HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- In the middle of the afternoon on July 18, 2003, four young people, with their whole lives ahead of them, were shot to death in the living room of a Clear Lake home, in the greater Houston area.
The killers used two guns and fired over 40 shots in an ambush that also seemed personal.
We always tell our kids the boogeyman doesn't exist. ... That's not true. ... Christine Paolilla is a monster.Prosecutor Rob Freyer
"We had that aspect of, this is somebody they knew or trusted," explained crime scene investigator Andrew Taravella.
The victims' families and friends mourned the deaths of four recent high school graduates. The dead were 18-year-olds Rachael Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell; Tiffany's boyfriend, 19-year-old Marcus Precella; and Marcus' cousin 21-year-old Adelbert Sanchez.
The community was left unsettled. Who could have done such a horrible thing?
Hundreds of tips to Houston police went nowhere, and for three years the multiple murders went unsolved, until one of the suspects, Christine Paolilla, talked a little too much.
"We always tell our kids the boogeyman doesn't exist. Monsters are make believe. They don't exist. Well, that's not true," prosecutor Rob Freyer said. "Because they do exist. Christine Paolilla is a monster. She quarterbacked this entire tragedy. These were her friends."
In the latest ABC13 Texas True Crime episode, Jessica Willey takes you inside the investigation and interrogations, and details how police were eventually able to solve the crimes.
It took three years, but Paolilla, once "Miss Irresistible" to her classmates, would instead become known as a murderer.
Watch Texas True Crime: Miss Irresistible wherever you stream ABC13.
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