In the spring of 2003, things were looking up for 17-year-old Christine Paolilla, a shy teenager who had always struggled to fit in. She was friends with two popular girls at school — Rachael Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell — and she had been voted “Miss Irresistible” by the student body at Clear Lake High School in suburban Houston.
But on the afternoon of July 18, 2003, Christine’s life changed forever. Four youths were found shot multiple times at point blank range in a home in the placid Clear Lake neighborhood. Two of the victims were her friends, Koloroutis and Rowell, who had recently graduated. Koloroutis was planning to attend college in the fall.
The police were stunned, and stumped as to who would want the youths dead.
“There was a lot of rage and anger behind these killings and so, therefore, we thought … perhaps there was a personal relationship between the victims in the home and the killer,” Houston Police Sgt. Brian Harris told ABC News.
