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Austin love triangle murder


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Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla told KXAN Armstrong was found with an altered appearance. Armstrong had shoulder-length hair that had been dyed dark brown, along with bandaging on her nose and bruising under her eyes from a reported surfboarding incident.

“That physical appearance changed slightly,” Filla said. “Would it have changed more as she started to create that, you know, type of foundation for herself there in Costa Rica? Possibly.”

Filla credited “boots on the ground” law enforcement techniques and collaborations with international operations in locating her at the hostel. Officials conducted door-to-door visits, surveillance and face-to-face interviews that helped lead to her capture.

He said it’s believed Armstrong was staying at the hostel to help make her money last. The U.S. Marshals’ investigation revealed she had been frequenting several yoga studios and taking classes at them “to better her profession to teach a specific type of yoga,” he added. That type of yoga had something to do with surfing, which might have explained her facial bruising, Filla said.

In the six-week investigation, Filla said U.S. Marshals fielded more than 80 tips, some of which he said provided valuable insight into her background and location. 

“Some of those [tips] were not, you know, there wasn’t anything to them except a possible sighting, but some of them were very factual. They gave us a background picture of Kaitlin Armstrong that we were able to connect a few pieces to understand a little better.”

As for the length of the investigation, Filla said the 43-day fugitive hunt was unusual in its nature, with the added layers of complexities that came from the fraudulent passport use. He said the U.S. Marshals’ early upgrade of the case to a higher priority acted like a theme park “fast pass,” allowing marshals to more quickly track down her whereabouts.

“This is a challenge that, you know, we haven’t seen in quite some time, to where an individual left the country using a fraudulent document,” he said. “But we were able to handle that challenge with the assistance of the international operations with the marshals service, where they have that communication established with foreign officials and diplomatic security.”
 
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I didn’t realize yoga was that addictive…she must have felt fairly comfortable but I mean she murdered a “rival” who by all accounts wasn’t even banging her boyfriend anymore…

"Once she got to Costa Rica, she didn't really move around a lot," he said. "We knew she was gonna be associated with some type of yoga studio. When foreign officials arrived at that yoga studio, they did find a handwritten login that was the same alias that she was going by when she traveled to Costa Rica."

Armstrong was arrested at Don Jon's Yoga Lodge in the tiny town of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, after a warrant for her arrest was issued over a month prior. Armstrong is charged with first-degree murder in connection to Wilson's death.

Armstrong came to Costa Rica with "a passport that did not correspond to her identity, but the document was not faked," the General Migration Directorate of Costa Rica told CNN. Although the identity of the passport was not revealed, a witness, Zachary Paulsen, told Inside Edition a second passport with the name of Armstrong's sister was left behind in a locker at the hotel where she was arrested.

Paulsen told Inside Edition he found a receipt for cosmetic surgery worth $6,350 in the same locker. Filla also said Armstrong had a bandage over her nose and changed her hair, dying it brown and cutting it short.

Armstrong, who flew from the Newark Liberty International Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, on May 18, sold her Jeep on May 13 and was using the $12,200 in funds to support herself while in Costa Rica, Inside Edition reported.

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42 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

How extensive was that plastic surgery? Seems pretty suspect to be able to get a consultation, on the schedule, completed, and recovered in a month.

 

30 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

$6350 cash in CR probably gets you moved to the front of the line pretty quick. 

There is a huge plastic surgery and dental market for foreigners down there. Most of it is very legit. A lot of places are basically walk-in and would have you scheduled basically next day.

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6 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

I didn’t realize yoga was that addictive…she must have felt fairly comfortable but I mean she murdered a “rival” who by all accounts wasn’t even banging her boyfriend anymore…

"Once she got to Costa Rica, she didn't really move around a lot," he said. "We knew she was gonna be associated with some type of yoga studio. When foreign officials arrived at that yoga studio, they did find a handwritten login that was the same alias that she was going by when she traveled to Costa Rica."

Armstrong was arrested at Don Jon's Yoga Lodge in the tiny town of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, after a warrant for her arrest was issued over a month prior. Armstrong is charged with first-degree murder in connection to Wilson's death.

Armstrong came to Costa Rica with "a passport that did not correspond to her identity, but the document was not faked," the General Migration Directorate of Costa Rica told CNN. Although the identity of the passport was not revealed, a witness, Zachary Paulsen, told Inside Edition a second passport with the name of Armstrong's sister was left behind in a locker at the hotel where she was arrested.

Paulsen told Inside Edition he found a receipt for cosmetic surgery worth $6,350 in the same locker. Filla also said Armstrong had a bandage over her nose and changed her hair, dying it brown and cutting it short.

Armstrong, who flew from the Newark Liberty International Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, on May 18, sold her Jeep on May 13 and was using the $12,200 in funds to support herself while in Costa Rica, Inside Edition reported.


you’ve never dated a yoga chick, it’s a cult like feeling for sure 

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3 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:


you’ve never dated a yoga chick, it’s a cult like feeling for sure 

I went fishing this morning and as the sun was coming up, some woman shows uo and start doing yoga on a dock to greet the sun. I may or may not have had a few stray casts hit that dock. 

People are trying to fish here, damn it!

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15 minutes ago, Deej said:

I went fishing this morning and as the sun was coming up, some woman shows uo and start doing yoga on a dock to greet the sun. I may or may not have had a few stray casts hit that dock. 

People are trying to fish here, damn it!


while dating a hot yoga instructor was fun, it’s a also a huge pain in the ass. Like driving her places to do sunrise yoga 

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17 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Her sister lives in a trailer park, so certainly doesn’t appear to be much family $ floating around. 

You could probably white knight her for $350K though. 

I am on the record in this thread as a "would not smash" but I share your optimism that she could get it done.

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52 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

Her family hired Cofer & Connelly to represent her. 

https://www.coferconnelly.com

When I see her new face I think “all dressed up and no place to go.” Hope she watched a couple of episodes of Orange is the New Black…

Is that a good law firm?

Random side note: if she was a yoga instructor that means there are yoga students who get to csb about being taught by a murderer.

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1 hour ago, chainsaw said:

Is that a good law firm?

Random side note: if she was a yoga instructor that means there are yoga students who get to csb about being taught by a murderer.

Generally, you don’t want the firm that does criminal law, and family law, and personal injury law representing you in a murder case. 

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56 minutes ago, Rudiger said:

Generally, you don’t want the firm that does criminal law, and family law, and personal injury law representing you in a murder case. 

If she doesn't plead guilty what would the defense strategy even look like? I guess it would be some kind of "she was afraid of being wrongly accused" which makes sense because they were questioning her until they had to let her go on a technicality, but that doesn't explain everything else like the gun, the motive, the text messages, the doorbell camera footage...

Seems like a losing battle to me

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1 hour ago, chainsaw said:

If she doesn't plead guilty what would the defense strategy even look like? I guess it would be some kind of "she was afraid of being wrongly accused" which makes sense because they were questioning her until they had to let her go on a technicality, but that doesn't explain everything else like the gun, the motive, the text messages, the doorbell camera footage...

Seems like a losing battle to me

 

I'm guessing she has a mental health problem. From her lawyers website:

While most of my work involves representing adults facing serious charges, my practice also focuses on juvenile cases and mental health matters. When a juvenile faces serious charges, I’m generally the first phone call and first referral. I’ve worked in the juvenile courts for nearly a decade and have extensive experience in the often-complicated world of juvenile law. Because I served as a Travis County mental health civil prosecutor, I am often hired by well-resourced families to represent young adults with mental health diagnoses facing criminal charges.

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1 hour ago, chainsaw said:

If she doesn't plead guilty what would the defense strategy even look like? I guess it would be some kind of "she was afraid of being wrongly accused" which makes sense because they were questioning her until they had to let her go on a technicality, but that doesn't explain everything else like the gun, the motive, the text messages, the doorbell camera footage...

Seems like a losing battle to me

honest question, other than leaving the city/country, what direct evidence do they have against her?

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28 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

honest question, other than leaving the city/country, what direct evidence do they have against her?

It's laid out in the arrest affidavit. Basically, the vehicle that pulled up to the site of the murder matches one that was registered to Armstrong's boyfriend. Boyfriend has an alibi.

Armstrong had access to a gun, the vehicle, and sent text messages to boyfriend pretending not to know where boyfriend was or what he was doing.

Armstrong had motive, too.

I think what happened was cops looked at surveillance video from neighbors, which led them to the vehicle, which led them to Armstrong's boyfriend, who denied involvement and shared receipts from his cellphone proving his alibi and that basically confirmed Armstrong was the culprit.

But by the time they got her arrest warrant she'd already sold the vehicle and skipped town.

Edited by chainsaw
forgot word
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1 hour ago, Balcones said:

 

I'm guessing she has a mental health problem. From her lawyers website:

While most of my work involves representing adults facing serious charges, my practice also focuses on juvenile cases and mental health matters. When a juvenile faces serious charges, I’m generally the first phone call and first referral. I’ve worked in the juvenile courts for nearly a decade and have extensive experience in the often-complicated world of juvenile law. Because I served as a Travis County mental health civil prosecutor, I am often hired by well-resourced families to represent young adults with mental health diagnoses facing criminal charges.

Seems hard to plead insanity here, if that's where they're going with this.

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2 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

It's laid out in the arrest affidavit. Basically, the vehicle that pulled up to the site of the murder matches one that was registered to Armstrong's boyfriend. Boyfriend has an alibi.

Armstrong had access to a gun, the vehicle, and sent text messages to boyfriend pretending not to know where boyfriend was or what he was doing.

Armstrong had motive, too.

I think what happened was cops looked at surveillance video from neighbors, which led them to the vehicle, which led them to Armstrong, who denied involvement and shared receipts from his cellphone proving his alibi and that basically confirmed Armstrong was the culprit.

But by the time they got her arrest warrant she'd already sold the vehicle and skipped town.

Vehicle that was on camera right after the murder is Armstrong's black Jeep.  She sold it 2 days after she was brought in on warrant.

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So the cops didn't think to be on the look out for the sister's passport?

If it wasn’t on the watch list before it went through a US airport, it wouldn’t get flagged. They don’t keep track of passports, just passports that match a watch list are flagged. It’s why fake passports are still good business.
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