Ava Vitali's Most Jaw-Dropping Deeds On Days Of Our Lives

Emmy award-winning actress, Tamara Braun, found her way into the hearts of soap opera fans when she first played Carly Corinthos on "General Hospital" in 2001. Since then, she's been on several shows, including "House," "All My Children," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but it's her run as the misguided Ava Vitali on "Days of Our Lives" that has fans screaming for more. The actress also portrayed Dr. Kim Nero on "GH," as well as Taylor Walker briefly in 2011 on "DOOL," showing Braun's versatility as a soap opera actress.

Not your typical villain, Ava has made Salem her playground and returned from the dead several times, per Soap Central. A master manipulator, Ava had her hands on several men and wove a web of deception that has yet to be surpassed. Ava is the daughter of mob boss Martino Vitali (Joe Penny). Martino worked hard to eliminate people that tried to take him down. The fact that she was dealing with a brief psychotic disorder, coupled with anti-seizure medicine that her father had been giving her, negatively affected the mafia princess. According to Soap Dirt, Ava was supremely obsessed with Steve "Patch" Johnson (Stephen Nichols) and secretly was the mother of his child, Tripp Dalton (Lucas Adams).

As time went on, Ava's reign of terror in Salem worsened.

Ava Vitali went to Ireland on "Days of Our Lives" in 2008 and learned that Steve Johnson — with whom she previously had a romantic relationship — was there. She was infatuated with him and wanted to rekindle their affair, per Soaps in Depth. Ava then sabotaged a plane in an effort to prevent him from returning to Salem. What she didn't expect was that it would still be able to take off. As a result, the plane crashed and killed several people, including prominent Salem citizen Shawn Brady Sr. (Frank Parker). Ava tailed Steve to Salem and witnessed him and Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso) hugging while they grieved over Shawn's death. Thinking Hope was his wife, Ava kidnapped her.

Hope's husband, Bo Brady (Peter Reckell), along with Steve and his actual wife, Kayla Johnson (Mary Beth Evans), tracked the villainess to her family compound (via Soap Central). However, the group was captured by Ava's henchmen, and she ordered their deaths. Ava was suffering a break from reality and still wanted Steve back as her lover. She even demanded that Kayla give her the baby she and Steve were expecting as retribution for his leaving her. Ava continued to threaten the group, insisting that she would eliminate Kayla for good after the baby was born.

Ultimately, Roman Brady (Josh Taylor) and James Reynolds rescued the team, and Ava was put behind bars.

Ava Vitali continued to pursue Steve Johnson on "Days of Our Lives." She had formed a relationship with Steve and Kayla's son, Joey Johnson (James Lastovic), pretending to work with him to get his parents back together. During this time, Joey fell for Ava, but she rejected him, claiming she had leukemia and couldn't enter into a relationship. In reality, she was using him to get Steve back, per TVOvermind. She kidnapped Kayla and would only reveal her location if Steve slept with her, and he begrudgingly acquiesced to her demands. Afterward, Ava told Joey where his mother was being kept, and Steve thought the blackmail was over.

When the truth came out, Joey was shattered to believe that Ava was capable of such wicked behavior. Ava landed in the hospital at one point, and Joey came into her room while drunk. His anger took control, and in a fit of rage, he grabbed a pillow and suffocated her (via Soap Central). According to Soaps in Depth, Steve refused to let his son go to prison for Ava's murder. Steve claimed that he was the one who did it, citing self-defense and alleging that he had been under the orders of the International Security Alliance. However, the guilt-ridden young man confessed to killing Ava, and Joey ended up behind bars. 

Ava was finally dead. Or so everyone thought.

A very much alive Ava returned to Salem, where she learned she had a long-lost son named Charlie Dale (Mike Manning). Jan Spears (Heather Lindell) killed the psychotic Charlie, but the devil resurrected his spirit, according to Soaps in Depth. Charlie appeared to Ava, goading her into getting revenge on her longtime enemy, EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel). Ava then hired Xander Kiriakis (Paul Telfer) to kidnap EJ.'s mother, Susan Banks (Eileen Davidson), so she could extort money from EJ. Disguised as a clown, EJ captured Susan and met up with Ava (via Soaps). Ava ordered Xander to kill Susan, but he refused, freeing the woman instead. Susan ran to EJ, where Ava quickly grabbed her at gunpoint and got into her car. EJ pursued while Charlie appeared, further goading Ava to kill Susan, causing her to drive off a cliff. Ava and Susan were both presumed dead, according to TV Season Spoilers.

However, Ava survived once again by jumping out of the car at the last minute. Ava's final plot against EJ was to place a bomb in the church where Susan's memorial was being held. However, her other son, Tripp Dalton, entered the church. Ava ran in to stop him, thus revealing to everyone that she was alive and a bomb was set to go off. Her warning was too late, and the bomb exploded.

Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, and Ava was finally arrested.