Stacey (Secrets on Sorority Row)

**Stacey** (Lauren Buglioli) is the hidden main villainess from the 2021 Lifetime film, *Secrets on Sorority Row* (airdate May 15, 2021).

## Backstory

Stacey is one of the best friends of main protagonist Michelle Winter, with their shared backstory revealing that they were members of the Epsilon Theta sorority. It was in 1997 that Michelle brought longtime friend Kelly Oberman, to pledge for the sorority, and during hell night, both girls were subjected to hazing from Michelle and fellow sisters Gretchen and Myra, with the hazing including excessive drinking. Michelle and Kelly were accepted afterwards, but the later on, the latter suddenly fell down a flight of stairs in what was believed to be a tragic and fatal accident.

In actuality, and unbeknownst to everyone (including Michelle), Stacey and Kelly ended up in a confrontation, with Stacey berating Kelly after finding her throwing up due to the excessive amount of alcohol, doing so by referring to Kelly as pathetic and stating that Kelly only got in because of her and Michelle. Kelly informed Stacey that she would go public with the hazing, leading to Stacey shoving Kelly down the flight of stairs, killing her instantly. Stacey and Michelle (along with Gretchen and Myra) portrayed Kelly's death as an accident, with the three others unaware that Stacey murdered Kelly, and they spent the last 24 years swearing to secrecy regarding the full details of Kelly's death.

## Events

The events saw Michelle being targeted by an unknown culprit regarding Kelly's death, leading Michelle to gather the others regarding that fateful day, with Michelle wanting to fully confess to each of their roles in Kelly's death. Michelle's urgency to confess was due to the fact that her daughter, Quinn, was mentioned on one threat, as well as Quinn pledging to the same aforementioned sorority. Stacey attempted to talk Michelle out of confessing, claiming that her husband, Chad, would leave her if he found out the truth.

In actuality, Stacey wanted to continue to mask her murderous actions from the day in question, and in her quest, Stacey turned heel once again by appearing in Michelle's house under the cover of darkness and even tripping Michelle as she walked down the stairs. As part of her heel persona, Stacey donned an all-black hooded disguise, and later on, the villainess resorted to eliminating Gretchen after learning about her own guilt and her past drinking problems, as she tracked Gretchen to Kelly's grave--where Gretchen unleashed her sorrow and grief--and placed a bottle of wine on the grave next to Kelly's, leading to Gretchen driving drunk and being killed in a car crash.

After Michelle and Myra learned about Gretchen's death, Stacey claimed that it was a hit-and-run caused by Lucas, who was Kelly's boyfriend in college, and even attempted to state that Lucas was behind the stalking to avenge Kelly. The girls planned a memorial service to reveal the truth about Kelly's death, and once Lucas arrived, Michelle notices that he barely had any use of his hands, which was caused when he shot himself in the head after hearing about Kelly's death. As for the service, the evil Stacey reneged on her promise to tell the truth and publicly denounced Kelly as a reckless girl who chose to drink herself to death, and later defended her actions to Michelle by stating that she had told the truth about what happened.

## Reveal and Arrest

As Quinn and her best friend, Lucy, celebrated being accepted into the sorority, Stacey voiced her guilt over not admitting her role in giving the alcohol to Kelly, but later on, Lucy was revealed as Michelle's stalker--as she was Kelly's daughter and had been planning to avenge her mother. Stacey and Michelle arrived at the sorority house, where the girls were drugged and Lucy had pursued Quinn and was about to kill her, only for Michelle to talk Lucy down and apologize for what happened to Kelly. Lucy unleashed her hold on Kelly, but afterwards, Stacey arrived and knocked out Lucy with a paddle.

Michelle expressed shock over Stacey's actions, as Lucy wasn't a threat anymore, but it was at that moment that Stacey confessed to actually killing Kelly by shoving her down the flight of stairs. The villainess also admitted to killing Gretchen and appearing in Michelle's house, and later claimed that Kelly's murder was to protect the sorority, while her heel turn in the events was motivated by her quest to protect themselves. As Lucy was being wheeled out on a stretcher, Stacey pleaded with Michelle to keep her evil crimes hidden, only for Michelle to inform the villainess that she told everything to police, resulting in Stacey being arrested.

## Trivia

* This was Lauren Buglioli's first villainous Lifetime movie role.
* Lauren Buglioli later played psychotic villainess Jade Goddard in 2022's *Labor, Lies, and Murder*.