A Pennsylvania teenager told police “demons” prompted him to fatally stab his girlfriend, a college soccer player, before his mother helped him clean up the crime scene and move the victim’s body, authorities said Thursday.
Karoline Heintz, a freshman defender at Division II PennWest California, was found dead in the back of a Jeep Cherokee at about 12:24 a.m. Thursday near the California Public Library, roughly 35 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh, officials said.
Before Heintz was found, law enforcement had begun a welfare check on the freshman after family members reported that “she never made it to the university,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Rocco Gagliardi told reporters.
Investigators believe that hours earlier Heintz had “met with her boyfriend, Royce Moser, outside his father’s residence in North Strabane to talk,” according to a statement from Pennsylvania State Police.
Moser, 18, got angry, went inside the house, grabbed a large kitchen knife and stabbed Heintz to death in the chest, police said.
“We believe it (the murder) was originally the result of a domestic situation,” Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh told reporters.
The suspect then put her body in the Jeep’s rear hatch and drove to his mother’s residence in Beallsville, police said.
There, Rachel Moser wiped down the Jeep with cleaning sprays and gave her son latex gloves, instructing him to follow her to the university, according to police. The two then “left the Jeep Cherokee near the California Public Library with Karoline Heintz still inside,” police said.
Rachel Moser then drove her son back to her home, where he cleaned his clothes and showered, police said.
The mother later told investigators that her son admitted to attacking Heintz, according to a police affidavit supporting the arrests.
“She further related that Royce told her he had ‘demons’ and they told him to hurt the victim,” the court document states. “He further related to her that he didn’t know if the victim was ‘dead or alive.’ ”
The victim was sitting in her car in the driveway when the suspect asked her to wait — then went inside to get the knife he’d use in the attack moments later, according to the affidavit.
“During the conversation he got angry by something she said to him but he could not remember what,” the affidavit said.
“He then had a ‘demon take over’ him and tell him to stab Karoline. He told her, ‘Wait, I have something for you,’ and went inside the residence to get a knife. He then came back outside and stabbed her in the chest.”
Heintz had left her home in nearby Peters Township at about 9:30 p.m., her father told police.
He later “checked his daughter’s s location on his phone and noticed that she stopped at her boyfriend’s house” where her devices remained for about 30 minutes, the affidavit said.
Surveillance footage captured the suspect wearing blue latex gloves as he drove Heintz’s car near the library, following another car “with a female driver also wearing blue gloves,” the affidavit said.
“Sometimes you get these homicides and they go unfounded for years,” Trooper Gagliardi said. “Solving a homicide like that in 12 hours is kind of unheard of.”
Royce Moser has been charged with homicide, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice.
Rachel Moser has been charged with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse and obstruction of justice.
It was unclear on Friday morning whether the mother and son had retained or been assigned a defense attorney.
“PennWest University is heartbroken by the tragic death of Karoline Heintz, a first-year student-athlete at the California campus,” the school said in a statement on Friday.
“Our deepest condolences are with Karoline’s family, friends, teammates, and all those whose lives she touched. We are focused on supporting members of our university community as they grieve this devastating loss.”
Both Heintz and Moser posted Instagram pictures of themselves in happier times, 11 weeks ago, going to a high school prom.
On Moser’s IG, he commented on their prom picture “2x” — and her page from what appears to be the same event, he wrote, “best two nights ever with you.”
Moser graduated from Canon-McMillan High School and Heintz went to Peters Township HS, about 7 miles away.
Heintz would have been in line to make her collegiate soccer debut a week from Saturday.
“She is so much more than what happened to her and we want to honor and focus on who she was as a person — she was a beautiful soul,” the PennWest California women’s soccer team said in a statement on Friday, calling her a “happy, bubbly teammate who was always smiling on and off the field.”
