her missing, two hikers found Avila’s body pinned under a log in the creek. Clumps of her hair, apparently sheared off after Chirumbolo returned to the car, were found on the bank of the creek.

Chirumbolo, who testified that she did not report the crime sooner because she feared for her life, said she changed her mind after the 1988 suicide of her 18-year-old brother made her realize the grief the Avila family was experiencing.