Vanessa Miller aka Annika Burrows (Caroline Cave) is the main villainess of the 2015 Lifetime film Accidental Obsession (alternately titled Hit & Run; airdate July 12, 2015).
Background[]
Annika was the former high school classmate of Heather Williams (the film's protagonist), whom she was jealous of. In the years that followed, she was expelled from the school and became mentally unstable. After murdering her parents, she was sentenced to eight years in prison and confined to a psychiatric ward.
Events[]
Years later, she sees Heather on television, now a successful defense attorney. Intent on exacting revenge, Annika broke out of prison and murders a woman named Vanessa Miller, stealing a gun from her closet and taking over her identity.
She then sets things up to where Heather accidentally rear ends her car, allowing her a way to worm her way into her life and become quick friends with her. When Heather's jilted ex-boyfriend Ray Johnson tries to talk to her while she's at lunch with Vanessa, she orders him to leave Heather alone. Another night, when he storms into her house and grabs Heather's wrist when she threatens to call the police, Vanessa tries to stab him. He stops her and Heather orders him out. When Heather confronts her, she claims to have been in an abusive relationship and was acting on instinct. Vanessa also takes an interest in Heather's new boyfriend Jack Riley, at one point abruptly joining them on a date (claiming to have thought she was invited by Heather).
Vanessa contacts Ray, wanting to meet up and apologize. Ray agrees and the two meet up at a house Ray is selling to share some wine. Vanessa poisons Ray's glass, killing him, and buries his body out in the woods. Meanwhile, Heather is becoming aware of Vanessa's unhinged behavior and has Jack run a background check on her, which reveals how she stole her first pre-escape murder victim's identity. When Vanessa finds out she's exposed, she rehearses a story to tell Jack, claiming her real name was Carla Majors and that the identity she stole was that of a travel writer friend away on a trip who let her use her identity to escape her abusive husband. Jack acts as though he understands, but still takes a fork with Vanessa's DNA on it. As the two leave the restaurant, Vanessa tried to kiss him. Jack doesn't reciprocate, causing Vanessa to have a breakdown in her car. Later, she meets Heather at work, apologizing for her lies and expressing hope that they can still remain friends, while also revealing her kiss with Jack and making it seem as though he initiated it. But when Jack and Heather go to a cabin for a romantic getaway and Vanessa witnesses them have sex, she snaps.
Climax and Reveal[]
After returning from the trip, Heather returned home and found her pet birds roasted alive in the oven. She turns to see Vanessa, who is armed with a gun. After revealing her previous connection to Heather and staging of the accident, Vanessa forces Heather to call Jack. When he arrived, having uncovered Vanessa's true identity, Vanessa shot him before chasing after a fleeing Heather. She corners her at the pool, preparing to stab her with a pool tiki, gleefully believing that she killed Jack, as long as Heather watched it, and now she intends to kill Heather as revenge. However, Jack, who survived being shot due to wearing a bulletproof vest, knocks Vanessa into the pool, seemingly killing her. Heather and Jack go back inside to call the police, when an enraged Vanessa comes charging back inside. Heather finally defeats Vanessa by punching her in the face, knocking her out. The police arrive shortly afterward and arrest Vanessa, sending her back to prison. Before she goes. she vows that she may break out again, to which Heather wishes her good luck with that statement, confident that Vanessa's escape attempt will likely fail due to her prison sentence now being most likely for life.
Victims[]
- Mr. and Mrs. Burrows (method unknown)
- The real Vanessa Miller (stabbed)
- Ray Johnson (poisoned to death)
- Heather's pet birds (roasted to death)
- Jack Riley (shot on his bulletproof vest)
- Heather Williams (attempted to hit by a tiki post, knocked out by Jack, Heather then punches Vanessa to end her fate)
Trivia[]
- Caroline Cave played the villainous Bonnie Johnson in Darrow & Darrow: Body of Evidence.
Gallery[]
