Cinemaholic
ICYMI: Mean Girl Murders Recap for Battle of the Besties
-Fort Wayne, Indiana—August 15th, 2002. Shortly before 11pm that night, authorities respond to a 911 call. This is the second one to this particular residence. The initial call had been a noise complaint, but this one was more sinister since it involved a young woman who had been murdered.
-The girl in question attended Wayne High School, which was considered to be the stereotypical school with cliques, mean girls and Friday Night Lights.
-Stacy DeGrandchamp was one of the most popular girls in school. She was an only child who grew up with her mom and was close to her aunt and cousin Jamie McMillen.
-Despite being popular, many girls were jealous of her. Things also changed for her when she began dating Brandon Muff, an older guy who had a bad boy reputation. She began partying with several other girls, including Whitney McGehee, Amanda Richards and Holly Boisvert. They would often hang out at Holly’s house since her dad often let her have parties.
-Holly and Stacy had a bit of drama that dated back to their middle school days but seemed to overcome it….until Brandon began dating Stacy. Holly had previously dated him and had hoped that they get back together. The drama between the girls was rekindled and it caused friction between the friend group.
-The friend group began fighting when Whitney and Stacy ended up having a misunderstanding of their own. Holly was all too happy to turn the girls against each other. Whitney even called Stacy to warn her about spreading rumors, saying that it would not end well.
-Things began to spiral and it not only caused drama with the girls, but also with Stacy and Brandon. The couple finally broke up and stopped hanging out with the friends. She did remain friends with one girl Abby Oswald, who was a mutual friend of Stacy and Brandon.
-The night of the attack, Abby convinced Stacy to go to a party where members of the old group and Brandon would be in attendance. Stacy didn’t want to go, but Abby told her things would be fine. However, things would take a tragic turn.
-Whitney and Amanda decide against going, but drop Holly off, promising to pick her up later. Little did they know that during the party, Holly and Stacy would end up fighting until Brandon intervened. However, Stacy ended up collapsing. When Brandon and Abby get to her, they realize she had been stabbed.
-An investigation immediately begins as Stacy succumbed to her injuries. It is considered a homicide investigation at this point as everyone involved is questioned. Holly claimed she was attacked by Stacy and fought back, but claimed she had no knife. She claimed Stacy fell on something in the recycling bin Brandon moved her to when he intervened in the fight. Brandon also corroborated this claim, but evidence showed that the wound was caused by a knife wound and that nothing by the bins would have caused such an injury.
-Brandon showed up to the funeral, but Holly did not.
-Rumors began to circulate that the two of them wanted Stacy at the party that night so they could hurt her. Holly became a pariah in the school and more rumors began to spread about Whitney also being involved. Whitney is then questioned as well and she maintained that she was merely telling Stacy that Holly was mad at her and to be careful.
-Whitney also claimed that Brandon bullied Holly into going to the party, but that she had no idea that Stacy would also be attending. She also wondered why Abby wanted Stacy at the party knowing full well that Brandon and Holly would be there.
-Abby denied that she wanted Stacy at the party and claimed that she tried to break up the fight.
-Brandon’s roommate Justin claimed that he wanted to break up the fight, but Brandon would not let him. He also claimed that Brandon wanted him to protect Holly by saying Stacy fell and that is what caused her injuries.
-Brandon refused to cooperate with police at this point and continued to protect Holly.
-Despite the evidence and statements, there was no weapon or enough to hold Brandon and Holly on any charges. Therefore, no arrests were made until 2019.
-Jamie refused to let the case die and in 2019 called Detective Martin to reopen the case. Everyone was re-questioned and they were finally able to get the pocket knife Holly had on her that night. Despite her claims that it was in her bag that night, it matched with the wounds found on Stacy. She was taken into custody March 25th, 2020. The trial began November 12th of that year and Amanda Richards becomes a star witness for the case. She claims Holly made her hold the knife until she left. She remembers giving Holly the knife as they dropped her off and Stacy showing up at the same time.
-Holly is given a plea deal, which she takes, confessing that she acted alone and indeed stabbed Stacy.
-On January 14th, 2022, Holly is sentenced to 25 years in prison, five years suspended and three years adult probation hiring it. She could be out in 2030 due to time served and good behavior.
