A Killer Among Friends is a 1992 television movie starring Patty Duke, Tiffani Thiessen and Loretta Swit.
In the film, a beautiful and popular teenager Jennifer "Jenny" Monroe (Thiessen) is living a charmed life until one day she is found brutally murdered. As her grieving mother Jean (Duke) and the rest of her family tries to find her killer while also attempting to move on with their lives, Jenny's heartbroken best friend Ellen also does what she can to help the family out. The investigation continues for some time and soon it comes to light that things—and people—are not what they seem to be.
The film is based off of the 1985 murder of teenager Michele "Missy" Avila
and originally aired on CBS.
Related tropes:
- Big "NO!": Jean upon learning that the police found her missing daughter's body.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Does Ellen fit the mold, playing the role of the loving friend and then moving in with Jean to replace Jenny as well as see her and the rest of the family suffer.
- Bitch Slap: Jean once she learns that Ellen killed her daughter.
- Cement Shoes: Subverted: poor Jenny was already in the water dying when Ellen and Carla placed a 100-pound branch over her to hold her down.
- Dramatic Irony; In the flashback of Jenny being killed, the tree where she carved "Jenny+Ellen: Friends 4-Ever" in a heart shape earlier in the film is briefly seen in the background.
- Drowning My Sorrows: A variant; after the murder to deal with their guilt, Carla uses a copious amount of drugs.
- Empty Bedroom Grieving: After her death, Jean keeps Jenny's bedroom intact, even letting Ellen sleep in the room afterwards.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Why poor Jenny was killed.
- Happier Home Movie: The film opens with one of The Monroe family, namely of Jenny and her friends. They are seen at various points in the film.
- Head-Turning Beauty: As the standard of any character played by Tiffani Thiessen, Jenny has many admirers in the film. Even while clothes shopping at the mall, boys can't keep their eyes off of her, even one guy walking with his girlfriend. This applied to the real life victim as well, who was also quite beautiful.
- Ironic Echo: Earlier in the film when Jenny is consoling Ellen about her life and hardships, she then carves a heart in a nearby tree of "Jenny+Ellen: Friends 4-Ever". Later on in the flashback of the murder, that same tree with the carving can be seen in the background as Ellen and Carla are murdering Jenny.
- I Want Grandkids: Jean's attitude towards her oldest Greg and his wife Cheryl. She eventually gets her wish sometime after Jenny's death.
- Mama Bear: Jean to all three of her children and both before and after Jenny's death.
- Manipulative Bitch: Ellen, who pretends to be grieving alongside the Monroe family for her "best friend" but really killed her and manipulated them and tried to derail the efforts to solve the case.
- Mommy's Girl: Jenny is very close to her mother, especially being her only daughter. One tender moment even has Jenny helping her Mom with her recurring back problems and her saying how no one can do it like she can.
- Police Are Useless: Jean believed so, especially with Ellen's manipulation. Turns out, while she thought that they were slacking, Det. Stanley and the other cops were working tirelessly to find whoever killed Jenny.
- Race Lift: In the film, Jenny Monroe and her family are White. Missy Avila, the real-life victim that Jenny was based on, and her family are Hispanic.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Poor Jean breaks down after Jenny's funeral, especially when the reverend tries to console her, saying that she's with God now: "Will you shut up about God?! What kind of God would take someone as beautiful as her?! I blame God!"
- Slut-Shaming: Happens to Jenny right before her murder, with Ellen and Carla accusing her of sleeping with multiple boys, including their boyfriends. While Jenny did briefly date Carla's former boyfriend, Ellen's boyfriend accosted her while she was at Ellen's house and then tried to play it off as she came on to him, with Ellen taking his side.
- The Sociopath: Ellen likely, as well as having a Lack of Empathy. She kills Jenny out of jealousy and her delusions that she was trying to steal her boyfriend, in spite of him accosting her and trying to play off that she seduced him, she cares nothing about the grief that the family is going through after her murder, she intentionally tries to screw up the investigation and tries to replace Jenny as the family's daughter/sister. She also mistreats her own toddler daughter and expects blind devotion from her friends and threatens those who don't give her it.
- Token Good Teammate: Played with. After the murder, Kathy wanted to confess to what happened, only for Ellen to threaten to kill her, even cutting her face with a knife to get her to comply. A year later, she finally confesses, but only after her own brother died. Additionally, while she was present at the murder, she did not participate, but she also did nothing to stop it, running away when they started killing her and when a freaked out Carla briefly said that they should go back, she cried she didn't want to out of fear.
- Traumatic Haircut: As Jenny is being murdered, her hair is crudely chopped off with a knife.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Jean comes to this conclusion after learning Jenny's "best friends" killed her daughter, having been a surrogate mother to both of them as they came from troubled homes as well as teaching them how to swim and to drive.
- Would Hurt a Child: Ellen, who killed Jenny, was implied to be abusive to her own daughter and even contemplated hurting Greg and Cheryl's infant daughter out of jealousy.
