The Devil Inside: The Shocking Murder of Thirteen-Year-Old Lauren Landavazo
A Stranger is Watching
Just after 3:00 p.m. on Friday, September 2, 2016, Lauren Landavazo and her friend Makayla Smith, both thirteen, were taking their usual route home from school. As they were passing through an alleyway in their hometown of Wichita Falls, Texas, a vehicle they had never seen before suddenly came to a stop in front of them.
When a young man got out and eyed them up and down, the girls — thinking he was pulling some sort of prank — had ignored him and kept walking. Within seconds, one of the middle schoolers would be lying mortally wounded on the pavement, and the other would be fighting for her life.
Investigators would later learn that after staring Lauren and Makayla down, the driver had retrieved a rifle from his SUV and started shooting. In total, sixteen shots were fired, fifteen of which had struck Lauren. Makayla, who had been hit in the chest by the first round, had somehow found the strength to run to safety.
After emptying his weapon, the shooter had fled the scene as dozens of witnesses, most of whom were also students on their way home from McNiel Middle School, looked on in horror.
As ambulances rushed to the scene, word of the shooting spread quickly. When an acquaintance of Bianka…
