I noticed in the press conference that US Deputy Brandon Filla said Armstrong was “exhausted”, and that’s why she divulged her true identity “within minutes” of local police in Saint Teresa questioning her about her passport.
Since she couldn’t have access to her properties or money, and couldn’t see her sister or father, etc., a life in Costa Rica teaching yoga, living in group rooms in hostels, and scrounging from week to week under an alias was probably going to wear thin very soon. Perhaps she’s glad she was caught?
So here’s the contradiction… The Marshal said it took the whole 6-hour trip [presumably to San Jose] before she revealed her true identity.
I guess it went something like this….
—CR gumshoe cops tracked her down and identified she was KA
—CR gumshoes looked at the hostel sign-ins and knew she’d given a false name; these items alone qualified her for breaking the law; I would guess this is a very routine task for local authorities, since they want to keep their area squeaky clean of the “wrong element”
—now they had a proximate cause to grill her
—CR local authorities swooped down on her while she was at Don Juan’s (or whatever it’s called)
—CR local authorities asked her her name
—KA gave them a Martin alias
—CR local authorities dramatically looked her up in their database, knowing full well that name was not on their border entry database
—they ask for papers, knowing full well she doesn’t have a set that matches
—they take her to the local police station
—maybe she tells them now she’s really CA, hoping to forestall the next phase of CR LE process, which they’ve already dangled in front of her
—CR locals can now go into “full treatment for illegals”, load her into a car for the full “using a false name” and a fishy border entry story; time to “hand off to federal immigration authorities”, or that’s what they tell her
—the drive to SJ is 6 hours; she is stuck in the car with them, freaking out, and eventually provides her real name because right now she’s got her sister tangled up in this, and her sister is now going to be in deep doodoo
—at this point, she has an accident which requires a change of shorts when she gets to the CR federal admin building, jail, or whatever that place is with the first photos and the orange T -shirt
—there is an encounter with CR federal LE, perhaps with US embassy folks present; all is super over-the-top by the book, embassy witnesses and all
—she is put in the clink, while the 50 different LE players, including US Marshals get their official verbiage correct, get clean lines between deportation and extradition so a defense attorney can’t pick holes in the process…
—go from here…