Michele Yvette Avila, known as Missy to her friends and family, was born in Los Angeles California in 1968. She grew up 20 miles north of L.A. in Arleta with her mother Irene and three brothers; Ernie, Mark, and Chris. She was the focus of two books, a movie starring Patty Duke as her mother, and several TV shows. However, it was not her life that was remarkable but rather her death. At the tender age of 17, just as her life was beginning, she was murdered.