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How was fugitive Kaitlin Armstrong caught? She answered U.S. Marshals' ad for a yoga instructor (www.cbsnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave to c/news

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Kaitlin Armstrong is serving 90 years in prison for murdering professional up-and-coming gravel cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson. It's a story that drew international headlines because after being suspected of killing Wilson in Texas, Armstrong vanished -- seemingly into thin air. The search for the suspected killer sparked what would become an international manhunt -- first leading authorities across the United States, and then eventually to the beaches of Costa Rica.

In June 2022, one month after Armstrong disappeared, Deputy U.S. Marshals Damien Fernandez and Emir Perez traveled to Costa Rica. A source told them Armstrong could be hiding out in Santa Teresa. They knew finding Armstrong in the small, tourist-filled village was going to be a challenge -- along the way, Armstrong used multiple identities and changed her appearance -- even getting plastic surgery.

They hit dead end after dead end. After many intense days of searching for Armstrong with no luck, the U.S. Marshals decided to try one last tactic, hoping that her love of yoga would pay off for them.

"We decided we were gonna put an ad out … or multiple ads for a yoga instructor and see -- what would happen," Perez told "48 Hours" contributor Jonathan Vigliotti.

But after almost a week of hunting, even that didn't seem to be working. Perez and Fernandez were about to head back to the States, when suddenly they got a break.

all 40 comments

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[–] [email protected] 167 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Det. Jonathan Riley: … on the night of the murder, Kaitlin Armstrong's phone was not connected to a cell network.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Not connected?

Det. Jonathan Riley: Correct. So, whether she powered it off, whether she put in an airplane mode, uh, there's some something happened that her phone was not communicating with any cellphone towers.

Jonathan Vigliotti: Do you think this was on purpose?

Det. Jonathan Riley: Absolutely … in this day and age, if your phone is off and not connected to a network, you're either the victim of a crime or you're probably committing one.

That's kind of ...disturbing?

[–] [email protected] 74 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Lawyer would tear that argument down in a second.

They won't say that in court

[–] [email protected] 50 points 9 months ago

Well yeah, they have plenty of other evidence in this case. But it does show the mindset of the police in the US.

[–] Copernican 38 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

That's why it's not evidence and not used in court. This is the rationale a detective uses to identify a suspect and begin looking for evidence. And he's outlining that to a reporter that a phone disconnected from a network at the time of a known crime is suspicious.

[–] agent_flounder 8 points 9 months ago

I would hope if they try to use that as probable cause, they will have a bad time.

[–] RubberElectrons 35 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

... Yeah. I agree it's disturbing that they can draw suggestions from that.

E: changed conclusions to suggestions, wasn't fully awake.

[–] Num10ck 26 points 9 months ago (3 children)

battery: 0%

[–] agent_flounder 27 points 9 months ago

Believe it or not, jail.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Obviously a serial killer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

More like battery 100% 😏

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

i got it

[–] JJROKCZ 18 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Yea there are many reasons you could be disconnected, wanting to be left alone, on a plane so on airplane mode.., battery died, etc. They just look for any reason to add more slaves in the prison system.

I’ve seen them add people as suspects to crimes because it was determined they left the house with their phone at home, obviously no one has ever forgotten their phone so they must have left it their on purpose

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Suspect.... Not convict.

So An investigator can check it out. Nothing more

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Well I mostly agree, one issue is putting your phone in airplane mode does absolutely not mean it's disconnected (neither is turning it off, or the battery running out in many cases e.g. iPhones still communicate with the „Find My“ network when your battery runs out or you turn it off). Also, most phones still have reception even when you don't have a connection because for stuff like emergency services your connection is routed over ALL cell towers, not just the ones of your provider. So if you see no bars it doesn't mean you're not communicating with a cell tower.

So to be off the grid the way they're talking about is removing sim + turning it off, or removing the battery. Both of which are rather drastic for „wanting to be left alone“.

I'm not trying to defend their assumptions, I'm just saying their „that person is offline“ is more meaningful than just „he's not receiving my iMessage“ or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

When my phone gets too low I turn it off in case I need it for an emergency

[–] mx_smith 1 points 9 months ago

Actually you can buy a privacy bag from Amazon which is used by law enforcement and blocks all EMP and Radio signals, I got one for the holidays and it works really well.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nobody would ever be convicted of murder solely because their phone was off. But anything can be used by investigators as a prompt to suspect someone and conduct further investigations. And that's fine by me. If you read the article there's a ton of other clues that were adding to make Armstrong interesting, it wasn't just the phone.

[–] Wolf_359 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah, it can't be the whole puzzle, but if a chronically-online person disconnects the one night they are also linked to a murder in a bunch of other ways, it can be a piece of that puzzle.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Me who's been playing a video game all weekend and hasn't bothered to look at my dead phone for 16 hours: ... what....?

[–] theachievers 12 points 9 months ago

well clearly you're guilty. Hang on a second while we check the cold case files to pin something on you.

[–] partial_accumen 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Det. Jonathan Riley: Absolutely … in this day and age, if your phone is off and not connected to a network, you’re either the victim of a crime or you’re probably committing one.

That’s kind of …disturbing?

Theoretical reporter asks: "Detective, is it possible the battery died because of heavy phone use that day or an old phone with a worn out battery that doesn't hold a long charge?"

Theoretical Det. Jonathan Riley: "Absolutely not; victim of a crime or you’re committing one. Those are the only two possible outcomes."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is why I ordered a clockwork pi. I want to be portable, connected, but on my terms.

[–] ripcord 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hmm, sounds interesting. What is it exactly?

Their website seems to be trying to pitch something called a uConsole that I also don't really get the point of, but I'm guessing that's not what you're talking about about.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's exactly what I'm talking about. The uconsole I ordered has an open cellular modem and I'm planning on getting all my messaging working through matrix bridges. Good luck trying to monitor me.

[–] ripcord 1 points 9 months ago

Huh. Guess I'll have to read up on it more, but the pages I saw on the site seemed really vague about what I'd actually want to use it for.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It's funny, the US Marshalls interviewed for this are extremely forthright in explaining their methods, but clam up and say they "can't explain these methods" as soon as they have any leads relating to cell phones. Probably because they're using the US's vast warrantless surveillance system to pull any possible info they can on her.

For example, they "track[ed] down the phone number for an American businessman they believed had connected with Armstrong at some point," and are cagey about how they got that number. I'd bet that they pulled her phone records and started cold calling everyone she's ever contacted through her cell phone until they got someone who could give them a lead.

Later, they set up the fake yoga instructor ad, and mention that they're tracking the phone location of the person who answered the ad to make sure they're at the sting location.

It's crazy that even with all those "methods the Marshalls won't go into," they almost gave up on finding her.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago

They're using Pegasus. Everyone is using a version of it, even private enterprise now.

The digital spying capabilities of some of America's allies and enemies dictates more policy than we'll ever know.

[–] MataVatnik 8 points 9 months ago

Yeah I reread that section two times because i thought I missed something considering how big of a gap that is on the story

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

On the plus side, none of those mystery methods can be used to provide evidence in actual court. The defense would be able to dig into them if they did.

[–] breakingcups 16 points 9 months ago

Still, parallel reconstruction is a very dangerous thing for society.

[–] theachievers 22 points 9 months ago

The only thing she didn't do to escape justice was declare presidential immunity.

[–] WidowsFavoriteSon 19 points 9 months ago

The one thing she did wrong was not frame the boyfriend. Prosecutors would have eaten him alive.

[–] Viking_Hippie 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing she doesn't like pina coladas and wonder whether it was raining when she got caught..

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

under appreciated response

[–] Viking_Hippie 3 points 9 months ago

Thanks 😁

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Invisible Choir podcast did an episode about this case, for anyone interested!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

https://youtu.be/a7J7djFkiX8

Movie based on a similar true story