02x05 - Straight a k*ller

[bunniefuu]

ERIKA: You look at this group of
honor roll students,

of overachievers,

this group is competitive,

and it's fierce.

Failure was not an option,
it really wasn't.

They both were straight
A students, they both

wanted the same thing.

But also, they had a little
competition going on

as far as boys.

ERIKA:
She's got one up on her.

He's cute,
he's popular, he's mine.

She was
just standing her ground.

If she do want to fight,
I'll fight her.

She seemed like
she wanted her to just die.

It was
just a toxic relationship.

It was only
gonna lead one way.

[theme music playing]

KAYHLA: I had economics class
second period.


everybody's getting up,
moving around.

I'm still sitting at my desk
with my headphones in.

And then everybody starts
shouting, "Call the police."

[distant screaming]

FRANCESCA:
We hear screaming.

We're all trying to figure out
what's going on.

Everyone's up
and scattered around the room.

I see drops of blood

from the back of the classroom
to the side of the classroom.

It was a moment of shock.

[school bell rings]

NARRATOR: It's the start
of a new school year at

Fitzgerald High School.

Fitzgerald High School
is about 13 miles north

of downtown Detroit.

It's your typical high school.

It has the social cliques
just like any high school,

but is known for
its academics, as well.

At some schools, you would think
that smart kids or brainiacs

are kind of the nerdy kids,
but at Fitzgerald, it's not

really seen that way.

NARRATOR: Instead of
prom queens and cheerleaders,

here, it's the smart girls
who rule the school.

Most of my friends
were brainiacs.

They were
all straight-A students.

JIM K.: These are kids
who want to be everything.

They want to get involved.

They want to be attractive for
colleges so they can get

accepted to good schools.

From the outside looking in,
you look at this group of

overachievers,
and they may look perfect.

But there is strict
competition between them,

and it's fierce.

NARRATOR: It's a race
to get into the best colleges,

and there's one girl at
Fitzgerald who's the queen bee

of APs, 15-year-old
junior Danyna Gibson.

Danyna was
a competitive, A-plus student.

She was the type of student
to volunteer,

or it's a question,
she know the answer.

We was in a group together,
like she just wanted to do

all of the work.

She was serious
about her future,

serious about her career.

So she wanted to make sure
she got things done right.

Danyna was smart,
and she knew she was smart.

It was
very important for Danyna to

become valedictorian,

But she also enjoyed
having a good time.

So that's why I call
her the fun nerd.

She really
enjoyed robotics.

She liked putting the wires
together and kind of

just building things.

FRANCESCA: She liked her sports.
She was on top of her grades.

She was just
on top of everything.

ERIKA: She would kind of make
a remark here and there to

remind everyone, "I am kind of
at the top of the pack here."

KAYHLA: She really could make
your day just by looking at you.

I never seen her not smiling.

She gave off the energy
of the sun, literally.

NARRATOR: Orbiting around Danyna
is a tight group of friends.

Danyna's friends consisted of
Carlycia, her best friend,

Jakayla, one of
my closer friends, Tia,

Lexi, Jordan, and Daja.

This is the group of friends
that I seen

cliqued up at breakfast.

If they had lunch together,
they was cliqued up,

or after school,
they was cliqued up.

They were cool.

NARRATOR: Everyone knows Danyna
has her sights set on being

valedictorian, but there's
one girl in their circle

who's looking
to stand in her way.

ERIKA: Tanaya was also
a junior at Fitzgerald.

She's kind of sporty.

She dressed in
jeans and sweatshirt,

casual, wore Vans.

Not as extroverted
or magnetic as Danyna,

but they were all friends.

FRANCESCA: I met Tanaya
in the economics class that

we all had together.

She also was
a go-getter, as well.

She always wanted
to be, like, on top.

KAYHLA: We'd be sitting
outside after school.

She'd be on
the bleachers doing her work.

Plus, she was taking
college classes already.

I know that she wanted to do
something great with herself.

NARRATOR: It's Danyna
versus Tanaya when it comes

to school achievement.

They both were
academically smart, both

striving for valedictorian.

Both beautiful, pretty smile.

NARRATOR:
The two are good friends.

But Tanaya has one
thing Danyna doesn't.

Evan was Tanaya's boyfriend,
my best friend.

I met him in seventh grade.
They met in eighth grade.

They were dating
for about two years.

They were a cute couple.

Evan is a ginger, freckles.

He dressed nice
all the time, blue eyes.

He was talkative,
he would crack jokes.

I would say
he was a cute kid.

NARRATOR: When it comes to
high school social status,

having a boyfriend is like
acing two AP classes.

But when you're on top,
you have to watch your back.

KAYHLA: I'd see Tanaya
and Evan in the hallway,

and Tanaya'd be just
holding on to him.

I believe he was walking
her to class, every class.

She'd always have his arm.

NARRATOR: Tanaya proudly wears
the promise ring Evan gave her,

but it doesn't
keep the eyes away.

KAYHLA: A lot of girls
were looking at Evan,

so she was probably
getting more insecure.

Tanaya definitely wanted
people to know that

Evan was her man.

Evan was my best friend,
and she didn't want him

talking to me.

I felt like that
was a little mean.

So we still talked.

NARRATOR: Danyna pays no mind to
Tanaya's possessive behavior

until one day,
the drama finds her.

ERIKA:
As the junior year progresses,

Danyna
and Tanaya's boyfriend,

Evan, are in
an AP class together.

And they get paired up
to become study partners.

And they start studying at
Evan's house together.

NARRATOR:
An arrangement that doesn't

go over well with Tanaya.

When Evan was around
Danyna, they laughed a lot.

I know they were really goofy,
and they had a lot in common.

Tanaya was probably jealous.

I think that Tanaya just
didn't like the fact that

Danyna was having the alone
time with Evan as far

as them studying --
I mean, I get it.

Beautiful little girl is
around my boyfriend,

spending time with him --
I mean, I get that.

Any normal teenager
would probably be jealous at

the time
or something like that.

Evan knows his girlfriend,
Tanaya, is also striving for

valedictorian,
so in her mind, she might be

thinking, well, why is
he helping Danyna study?

Why isn't he helping me?

[phone ringing]

Tanaya starts
calling him constantly,

interrupting their study time.

KAYHLA: The fact that Danyna
and Tanaya consider themselves

friends, you would like to
think that she took

that into consideration.

But no matter who it was,
you could

have been her sister.
-[phone ringing]

I don't think she wanted
anybody close to Evan.

[phone ringing]

JIM K.: This is confusing to
Danyna -- she's studying.

She's not used to this drama.

She's not really sure
how to deal with it.

NARRATOR: One thing is certain,
Danyna is not about to

get pushed around.

ERIKA:
Danyna isn't backing down.

She's not gonna be told
who she can and can't hang out

with, especially if she's
strictly doing homework

and trying to do
well in school.

KAYHLA: Evan would tell me about
Tanaya getting mad about him

talking to Danyna.

He was kind of
stuck in between.

He loved his girlfriend,
but some things that

she wanted,
he just couldn't do.

It became the competition
between Tanaya and Danyna.

It was almost like
anything and anyone

was fair game
at that point.

NARRATOR: High school junior
Tanaya Lewis is none too happy

when her boyfriend Evan
continues to study with

her friend, now rival,
Danyna Gibson.

As the year progresses,
Tanaya's possessiveness kind

of goes into overdrive.

She wants to know
where Evan is at all times.

She's constantly
checking who he's with.

If you think about
the competitive nature between

these two girls,
it kind of escalated.

KAYHLA: I know Tanaya
was sending Evan messages

about being friends with Danyna.

It made him uncomfortable --
he cared about how she felt,

but he also had to make
decisions for himself.

NARRATOR: Evan
and Danyna are strictly friends.

And at this point,
Danyna's fed up with

Tanaya's controlling behavior.

While Evan's phone is just
blowing up while they're

trying to study, Danyna says
to Evan, "Maybe you should

"focus more
on your studying instead

of Tanaya's possessiveness."

Of course,
Tanaya is upset.

KAYHLA: Tanaya would sigh when
she seen Danyna and Evan

walking
down the halls or talking.

You didn't have to ask her
how she felt about it.

You could see it
on her face.

I tried to convince him
to break up with her.

It was times
where months went on,

and we didn't speak
just because of that.

NARRATOR: That December,
Tanaya demands

to track Evan's location
through his cell phone.

That's the last straw for Evan,
and he breaks up with her.

That leaves one
of the rivals happy.

I'm sure Danyna felt
fine about the breakup.

They can study in peace,
and they can be friends,

and they don't have
to worry about a jealous

girlfriend
constantly interrupting.

Tanaya was distraught when
they broke up because of how

possessive she was
and how clingy she was.

She was not over him.
It made her angry.

ERIKA: Meanwhile,
Danyna develops

a crush
on a boy named Jack.

And she's sitting there
with Daja and the other

girls,
and they're chatting.

And Tanaya is kind of
quietly there, listening in.

And not long after,
Tanaya starts dating Jack.

NARRATOR: Danyna
confronts Tanaya.

Dating her crush is a clear
violation of the "girl code,"

but Tanaya isn't sorry.

FRANCESCA: I feel like girl code
is an important thing,

but at the same time, I felt
like they were just competing

at that moment.

This is kind of
mean girl behavior.

It's like a backstabbing
behavior to go after

your good friend's crush.

[sports whistle blowing]

NARRATOR: Danyna's next move
is the best revenge.

Evan is on
the cross country team.

She signs up too.

FRANCESCA:
I would think that Danyna

joined the cross country team

to get back at Tanaya for
getting with somebody that

she said that she liked.

It's like what girls do.

They get
back at their friends.

KAYHLA:
I think Tanaya thought that

Danyna was doing that probably

out of spite --
it made her angry.

ERIKA:
What does Tanaya do?

She says, "Well,
I want Evan back."

She breaks up with Jack,
and she starts

pursuing Evan again.

I don't know what she would do
or what she would say,

but she would say things to
Evan that made him come

right under her wing again.

NARRATOR: By spring, Tanaya
and Evan are back together.

But as the weather warms up,
so does Tanaya's

need for control.

Tanaya promised that
she'd keep her cool and she

wouldn't act possessive,
but Danyna and Evan are still

running every day in
cross country together,

and she starts going crazy.

She starts
getting clingy again.

She's looking at his cell
phone, asking where he's been,

checking where
he is all the time.

KAYHLA: So there was a time
where Tanaya went through

and deleted all of Evan's
female friends through

his Snapchat,
including me and Danyna.

It just made me feel ugly
towards her, because why would

you be so spiteful?

NARRATOR: By summer, Evan
has had it with Tanaya again.

SHARITA:
I think Evan loved Tanaya.

I think he wanted to be with
Tanaya, but I think the way

that she was,
it was too much for Evan.

He didn't like it.

ERIKA: He doesn't just
break up with her,

but he kind of breaks up
with her for good.

KAYHLA: She was very upset
with Evan breaking up with her.

I can imagine that that's
what she thought of 24-7.

NARRATOR: When school resumes
in the fall, Tanaya Lewis

enters the building
a different person.

Gone is the confident
potential valedictorian.

Tanaya was never
completely over Evan.

At the start of senior year,
she was more so to herself.

She was more so
her hoodie on, earphones in,

about her studies
type of thing.

She really didn't
talk to anybody.

When I did see Tanaya in
the hallways, she was either

by herself or with Evan.

I think she was trying to be
friends with him to get more

so in his circle again.

NARRATOR: But just friends has
never been enough for Tanaya.

Meanwhile, Danyna
is at the top of her game.

This is fourth already.
This is yearbook,

and this is our senior year --

She's in color guard.
She's in AP classes.

She's still
pursuing valedictorian.

Her and Evan are
seemingly closer than ever.

When I seen her,
she was smiling all the time.

NARRATOR: It may be a new year,
but for the girls at

Fitzgerald,
the gossip never stops.

Daja tells Danyna that
Tanaya told her a secret.

And she swore
you can't tell a soul.

It's a big secret.

It's a doozy.

ERIKA:
Senior year starts.

One day,
Daja and Danyna are sitting at

lunch, just chatting.

Daja tells Danyna that
Tanaya cheated on Evan

a few months back.

Danyna can't believe it.

Tanaya, this whole time, has
been so possessive over Evan,

yet she's the one
who cheated on him.

NARRATOR: The irony
of the secret isn't lost

on Danyna,
nor is the opportunity

to keep Tanaya
and Evan apart.

KAYHLA: I don't wanna say
that she felt empowered,

but that's a big piece of
information to hold.

ERIKA: Danyna gets home,
she immediately calls Carly,

and she says, "I wanna tell
Evan, I gotta tell Evan."

And Carly says,
"Danyna, you can't.

You gotta mind
your own business."

But Danyna says, "He's my
friend, I gotta let him know."

I feel like Danyna probably
wanted to say something

because it was a possibility
that Evan could go back.

So she wanted
to ensure that, you know,

with that information,
he wouldn't, or at least he'd

have the option to know.

NARRATOR: The following week,
Danyna can't hold

it in any longer.

She tells Evan that Tanaya
cheated on him

the previous spring
while they were dating.

KAYHLA: I heard about Tanaya
cheating through mutual friends.

It started
spreading around school.

It was a big school,
but every clique was cliqued up

with the next clique,
so everybody knew everything.

I felt like Tanaya
was very manipulative,

especially considering
the fact that she didn't want

him to talk to other females,
but she was allowed to

go out and cheat.

But to be quite honest,
I would have kept that

information to myself.

That's for him to know,
for him to find out.

NARRATOR: Even though
they're no longer dating,

Evan is hurt and furious.

If Danyna didn't want him to
get back together with

Tanaya,
mission accomplished.

Evan and Tanaya
were still on talking terms.

I know that he cared for
her enough to be friends with

her, but he was livid about,
you know,

finding out that
he was getting cheated on.

This was
the breaking point for him.

NARRATOR: That day,
Evan asks Tanaya to return

the promise ring he gave
her when they began dating.

JIM K.: There's a whole
new level of anger for Evan

with this bombshell.

And Tanaya's not used
to seeing him this way.

He confronts her.

He says,
"I want the promise ring back."

She's devastated.

She says,
"I would have never told you.

"I would have slit my wrists
and taken this to my grave

before I told you."

Everything blows up.

SHARITA: Evan taking his promise
ring back from Tanaya,

it really let her know
that he was serious.

He wasn't
playing with her anymore.

I felt like this was really
a sure way of saying,

"We're never
getting back together."

SHARITA:
I would think that Tanaya's

state of mind
at that point was,

how did he find
out who said this?

How does he know this?

NARRATOR:
Evan doesn't tell Tanaya

how he found out she cheated,

but Tanaya has her suspicions.

Word starts to get around
among their group that Danyna

said something, and Danyna
decides, "All right, I'm gonna

get in front of this,"
and she calls

Tanaya to apologize.

Tanaya basically told her
she wasn't going to accept

her apology, something was
going to happen,

and hung up
the phone on her.

She sends
Danyna a text and says,

"You made the biggest mistake."

At that point,
they weren't friends.

Like, they were just
at each other's necks over

stuff that happened.

Danyna probably felt like
they were going to fight,

so she probably
just brushed it off.

Like, oh, it's about
to be a girl fight.

Danyna meets up with
her friend Carly and Donald.

It's marching band practice,
and she's filling them in on

her call with Tanaya.

She told them, "Hey, I told
Evan about Tanaya

"cheating on him,
and Tanaya threatened me.

I tried to apologize,"
but she's basically expecting

Tanaya to try
and fight her at school today.

KAYHLA: Danyna was
just standing her ground.

Like, if she do want to fight,
I'll fight her, but I don't

think, honestly, that Danyna
ever wanted to fight.

Like, she's at the risk
of getting suspended.

And in our school,
we had police officers,

so you could
even get arrested.

So she was putting
her academics at cost.

ERIKA: Tanaya's day
started like usual.

She got up,
got dressed, walked the dog.

She called Evan for a ride,
said she wanted to talk.

Evan picks her up,
and she starts apologizing.

But the more Tanaya apologizes,
the madder Evan gets.

KAYHLA: I think Evan agreed
to take Tanaya to school to

probably hear her out.

But I don't think Evan really
cared to hear much of what

Tanaya really had to say.

ERIKA: Before they kind of part
ways and go to first period,

Tanaya gives Evan $100
and says, "Here, you know,

this is everything I have."

As anyone would be,
Evan's confused.

He doesn't understand why
Tanaya is giving him money.

Is she trying to bribe him?
Is she trying to get him back?

What's this money for?

KAYHLA:
And Danyna,

when I seen her,
she wasn't happy.

She was really quiet,

which was unusual.

JIM K.:
Danyna knew that the breakup

was traumatic for Tanaya,

but nobody knew how far
this might go.

[school bell rings]

ERIKA: Tanaya walks into
second period economics.

She doesn't
have Evan anymore.

Does she really even
have a lot of her friends

in her group anymore?

It's hard to think of how
Tanaya must have been feeling

at that point.

She just seems not herself.

She's listening to
a song over and over.

I remember,
Tanaya this day was quiet.

She had her headphones in,
and she was like kind of

slouching her seat some,
just standoffish.

FRANCESCA: Everyone
sat down as normal.

We used to do, like,
good news in class.

Some people raised
their hands to do good news,

and everything was just normal.

Danyna walks in
and kind of bumps her books

when she walks by,
knocking them over.

She goes to her desk and sits
down and starts working.

My first memory from Danyna
that day was looking over at

her, and she literally was
just looking at the board in

blank space,
like she was in blank thought.

But it was unusual
for her, because

she was always smiling --
I'd never seen her like that.

At the same time, Evan is
in his second period class in

another classroom, but he gets
a text from Tanaya saying,

"Do you like Danyna?"

He texts back,
"I don't have to tell you."

About 10 minutes into second
period, the teacher asks

everyone to kind of
break up into groups to work.

Everyone got up, and it was,
like, a lot of commotion,

because everyone is trying to
find each other, and, like, most

people really
don't even know each other,

because it's the beginning
of the school year.

And I'm walking to the front,
waiting for Tanaya,

because she was
my partner at the time.

At 8:25, Evan gets
another text from Tanaya.

It says, "It's time."

Everybody's getting up,
moving around.

I'm still sitting at my desk
with my headphones in,

even though
I'm not playing music.

Tanaya and Danyna
started walking around me.

They were just doing,
like, a fast walk

type of thing,
so I paid it no mind.

I didn't hear arguing
or nothing, so I didn't think

it was a fight or nothing --
I thought they were playing.

[distant scream]

FRANCESCA: I heard loud
screaming, and people are

hopping over desks.

People in the classroom
are just trying to figure out,

like, what just happened?

As I stood up, I turned
around, and I see drops of

blood from the back of
the classroom to

the side of the classroom.

Everybody starts
screaming, "Call 911."

[numbers dialing]

-[phone ringing]
-CALLER: Oh, my god.

NARRATOR: Fitzgerald High School
goes into code red lockdown.

At 8.29 a.m.,
the Warren Police Department

receives a 911
call to the school.

Officers were in a patrol car
not too far from there,

and they were there quickly,
within less than a minute or so.

The school is attempting to
get the place locked down,

but it's just chaos, because at
some point, it becomes obvious

that something
horrific has happened.

And you've got this big
building full of students.

And I think, at that point,

you're just
trying to gain control.

The school resource officer
gets to the room,

and he sees blood
on the floor.

He sees a student lying there,
and there's a knife

next to her body.

He immediately starts
performing CPR to

try and save her life.

I didn't realize somebody was
stabbed until I was walking

out of the classroom.

We were ushered
to another classroom.

A lot of the kids
were still processing it.

We had a lot of crying.

Some students were telling
other students what

happened in the classroom.

NARRATOR: By now, rumors are
quickly spreading like

wildfire through the school.

At 8:31, students are
texting each other.

The word is getting around.

Evan gets a text,
and he texts his friend, Zach,

who was in the economics
classroom.

Evan says, "Hey, did
Tanaya do something?"

And Zach says,

"She stabbed
Danyna with a knife."

[indistinct radio chatter]

Police find a kitchen knife
with a three-inch blade.

Danyna was stabbed in
the back of the classroom,

and she had run up

to in front of
the teacher's desk,

and that trail of blood
was 58 feet long.

JIM T.:
We figured there must be 15

to 30 kids
who had witnessed it.

Detectives were tasked with
interviewing as many of those

kids as we could so we could
get an idea on what

exactly took place.

I told the investigators

I saw Tanaya
stab her in the back

when she was running.

Tanaya didn't seem mad
when she was

chasing her with the knife.

She seemed like she wanted
her to just die, but she was

happy that she was doing it.

KAYHLA:
I told them I could never get

Tanaya's face out of my head.

She was smiling...

the biggest smile
I ever seen on her face.

Like, she was
happy about this.

She was just taunting her.
"I'm gonna k*ll her."

Her eyes were really blank,

like she didn't
have a soul

type of thing.

She was lost,
I would say, evil.

NARRATOR: Police piece
together the chilling scene.

Some kids are on their desks,
some are trying to

go for a window.

The teacher, seeing
all of this chaos unfold,

grabs Tanaya,
pushes her out of the room.

And still, Tanaya is fighting
to get back into

that classroom, screaming,

"I hope you die.
I'm going to k*ll you."

She also screamed,

"You told Evan."

I was gonna be one of
the lead detectives on the case.

Danyna was transported to
St. John Oakland Hospital,

which is only a few
miles from the school.

And patrol had
the alleged suspect secured,

and that they were going to be
bringing her to

the Warren Police Department
shortly.

I went into it thinking
it was a fight.

Two girls were throwing
punches, and one of them

got a knife out.

What we learned is that
it was a little more

cold-blooded than that.

Tanaya is placed
in an interview room

with Detective Twardesky.

Her demeanor is calm,
but it's intense.

It was readily apparent very
early on, I was dealing with

a very
highly intelligent person.

NARRATOR: Tanaya refuses to
proceed with an interview until

she talks to Evan.

Police locate Evan
and arrange the phone call.

JIM T.: They had
a whole conversation.

I think it was starting to set
in what she had done

and how she had changed

the trajectory
of her life dramatically.

JIM T.: So she has the phone
conversation, she ends it,

and then she said,
"I want to talk to you now."

NARRATOR: When asked to explain
what happened at school,

Tanaya admits to bringing
a knife with her that day

but denies stabbing Danyna.

NARRATOR: But she
is clear about one thing.

JIM T.: I've been
a cop for a long time.

You don't expect a scary
or creepy statement coming

out of a normal-looking

advanced placement classes
and getting all As.

It just kind of threw me off,
how much hatred

was coming through
in her voice.

NARRATOR: While the questioning
continues, Danyna succumbs to

her injuries at the hospital.

I was at work,

and my sister called me
and said that Danyna

had been stabbed,
and she was in surgery.

And I said,
"Okay, I'm about to leave,

I'm about
to come up there."

But then, not even

called me back and said
she didn't make it.

I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't believe it.

JIM T.: The ER and the hospital
staff did everything they could,

but approximately 9:24 a.m.,
she was declared deceased.

It was determined she had
approximately four stab wounds,

one to her heart,
two to her back,

and one to the lung.

NARRATOR:
Officers gather statements

from traumatized friends
and classmates,

who also hear
the news that Danyna is gone.

They told us that Danyna
passed away when we were in

the multipurpose room
doing the interviews.

Everyone, including me,
was just devastated.

I was in such shock,
with her being such

the sweet girl she was.

Going through that moment
and looking at it,

it was heartbreaking.

NARRATOR:

is charged as an adult with

first-degree m*rder
with premeditation.

JIM T.: In this particular case,
we had 20-some eyewitnesses.

There was no doubt
that she had stabbed

Danyna in the classroom.

NARRATOR: And just as damning
is the evidence police uncover

that she planned the attack,
from the knife she brought

from home, to handing
Evan her last $100,

to the song she was
playing on her headphones.

♪♪♪ Baby I am not
afraid to die ♪

♪♪♪ Push me to the edge,
all my friends are dead ♪

♪♪♪ Push me to the edge,
all my friends are dead ♪

♪♪♪ Push me to the edge,
all my friends are dead ♪

JIM T.: Tanaya, at that point,
I think knew in her mind

what she was planning to do.

And I think that song kind of
fit with the way she felt.

She felt
pushed to the edge.

KAYHLA: I don't think
she seen a life without Evan

at that point.

So once he took back her ring,
it really finalized her life

at that moment,
you know?

Can't have him,
she don't want nothing.

I feel like Tanaya wanted to
take Danyna down, as well.

"If I can't have a life, you
can't either" type of thing.

ERIKA: Danyna was her target.
She was obsessed with Danyna.

But not everyone kills

over obsession.

Not everyone does that.

NARRATOR:
In August 2020, Tanaya accepts

a plea deal that spares her
a life sentence without parole.

She is sentenced to 27
to 60 years and will be eligible

for parole in 2045.

KAYHLA: I don't think justice
was served, no.

She hurt a lot of lives.

She didn't only
take Danyna's life.

She ruined
the lives of classmates.

This was a very difficult
case as far as dealing with all

the students and what they saw
and what took place.

It was just
a level of violence

that really
no one should see.

but for a group of high school
kids, I don't know how

they wrap their head
around what they saw.

NARRATOR:
Danyna Gibson's friends

and family
remember her as

a bright light with
a promising future,

gone too soon.

Danyna should be remembered
as a cheerful, outgoing person,

a straight-A student,
somebody who strived to

give everything they could,
somebody who just loved life

and wanted to enjoy it.

Every year, um,

on September the 12th,
the day that

she passed,
we have a candlelight.

I miss Danyna's smile,
and I miss

her saying,
"Auntie Sharita."

Danyna's death affected us
all very deeply,

from then till now,
but we still try to share

light and share her honor.

She really had that spirit to,
you know, make you happy,

and I really wish
she had more time.

On the next Mean Girl Murders.

There is a lot of cattiness.

At the beach there can be a lot
of competition.

She was pretty
and that turned into power.

She wasn't going to let her get
the upper hand.

And that's when the mean girl
started coming out.