A Happy Family
Crystal Howell was born into a loving family in Augusta, Georgia in 1997. She had an older sister named Sierra and lived with her parents, Michael and Cristina.
The four of them were very happy together and Crystal and her sister were very close. Crystal was a handful, but she was never a problem for her parents... until she became a teenager.
First Signs
As she grew up, Crystal got into more and more trouble. She had anger issues, would shop lift, and get into fights. She even set one of her neighbor's pool cushion on fire.
Because of her alarming behavior, her parents had her take a psychological evaluation. The psychologist told them that Crystal should receive treatment and medication because she was showing early signs of different mental illnesses.
Refusing Treatment
Her mother, Cristina, really wanted Crystal to receive treatment for her issues, but her father, Michael, refused. He had been on medication when he was a child and had been bullied for it, so he didn't want Crystal to go through that.
In his mind, all Crystal needed was love and support, and this would help her grow out of her problems. Michael and Cristina constantly fought over what to do with Crystal, and their relationship began to crumble.
The Divorce
The breaking point for the couple came when Cristina confessed to Michael that Sierra, their oldest daughter, wasn't his biological daughter. This prompted Michael to file for divorce after 19 years of marriage and take Crystal with him.
Needless to say, this revelation shook the entire family, and Crystal's attitude problems intensified. She got into more fights and caused more trouble than ever.
Maggie Valley
Michael had received a big inheritance from his grandparents, so he moved with Crystal to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, and bought a beautiful property on Sheepback Mountain.
The house was a large, gorgeous eight-bedroom property in the middle of the mountains. Michael thought that moving Crystal to a quiet, scenic place would maybe change her attitude, but she just got more and more out of control.
Getting Worse
Crystal turned to hard drugs and self harm and had trouble adjusting to her new life. However, she did make friends at her new school. Her father sent her to an alternative high school where she met Taylor Metz and Summer Ramsey.
The three of them became extremely close. Crystal was the leader of the group, and the other two often followed her and took part in whatever Crystal wanted to do. Soon, the three of them were getting into all sorts of trouble.
Close
Despite all of her behavioral issues, Crystal seemed to be extremely close with her father. According to her friend Summer, Crystal and Michael were two peas in a pod. In fact, her friends were jealous of their relationship.
Michael did everything he could to help Crystal change with love and support, but it was of no use. The two still had their good days and loved spending time together. Essentially, they were best friends.
Their Last Day Together
On a cold February day, Michael and Crystal went shopping as they usually did. However, something happened at the store. While Michael was looking through the store, he realized that Crystal was acting strange.
He walked up to her and realized she was shoplifting. He immediately took her home and gave her a lecture he had already given her a million times. The two had an awkward drive home, and that was the end of it.
Tragic News
The next day, Crystal told her friends, Taylor and Summer, that her dad had gone on a business trip, so they could all stay at her house and do whatever they wanted for a few days.
However, just a couple of days into her father's business trip, something horrible happened. Crystal received tragic news over the phone and told her friends that her dad had committed suicide. She was devastated, so she needed to be cheered up.
An Idea
Crystal and her friends thought that, since her father was dead and Crystal had the house all to herself, they might as well all move in together. The three girls quickly turned the house into a never-ending party.
Crystal used her father's credit cards and cash to buy food for everyone, pay the bills, buy alcohol, and even install a stripper pole in the kitchen. Her father still had a lot of money from his inheritance, so Crystal had plenty of money to spend.
Wild Parties
Although it was only the three girls living there, they had people over almost every day. They threw a party every single night with around 50 people and it got out of control every single time.
People were doing all sorts of drugs and getting drunk at the house. But Crystal had nothing to worry about because if anyone broke something, she had her father's money to pay for it. She also paid for the drugs and the alcohol, of course.
Out Of Control
Although Crystal had plenty of fun during the first couple of weeks of endless partying, she began to act more and more erratically as the days went by. She lost track of time and was more unstable than ever.
According to her friends, she even hallucinated and saw the ghost of her father. After the last party they threw, Crystal sat in a chair for two weeks without moving or speaking as her friends took care of her.
Change
After her breakdown, Crystal decided she had had enough partying and needed a change of scenery. She told her friends that she would be going to her mother's and would stay there for six months.
However, her friends could still stay at her gorgeous house in Sheepback Mountain. She told them they could do whatever they wanted, buy whatever they needed, and invite anyone over, as long as they followed one specific rule.
The Shed
Crystal only had one rule for her friends: the girls could use any part of the house as long as they did not go anywhere near the shed. She told her friends that this was where she and her father used to hang out, so it was a very special place for her.
Because this place had such sentimental value, she wanted no one near it. It was the last memory she had of her beloved father. The girls agreed, and Crystal went to stay with her mother.
Staying Alone
Crystal packed up her stuff, withdrew $3,000 from her father's account, and drove away in his car. Then, the girls were left alone in the house.
The girls enjoyed their first day alone in this lavish, eight-bedroom house and did whatever they wanted. Everything seemed perfect, but this bliss would only last for a single day.
Opening The Shed
Crystal had told Taylor and Summer that while they were there, they could sell her pinball machine. The girls brought it out of the basement and tried to sell it, but they had no luck.
This pinball machine was very heavy, so instead of bringing it down to the basement again, they thought it would be easier to just put it in the shed. They popped the lock of the shed open, but nothing could have ever prepared them for what they found inside.
A Horrific Discovery
As soon as the girls opened the door of the shed, a foul smell overcame them. They had never smelled something so horrible before, but they had no idea what the source of it could be.
As they looked inside, they found a figure crouching on the floor. Went they walked up to it, they realized it was the dead body of 50-year-old Michael Howell. The body had already started to decompose, and the back of his head was blown out.
Going To The Police
Terrified, Summer and Taylor ran out of the house as fast as they could and went to the sheriff's office. Meanwhile, the girls put all the pieces of the puzzle together in their heads, particularly Summer.
Only a few weeks before, Crystal had sold Summer's dad a shotgun. According to her, it was her father's but since he had committed suicide, she wanted to sell it. Summer now realized it was probably the murder weapon, and Crystal was responsible.
The Search Begins
Thanks to the information provided by her friends, the police knew that Crystal would be with her mother. When they arrived to the house, her mother told them that Crystal had only stopped by to say goodbye to them and went off on her own.
It was clear that Crystal was on the run. The police searched the area around her mother's house and eventually found her at a local motel not too far from there. She was quickly arrested.
The Truth
Investigators wasted no time and promptly interrogated Crystal, who acted strange from the beginning. According to one investigator, she seemed so cold that she gave him chills down his spine.
But after being interrogated, Crystal finally confessed and told police what really happened. She had murdered Michael the day they went shopping and he caught her shoplifting.
The Crime
When they got home after their shopping trip, Crystal took a shower and Michael took a nap on the couch. As she was showering, all these dark thoughts started running through Crystal's head.
She made the decision to kill her father so he would not nag her anymore and she could be free to do whatever she wanted. So, she took her father's shotgun and as he was sleeping, she shot him in the back of the head.
The Aftermath
Crystal then took her father's body and dragged it to the shed. She left it there and locked the door. After doing some cleanup, she called her friends and began her wild parties.
She was sentenced to 30 years in prison, where she was diagnosed with several mental illnesses. Some people believe this murder was the result of her untreated illnesses which were diagnosed when she was a child, while others believe she was just a cold-hearted killer. What do you believe?