In a sense, Elizabeth "Bipsy" Amirian wrote her own movie.

In journals, songs and blog posts, the Temecula woman chronicled her troubled past and spiritual rebirth.

It's a work that ended too soon. On Feb. 12, the 27-year-old who was preparing to release her first CD was killed, prosecutors allege by her fiancé, in a Temecula mall parking garage.

Now Amirian's friends and family want to finish the script.

They're trying to make a movie about Amirian tentatively titled "Whirlwind." The movie's screenplay is done and filming could start next year, they said.

Also in the works is "Cruel and Beautiful," a collection of Amirian's writings and letters from those she influenced.

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Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

Cheryl Plato, of Temecula, holds a photo of her daughter, Elizabeth "Bipsy" Amirian. At left is Michael Plato, Amirian's stepfather. Amirian was stabbed to death in a Temecula mall parking garage in February.

Amirian's family and friends hope she can inspire while serving as an anti-pop culture role model.

"What we really need is young girls who answer a call in their lives, no matter what the cost is," said "Whirlwind" co-screenwriter Sarah Ankenman a Redlands resident. "In the midst of all these horrible things that happened, she still did extraordinary things."

Amirian was stabbed multiple times in a parked minivan. A police officer came across the attack while patrolling The Promenade mall garage.

Her fiancé, Mickey David Beauchamp Wagstaff, 25, of Pala, was inside the vehicle, police said. Amirian's feet were bound.

Wagstaff had self-inflicted knife wounds, police reported. Officers Tasered him after he resisted arrest, authorities said.

Wagstaff is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder with special circumstances of rape and kidnapping. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Amirian's stepfather, Michael Plato, who lives in Temecula, said he is a minister at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley where Wagstaff is being held, but has had no contact with him.

Amirian's death stunned the music scene in Southwest Riverside County, where she played in coffeehouses. As a tribute, local musicians performed at "Bipsyfest" in May.

Story 'writes itself'

Amirian "saved every scrap of paper she wrote" on, Plato said. Her mother, Cheryl Plato, said her daughter even wrote a plan for raising any children she might have had.

"Bipsy's life kind of writes itself," said Ronnie Lopez, who's been involved with the movie project since its inception. "She did all the imagining."

Lopez met Amirian at a local church. "She would come up to anyone," he recalled. "It was as if she had a lonely radar."

On her MySpace page, Amirian posted "Adoption," a soul-baring account of her life.

She was the youngest of four children -- "Bipsy" arose from her brother's attempts to pronounce Elizabeth -- and spent her early childhood in North Carolina in what she described as a repressive household, which gave her "a very twisted perception of God," she wrote.

Amirian's parents divorced when she was 12 and her mother eventually gained full custody.

"When my parents separated, I pretty much went wild," Amirian wrote. "I began experimenting with drugs and drinking heavily and smoking. It wasn't long before I was coerced into losing my virginity. I felt so empty and hurt and worthless and didn't know why."

'running to god'

Seeking spiritual answers beyond Christianity, Amirian dabbled in witchcraft and Satanism.

"I would try to do the spells and then be disappointed that they didn't work," she wrote. "I became frustrated, and as a 12-year-old little girl, I prayed to Satan for demons to fill me so that I could have power."

She also would hallucinate and once wrote a "psychotic description" about torturing and killing her mother. "I was horrified of myself and so was she," Amirian wrote.

She said she tried to kill herself twice, the last time being New Year's Eve 1995. The gun accidentally went off, giving her powder burns and ringing in her ears.

Amirian had a devout Christian friend but rejected most Christians as fake. Her life continued to get worse and she begged a guidance counselor to send her to a mental institution.

Instead, her mother arranged to send her to a Christian camp in Virginia. An angry Amirian agreed to go as long as her mother picked her up after two weeks.

"So I went, bringing my books and drugs, telling myself this would be a research project," she wrote. "I wrote pages and pages trying to reason away miracles, how they were just an act of the power of positive human will and not of God."

On July 1, 1996, Amirian snuck out, got drunk and had a sexual encounter with a guy in the woods. Then she felt God calling to her and ran to the church.

"I fell on my knees at the altar where dozens were still worshipping. I cried and cried and cried until I thought I would explode."

The next day, Amirian flushed her drugs down the toilet and ditched her New Age books. She prayed she wouldn't backslide.

'a huge step'

From then on, Amirian dedicated her life to God. She never took a music lesson, but wrote and recorded her debut CD, "BattleCry, in which she sings and plays keyboard.

Jewish and Christian influences flow through the album, which was released after her death. It begins with the Israeli national anthem and includes songs she wrote such as "Beautiful," "Restoration" and "Feast of Tabernacles."

Reading Amirian's writings, "I couldn't believe just how in tune with God she was," said Ankenman, who didn't know Amirian.

Her faith remained strong but Amirian's life still hit rough spots. A marriage of almost two years ended in divorce in 2006, and she met Wagstaff a year later.

Ankenman and the Platos said Amirian was in love with the idea of being married, and not focused on whom she was marrying.

Cheryl Plato still recalls seeing her daughter in the morgue.

"She looked so sad, her body," she said. "She looked so betrayed."

Michael Plato said "Whirlwind" will be a wake-up call for people in abusive relationships. And Amirian's mother hopes the movie can add value to a life cut short.

"We just want to make sense of what happened," Cheryl Plato said. "And I think this will be a huge step in doing that."

Reach Jeff Horseman at 951-375-3727 or jhorseman@PE.com