Friends, Family Celebrate Guilty Verdict

Friends and family of a murder victim gathered outside a courtroom, hugged and cried tears of joy after the killer was convicted today.

Mickey David Beauchamp Wagstaff, 27, was convicted at the Southwest Justice Center of kidnapping, raping and killing 27-year-old Elizabeth "Bipsy" Kellenbarger Amirian, a former Calvary Chapel Bible College student. To read about the conviction,

Wagstaff is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 27 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Many of those gathered were happy about the verdict. "I'm so relieved, I was just crying in there," said Liz Moralez, a friend of the victim, after the verdict was read.

Amirian's mother, Cheryl Plato, hugged friends and other family of Amirian as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm very happy, I'm glad about the verdict," she said.

Others were happy the process was at an end. "I'm just relieved it's all over, and we can put this behind us now," said Amirian's brother, Isaac Amirian.

As the crowd milled outside the courtroom, a member of the jury walked up to Plato with tears in her eyes. "I feel llke my whole life has led up to making this happen," she said. "We feel so bad for you."

The prosecution's argument that Wagstaff was not guilty of kidnapping and rape made some family members furious. "It was disgusting," Plato said. "It was slanderous, and there was nothing we coud do but sit there."

"Sometimes it seemed like (Wagstaff's defense attorney) was downright lying," said the victim's step-father, Michael Plato. To read about what the defense attorney said,

Looking back, the family saw subtle warning signs Wagstaff was going to hurt their loved one. "I saw signs of him being double-minded," Michael Plato said.

He headed a prison ministry for 11 years and is well acquainted with criminal mentality, he said. "I told her, I see this in jail… I expected to see her on the doorstep with a black eye or broken nose, but I never expected this."

Wagstaff seemed like an upstanding young man, the victim's mother said. He looked good, and he was a youth leader at Murrieta Springs Seventh-day Adventist Christian Church. To read about what Wagstaff's friends said about him during the trial,

"He was nice, clean-cut and had a good job, but a lot of us saw issues of control," Cheryl Plato said. She feels Wagstaff killed her because she tried to break off the wedding.

To read about the argument and attacks that led up to the killing,

"If you're going to break up with somebody, do it from a safe place. For Bipsy, it cost her her life."