We often take the sanctity of family for granted. Families are supposed to love and support each other, right? That was not the way things worked in this case. In 2012, a teenager conspired with her lesbian lover to have her mother slain. The “Mean Girls” murder reverberated throughout southern Texas in 2012.
The Mean Girls Murder
On July 19, 2012, a teenage girl called 911 from a neighbor’s house in the Houston suburb of Humble, Texas. Keri Murphy, 15 at the time, told the dispatcher that someone had broken into her home through the back door, and then she heard screaming. When police arrived, they found the body of 48-year-old Mary Ann Murphy dead from 73 stab wounds. Her attacker struck while Mary Ann was in bed asleep.
Investigators almost immediately suspected Keri’s story. They did see a broken window at the back of the house, and it looked like burglars had ransacked the place. But the window opening was too small for someone to crawl through and too far from the back door to unlock it. Detectives concluded that someone had staged the scene and began looking close to home.
Mary Ann and her husband, Don, had tension in their marriage. Investigators even uncovered an affair between Mary Ann and a man named Mike. However, Don and Mike were able to prove they were not at the Murphy home when the murder occurred. Mary Ann and Don’s son, Scott, also had a solid alibi. That left Keri, and the truth about the Mean Girls murder was about to come out.
Keri’s Interview Provides Clues to the Mean Girls Murder
As detectives interviewed her, Keri’s story shifted. Investigators also discovered that she had a tense relationship with her mother. In particular, Mary Ann objected to Keri’s association with Rebecca Keller, who was then 19. She felt it was inappropriate for her daughter to hang out with such an older girl. Then, she discovered that the two teens were lovers and insisted that Keri keep her distance from Rebecca.
Dissatisfied with Keri’s interview, detectives proposed that she take a polygraph test. Although inadmissible in court, police can use polygraphs as an investigative tool. Faced with taking the test, Keri changed her story again. Now, she insisted that she had arranged for a classmate, Zein Ahmed, to come to her home to intimidate Mary Ann with a knife and convince her to let Keri and Rebecca alone. On July 19, she opened the door for Ahmed and claimed to have later seen Ahmed repeatedly stabbing her mother.
Police soon arrested Ahmed, and he confirmed Keri’s account. However, detectives were still unsatisfied, as there were inconsistencies in his and Keri’s accounts. Ahmed’s parents insisted that he had been at home at the time of the murder. Police were subsequently able to verify that fact. They theorized that his false confession may have been because he did not fully understand (!) the consequences of the crime.
The Mean Girls’ “Bunny Phone”
Detectives discovered that Keri had used a “burner” phone to communicate with Rebecca. Mary Ann had confiscated Ker’s regular phone after discovering explicit messages between the two. The Mean Girls referred to this phone as the “Bunny Phone;” “Bunny” was Rebecca’s nickname.
The “Bunny Phone” turned out to be a treasure trove of evidence. From the messages and phone calls Keri and Rebecca exchanged on the day and night of the murder, it was evident both were involved. Because Mary Ann’s blood had coagulated by the time police arrived, it was apparent that Keri and Rebecca took the time to stage the burglary.
Police arrested Mean Girls Keri Murphy and Rebecca Keller and charged them with Mary Ann’s murder.
At first, police did not know which girl killed Mary Ann. But as Rebecca languished in jail awaiting trial, the two spoke regularly. They were unaware that law enforcement monitored and recorded all calls to and from the lockup. In one of their conversations, Keri mentioned that she had seen Rebecca stabbing her mother, indicating that Rebecca was the actual killer.
Epilogue
Both Mean Girls pleaded guilty in December 2012. Rebecca received a 60-year sentence, while Keri received 30 years. Rebecca is 32 (in 2024) and eligible for parole in 2042. Keri, 28 (in 2024), is eligible for parole in 2028.
NBC’s Dateline featured the Mean Girls case in an episode titled Down the Rabbit Hole, which first aired on October 11, 2024.
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