KAITLING ARMSTRONG MURDER TRIAL
Next witness: Emir Perez, Deputy, US Marshals Service. On 5/18, Perez says APD contacted US Marshals for assistance searching for Armstrong around Austin.US Marshals then concentrated their efforts on Costa Rica. Perez flew their to help with immigration authorities to locate her.
Perez says you have to rely on local resources when conducting international investigations. He said it took "old-fashioned police work." He asked questions, interviewed people, looked around.He began to focus on Santa Teresa, a seaside beach town on the coast of the Costa Rican peninsula. It is small, touristy, with only one paved road.
Perez met with the local authorities and interviewed others in the service industry: waiters, bartenders, hostel owners, management staff. He conducted beach surveillance, looking for Armstrong. "Quite a lot of people matched her demographic," Perez says.
On 6/29, Perez says he got information that she may have been staying at a hostel. He concentrated his surveillance efforts on the hostel. It was at this point he encountered Armstrong. He walked in, noticing Armstrong and a man sitting together on a patio. He said he didn't recognize her at first, but upon getting closer and talking to her, he realized it was her. "It appeared she had a bandage on her nose and her lips looked a bit swollen. The hair we were looking for was lighter, so I wasn't exactly sure.”
Perez began to speak to her in Spanish. When she couldn't respond without a translator, he recognized her based on her eyes. Perez left and alerted the local authorities, who are the ones who needed to make the arrest.
Perez spoke to her under the guise that he was asking for information about the hostel.Perez was watching from a car as local authorities arrested Armstrong. She was then transported to the local jail a block away.
Perez never asked her her name. His partner did. She said her name was Kaitlin Armstrong. Perez says he learned that she was using at least 3-4 different aliases in Costa Rica.
A legal document in Spanish from Costa Rica is being presented to the jury. Perez is being asked to translate it. It says that Armstrong entered Costa Rica illegally, a hearing was held and she was being deported.Perez and Armstrong boarded a plane in San Jose and landed in Houston, Texas. Armstrong was turned over to Customs and Border Protection officials.
No further questions. Defense's turn.Perez confirms he had a personal conversation with Kaitlin. Perez says Kaitlin was polite and friendly. At the local police station, Kaitlin hesitated to give her name, but eventually coughed it up.
Defense asking about the chain-of-custody of Armstrong's belongings found in Costa Rica. Defense wonders how he can be sure that the property handed to him to transported back to the US is truly Kaitlin Armstrong's."I could have looked a little closer into it, but since it had her name and image on it, I confirmed it to be hers," Perez says about the documents/ID/clothes found in the bag.
Perez says that Costa Rica was a great place for the defendant to hide because there were so many American tourists in Santa Teresa.
No further questions. Witness dismissed. We will now break for lunch.Sadly, that also means an end to my live tweets today. Happily, I am heading back home to attend my niece's baptism. No court tomorrow due to the holiday. I expect to be back in the courtroom on Monday.
