True Crime: The Friend Killer

When Rachel Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell befriended Christine Paolilla they had no idea it was going to be a regrettable decision.

They were popular students and took Christine under their wing, gave her a makeover and helped her win “Miss Irresistible” a student contest. Christine had a troubled childhood, her mother had turned to drugs after her father’s death in a construction accident and lost custody of she and her brother so Christine had to live with her grandparents.

Christine also had alopecia, a condition that left her with severe hair loss in her eyebrows, eyelashes and head. She had to wear wigs and thick glasses because she also had poor vision. As a result of this, she was bullied by classmates.

Her mother eventually overcame her addiction, remarried and was reunited with her kids. They moved to Clear Lake City, a suburb of Houston and Christine was enrolled at Clear Lake High School. It was there she met Rachel and Tiffany who helped her win the “Miss Irresistible “ contest in 2003.

Everything was going great until she met 21 year old Christopher Lee Snider. Her friends and family disapproved of the relationship because he had a criminal record and history of drug abuse. Christine soon started to take drugs with him.

On July 18, 2003, Christine and her boyfriend went to her friend, Tiffany’s home hoping to find drugs to support their drug habit. At the home were Tiffany, Rachel, Tiffany’s boyfriend Marcus Precella and Marcus’ cousin Adelbert Sanchez.

They soon got into an argument and all four were shot. After Rachel was shot, she tried to crawl to the phone to call 911 but was hit in the head multiples times with a revolver by Christine, bashing in her skull. Both Tiffany and Rachel were shot in the crotch.

Christopher and Christine fled the crime scene ,they left no evidence and Police believed it was a drug deal gone wrong because Tiffany’s boyfriend, Marcus sold drugs from the home.

The case went unsolved until 2006 and by that time Christine and Christopher had broken up, she had also married Stanley Justin Rott, a drug addict. She confessed to him that she had killed Tiffany and Rowell after seeing a TV special about the case.

On July 8, 2006 the police received an anonymous tip regarding the case, the caller said he had been in rehab with Christine and she had admitted to killing her friends.

Police tracked her down and arrested her on July 19, 2006. Her husband was also arrested because police found a lot of heroin at their home. Rott wasn’t the one who made the anonymous call but he wasted no time in telling Police that Christine did commit the murders and beat Rachel to death with a gun after finding her alive, begging for help.

Christine initially denied killing her friends but then confessed, placing most of the blame on her ex boyfriend, Christopher. A warrant was issued for his arrest due to his involvement in the murders ,but he was found decomposing in a heavily wooded area on August 5, 2006. He was believed to have died of an overdose.

On October 13, 2008 Christine was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. She will be eligible for Parole in 2046, when she’s 60 years old.