Chilling details of the small-town murders that shattered Disney sweetheart Dove Cameron: Overheard calls, a sinister plot and a fateful summer with the killer

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Dove Cameron was in third grade when she discovered her childhood best friend had been murdered.

It was, the actress told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper last week, ‘impossible to process.’

Oh my gosh, it was just the beginning of everything falling apart for her, even though she was only 30 and trying so hard to make it as an actress. She’s finally talking about all the terrible things that happened behind the scenes, and honestly, it breaks my heart. It wasn’t just one bad thing, it was a whole string of losses she dealt with privately while everyone else just saw the rising star!

Cameron, who was born Chloe Celeste Hosterman, shared on her podcast about meeting her friend Hayley Byrne when they were both toddlers growing up on Bainbridge Island, Washington. They connected immediately.

In 2004, nine-year-old Hayley and her eleven-year-old sister, Kelsey Byrne, were tragically killed by their father, Stephen Byrne, while visiting his home in Edmonds, Washington.

She said she was deeply shaken to discover, after knowing someone for so long and growing up with them, that they were capable of such a terrible act.

Cameron remembered spending much of the summer with the victim’s father, a time that coincided with his parents’ difficult and complicated divorce.

‘And I think even at eight, it was, like, a dark energy. He was a very angry man.’

However, people close to him were reportedly shocked by his actions. A friend stated she hadn’t noticed any indications of mental illness, just a man deeply saddened by his divorce and worried about his children.

Stephen King and his wife, Suzanne Dawson, divorced in 1999 following difficulties in their marriage. Reports in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer indicated a key issue was differing opinions on how much time Stephen should spend with his daughters; he wanted to see them more frequently.

Dawson wanted to move from Bainbridge Island to Seattle for work, but Stephen initially opposed it. The court ultimately approved the move, and Stephen relocated to Edmonds to live closer to their daughters.

But on November 22, 2004, Stephen killed his two young daughters and himself.

According to the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, he had emailed friends and family about his intention to harm his children, explaining that he couldn’t accept what he saw as unfairness in the legal system.

He expressed a belief in self-determination, stating, ‘I am taking control of my own future.’ He also shockingly admitted, ‘They’re better off gone than living without my influence.’

Stephen called 911 and asked for police to come to his home. When officers arrived, they found Stephen deceased in the backyard from a gunshot wound, and his daughters were found dead in their beds.

When officers searched the house, they found a helium tank and an empty bottle of Ambien, a prescription sleep aid.

Oh my gosh, I remember hearing about it through Cameron – she was only eight! She was home sick from school, and she accidentally overheard her parents talking on the phone with the principal. Apparently, she picked up the landline – can you believe it? – and just listened. That’s how she found out what happened to her friend. It’s just… heartbreaking to think about a little kid overhearing something like that.

Cameron remembered her preschool principal, Janice, calling her parents with devastating news. Janice had said, ‘I’m afraid I have some very upsetting information. Hayley and Kelsey are missing, and Steve has taken them.’

She explained that her friend’s death deeply affected her thinking, creating a kind of break in how her brain worked. Even with her parents trying to get her help from a therapist, she continued to struggle with processing things.

‘I still have issues,’ said Cameron, who admitted she ‘rarely talks about’ her friend’s death.

This event sparked a long struggle with depression and anxiety, and unfortunately, it was just the first of many personal hardships she would face.

During the podcast, Cameron spoke about her father, Philip Alan Hosterman, and his struggles with depression and bipolar disorder. She shared that her parents weren’t a traditional loving couple and hinted that her father may not have been heterosexual.

Cameron’s parents separated when she was 14, and she then moved to Los Angeles with her mother, Bonnie Wallace, to begin her acting career.

She got her big break in 2013 when she began playing twin sisters Liv and Maddie Rooney on the Disney Channel series, Liv and Maddie.

But behind the scenes, she suffered another tragedy: the loss of her father.

Cameron remembered feeling like something was wrong with her father during his visit to Los Angeles. Shortly after he returned to Washington, they received the devastating news that he had died by suicide.

As a result, Cameron said she suffered from ‘full panic attacks’ while working on Liv and Maddie.

She shared with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast that dealing with her father’s recent death alongside her rising fame significantly impacted her mental well-being.

Cameron explained that a lot of personal challenges were happening in his life at the time. He believes this inevitably impacts a child, and that going through something like that at age 15 can significantly alter the direction of their life.

During that time, she said she also struggled to understand her father’s death.

‘There was no way for me to wrap my head around it. Understand it, conceptualize it,’ she added.

We went to his funeral, and then traveled to Bainbridge Island. A couple of months after that, I found myself at The Grove, where people were asking for autographs. I struggled to make sense of that whole situation.

Cameron recently shared on her podcast, Call Her Daddy, that she’s developed anxiety around answering the phone. She explained this is because she received news of three major personal setbacks through phone calls.

In July 2019, Cameron Boyce, known for his role in the Disney Channel series Descendants, tragically passed away at age 20. He had a seizure while sleeping at his Los Angeles home. His family later shared that he had been dealing with a long-term medical condition that contributed to the seizure.

After his passing, Cameron posted a heartfelt video honoring her dear friend and colleague.

‘Cameron was always good and kind,’ she said in the clip.

She described Cameron as incredibly giving and generous, almost unbelievably so for someone only twenty years old. People who met him were always struck by his positive energy and kindness, and she believed he truly embodied the best of humanity.

The past three days have felt incredibly long, and I’ve been struggling to find the right words to explain how I feel,” Cameron said. “I haven’t been able to, really. I’m still in shock, and my thinking is just… unclear and fragmented.

I loved Cameron – he was truly one of a kind, and I know many others felt the same way. He was just magical, a wonderful person who seemed to come from another world.

The actress shared how Boyce was a consistently supportive and compassionate friend, always there for her through difficult times. He helped her overcome struggles with eating disorders, escape an unhealthy relationship, and cope with numerous emotional breakdowns, offering a calming presence whenever she needed it.

She described Boyce as an exceptionally gifted person, someone most people would never encounter again. She finished her video by saying he was a remarkable individual who profoundly impacted the world, and that he deserved to live much longer. She expressed a wish that everyone could strive to be even half the person he was.

Saying goodbye to someone who felt like an angel on earth is incredibly difficult. I’ll cherish the love and memories we shared forever, and I’m grateful for having known them.

Cameron showed her love for her friend by getting a tattoo on her arm to remember Boyce. The tattoo features a gun with a flower growing from it, a tribute to Boyce’s work promoting peace and raising awareness about gun violence through his ‘Wielding Peace’ project.

Cameron has consistently honored her late colleague by remembering his birthday and the anniversary of his death.

Cameron appears to be finding support during this difficult time with her fiancé, Damiano David, the lead singer of the Italian band Maneskin.

‘He has always been so intuitive, supportive, truly unflappable, unshakable, and so ready to – especially with this – to be like, “I do not know, I cannot say the words that heal,”’ she said on Call Her Daddy.

She explained that he’s a source of support during difficult times. He doesn’t try to fix her problems because he understands he can’t, but he shows his love by being there for her through them.

‘He’s never wavered. I’ve never once seen him be like, ‘This is too much.’’

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2026-02-15 23:35