Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - FED SHOCK MOVE TO HUNT GLAM YOGA-GURU IN LOVE RIVAL'S MURDER

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

Investigators quickly determine that Moriah "Mo" Wilson, shot dead at a friend's home, was not a random target. After a few interviews, they realize Wilson's past relationship with Colin Strickland did not sit well with his current girlfriend, yoga instructor and real estate agent Kaitlin Armstrong. The day after police question her, Armstrong sells her Jeep Grand Cherokee to a CarMax in South Austin for $12,000. The same Jeep appears on surveillance video near the scene of Wilson's murder. The next day, Armstrong books a flight out of Austin. Eight days after Wilson's murder, investigators link Armstrong to the crime, and a warrant is issued for her arrest. As the warrant is issued, police discover she is already gone. Surveillance footage at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport captures Armstrong boarding a flight to Houston, then on to New York. Investigators track her to New York's LaGuardia Airport, where she is seen again on surveillance video before seemingly vanishing. They later trace her to Newark International Airport but find no outbound flights under her name. However, had they looked closely, they might have noticed a young woman with brown hair flying out of Newark using the passport of her sister, who also has brown hair and lives in New York. A check with Homeland Security reveals "Christie Armstrong" left Newark on a one-way flight to Costa Rica. Armstrong lands in San José, Costa Rica, but does not stay long. She quickly disappears again. A month later, a source reports she may be hiding in Santa Teresa. After days of searching with no success, U.S. Marshals try a new tactic: placing ads for a yoga instructor. After nearly a week, they get a break—someone responds. An investigator, posing as a tourist, visits a hostel to get a closer look at the woman. She resembles Armstrong but not exactly. As he gets closer, he notices a bandage on her nose and swollen lips, but her eyes remain the same. Investigators now understand why she was so difficult to find—she had undergone plastic surgery. Joining Nancy Grace today:  Troy Slaten  -  Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC; Twitter @TroySlaten Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski  - Forensic Psychologist, Author: “Darksides", darksides.podia.com, YouTube: "Dr. Jeff Kieliszewski, Forensic Psychologist",  Irv Brandt  - Former Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs; Country Attache, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica. Author: “Solo Journey: Buddha Knights a Jack Solo Mystery Novel Dr. Michelle DuPre - Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: “Money, Mischief, and Murder: The Murdaugh Dynasty...the Rest of the Story," "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Child Abuse Investigation Field Guide," Forensic Consultant DMichelleDupreMD.com   Josephine Wentzel - Krystal Mitchell's Mother Alexis Tereszcuk  - Crime Online.com Investigative Reporter Sydney Sumner- Crime Online.com Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Feds reveal their shock move to hunt down the glam yoga instructor and her love rival's murder. How'd they do it? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Up and coming star cyclist Mariah Mo Wilson dies after an ambush. Her body found in her friend's bathroom, bloody from gunshots. What happened to Mo Wilson? What happened to Mariah? And what is the secret strategy, the ruse, the shot reveal feds use to try and track down her killer? It all starts here. Okay. Tell me exactly what happened.

My friend is staying with me and I just walked in and she's laying on the bathroom floor and there's blood everywhere and I don't I don't know what happened how old is she she's 26 okay is she awake she's not awake there's blood all over her face and all on the back of her head is she breathing? She's, you know, she's not breathing. Okay, I'm getting help started right now, and then I'm going to tell you exactly what to do, okay? Okay. And that is where it all starts. A friend of world-class biker Mo, Mariah, found dead in the friend's apartment. Caitlin cash.

What does this 911 call reveal? This is the call there. You are seeing newly obtained body cam video. There's the friend. There's Caitlin cash who comes home to find the bullet-ridden body of her friend cornered, trapped in the bathroom. Listen. Okay, lay her flat on her back on the floor and remove anything under her head. Let me know when that's done. Yeah, there's nothing under her head. Okay, she's flat on her back on the floor? Yeah. Listen carefully, I'm going to tell you how to do chest compressions, Caitlin.

Place the heel of your hand on the breastbone right between the nipples. Okay. And put your other hand on top of that hand. Yeah. Then pump the chest hard and fast at least twice per second and two inches deep. Okay. Let the chest come all the way up between pumps. We're going to do this until help can take over.

Count out loud so I can count with you. Right between the breastbone? Exactly, like right between the nipples, right in the center of her chest. And that is the way many prosecutors, including myself, when I was still trying cases, start a trial to take the jury back to the moment, the moment when a body is discovered, that harrowing time, those minutes when someone's trying to revive the victim. And of course, you want to weigh the credibility of the person that calls 911 because very often, statistically, the person that finds the body is the killer, but not so in this

case. And that 911 call from the friend, Caitlin Cash, set off a series of events that took the feds, basically government bounty hunters, all the way around the world to try and find Mo's killer. Listen. Just pump hard and fast and then count out loud so I can count with you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-three, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine,, 24. That's good, Kaylin. Keep that up. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.

Keep going, Kaylin. Don't stop. Keep going. You're doing good. The friend dissolving into tears as she tries to revive Mariah, the world-class dirt biker in her 20s, up and coming, just hitting the charts. I remember distinctly when Mo was found murdered. Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we are learning right now. To Troy Slayton, first of all, high-profile criminal defense attorney joining us out of LA. It's pretty hard to even fathom that this could have been a random killing because Mariah was found wedged in between the commode and the wall, which is a very tight spot. Bullets fired at close range. And you know, Troy Slayton, we could determine that if gunshot residue is found on the body, which proves that the shot was from at least 36 or less inches away. So it was close

range, Slayton. This was no random shooting. That was determined very quickly, Troy. Just because the shooting is at close range, Nancy, doesn't mean that this wasn't some sort of break-in. Maybe she surprised the burglar. Maybe she surprised somebody who was doing some sort of home invasion or looking for something, and she came out unexpectedly. Just because there's no gunshot residue, or just because there is gunshot residue, rather, doesn't mean that this wasn't some sort of random act. Troy, do you ever get tired of just spinning out BS? Because I guarantee you, if you answer truthfully, you will admit that when there are burglaries,

typically when a burglar is interrupted, they run. They don't want you. They don't want a murder charge. They want your TV and your VCR. That's what they want. They want cash. They want drugs. They want jewelry. Not you. Nobody wants to catch a murder charge over a burglary.

That's BS. This is in Austin, and there's a lot of dangerous folks in Austin. There's a lot of dangerous folks, as you say, all over the country. There are. But, Nancy, this person. Okay, and that made a lot of dangerous folks, as you say, all over the country. There are. But, Nancy, this person. Okay, and that made a lot of sense. This is a closed bathroom. This is a small space.

So any kind of shooting that's going to happen inside the bathroom is going to be a close range by definition. This wasn't some sort of mansion. We've already established that. You're just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, we already said that. It's close range. We know that. You know what? Moving forward, I want to get off the fact that this was a targeted shooting, which it was, to a shot reveal about how the feds try to catch down Mariah's killer. But we've just obtained body cam, body cam of the friend, Caitlin

Cash. Let's watch. Let's see what police found at the scene. Do I stop? I don't know what happened. I just walked in on her. Sit up. Okay. Yeah, I had a shot. Nobody heard any shots? You don't know how long she's been down?

No. And that's it. That's it. Yeah. Oh, you got to see yourself from there. You are seeing newly obtained body cam footage of what officers find when they first get there. That's the Austin PD. And you see the terrified look on the friend, Caitlin Cash's, face. Now, we get our first clue as to the identity of the killer.

And I knew she was with my friend Colin. Colin? Yeah. Colin's last name? Colin Strickland. Colin Strickland? Strickland, yeah. Yeah.

They went swimming. Are you guys friends? Yeah. Are friends or, I mean, like, acquaintances? What car do you drive? I don't know what car he drives. He's just a cyclist. A cyclist?

Yeah. Does he live in this drives. He's a cyclist. A cyclist? Yeah. Does he live in this area? He lives in South Austin. Who is Colin Strickland? Right there, as they're standing over the dead body of Mo Mariah, the dirt biker, they get the name Colin Strickland. Listen to Colin Strickland when police go and find him. Colin, is that your first name? Yes. Hey, so, um, do you know Anna? Um, Mo.

Anna and Mo. Yeah, uh, everybody calls her Mo. Um, Monique, last name is Wilson, she's a growl rider. So, there's really no easy way to say this, apparently last night she passed away. how did she right now it's an open investigation but it is being investigated as a homicide Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Back to Troy Slayton, a veteran defense attorney joining us out of LA Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Back to Troy Slayton, a veteran defense attorney joining us out of L.A. Let's see that again as I'm talking to Slayton. This is newly obtained body cam footage. They get the name Colin Strickland. He's a cyclist at the murder scene from The Friend. They find him. This, Troy, is when they go tell him and he learns Mariah is dead.

Watch him because that's what LA law enforcement is doing. They're watching his reaction, Troy. Absolutely. They're looking at everything. They're recording it and they're talking to him. And all of this could be potential evidence. And he doesn't seem that shocked at all. He seems kind of nonchalant, his hands on his hips as he says, oh, do we know how it happened? At first, after he declines saying that he knows who Mo is and he knows.

I disagree with you because he goes, Anna Mo. Yeah, I see what you're saying. But then pretty quickly he goes, yes, I disagree with you because he goes, Anna Moe. Yeah, I see what you're saying. But then pretty quickly he goes, yes, I do. She's a gravel rider. Yes, I do know her. And then they tell him, but I do agree with you. And I'd like to see it control room. I want to judge it just like police did.

He seems, as you say, very nonchalant as they are telling him that Mariah, the woman he just had dinner with in less than 24 hours before, is dead. Straight out to Alexis Tereschuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Alexis, please explain the connection between Mariah Moe, the dirt bike champion, and Colin Strickland. Why are they looking at Colin Strickland? So Colin is a very successful bike rider. Moe was also in this world. They actually had a relationship. They had been dating for a brief while.

And then, so then they were together in Austin, Texas, where he lived. But she was visiting. She had come into town for a bike race. They met up. She was staying with her friend. He took her. They went swimming in Austin and then like a public swimming pool. And then they went out to dinner together. And that is why the police are there, because the girl that she was staying with, Caitlin Cash, is the last person she was with was Colin. They went swimming. They went out together. I know they were together. She's staying with me. And so that's why police went to see Colin. As police retrace Wilson's steps the night she dies, they learn the person

that she had dinner plans with was Colin Strickland, another cyclist and a past love interest. The pair first went for a swim at Deep Eddy Pool. Then it was off to dinner at Pool Burger. After dinner, Strickland dropped Wilson off at her friend's house and went home to the house he shares with his girlfriend. A Texas yoga instructor linked to the shooting death of a standout cyclist. How did U.S. Marshals track the runaway suspect and how does a nose job come into play? Straight back out to Alexis Tereszczuk. Explain what we're seeing, Alexis. So this is a ring camera on a door near right by the Caitlin Cash's house. Caitlin Cash is the friend of Mo Wilson, where Mo was staying when she was in town. What you're seeing is a black Jeep Cherokee and it is driving by and it's daylight here. So you can see it drive by casing the place where Mo was staying.

She's actually staying in the back house of this main house. It's like an apartment in the back of the house. And so that shows two different angles of the same car driving by within seconds of each other. Our investigation shows that before her death, Wilson was in the company of Colin Strickland. The preliminary investigation revealed that Colin dropped Wilson off at 1708 Maple Avenue at approximately 8.36 p.m. Investigators obtained ring camera video from the neighborhood that captured a vehicle at 1708 Maple Avenue

within two minutes of the time Colin dropped off Wilson. It was later discovered that vehicle was registered to Colin's girlfriend, Caitlin Armstrong. Straight out to special guest joining us, Irv Brandt, former senior inspector at the U.S. Marshal Service International Investigations Branch, who has traveled all around the world hunting down bad guys and glam yoga instructors wanted for murder. He is the author of a series of mysteries on Amazon, The Jack Solos, his most recent forever solo, Night of the Dragon. Irv Brandt, she's caught on video circling like a vulture around the home where the victim is staying just before Mariah is murdered. You'd think it should be easy to catch, right?

Well, yes, Nancy, you would assume that, that you have identified a suspect, you have them on camera. So it would be easy, you know, to get that. Yeah. In a perfect world, your mouth to God's ear, right? Well, it didn't work out that way. Listen. The Austin Police Department's TAC Intel unit located Colin at his residence, and he agreed to an interview. Armstrong was transported to the main police station and interviewed. Armstrong was questioned about her vehicle being in the area as pictured on the ring camera. However, she would not confirm or deny being in the area of the murder and quickly terminated the interview.

Okay, let me understand what I'm hearing. Alexis Tereschuk, the glam yoga instructor, Caitlin Armstrong, They brought her in for questioning, right? They let her go. Why did they let her go? Well, it was a big mix up on their part. So there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest that because she had not paid the bill for Botox treatment she had. So the police arrested her, brought her in because of this outstanding warrant. This is the first thing.

They bring her in, they put her in this room to talk to her. Really, they want to talk about what happened with Mo Wilson, Colin Strickland, her boyfriend. Instead, so they say to her, you're not under arrest, you're here because, well, there was this outstanding warrant. However, there was a mix-up on the form

and it said it had a different birth date. So all the police then thought, oh no, this isn't the right warrant for her. So we can't really hold her and we have to let her go. But they kept trying and trying and trying to get her to talk about why her car was seen at Mo Wilson's place. And she refused to say anything. Okay, hold on just a minute. Alexis Tereschuk, too many words. Way too many words, way too many words. So they find out that her boyfriend, Colin Strickland, has dinner with Mo, the murder victim.

And her car yoga guru is circling the murder scene just before the murder. Two plus two, I think still equals four. So bottom line, they get her on an outstanding warrant where she got Botox and went, Oh, I've got the wrong credit card. Let me go get the right one out of the car leaves and never comes back. Then on that warrant, they have the wrong DOB and she slips away. But guess what? I've got newly obtained video of her in the interview. And listen, now we know she murdered Mo over a hamburger with her boyfriend. And this is why she's upset. Listen.

You just arrested me in front of my house, in front of all of my neighbors and carried me in here in handcuffs in front of downtown Austin. It was incredibly humiliating. I can only imagine. Yeah. And I'm so sorry. Joining me right now is special guest Josephine Wenzel. She is Crystal Mitchell's mother. Crystal Mitchell was brutally beaten and murdered by Mr. Wright, R.J. McLeod, a Marine pumped full of steroids who murders Crystal and then absconds, leaves, and goes all around the world. Josephine comes out of retirement, previous detective,

and devotes her life to finding her daughter's killer. Josephine, do you hear what we're saying? Mariah is gunned down multiple times in close quarters. Caitlin Armstrong is brought in on a Botox warrant, and she's whining that she was humiliated when she was arrested? Really? and allow them to let him go or let her run, which is ridiculous. I mean, date of birth, they should have still held her somehow and cleared that up or at least watched her. Let me throw that to our grant. Former U.S. Marshal Irv, a little embarrassed for law enforcement right now. They let her go, which led to this wild goose chase all around the country?

Yes, Nancy, it is embarrassing. Anytime that you're conducting an investigation, like a murder investigation, there's a set of protocols that you go through, and these protocols have to be followed. And you have a defense attorney on the panel, he'll tell you that if the police mess up, that's what they're going to jump on. So they obviously didn't follow the protocols exactly and ended up having to release her. You know what? Let's just have a little refresher, Irv Brandt. I mean, I hate to rub it in your nose how big of a screw up this is. But to Dr. Michelle Dupree, renowned forensic pathologist who shot to the nation's consciousness during the Alex Murdoch trial and the double murders of wife Maggie and son Paul, author of Money, Mischief and Murder, the Murdoch dynasty,

the rest of the story, but for my purposes, the author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Dr. Dupree, could you describe Mariah's wounds? So, yes, Nancy. So, there was a head wound, also a wound to the back of the head, and there was a wound directly to her heart, basically. They were at range. There was sipling on these wounds. They were meant to be lethal. Dr. Dupree, did you say that Mariah was shot in the heart? Yes, she was shot in the chest and the heart. Dr. Dupree, I find it very difficult to believe that someone was accidentally or coincidentally shot in the heart at close range. No, Nancy, this was targeted. This was intentional. These wounds were meant to be lethal. They were close and personal, and they hit the vital places, the head and the heart. Dr. Jeff Kaliszewski joining us, forensic psychologist, author of Dark Sides.

You can find him on YouTube at Dr. Jeff Kaliszewski, forensic psychologist. Dr. Jeff, thank you for being with us. I'm just a trial lawyer. You're the shrink. But I know that there is a psychological implication when a victim is shot in the heart. Right. And like the medical examiner mentioned, this is a very personal murder. It's a very efficient murder. It's done in the apartment, in the bathroom, one way in, one way out. There's no evidence of a struggle. This was an assassination for sure. Given the fact that Mariah, in her 20s, is gunned down, wedged into the bathroom in a tiny space, I want you to hear not only is the glam yoga instructor,

Caitlin Armstrong, whining that she was, quote, incredibly humiliated that she was, quote, incredibly humiliated when she was arrested on her Botox warrant woman. Yet she's humiliated. Listen to what she says when they were asking her about what happened. So what what were you doing yesterday? I would like to leave, I think you would like to leave. Yeah. OK. I would like to leave, I think. You would like to leave? Yeah.

Okay. I would like to leave. I don't actually know, and I would like to leave. Okay. Is there any explanation as far as why the vehicle would be over there? I would like to leave. I'm free to leave. Okay. Did a jealous love rival stalk Mo Wilson?

And who called 911 after the star cyclist was shot? Someone stood directly above and shot her. It's personal. Look up the girlfriend. Caitlin Armstrong. Yoga teacher. We can place her SUV at the murder. This is the biggest case in Texas.

Well, I got to give it to Lifetime with the yoga teacher killer, the Caitlyn Armstrong story. They got that right. That's pretty much the way prosecutors say the whole thing went down before Caitlyn Armstrong vanished into thin air. How did the feds track her? What bizarre ruse did they use to try to find the glam yoga instructor halfway around the world? That was from our friends at Lifetime. But as glamorously as that murder was portrayed in the Caitlin Armstrong story, the story the killer yoga teacher let's have a little dose a little shot of reality take a listen to this the day after cops questioned armstrong she unloads her jeep grand cherokee for twelve thousand dollars to a car max in south austin the same jeep that appears on surveillance video in the area where mo wilson was gunned down police realize caitlyn armstrong is nowhere to be found armstrong that appears on surveillance video in the area where Mo Wilson was gunned down. Police realize Kaitlyn Armstrong is nowhere to be found.

Armstrong is captured on surveillance footage at the ABIA, the Austin Bergstrom International Airport, boarding a flight bound for Houston, then on to New York. After tracking Armstrong to New York's LaGuardia Airport, she seems to vanish into thin air. Armstrong is then dropped off at Newark Liberty International Airport, but no reservations were ever found. And it isn't clear if she simply disappeared again from this airport. Now, how this woman can appear at various airports and then vanish from an Tereschuk, she's spotted at LaGuardia. Then she's spotted at Newark, just walking through the airport very calmly, as calm as she was in that police interview. And then she vanishes. We have her on video and she vanishes, Alexis. So there was no record of her taking any flights out after she lands in New York.

She goes from one airport to the other. However, her sister lived right near this airport. And police then believe that she took her sister's passport. They look fairly similar to each other and fled the country. To Troy Slayton joining us, veteran trial lawyer out of LA. Troy, don't you think it looks worse if and when the killer is apprehended and they go in front of a jury? The jury absolutely can hear evidence of flight. They can hear that this woman somehow managed to elude authorities. They'll find out about the prior

Botox warrant. They'll see the interviews where she wanted to leave. That is not a comment on your right to remain silent. She wanted to leave. They can hear that. And so saying, oh yeah, I was at Walmart. I was at Costco. No, no, no. When she's asked, where were you at the time Mariah was gunned down? She asked to leave. They'll hear that. Then they'll hear she disappeared from Newark airport. Not only will they hear it, but the judge will give an instruction that says that evidence that flight and running is consciousness of guilt. And they may use that evidence as consciousness of guilt.

But, you know, look, I'm not in the business of defending the police here, but the police did the absolute right thing in not holding her on a warrant with a wrong birth date because we don't want to hold people who are not the right people on wrong warrants, not even for one second. So the police did the absolute right thing. The warrant wasn't wrong. The DOB was wrong, but I appreciate you parsing words and splitting hairs. That's what we do, Nancy, to make sure that not even one innocent person suffers the wrath of the government. Troy, you know what? I appreciate you climbing up yet again on your soapbox, but let's be honest about the law.

When there is a minor defect in a warrant, it's been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Remember them up in Washington? The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a minor defect in a warrant, be it search or arrest, does not negate the validity of the warrant. You want me to use the case law to refresh your recollection. This is the wrong birth date.

So there's a lot of people with the same name. By one digit. By one digit. Same name, same description, same height, same weight, same fingerprint, same everything. Just the D.O.B. is off. I'm friends with four Troy Slaytons on Facebook because I thought it was funny. And so just because somebody has the same name doesn't mean that it's the same person. You know what, Troy?

I'm so happy for you that you have friends now on Facebook. But to Josephine Wentzel joining us, her daughter was murdered, Crystal Mitchell, and her killer, jacked up on steroids, goes halfway around and with a serious rap sheet of domestic violence, flees and goes halfway around the world. What do you make of it, Josephine, that Caitlin Armstrong just disappears in Newark's Liberty Airport. Never seen again. It was a minor, like you said, a minor defect, okay? It was a very serious case. What would it have cost her for inconvenience if they held her and made the phone call to find out is this a person or not? It was a very serious case.

Rather than saying, oh, wow, you fit the profile and everything, but you have the wrong date of birth, so we'll let you go. And, you know, there's nothing on the borders to stop criminals from fleeing into other countries, so nobody's alerted that this person wanted is going to flee the country. And that's another issue that I'm pushing, by the way, with the marshals and with the states, and we're taking it to Washington about having an alert to alert us when these people are going to cross over when they're wanted. And then investigators, basically U.S. bounty hunters, the U.S. Marshals, who I hold in great esteem, do some old-fashioned police work. Investigators turned to old-fashioned police work, managing to track down the phone number

of an American businessman they believe had connected with Armstrong at some point. He was sent pictures of Caitlyn and says he's seen her, but she doesn't look like that anymore. She had cut her hair and dyed it red, and she's going by the name Beth. He said he met her at a yoga studio in Jocko. Now to find Caitlyn Armstrong, the so-called glam yoga teacher. How did she vanish in the airport at Liberty International? That's in Newark. How did that happen? The place is like a casino in Vegas.

It's covered. It's blanketed in security cameras. Yet she did it straight out to Irv Brandt. LA law enforcement then gets fixated on the fact that Caitlin Armstrong's sister lost her passport. Then what happened? Well, Nancy, that's the break in the case. When you're hunting a fugitive, you're looking at family members, and the sister said that her passport was lost. Well, a search of the records of the flight records show that there was a flight in her, she, that she booked a flight in her name to Costa Rica. And that led investigators to believe

that it was actually Caitlin Armstrong and not her sister in Costa Rica. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The feds' shock move to hunt down the glam yoga guru in the Love Rival murder? It's revealed. How did they get her? Listen. U.S. Marshals used one of their own female operatives going to yoga classes to see if they could spot Armstrong. Turns out people had seen Armstrong at local spots in San Teresa, but they didn't realize who she was. She was hiding in plain sight using different names like Beth and Ari. Investigators turned to a local Facebook page, taking out an ad for a yoga instructor to see what would happen. After a week, a reply identifying herself as a yoga instructor. Pretending to be a tourist, an investigator goes into a hostel trying to get a

good look at the woman. She resembles Caitlin, but not 100%. As he got close to the woman, he sees a bandage on her nose and her lips are swollen. But the eyes are the same. Now investigators know why they have had so much trouble finding Armstrong. She had been getting plastic surgery. Irv Brandt, this is second verse, same as the first again. And I'm talking about the killer RJ McLeod what is Caitlin Armstrong doing in Costa Rica she's teaching yoga ding ding ding ding

same thing with McLeod so let me understand her brand and the case in chief with Caitlin Armstrong the yoga teacher teacher, the U.S. Marshals, the feds, actually use a female operative. And what does the operative do? Well, the operative is looking for the fugitive and in an area that the fugitive is known to be comfortable with, and that would be teaching yoga. So the spots that yoga teachers would frequent and that area in general. I guess it's not a huge leap to look for her teaching yoga. And then they run into the American businessman, well, they track him down, that states he had seen her, but she didn't look the same and that he had met her in a yoga studio. So again, not a far leap, but to Dr. Michelle Dupree, she was barely recognizable because of plastic surgery that had to hurt.

Yes, Nancy, absolutely. And you know, the swelling of the face and all of this, she's going to heal, but she is going to look different. And she's going to also confuse any facial recognition. Dr. Jeff Kaliszewski, the length this woman went to, that's going to impress a jury. What does that tell you? Well, it's going to impress a jury that she was obviously being deceitful, trying to hide her identity. And then the big question is, why did she feel a need to do that? And that's the kind of question the jury is going to ask. Irv Brandt, is this common?

Irv Brandt has spent his entire career chasing down the bad guys with the U.S. Marshal Service. He's traveled all over the world for them and is now a successful author. I wonder who Jack Solo could be. But that said, we see it in the movies, Irv, but is it common for wanted murderers to actually have plastic surgery, sometimes even trying to get rid of their fingerprints? It is, Nancy. Someone who knows that they're being trapped, they know that they're being followed, that people are looking for them, that their faces have been on the news. The most common thing with fugitive is

to change your facial appearance, whether it's cutting off all your hair, if you have long hair, it's dyeing your hair, if you have red hair, maybe changing it to brown hair, to trying to change some of your facial features. And it usually starts with the nose and to throw off facial recognition. Anything that you can do to hide from the person that you were before. Dr. Dupree, this is very extensive surgery. Did you see those shots? And then she tried to tell somebody she was hitting the nose with a surfboard. Okay, what did all that surgery entail, Dr. Dupree?

Nancy, that's a lot, not to mention the expense of it. But you're basically reconstructing major portions of her face. First of all, this took a long time. And secondly, it was expensive. Alexis Therese Chuck, how was she living? Wasn't she in a youth hostel? She was. She was living in a small beach town in Costa Rica, just a hostel, which is really less than a hotel. And she was really running out of money. So she had sold her car for $12,000. She sold it the day after she murdered Mo, but that money was running out because she spent 7,500 of that on plastic surgery in Mexico to change her. So she was looking for a job. She was trying to get a job

in the hostel. She was trying to get jobs anywhere around town. But the only thing that she was hoping to try to do was maybe to get a job as a yoga instructor. So when there was an ad for a yoga instructor, she immediately jumped at this. A new country, a new nose, and a new job. All pieces of a puzzle that leads to the international arrest of her murderer. The feds' shock move to hunt down the glam yoga guru and her love rival's murder, what did they do? They got a female operative to go undercover and go into the yoga scene in Costa Rica looking for a needle in a haystack. After an American businessman says he's seen Caitlin Armstrong, but she, quote, looked different, that he had met her in a yoga studio. So they send this female operative. I got to hand it to him, Irv Brandt.

They made good after the big boo-boo of local law enforcement letting her slip through their fingers after her Botox warrant and a murder, they get a female operative to go undercover all around Costa Rica until finally she sees a woman that kind of resembles Caitlin Armstrong. That's pretty smart, Irv. Then they placed a yoga ad. Nancy, tricky U.S. Marshals thinking outside the box. And they used an investigative tool, a ruse, a lure, whatever you want to call it. It's a very common technique and it worked. Dr. Jeff Kaliszewski joining us, forensic psychologist and author of Dark Sides. Dr. Jeff, the way she managed to talk her way out of that police interview. The way she managed to finagle her sister's passport and go all around the country, get plastic surgery in Costa Rica

and hide out under an assumed name. But she answered an ad for a yoga teacher? Right. I mean, the term narcissism came up. And how many times on these programs have we talked about killers being tripped up by their own narcissism? She probably thought she got away with it. She thought she took all the right steps, and she thought she was in the clear, and then she opened herself up and made herself more vulnerable.

And kudos to law enforcement. You know, one important rule is to know your suspect well. They obviously knew a lot about her and they knew what kind of bait could pull her out from the shadows and make her vulnerable and expose herself where they could apprehend her. You know, Dr. Jeff, you would think someone that had been this wily like her, like R.J. McLeod, would recognize a, like an ad for a yoga teacher. You want a yoga teacher? Go to the yoga studio. It's one block away. How many are there in Costa Rica? So long story short, they both fell for it. And I believe it's arrogance, as you say, narcissism. It's a false confidence. I'm so wonderful. I'm so tricky. I'm so good at what I just did. I'm in the clear. A false confidence that came back to bite her. I mean, Josephine Wenzel, all those years you were waiting for the U.S. Marshals to find your daughter's killer. How did that feel to you? It was excruciating and it was very frustrating,

especially when COVID happened. And I knew that even if we got a tip then, nobody's going to go over there and look for him. It was very frustrating. I did a lot of, you know, in between time of searching for him, I was writing a lot to Congress, the White House. I was just trying to shake them up in D.C. to like do something here. And then it got to the point where we were getting a lot of tips in and the embassy couldn't respond. So they were like, we're not going to respond to all your tips. So then it became even more frustrating. And I'm like, why am I wasting my time in front of the computer searching if they're not going to check the tips out? And so it was very, very frustrating. But I have to credit

the marshals because they were patient, they were consistent, and they were trying everything they could to respond to all my tips, considering they were not in that country. So it was a very difficult process. In case you're wondering what happens after Caitlin Armstrong is apprehended in Costa Rica and extradited home, well, can a leopard ever change their spots? Listen. Caitlin Armstrong has been locked up in the Travis County Correction Complex since she was brought back from Costa Rica, but she didn't just sit in her cell and gain weight. Caitlin Armstrong decided to take advantage of the time she had in county by working out a lot. Just weeks before her trial was set to

start, Armstrong claimed to have an injury, and she was allowed to go to an outside medical appointment. Armstrong requested that leg restraints not be used on her, and that was granted. Armstrong was escorted to her appointment by two deputies, and when the office visit was over, as she was headed back to the car to go back to jail, Caitlin Armstrong took off running. The deputies gave chase. That's right. Caitlin Armstrong actually running. She faked a doctor's appointment and makes an escape attempt. Some things never change. Caitlin Armstrong convicted in the murder of Mariah. And I advise whatever CI is holding her now, keep a watch on her. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friends. This is an iHeart Podcast.