Teen, mother held for court in PennWest student’s death
Prosecutors showed a mix of video, GPS data, phone records and texts to show the path of the Washington County teen accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death last month and then enlisting his mother to help cover it up.
Royce Moser, 18, of North Strabane Township, and his mother, Rachel Moser, 56, of Beallsville, were held for court Tuesday on all charges connected to the Aug. 19 death of 18-year-old Karoline Heintz of Peters Township, who was planning to begin her freshman year at PennWest California a week later.
Royce Moser told police that he had “a demon take over” on the night of Aug. 19 after he was angered by something Heintz told him while she was in her vehicle in the driveway of his North Strabane home.
“She said something he didn’t like that angered him,” testified Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Jessica Bishop, who interviewed Royce and Rachel Moser after they were taken into custody. “He couldn’t remember what that something was.”
He then walked back into his house at 229 William Drive and retrieved a knife, returned to the car and stabbed her in the chest, police allege in court documents.
Bishop said Heintz suffered stab wounds to the hip and heart. Royce Moser then placed her in the hatch of her vehicle, unsure if she was alive or dead, Bishop said.
Texts retrieved from Royce Moser’s and Heintz’s phones showed a number of messages exchanged on the night of Aug. 19, when Heintz had gone to dinner with family before planning to return to PennWest for the night.
Royce Moser had asked her to stop at his house for “a hug and a kiss,” to which she replied “idk we’ll see,” according to Matthew Collins, a detective with the Washington County district’s attorney’s office.
Over the next few minutes, he texted her asking if she was still on Instagram and TikTok, and that he was “kind of impatient,” Collins said.
At 9:38 p.m., Heintz texted that she was “going back to college,” which was then followed by an eight-minute phone call between the two, Collins said.
GPS tracking indicates Heintz’s phone arrived at Royce Moser’s home at 9:46 p.m., where it remained for the next half-hour.
After placing her in the hatch of the vehicle, Moser made several calls to his mother, leading to a 10-minute phone call starting at 10:25, the trooper testified.
“He told her that he had stabbed Karoline, and she was in the Jeep, and he was driving to her,” Bishop said.
Royce Moser arrived shortly before 11 p.m. at his mother’s house in Beallsville, the last GPS location recorded for Heintz’s phone.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 20, Royce Moser told police his mother instructed him to pull Heintz’s car into her garage, where they cleaned the car with disinfectant.
Rachel Moser then told her son to follow her car as she drove to a parking lot on Wood Street in California Borough, directing him to put on latex gloves, Royce Moser told police.
License plate readers, GPS data and surveillance footage showed Rachel Moser driving a Volkswagen Jetta and Royce Moser driving to the Wood Street lot. Surveillance cameras showed both wearing latex gloves.
Police later found the car with Heintz’s body in the cargo area early on the morning of Aug. 20.
Christopher Guffey, an officer with California Borough Police Department, recalled seeing blood stains on the back bumper of the vehicle, near the front door and the rear hatch. He then spotted her inside the back of the vehicle.
When they returned to Rachel Moser’s house, she told her son to take a bath, shower and change his clothes, the complaint said. She then washed his clothes and cleaned the knife used in the attack, which Trooper Matthew Goodall said was later found at her house. DNA on the knife matched Heintz’s, Goodall said.
Collins said numerous internet searches made in the hours directly after the incident were found on Royce Moser’s phone, including nearly three dozen for “what removes fingerprints from objects,” followed by searches on how long Ring cameras store information, what God says about murder, if a demon can control and murder someone, and “can an 18-year-old get the death penalty.”
Tuesday’s hearing was held before District Judge Charles Tenny.
In addition to homicide, Royce Moser faces misdemeanor charges of abuse of a corpse, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice. Rachel Moser faces the same three additional charges, plus hindering apprehension and a charge of criminal use of a communications facility that was filed against Moser Tuesday.
Both have been held without bond in the Washington County Jail since their arraignment.
They are scheduled to be formally arraigned Oct. 13.