Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Glam Yoga Teacher Says 'NOT GUILTY' of Love Murder, Secret Life Revealed

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Kaitlin Armstrong's trial for the murder of Moriah “Mo” Wilson is set for October. Armstrong entered a plea of not guilty and now her attorney is laying out her defense....cast doubt about the prosecution’s case against his client.   Attorney Rick Cofer has demanded a speedy trial for Armstrong and entered multiple motions for evidence from the prosecution.  The prosecution says both sides are still waiting on evidence.   Cofer has also raised questions about the police investigation and whether cops ignored the possibility of another suspect.    Joining Nancy Grace Today: Nicole Deborde Hochglaube - Criminal Defense Lawyer (Houston TX), Former Prosecutor, Twitter: @debordelaw, HoustonCriminalDefense.com Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy (Miami Beach, FL), Panthermitigation.com, Twitter: @TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology" Irv Brandt - Former US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Author: "FLYING SOLO: Top of the World" available on Amazon IrvBrandt.com, Twitter: @JackSoloAuthor  Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan",   Alexis Tereszcuk - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter, Writer/Fact Checker, Lead Stories dot Com, Twitter: @swimmie2009    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The so-called killer yoga teacher, why won't she go away? Well, she's not going anywhere. And as a matter of fact, in the last days, she has popped up again in court. Think back. Think back in your mental time machine. Remember the beautiful, young, world-class dirt bike rider, Mariah, aka Mo Wilson, just 25 years old, scrubbed in sunshine, beautiful smile, real outdoors girl. She's dead. Why? Because she had the audacity to go on a date with the killer yoga teachers, cheating boyfriend. Like, who wants

him? Who wants a cheater? Man, I'd send him home to mommy, C-O-D, but that's not what happened. In the last hours, as I just mentioned, the killer yoga teacher, Caitlin Armstrong, in court demanding not only a jury trial, but a speedy jury trial. This as we piece together what we have learned about her life on the run. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Man, this girl wants it all. Take a listen to our friends at GMA.

She's the former yoga teacher turned accused killer and fugitive but Caitlin Armstrong says she's not guilty miss Armstrong wants her day in court she wants a trial Armstrong entering that plea during a brief court appearance Wednesday in Austin her attorney claiming some reported details in the case are not accurate. Simply put, there is a lot more to this story than has yet been heard. She's charged with first-degree murder, accused of fatally shooting pro cyclist Anna Mo Wilson in May. Mm-hmm. Okay, did you hear that?

Some details are not accurate that you've heard on the press. Why are lawyers, defense lawyers, always so worried about what's being said in the press? Think about it. O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake, so many others whose stories were covered heavily in the press, Michael Jackson, did not affect the jury at all. I guess some of those facts may be not accurate, but what seems to be accurate is that she gunned down Mariah, who was trapped in a bathroom. With me, and I'll start paying to make sense of what we know right now, but first I want to go to Alexis Tereszczuk, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter on the case. Alexis, tell me about her court appearance. So her court appearance happened not days after Mo was murdered, but six weeks later

because she fled the country, Nancy. She disappeared. Police questioned her immediately after Mo was found murdered. They noticed that her Jeep was seen on security footage right at the crime scene. So the police called her in. They questioned her. They said, you know, this doesn't look good. And she had really no answer. She stammered through it. There was a fluke. She was released and she disappeared.

She took a flight to New York City. Nobody ever saw her again. However, the investigators, the FBI was involved, the Texas Rangers, the U.S. Marshals, they tracked down, they believe she used her sister's passport. Her sister was living, I think, in a yoga commune in New York. Sister 9 Christine or Christina. And she used her passport to fly to Costa Rica where she hid out for 43 days. So on the run. That is not a story that is disputed. This is a very, very glamorous yoga teacher.

Beautiful. I don't know why she was all worked up over a cheating boyfriend. Really? I just want to show you how she goes from this beautiful, golden-haired, long, she looks like a model, to this. She looks like Cousin It. She's walking out. Guys, for those of you that can't see this, this is her walking out after she was captured in Costa Rica,

eluding federal authorities all over the world. And her hair is now brown, cut to her shoulder. And she's got it pulled over her face like Cousin It. So, did she have the Cousin It appearance in court? And you know who i'm thinking about i'm thinking thinking about laurie vallow cult mom laurie vallow uh who was so worried about her appearance in court that she made lip gloss joe scott morgan i hate to call on all of your forensic skills for this but how did she make the lip gloss i forgot it was jolly ranchers yes yes yeah okay forget you I forgot. Oh, Jolly Ranchers? Yes. Jackie is here in the studio

going, yes, it was Jolly Ranchers. She made the bright pink ones. I know them intimately because my children are hooked on them. She made lip gloss out of Jolly Ranchers and I guess some lotion.

And then, of course, this is your bailiwick, Alexis Drozdch teres chuck jody arias i hate to even say the name i feel like she's gonna pop up in the corner somewhere in a poof of green smoke but and call us bad names yes and she burns at me again but alexis teres chuck do you remember and and this she had to know the cameras were running she's charged with stabbing her lover Travis Alexander in the shower about 30 times actually Alexis it was more than 30 times it's just that the stab wounds were overlapping each other and you really couldn't tell how many there were and then she kept it off by shooting him in the head and leaving him to rot in the shower, the damp shower. Remember her? Well, she insisted against her lawyer's advice and doing interview after interview

after interview. And they would always catch her primping and putting on her lipstick and her powder. I'm like, woman, you could face the death penalty. Stop with the lip gloss and the powder. Same thing here. I want to hear about Caitlin Armstrong at her arraignment. Now, it was a video arraignment, correct? Yes. So her hair is different. And this is what I really noticed about it.

So in her, what she looked like before the crime, before the murder, she had red curly hair. I don't know that I would call it red. I think I would call it copper. Blonde. Okay. Now, I've never had this happen to me, but I've seen it in commercials, and apparently it's true. Her hair before actually kind of glows. It's so shiny and beautiful. And then somehow she switched everything, including a nose job. I mean, I'm certainly no MD, but I can tell a nose job when I see one right there. I mean, I guess it was to look more like her sister's nose in her passport. I'm just guessing, extrapolating based on the evidence. And of course, none of this is going to matter to a jury, but it matters to me that she's working so hard to obtain a different look, like a chameleon. Like you remember, again, Jodi Arias, the bottle blonde, then went with dark

brown hair and a pair of fake glasses for the jury. They did not fall for that. Well, and that's exactly what Kaylin has done. So she went from the golden hair to just one tone brown hair. She flipped her part, which to me, you know, that's actually kind of hard to do for your hair. Oh, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. Hold on just a moment. Irv Brandt. Wait a minute.

Did you hear Alexis Tereshchuk? I think she better join you at the U.S. Marshals Service International Investigations Branch. Brandt also authored a flying solo, Top of the World on Amazon. Because did you hear Tereschuk? Yes, ma'am. She had that detail. She flipped her part. I did not notice that, but you're right.

And why all the changing the appearance of Brant? Jump in. Well, it's just like you were saying that she's going to change her appearance to match the passport photo as closely as she can when she traveled out of the country. Then, of course, a fugitive wants to change their appearance. People are looking for a blonde or a redhead. Then, of course, you dye your hair and part your hair differently and maybe not carry the yoga mat on your back. Hit, hit. She obviously didn't do that because they found her in a yoga studio.

You know, what we're talking about is the fact that in the last days, the so-called killer yoga teacher, this glamorous yoga teacher that had her own studio in Texas, also we find out was a real estate broker, disappears after murdering, according to prosecutors, her love rival, all over a cheating boyfriend. That said, the chameleon aspect of her personality is coming forward yet again. Not only did she change her appearance to go on the run, but now in court again. And I have to wonder the motivation. She's currently being held in Travis County Jail at $3.5 million bond. But why was she in court? Listen to this. Our friends at KXAN. Well, we heard from Armstrong's attorneys for the first time today. They are poking holes in the Austin Police Department's investigation. And again, they did ask for a speedy trial today after Armstrong pleaded not guilty.

The judge did not allow cameras inside of the courtroom to capture Armstrong walking in wearing a striped jail outfit with that altered short brown hair we've seen in more recent mugshot photos. A speedy trial demand? Oh, let me tell you what that means. First, take a listen to Grace Reeder, KXAN. The state said they've got more than 100 murder trials backlogged right now because of the pandemic and said it seemed privileged to send Armstrong to the front of the queue. Armstrong's attorneys disagreed. What you saw in that courtroom today was illuminating. Ms. Armstrong wants her day

in court. She wants a trial. And you heard the district attorney threaten sanctions over her desire for a trial. As a matter of course, cases should not be indicted if prosecutors are not prepared to proceed. That's what it means. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Straight out to Nicole DeBoer, Hodge Globe, high-profile criminal defense attorney, joining us out of that jurisdiction, Texas, former prosecutor. She's at HoustonCriminalDefense.com.

Nicole, as a prosecutor, it would make me so angry when I would get a demand for speedy trial. And I'll tell you why. Just like these prosecutors, we've got a hundred murder cases in each courtroom. Let's see, at the time I was prosecuting, there were 12 or 18 superior court trial courts. And there would be one lead prosecutor assigned to each courtroom. And your duty was to move the cases, but fairly, and to never have a high jail count. What's a jail count? That means how many people are sitting in jail waiting for trial while you twiddle your thumbs back at the courthouse. No. As a matter of fact, Nicole, you'll love this story. I had the oldest judge at the courthouse, 87, Luther Alverson.

I loved him. He wanted to prove he was fit as a fiddle, so he would make me make sure we had the lowest jail count every month. We would wait on pins and needles when the jail count would come out, which means I was on trial every other week to keep those cases moving. So you got a hundred murders, let's just say 200 rapes, a hundred child molestations, who knows how many drug lords you got to put away. And then Ms. Thing jumps up and demands a speedy. She just got indicted. But once a speedy trial is demanded under our constitution, if you don't try the case within that term, that grand jury term of X number of weeks, then you have an automatic acquittal if you don't try it on time. It's like a game show.

If you don't punch the button in time, you lose the whole pot. You know, it's a huge problem right now, exactly as you've described. But imagine all of what you've said compounded with the COVID trial backlog, because many courts, quite simply, could not get enough jurors or just could not get into the courtroom. So you have people who are currently languishing all over the state and really all over the United States in jail, waiting for their day in trial, not because somebody is trying to stall, but because there were no resources to bring people to trial. Well, as I always said, I'm glad somebody has a dog joining us today. I'm a dog lover.

Guys, a speedy trial demand. When I would get one, I would always say, be careful what you ask, for you will surely get it. And I would put that trial number one, even if it was the next week on the trial calendar, and we would go to trial. Never lose a case because of a speedy trial demand. And in this case, there's going to be a lot of intricate evidence. Everyone, for those of you just joining us, a so-called killer yoga teacher in court in the last days demanding a speedy trial. Take a listen to our friend Grace Reeder. Armstrong's attorneys

and the state argued about when she should go before a jury. Ms. Armstrong wants her day in court. She wants a trial. Judge granted that request. Again, this trial will happen in October. Armstrong's attorneys did not answer questions today, but they did say that they believe APD did not follow up on all leads, including one about Wilson's ex-boyfriend. We did reach out to the Austin Police Department. They say they do not comment on pending litigation. I wonder what that means. A lead about the ex-boyfriend. I guess we're all talking about Colin Strickland, the so-called cheating boyfriend.

But hey, you know what? That's not a felony to cheat. That means you got a bad boyfriend. A lot of blame has been placed on him. He's just a cheating boyfriend, not engaged, not married. He didn't break the law. So I guess what they're going to try to do, Dr. Sherry Schwartz, you're the forensic psychologist. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, author of Criminal Behavior and Where Law

and Psychology Intersect. And boy, do we need a shrink. Dr. Schwartz, so this is, I guess, this game where you point the finger at everybody else in the mix. Maybe they can make the jury dislike the boyfriend so much they may think that he's somehow responsible for murdering Moe. Absolutely. That's probably very much the strategy, right? If they can, they may think that if they can successfully get the public and the jury to really dislike Colin Strickland,

that maybe they'll blame him. But unless there's evidence to support that he actually had anything to do with Mariah Wilson's murder, that's going to fall flat. I could see a defense being formulated where she, the yoga teacher, Caitlin Armstrong, think about this, Jackie, Sydney, listen to this. What do you think? I'm just trying it out. I certainly don't want to give the defense any ideas. But they've got their client caught on video going round and around the home

where Mariah is murdered in her friend's place. They see her going around and around on video surveillance from the neighborhood. Then they find Mariah Moe dead in the bathroom, obviously cornered in the bathroom. They find the murder weapon at yoga teacher's place that she shared with the boyfriend. The boyfriend had bought the gun previously, he says, for her. So it's his gun found at his place. And she has the excuse that she was angry and jealous and stalking them, following them. But that is not a killer make. Oh, yeah.

Oh, I wish I hadn't even said it. It's like I let this evil thought out. Hey, guys, I could see that actually having a leg to stand on. What about it, Nicole? I think it's a tough sell, and I think that's exactly why this defense team has asked for a speedy trial in this case. It doesn't seem like the kind of fact scenario that gets better with time, like fine wine. I think that this is going to be a circumstance where they need to do what they can quickly, come together with a cohesive theory. What do you think about that theory?

I like it. I think it's something to say. I mean, they've got to say something. They got to blame somebody and the gun is at his place. He bought the gun. But is it real? Guys, take a listen to Shannon Ryan at Fox 7. After the hearing, Armstrong's attorney, Rick Coffer, pointed fingers at the Austin Police Department, accusing two officers involved of being inexperienced in the department of, quote, seemingly ignoring a tip that cast suspicion on someone else. The police have a vested interest in painting a picture that supports

their initial assumptions and actions. Also in court Wednesday, Armstrong's sister, her passport was recovered at the Costa Rican hostel Armstrong stayed in after fleeing the United States. Okay, I see the defense shaping up right now. Alexis Torres, shotcrimeonline.com investigative reporter. They're going to blame the boyfriend, the cheating boyfriend, Colin Strickland. They're going to blame the cops, as in OJ Simpson's case, claiming there was some big conspiracy to frame a beloved football star. Blame the boyfriend, blame the cops, and blame the sister.

Not for the murder, but for what? Sticking her passport and the yoga teacher's belongings to make it look like the yoga teacher didn't actually use that passport to travel? Right. The boyfriend, he did not disappear. He didn't flee the country under his sibling's passport. She is the one that did that. He met with the police repeatedly.

He talked to them. He, in fact, was hiding out from her, from Caitlin, because he was so afraid of her. And it wasn't, he didn't turn her in or anything. This came as a tip from someone else. He isn't even the one that planted the idea with the cops. He didn't say, well, gosh, my girlfriend maybe murdered the girl I was cheating on her with. This was a friend of hers called the police and said, look, she's been talking crazy about this lady for a couple of months now. She's really obsessed with

her because the boyfriends, because they had been together months earlier. And he didn't disappear. He didn't hide in Costa Rica pretending to be in a surfing accident. You know another thing that's going to help her, the yoga teacher, see this is how you try a case, I think. You don't only get your case ready, you anticipate what the other side is going to do and you think of ways to destroy it. Another thing that could help Caitlin Armstrong, the yoga teacher, is that he was lying that night about being with Mariah in text. What he was doing, I think, was lying because he wanted to get romantic with Mariah and he didn't want Caitlin, the yoga teacher, to find out.

They could paint it as if he were lying because he was planning to or did kill her. Now, I think the forensics are going to show something entirely different when we see the pings on their phones, the nav system on their cars. I think it's going to show the cheating boyfriend went home straight from Mariah's place and was there alone. And that killer yoga teacher, Caitlin Armstrong, was back at Mariah's committing murder. So now we have the yoga teacher fresh off hiding out in Costa Rica in court demanding a speedy trial. Listen to our cut 82 Fox 7. There is a lot more to this story than has yet been heard. We will file motions challenging this investigation and challenging the conduct of the Austin Police Department. Right now, it's unclear if Armstrong and her attorneys will return to court before that jury

trial. That was the subject of intense debate today because, again, that trial is so soon it's just three months away and also from rick coffer he is caitlin armstrong's defense attorney listen but we have some questions why did the austin police department seemingly ignore a tip about the former boyfriend of miss wilson why did the austin police department present inaccurate and misleading information to a judge when seeking an arrest warrant of Ms. Armstrong? Did the inexperience of two key officers assigned to this case play a role in its apparent mishandling? Who vandalized the home of Caitlin Armstrong and Colin Strickland the night of Wilson's death? And why?

We see exactly where the defense is headed. And I don't know what their game is, what they're playing at. But I remember of the many things I learned from our elected district attorney, Mr. Slayton, never speak to the press. Because now they've basically laid out their whole strategy. If I can figure it out right here in this studio, you don't think the prosecution has figured it out? And now they're going to be working day and night to refute the claim. They're really giving the other side their playbook. Guys, let's go. Speaking of the prosecution, what are they doing right now? Take a listen to

our cut 88, our friends at Climb Online. Prosecutors in Caitlin Armstrong's murder trial have applied for a subpoena for Armstrong's medical records. When Armstrong returned to the U.S. from Costa Rica, she was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston. The subpoena includes a request for emergency room records, EMS reports, blood tests, CT scans, and blood alcohol content. The request may be related to accusations that Armstrong had a nose job during her days as a fugitive. When Armstrong was taken into custody, U.S. Marshals said she had a bandage on her nose. The yoga instructor claimed the injury was from a surfing accident, but investigators found a receipt for $6,000 in plastic surgery made out to another

name in her possession. Joining me right now, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of a brand new hit series on iHeart, Body Bags, with Joseph Scott Morgan. Joseph Scott, what do you make of these medical tests they're having performed on the yoga teacher? Yeah, it's kind of like looking at the rings of a tree. If you cut it down, you can go back in time and see what has happened relative to her. You know, Costa Rica is known as kind of a medical destination if you want to get these kind of procedures done. See, I didn't know that.

I thought it was all about sloth trails and volcanoes. No, you go there and, you know, you can pick up. I mean, check it out. You know, she's allegedly, allegedly gone and gotten a nose job. And, you know, some of the imaging that they're going to do, you know, relative to these reports that they've requested, like if a surgeon has gone in and has adjusted, say, the bony structures in the nose, the cartilage or anything, you're going to be able to pick that up. They're going to get a radiologist. They're going to get a guy that reads x-rays, and they're going to put them up on a board, and not just the x-rays, but any other kind of imaging. And they're going to be able to parse this out, if you will, and they'll be able to take a look at it. And it's going to be quite fascinating. And I got to tell you, one more thing that's fascinating about this is they're talking about, well, what do they have? What do they have?

The defense. I can tell you something very specifically about what they have. Mo was murdered on the 11th. Did you know that by the time I guess it was the 17th, the 17th. The crime lab had already matched up, had already matched up the shell casings and said that within a reasonable certainty that those shell casings came from that Sig Sauer that Strickland specifically bought for her

and that she had gone back and apparently placed it back in the house. So this is a weapon that he had bought. I think it was in like January for her. He had bought one back in December. And so her weapon is the one that was used. And the Department of Public Safety has tied that back to that specific weapon. They're going to have a hard time climbing up this hill.

But again, he bought the weapon. He says the weapon was for her. It's his weapon. I'm just putting it out there because I know that's where they're headed. But I got to ask you a question about how I can look at a CAT scan and determine if someone had a surfboard accident and broke their nose as opposed to having plastic surgery. Joe Scott. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, if OK, let's think about the surfboard premise, you Scott? Oh, yeah, yeah.

Well, okay, let's think about the surfboard premise. You know, as they're putting forward, that would be what we would call blunt force trauma, all right? So that means you've got the board with the leading edge probably slapping in to the bridge of her nose, if you will, okay? So that's going to cause very un-uniformed trauma. If a surgeon has gone in there and they've used their tools, remember, these people are highly trained. You mean jagged. It won't look even.

Jagged. It will be very jagged if it's blunt force trauma. It's nonspecific. Surgeons are not nonspecific. All right. They create these little neat margins when they go in. And anybody that has any radiology training, they can look at that and say, nah, this isn't blunt force trauma. This is something that one of our colleagues down the road has done at some point in time.

Yeah, the state's going to have to show the x-rays what it would have looked like if it had been a surfboard accident, as opposed to the neat and precise maneuverings of a plastic surgeon. And also, they've got to get down to Costa Rica and find the plastic surgeon. I mean, they've got the receipt. It shouldn't be that hard. Hey, Irv Brandt joining me, former U.S. Marshal Service International Investigations Branch, author of Flying Solo, Top of the World on Amazon.

He's at IrvBrandt.com. Irv, please don't get Alexis and I, well, forget her. Don't get me wrong. I'm not interested in her hair color or her makeup or her nose job. Fashion means nothing to me. The reason I'm interested is it shows just like when Scott Peterson dyed his hair and went on the run. Or serial killer Margaret Rudin, the black widow, changed her appearance and lived a double life on the other side of the country after murdering her husband. I mean, it goes on and on. I'm interested because it shows me deceit, flight. Of course, a prosecutor can't get it charged to a jury from the judge about flight indicating guilt, but it can still be argued to a jury. I mean, Irv, if a state trooper comes up behind me and I'm going 80 miles an hour,

I may tap on the brakes, but I'm certainly not going to take off and hide out in Costa Rica. So why did she? It's evidence of guilt. Hence the nose job, the cutting the hair, the dyeing the hair, the hiding out, all of that shows evidence of guilt. Help me, Irv. Correct, Nancy. And like you said, there's evidence to be gathered in Costa Rica, maybe interviewing the doctor, obtaining the medical records. The United States has a extradition treaty with Costa Rica, and that's important when it comes to evidence gathering, because the prosecutors in this case, in Austin, can put in a request through the Office of International Affairs for a bilateral request

through the treaty to collect evidence and have it brought back to the United States, which, like you said, would prove flight to avoid prosecution. We also have evidence that is just now being developed regarding the so-called killer yoga teachers' movements and actions while on the lamp. What, if anything, do they prove? Take a listen at our cut 73, our friends at GMA. Police say Armstrong considered Wilson a love rival, believing Wilson was involved with a man that Armstrong was seeing.

Authorities say days after Wilson's death, Armstrong fled on a series of flights, eventually arriving in Costa Rica using someone else's passport, possibly even getting a nose job to change her appearance. Once there, they say she began taking yoga classes using multiple aliases. She really was going to these yoga studios and taking those classes to where we believe she was trying to become some type of instructor. Yeah, there's some talk of surf yoga. So we're learning now about the aliases, her nose job, her movements in Costa Rica. But take a listen to this guy on GMA.

Zachary Paulson says he was at the hostel where Armstrong was staying when Costa Rican police detained her. Asking about how to get around cheaper and then the police came. Among Armstrong's belongings, authorities say they found a receipt for cosmetic surgery with someone else's name and her sister's passport, but also several of Armstrong's real documents, her passport, social security card and COVID vaccination card. So we're learning, especially from this guy, Zachary Paulson, about her plans to live on the run in Costa Rica. Take a listen now to our friends at KVUE. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, while in Costa Rica, Caitlin Armstrong was using aliases like Beth Martin at the hostel she was staying at, along with signing in for yoga classes.

We also learned that to get to Costa Rica on May 18, she flew out of Newark International Airport a day after a murder warrant was issued for her. Accusing her of killing Anna Mariah Wilson, U.S. Marshal of Service says that she was using a fraudulent passport not belonging to her. It belonged to someone closely associated with her. We learned that to get to Costa Rica, she flew out of Newark. That's going to be caught on camera there was a lot of confusion about where she went how she got there and what name under what name she was traveling what more do we know about her life on the run in costa rica

take a listen our friends at kvue while in cost Costa Rica, U.S. Marshal Service says she used three aliases, Beth Martin, Liz, and Ari Martin. It was also discovered that Caitlin Armstrong had changed her appearance and a receipt for plastic surgery and passports were found in a lockbox at a that she was trying to really enhance her yoga instruction with some type of yoga at a retreat to where she was going to specialize in some type of surf yoga so she was really educating herself Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To you, Nicole DeBoer, Hotch Globe, a high-profile lawyer joining us out of the Texas jurisdiction. How does all this factor in to the trial? What we're learning about her changing appearance and her movements in Costa Rica, how will the state and or the defense use these facts at trial? We're not

just passing the time of day like we're playing a game of canasta. All of this is evidence that once marshaled can be used at trial. How? Absolutely. This is such a huge gift to the prosecution in the case where if the defense is right, they still may be putting some of the pieces of the puzzle together. But what they do know is that this woman who they have circumstantial, at least, evidence to connect her to the crime, immediately went through some fairly complicated machinations to get her to the crime, immediately went through some fairly complicated

machinations to get out of the country, did quite a lot to change her appearance, and even started trying to gather up the resources to begin what seems like a new life in a foreign country. And all of this is relevant when it might not otherwise be relevant in a case because it goes to show consciousness of guilt. And so what that means is that the judge wouldn't normally let evidence in about things that really weren't connected to the actual moment of the crime or the crime itself. But what the laws and rules of evidence say is that if you have actions that immediately follow or follow closely to the facts of the crime that's alleged, that show that you're aware that you need to be escaping or leaving or have consciousness of your guilt, that that will

be relevant and can come before a jury. So this is a huge gift to the prosecution, unfortunately, for the defense and the defense is going to have to marshal their resources to try to keep it out or to dispute it. Guys, I want you to take a listen to our cut 64. This is Lisa Guerrero from Inside Edition. And from it, we learn that the so-called killer yoga teacher, just a glamorous yoga teacher, seemingly with everything that anyone would want in life, health, beauty, a great practice, she had a long-term plan for life after murder.

Listen. U.S. Marshals say Armstrong was trying to build a new life in the remote beach town. It looks that she retreated back to her hobby, her career, being in the yoga practice. We believe that she was trying to learn some type of new yoga, possibly to instruct. Up these stairs here is the yoga deck where they do yoga here. What kinds of things did she do to her appearance? She cropped her hair about shoulder length and she dyed it dark brown. Before we get too wrapped up in her hair color and her nose job let's hearken back to what this case is really about. To Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator,

let's talk about the way that this young woman, Mariah Wilson Moe, was found dead, cornered in a bathroom, murdered. Hit it. Yeah, she's, you know,

you walk into the scene and trust me, when they went in and she's in a bathroom, all right, her bathroom. And it gives you the impression at least that she's retreated, you know, to this location. Perhaps she came to the door unaware what's going to happen. There's no sign, you know, when they got there that there's any evidence of forced entry in this environment. There's no sign of, say,

for instance, a struggle. Well, what does that imply? Well, I think that one of the things that you can kind of walk away with is that somebody's got a gun in your face at that point in time. How do you get somebody to comply like this? You've got this woman that's raging. She shows up. She's got a handgun, and she's wielding it, and she directs you back to that bathroom,, she's got a handgun and she's wielding it and she directs you back to that bathroom or she's retreated there out of fear and she's captured in that moment. There's nowhere to run. And at that point in time, she starts to fire rounds off at this young woman and she's going to be dead right there on the spot. The upside, if there can be relative to forensics here, is that everything in that environment is contained. That is that when you go into that environment, you can pick up on blood evidence. You can pick up, remember we

talked about the casings just a little while ago. All that stuff's contained because the perpetrator did not take the time to pick these casings up after they went into the bathroom and shot these rounds into her body. So Dr. Sherry Schwartz joining us, forensic psychologist specializing in criminal behavior. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, a grown woman that cannot control her impulse. Impulse is driven by rage, the desire to possess the boyfriend, anger, obsession. Mariah was shot, this 25-year-old girl was shot multiple times while cornered in the bathroom. What does that tell you?

Well, there's a couple of things there. One of the things that we don't diagnose very often, but it is becoming more and more recognized, is obsessive love disorder, right? Where this person has a constant need for validation from the person they love. They are obsessively keeping track of this person. They ignore personal boundaries. They're controlling extreme jealousy. It could also be accompanied by or in place of borderline personality disorder, which is actually very similar. The manifestations would be very, very similar, just that with borderline personality disorder, it's more observable,

the extreme emotional swings, chronic feelings of emptiness, explosive anger. And it all culminates in an unarmed woman being shot multiple times. So is this for real, Alexis Treschuk? We're going to trial in October. That's what her attorney wants. He says that she doesn't want to sit in jail. She wants to go. She's ready to say that everybody else did it except her.

Well, I've got my seatbelt buckled. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.