It was a modern day story of star-crossed lovers, a Romeo and Juliet of our times but with a more sadistic, violent twist.
When Tylar Witt, then 14, and her boyfriend Steven Colver, then 19, were banned from seeing each other by Tylar's devoted mother Joanne after she caught them in bed together, they decided they would take their own lives - but not before they took hers first.
Now for the first time, Tylar Witt has spoken out about her regret over her mother's 2009 murder and about how much she misses her.
The 16-year-old was convicted of second-degree murder last month after testifying against Colver in court when the jury rejected his defence that it was Tylar who stabbed her mother and not him. She received a reduced sentence of 15 years-to-life in prison.
Shackled and in jogging bottoms and a sweat shirt, a baby-faced Tylar has now decided to open up about her mother's death to ABC's 20/20, accepting her role in it and talking about how wonderful she was.
In a show which will be aired tonight, she said: 'I miss her. She was a lot like a dad. What other mom catches snakes and lizards and puts them in aquariums?
'I don't think I ever appreciated what my mom did for me. When you are a kid, the only thing that you see are parents doing stuff for you and then them punishing you.'
Joanne Witt was a single mother by choice who did everything for her daughter, raising her only child in a wealthy community in the El Dorado Hills of California.
The mechanical engineer gave her daughter everything from acting courses to riding lesson and they enjoyed spending time at home together cooking and watching movies.
But also revealed in the show tonight is a darker side to the mother-daughter bond. Tylar was actually taken off her mother when she was a pre-schooler after she allegedly beat her.
She was ordered to take anger management classes and vowed never to touch her daughter again.
Tylar reveals in the show that there were no more beatings but that they screamed and shouted at each other a lot due to what Tylar says was her mother's secret drinking problem.
Joanne's sister Mary Witt said there were also tension over her sister's reluctance to tell Tylar about her biological father but that the biggest - and most fatal - part of their relationship was when her mother caught her in bed with Colver when she was just 14 years old.
It was after that, when Joanne Witt reported the 19-year-old to police for statutory rape that their plan started to come together.
The couple vowed to be together forever and made a pact to commit suicide, but not before brutally murdering Joanne Witt, who they believed stood in their way.
Speaking about the plan, Tylar told 20/20: 'It doesn't make sense, but I guess it did at the time.'
Police found the mutilated body of Joanne Witt locked in her bedroom in June 2009. She had been brutally stabbed 20 times.
At this stage the couple had already run off to San Francisco, and tried to commit suicide by taking rat poisoning, which Tylar said gave her nothing but a stomach ache.
Before they could attempt it a second time, the police had already found them after an off-duty police officer spotted them outside a shopping mall.
During the trial, Colver - who at one point described to friends how he stabbed his girlfriend's mother with a butcher knife - changed his story and said Joanne Witt was already dead when he arrived at the home.
His defence lawyer Dain Weiner said: 'I think realizing the gravity of the situation after being in jail for a while, it took a while before he was willing to confirm, yeah, that she had done it and how she had done it.'
Tylar's story is that she had fallen to the floor before entering her mother's room and sat with her hands over her ears humming as Colver was stabbing her mother.
He was convicted of first-degree murder on August 12 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Tylar, who confesses she still loves Colver, said she feels betrayed and hurt: 'It's like somebody telling you that they are gonna love you no matter what, and you have depended on them, and then they take it away.
'But I cant be angry with him - I was part of i.
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