Mean Girl Murders delves into true crime stories where social circles turn deadly. This episode explores a case where friendships and rivalries escalate, leading to a shocking and tragic outcome. Discover the dark side of social dynamics and the investigations that bring justice.
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mean-girl-murders true-crime murder-mystery social-drama investigation crime-documentary friendship-gone-wrong full-episode
#MeanGirlMurders #TrueCrime #FullEpisode #CrimeStories
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TVTranscript
00:00Pageantry is amazing, pageantry is cruel.
00:15I was only a princess. Everyone wants to be the queen.
00:18Pageants can make you or break you.
00:21Don't pick your favorite just yet.
00:23Clearly, Chia had something special.
00:25There was a buildup of jealousy amongst the other girls.
00:30They had to go after her.
00:33I was in shock, like, pretty big shock.
00:37She was nowhere to be found.
00:39My mind starts racing. What are we gonna get into?
00:42What's happened to her?
00:44Only a Hollywood movie would have these kinds of details.
00:47I mean, it's kind of insane. It's kind of crazy.
00:55Lee County Sheriff's Office actually speaking.
01:12In the southwest area of Fort Myers, Florida, Lee County deputies receive a phone call about a potential missing person.
01:22Hi, how many hours do I have before I can fill out a missing person?
01:27You just have to check the jails and the hospitals.
01:30Um, I've done all of that.
01:33Well, we can send an officer to your location to file a report if you'd like.
01:36Please, because I'm worried.
01:38Okay, I just have a few questions, ma'am. Just bear with me, okay?
01:42Five days later, police receive a report of an abandoned vehicle 15 miles away.
01:53Upon inspection of the vehicle, deputies noticed that there's a hole in the front windshield.
01:59There's blood all inside the vehicle.
02:02In the back seat, there's mud, there's dirt, there's sand, there's gravel.
02:06We open the trunk, there's blood along the back of the trunk.
02:11It would take days for deputies to realize whose car this was,
02:16how this would connect to the missing person, whose blood they had,
02:21and how all of these things would connect to the Florida team pageant world.
02:25Let's now meet our Central Florida delegates.
02:34The sunshine state of Florida has always been a hotbed for pageantry.
02:38Well, the sun, the sand, the beautiful women,
02:42it's just a natural in what is a tradition for Americana.
02:46Some Florida girls first learn to strut their stuff on the sand.
02:52But for others, it's the runway.
02:55I was Miss Tallahassee Teen USA, 2014.
03:00Florida is full of beautiful, athletic, outgoing girls from Miami to Pensacola
03:07that are just ready to get on any stage and show everything they have.
03:13It really was so competitive because these girls are put into pageants by their mothers
03:18from such a young age, and they're just like these bulldogs in pageantry.
03:23Like, we come to win.
03:25You better be ready emotionally, physically, mentally, financially.
03:30You have to have the total package in the pageant world.
03:38On Florida's southwest coast,
03:4010-year-old Aria Armstead is already making waves in the Florida pageant circuit.
03:46Aria is our new Miss Lee County USA little sister.
03:50Congratulations.
03:53Aria Armstead was born in November of 1997,
03:56and she was raised in the Fort Myers area of southwest Florida.
04:01She's a normal kid, raised by her mother, LaTosha, and her father.
04:06Her mom worked an honest job with the government,
04:09so Aria, she didn't grow up rich,
04:12and I know that there was some dysfunction in her household.
04:19Her parents did experience a divorce,
04:21but I know that her mom did try her best in raising her
04:24with what she had available to her.
04:28One way to move up is to get her beautiful daughter out
04:31and under the spotlight.
04:33So when Aria was about 10 or 11 years old,
04:36her mother, LaTosha, decides to enter her in the pageant world.
04:41And I think for LaTosha and Aria,
04:43this was an opportunity for them to heal, to bond,
04:47to have an activity that they would do together.
04:49But it's not just about an activity.
04:51It's hope.
04:52It's a possibility that they might kind of escape
04:54this Florida suburban life.
04:56And it holds a promise of, I think,
04:58a new and better life for both of them.
05:01When I first met Aria, she was in our little sister pageant,
05:08and she just shined.
05:10Aria had a smile and a charm about her.
05:13It took an immediate liking to her.
05:16But having a single mom,
05:18you knew that she was a little different
05:20than all the young girls.
05:22They were a little less financially independent.
05:25So working with LaTosha and Aria,
05:29it would not be unusual for her to show up,
05:32you know, $250 in single bills.
05:35But you know what?
05:36They did whatever it took,
05:37because her mom really, really was invested in her.
05:41To be successful in the pageant world,
05:44you can't get by on mere looks and brains.
05:47You need money.
05:49Lots of it.
05:51You're paying for everything.
05:53When it comes to looks,
05:54when it comes to lifestyle, fitness,
05:56the clothes especially,
05:58somebody can read you in the pageant world
06:00within seconds.
06:02And looking at Aria,
06:04she didn't have the clothes
06:06you'd expect a pageant girl to wear.
06:08She didn't have her hair done like other girls.
06:11Everything was just very small town.
06:17I feel like girls can be really mean.
06:19So when you spot a difference in the crowd,
06:24automatically you're gonna kind of pick on them,
06:27I suppose, or keep them at a distance.
06:30She was kind of alienated from the rest of the pageant clicks.
06:36The girls that are competing on stage
06:38can make very mean comments.
06:41You're a little too fat to be competing,
06:44or you have a unibrow and you'll never be queen.
06:47But sometimes the meanest comments are unsaid.
06:52I had people on message boards
06:54typing out that I wouldn't win.
06:57It's horrible. It's soul crushing.
06:59You're typically not hearing it from people directly.
07:02You're hearing it from people behind your back.
07:06So you start to hear a lot of different whispers
07:09and you start to question,
07:10wait, what am I doing wrong?
07:12Because you don't know.
07:13It kind of gets to you.
07:17While her competitors are busy throwing shade,
07:2012-year-old Aria is focused on winning.
07:23My name is Aria Armstead.
07:25I'm currently Missy County USA Little Sister.
07:29Wow, congratulations. Thank you so much.
07:33Pageants are a very competitive sport.
07:35There is a mean girl's side to pageantry.
07:37Some girls try to, you know, psych out the competition
07:42and some girls try to play head games.
07:44You run into those young ladies
07:46who are a little more enthusiastic about winning than others.
07:49Like, life is competitive.
07:51In 2012, 14-year-old Aria enters the Junior Orange Bowl pageant.
08:02This would be her biggest stage yet.
08:07I competed in the Junior Orange Bowl pageant with Aria.
08:16It sets you up to be Miss Florida Teen.
08:20And then if you win, you go to nationals.
08:23So the Junior Orange Bowl pageant is very different.
08:28The girls that are competing on stage,
08:30they're not going on there to do bikini competitions.
08:33It's actually known as the Smart Girl pageant.
08:37There's a portion where the young women
08:39in the pageant answer an essay question.
08:41And this really helps Aria.
08:43It's one of her strengths.
08:44She's kind of an academic.
08:47I did get a sense that she had a very good sense of self.
08:52She presented herself very well.
08:54She was very charismatic with everyone.
08:57She was well put together.
08:58And my impressions of her was that
09:00she seemed like she was a very nice girl.
09:02We were in finals already.
09:07I was in the bathroom.
09:09I was sweating very hard.
09:11You could see it through my dress.
09:13And Aria came into the bathroom.
09:15And she just kind of looked at me and she said,
09:17we're all very, very nervous.
09:19They're not going to be looking at that.
09:21And it just made me feel really seen.
09:24And like everything was going to be okay.
09:26And in that moment, I kind of thought to myself, oh, well, she's going to win.
09:35I was waiting to hear who was going to be selected for queen or for princesses.
09:40When they finally called the name of the queen.
09:44And they said, Aria Armstead.
09:47It was no surprise to me that she won.
09:50She was beautiful.
09:52She was smart.
09:53And she embodied everything that a queen should be.
09:59When I was called up as princess, I was overjoyed.
10:05Because I finally was able to fulfill the thing that I wanted to do,
10:09which was to be a princess just like my mom was.
10:12But I do know that once Aria was called queen,
10:16there was a buildup of jealousy amongst the other girls who were not selected.
10:23Everyone wants to be the queen.
10:26The girls might get mad, but it's their mothers who get even.
10:31They found out that she didn't attend high school in the district where you're supposed to be if you are competing.
10:39So I think a group of moms went to go see the board of directors.
10:47Some mothers were trying to get Aria dethroned.
10:50The sore losers are the mothers.
10:53And if their daughter loses, they find any reason to attack the winner,
10:58to get them out of the picture so their daughter can win.
11:02The mom factor in pageants is a real thing.
11:05Sometimes they're living vicariously through their daughters.
11:09Sometimes it's a bragging right.
11:12And some moms will stop at nothing to make sure their pretty, pretty princess comes out on top.
11:19I think any mother who tries to strip a 14-year-old girl Aria of a title needs to maybe look in the mirror.
11:29She had to survive this coup of mothers attacking her.
11:33I mean, it's kind of insane. It's kind of crazy.
11:37How far would these mothers go to get Aria's crown?
11:41Some of the girls from the Junior Orange Bowl had learned that Aria and her mother lived in Fort Myers.
12:00The girls really snitched on her to their moms.
12:04Clearly, Aria had something special that made these moms feel threatened, that they had to go after her.
12:10They demanded that Aria be dethroned.
12:15But this queen isn't giving up her crown without a fight.
12:19Aria's got the receipts.
12:22She had a secondary address that her father lived in the area.
12:27The board of directors in Florida had to prove that she was eligible.
12:31And it kind of squashed this beef that these moms had over a teenage girl winning a crown.
12:38The haters may have tried to take her down.
12:42But like a true queen, Aria rises above.
12:47Being crowned queen was a big thing for me.
12:51I'd thank my mom because she's been there for me.
12:55And she's kind of been, she's been my mentor.
12:59And she's been my number one supporter since day one.
13:02And she just loves me so much.
13:05And she loves to see me grow and accomplish things.
13:08And this is one of the big accomplishments for me.
13:11And she was just there for me, supporting me the whole way.
13:13Aria might say one thing to the cameras, but life off stage is much different.
13:22I did notice that Aria did carry this weight on her.
13:26Every kid wants to make their parents proud.
13:28And who else could put that pressure on you if that's the only person you have in your life?
13:35I did note that LaTosha was very close with Aria.
13:41And I also noticed that her mom was very observant over a lot of factors of her life.
13:48Whether it be her social media usage, who she communicated with.
13:52LaTosha was very much like a helicopter parent with Aria.
13:56And my mom found that to be odd.
14:00There's just something not right about the relationship that they have.
14:05And that's coming from a helicopter parent.
14:10The Junior Orange Bowl title culminates in the Junior Orange Bowl Parade.
14:15This was a great opportunity for Aria.
14:18She had a court of her runner-ups that were following her.
14:22One of those runners-up is Aria's friend, Maya, whose mother is also along for the ride.
14:29The board of the Junior Orange Bowl decided, because we were the first mother-daughter pair of princesses for the organization,
14:36that they wanted to put us in our own vehicle to kind of just showcase, like, look, a mom and daughter pair.
14:41Me and my mom really didn't think anything of it.
14:44But this is one parade that Aria's mom, LaTosha, is determined to reign on.
14:51I know that it became an issue with Aria's mother, LaTosha.
14:55She wanted to ride on the float with Aria because me and my mom were riding together.
15:00But because she wasn't a part of the Junior Orange Bowl organization, they declined her request to do so.
15:06That's when it kind of turned on to me and my mom, like, well, why do they get to do it if me and Aria can't?
15:12It sparked animosity. It sparked envy. It really illuminated Aria's mother. It revealed that it wasn't about Aria and her glory. It was about LaTosha.
15:29I got the sense that Aria didn't have the hunger inside like other girls did for this level of pageantry.
15:38The way Aria's mom was always with her, it looked as if she was getting more out of it than Aria was.
15:44And then you began to wonder if it was her mom's dream or her dream.
15:53But all their hard work has paid off. It's finally time for Aria to truly level up.
16:01This Junior Miss Orange Bowl win was really significant.
16:06Aria essentially gets the winning lottery ticket because she's accepted as a contestant into the Miss Teen USA pageant in Florida.
16:15And this is a huge opportunity.
16:22For over 30 years, Miss Florida Teen USA has been the state championship of teenage pageantry in the Sunshine State.
16:28On the pageant weekend, all the girls arrived at 9 a.m. with their sashes and crowns ready to rock.
16:35The Miss Florida Teen USA pageant immediately starts when you show up to the hotel.
16:40So the pageant starts with 80 girls.
16:43And from there, over a series of days which no one sees, there are interviews and panels being held.
16:49You're sharing this space for four days with 80 girls.
16:55And it is like competition is on.
17:00We are talking about an intense workout in the beauty world.
17:04Walking, interview, swimsuit. I had a personal trainer. I had a nutritionist.
17:09Photo shoots. It becomes all encompassing.
17:12And these girls knew their stuff.
17:15If you go in there with even a single hair out of place, you're gonna suffer.
17:21For Arya, her moment has arrived.
17:25She's in the big leagues.
17:27But her fellow competitors don't think she belongs.
17:31When I first laid eyes on Arya, I immediately noticed she was wearing an orange sash.
17:36We're all wearing blue or red sashes, the expected color of the pageant.
17:43The Junior Orange Bowl pageant is a separate pageant.
17:48So when you see an orange sash, it's not one of us.
17:52I don't think that she belonged.
17:57It is bigger. It's in a different script.
18:01That is your label the entire weekend.
18:04You are your sash.
18:06She also had this massive crown, whereas all the other team winners were like smaller, maybe more tasteful, some would say.
18:17It's kind of ugly.
18:19Our crowns were gorgeous, reflected all the light.
18:23Her crown kind of reminded me of a tiered cake.
18:27I did not count her as a competitor, and I don't think other girls did either.
18:34Arya was probably feeling different.
18:37And knowing she was different, I think Arya was out of her league for the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant.
18:43She wasn't fully polished.
18:45The Junior Orange Bowl pageant wasn't considered as prominent as a pageant for a region, city.
18:57It was not an official Miss Teen USA title.
19:00So I think a lot of girls considered it a step above a county fair.
19:06Arya was on an island of one.
19:10She was just the parade girl.
19:12Honestly, I put her off my mind.
19:17After a week of prelims and pettiness, it's finally time for the televised portion of the pageant.
19:24Are you ready for Miss Florida Teen USA 2013?
19:27The fun begins now.
19:33On competition day, when you hit the stage, we start with 80, but immediately we're cut to the top 15.
19:39And that's who matters.
19:41On Saturday, they would all go to the theater and compete on stage in swimwear and evening gowns.
19:49Contestant number 21, Arya Armstead from Cape Coral.
19:56Arya was just glowing.
19:58The mom was so excited, and you could tell this was really a big point in her life.
20:02But this is an ultra-competitive world.
20:06It is very cutthroat.
20:09They tell you there are no losers, but it's difficult not to want to be that winner.
20:15Thank you, contestant number 21, Arya Armstead.
20:17This is blood sport.
20:19I was really anxious to see what everyone's dresses look like.
20:31When we first saw Arya in the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant, Arya was definitely a fish out of water.
20:38She didn't come close to making top 15.
20:41The bright lights go dim as a disappointed Arya exits stage right.
20:49She may be down, but she's far from out.
20:53She picks herself back up.
20:55She enters and wins a regional competition.
20:58And she returns for a second time to the big stage.
21:02Arya comes back to compete again in 2014.
21:12And while Arya was competing, I was the reigning Miss Florida Teen USA.
21:19You do watch the girls pretty closely throughout the week.
21:23Now she's 16.
21:25She understands the game.
21:27She knows what she needs to do to be successful.
21:30And she's really starting to get it.
21:33She was fitting in.
21:34She was working hard.
21:35She knew some of the other girls having competed before.
21:38So, you know, she was really one of the popular ones the second time around.
21:43I could really tell the growth that she was really achieving out of this experience.
21:48You could really tell she was coming to her own and she was becoming very competitive.
21:53And I think this time she was really in it to win it.
22:00Sunday would culminate in the announcement of the top 15 all the way through the completion
22:07and awarding the title of Miss Florida Teen USA.
22:11At 4 o'clock, Arya's life could be changed forever.
22:15We perform on stage for about 10 minutes in a group number.
22:19Every single girl is involved, all 80 candidates.
22:22About two minutes after finishing your final performance, you're tired, you're sleep deprived,
22:28you're starving.
22:29They announced the top 15.
22:31You are on a massive stage.
22:36The lights are blaring down on you.
22:38Hoping and waiting to hear your name for the final 15.
22:43One by one, girl after girl is being called up.
22:52And I know Arya in her head was counting down how many spaces were left.
22:58You're listening and it's almost like all of your senses turn off.
23:02Some girls who hear their name called don't even hear it.
23:05By the end of the top 15 announcement, Arya didn't hear her name, I didn't hear my name.
23:10You just see every face still smiling, but you can see the pain.
23:15It looks like another major disappointment, but all is not lost.
23:21We do have some awards to give out.
23:23Yeah, we do.
23:24So one of my favorite awards is the Miss Amity Award for the girl who's the most congenial.
23:27Miss Amity, which is a massive deal in pageants.
23:31It is who's the friendliest, who's the most helpful, who's the most endearing.
23:37And that award tonight goes to Miss Arya Armstead.
23:44But when I gave Arya the title of Miss Amity, I do think I saw just like a little bit of sadness in her face.
24:01She wanted the crown of Miss Florida Teen USA.
24:04I feel like she was a bit disappointed that that's all she came out with.
24:08Miss Amity.
24:10For any girl, I think just getting told basically that you are not pretty enough, that can make or break how you look at yourself, especially as a teenager.
24:20I think it broke Arya.
24:30The last time that I saw Arya, we were going our separate ways in the parking lot.
24:35And never would I have thought that her life would have taken the turn that it did.
24:41Arya competes one more time, then quits for good.
24:47For some reason, she just kind of fell off the face of the earth.
24:51And she left it all behind.
24:53It was like she vanished.
24:55Never saw or heard anything about her after that again.
25:00She got caught up with the wrong things, I mean caught up with the wrong people.
25:04That can destroy your life in a second without even thinking about it.
25:08If you were to ask me if a missing persons report and a random car that was found off the side of the road and a teen pageant would all come together, I would never put those three things together.
25:20If there were any time for us we would never rule it.
25:24We'll just have to wait for now.
25:31Hey,اخanne Sheriff, Dr.vin 105 speaking.
25:32Hi, how many hours do I have before I could fill out a missing person?
25:39On October 13, 2017, a person named Francesca filed a missing persons report for her boyfriend.
25:47You said it's been 24 hours?
25:49Yeah, it's been 24 hours now.
25:52And the phone is shut off.
25:54Okay.
25:55And do you believe that this person is at risk?
25:57I guess now, yes.
25:59All right.
26:00All right, I'll let you go, and officer, we'll be dispatched as soon as possible, okay?
26:03Thanks.
26:05Not a problem.
26:05Take care.
26:06I'll let you go.
26:36After that 911 call, Francesca's car is found abandoned in the suburbs of Fort Myers.
26:42Somebody just called and said it's been sitting here for a little while, and they were concerned because it's not normal for this area.
26:48Upon inspection of the vehicle, deputies noticed that there's a hole in the front windshield.
26:55There's blood all inside the vehicle.
26:58In the back seat, there's mud.
27:00There's dirt.
27:01There's sand.
27:02There's gravel.
27:03We open the trunk.
27:04There's blood along the back of the trunk.
27:06At this point, we've figured out this vehicle is tied to Matthew.
27:17We start doing search warrants to get cell phone information.
27:20So we start tracking and trying to figure out where did he go.
27:24We see that Matthew stops at a Circle K gas station, and there's an individual that gets out with him.
27:32A taller, skinnier individual.
27:35They go into the store together, and they leave the store together after 10 minutes or so.
27:43We start to see that all these cell phone pings are pinging around this one area.
27:48Just one street, one house on that street.
27:53We find out there's an individual that resides at this house by the name of Nathan Ortiz.
28:03When investigators run Nathan Ortiz through the system, it appears that he might have some criminal offenses in his past.
28:10And he has a girlfriend that lives there with him.
28:15Aria Armstead.
28:16How did the beautiful Miss Amity go from competing on the stage to hanging around some of Florida's grittiest streets with an ex-con?
28:31It really starts to add this whole other mystery to this case.
28:35And we still haven't located Matthew.
28:39My analyst is starting to do research, and we learned that the individual with Matt at the gas station was Nathan.
28:46Now that we've connected Nathan and Aria, we know they were with Matthew.
28:51We get a search warrant on the residence.
28:55Inside the garage, he spots something that sets off alarm bells.
28:59We found two different shovels that had some dirt and sand and gravel mix on it.
29:07We've also found a wheelbarrow that was still caked in this same type of material.
29:11It was also the same type of dirt that was found in the trunk of the vehicle.
29:20We asked Nathan and Aria to meet us down at the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
29:25I don't know really why, but something in my gut is telling me, interview the female first, Aria.
29:30How are you?
29:36I'm going to switch seats around.
29:38When I initially walk in the room, I just see a normal teenager.
29:43The years have not been kind to the former pageant winner.
29:48Aria Armstead does not present as the beauty queen she once was.
29:53She's got flip-flops and a t-shirt on.
29:58She had let herself go.
30:00Her hair was not kept.
30:02She was disheveled.
30:04And she just had this look of her that you can't believe it's her.
30:09My name is Detective Cano.
30:10Okay.
30:11I'm the only attorney sheriff's office, all right?
30:13We're just going to talk to you about some things.
30:15This is going to be a recorded interview, okay?
30:18During the initial part of the interview, I'm one of those people that I just want to make you feel
30:22really relaxed.
30:24I want to see their behavior, so I really just make it a very light conversation.
30:29All those years of practicing to perfect the interview portion have led to this moment.
30:34I'm a Puckso, you know?
30:36I get, well, I have a size 15 shoe, so I trip over everything.
30:39I trip over air.
30:41Yeah, exactly.
30:41I tripped over air a lot.
30:43There was no doubt that she was a very smart girl who knew how to command a room.
30:50So I just start to ask these simple questions.
30:53How long have you and Nathan been together?
30:55Collectively, three years.
30:57Dating-wise, coming on, too.
30:59Okay.
30:59All right.
31:00And you guys, you said you all reside together?
31:01Yes.
31:02Okay.
31:02How long have you lived there with him?
31:04Seven or eight months now.
31:05Okay.
31:06It turns out, walking away with only a consolation prize drove Arya out of pageants for good.
31:13Years spent in pursuit of perfection have taken their toll.
31:18Maybe she just wanted to escape it all and went the complete opposite direction of everything
31:24that she had ever known and ever experienced.
31:27And what's more opposite than a bad boy?
31:30Soon after Miss Amity, she meets Nathan Ortiz.
31:34And she found herself in a world where she didn't have responsibilities and she didn't
31:39have pressure put on her.
31:41And school-wise, how far in school have you gone?
31:44I was about to graduate.
31:47I literally had four more Fridays left and I would have graduated.
31:51But I had an altercation with my mom.
31:55Following years of doing what her mother said in pageants, she'd had enough.
31:59She gets in this major argument and cuts all ties with her mother and ends up moving in
32:05with her boyfriend, Nathan.
32:08You know, the young lady was obviously battling some inner demons.
32:12She went through rebellion years.
32:14She ran with the wrong group of people.
32:17So who would you say you guys hang out with the most?
32:19Like, whenever someone pops up, they pop up.
32:21That's it.
32:22And on October 12th, Matthew Collins just happened to pop up in Aria and Nathan's life.
32:30Aria says that Matthew Collins was there that day and that he had stopped by and the three
32:36of them, they just hung out.
32:38I asked her, you mentioned Matthew.
32:40Who is Matthew?
32:41And she said, oh, well, that's one of Nate's friends that he met a while ago.
32:45She was able to compose herself and be calm and answer the questions and speak to the story
32:54that she was trying to convey to them.
32:56Start from there.
32:57So we came over.
32:58We were outside.
32:59We walked around.
32:59We were walking around.
33:00He was like, hey, guys, what are you doing?
33:02We just went.
33:03We got in the car.
33:03We were driving around.
33:05She tells us Nathan sits in the front seat.
33:07She gets in the back seat.
33:08Take your time.
33:09We drove to the 7-Eleven.
33:12Or the gap.
33:12Sorry, it's a record.
33:13We had a polar cop.
33:14As I'm asking her these questions, she just starts to open up and tell me everything
33:19that happened.
33:20Aria is reaching for a toolkit she developed during her pageant years.
33:24She's trying to convince these officers that she's not really guilty of any crime at all.
33:29We drove to Babcock Ranch.
33:31We looked at the houses out there.
33:33Drove back home.
33:35It wasn't until we got off the highway that he started to sort a few blues.
33:40Aria alleges that Matthew picked up a drug he called blues and that he had crushed it and
33:47snorted it.
33:47You could tell the atmosphere changed.
33:50It was like turning off a light switch.
33:52It changed.
33:53He started getting fidgety.
33:55He was agitated.
33:57But I had that gut feeling in my stomach like something like is off with him right now.
34:01He went from like a cool, relaxed state like we are now to aggressive, like really amped up.
34:07And then he was like, I genuinely was scared.
34:10It's just one of those things that you never forget.
34:12And then he came out and he was like, I heard a gun caught.
34:16Only a Hollywood movie would have these kinds of details.
34:20This is going to escalate.
34:26Aria tells us that Matthew pulls out a gun from behind his back and points the gun at
34:31Nathan and is yelling at him.
34:35At some point, Nathan just punches Matthew and the gun falls in the seat behind her and
34:39just lays next to her.
34:41And according to Aria, Nathan's life was in danger.
34:45My boyfriend is literally sitting here trapped in this car with this guy who's completely
34:51batshit crazy right now.
34:53The gun was cogged.
34:54All I saw was Nate just slap out of his hand.
34:56And I was like, holy shit.
34:58And in that split second, I just, I didn't even, I just, I didn't know what to do.
35:04And I ended up blowing the trigger.
35:07When she says that, I like, stop for a second.
35:10Okay.
35:11And at that moment, I'm like, oh, okay, wait, she just confessed to this.
35:14Am I dreaming?
35:16Or is this really what she said?
35:18Why don't you all call 911?
35:21See, we didn't know, like, we didn't know what to do.
35:24I really wanted to say something.
35:26I really did.
35:26But I didn't know how.
35:27I didn't know what to do in the situation.
35:29I was like, dude, I just did this.
35:32This is a serious situation.
35:34Like, I could go to jail for this.
35:36She said, Nate runs inside and goes and takes a shower and she's sitting there.
35:40And at this point, she's like, well, I've just got to bury him.
35:43And I was just like, oh, my God.
35:45Oh, my God.
35:46And then I just grabbed a shovel and went up right over here and started just digging a hole.
35:50So I'm thinking to myself, she's making all these decisions and it's really shocking to me that this, you know, nonchalant 19-year-old girl has now confessed to all this information.
36:01Before long, Aria realizes it's harder to dig a hole than she thought.
36:12So she directs Nate to get the body into the trunk.
36:17The two drive Matthew's body to another location, just 10 or 20 yards from the house.
36:24It's this little patch of forest near a canal, and this is ultimately where they would wind up burying Matthew.
36:36I'm listening to what's happening.
36:38There's no remorse to it.
36:40There's no emotion to it.
36:41It's just like almost this is what I had to do.
36:44I cry if I kill a bug.
36:46I can't.
36:47I wouldn't do this on a whim.
36:49I wouldn't.
36:50I'm a pageant girl.
36:51I don't do things like this.
36:54I'm thinking this is just a show to her.
36:56This isn't a grave incident that happened.
36:58And I don't think she realizes that where she's at.
37:01The time now is currently 8.36 p.m.
37:03And this will be the end of statement with Aria.
37:06It's all the lights and camera and the action for her.
37:10Okay.
37:11Hey, can you walk through the bathroom, please?
37:18But for Aria, the show must go on.
37:21She agrees to lead detectives to Matthew's unmarked grave.
37:35We've been interviewing for several hours.
37:37It's now pitch black out there, so we have to light up the area.
37:40To me, you know, it's like she's just, this is her moment.
37:45Almost as if, like, she's just, you know, the star of the show here.
37:48And then, so you guys dug the whole purse?
37:51Okay, and then what happened to Matt?
37:53Grabbed him with a blanket on him.
37:56Put him in there.
37:57Yeah.
37:58Didn't really work out, so you put him back in the trunk.
38:01And he was really in here.
38:04Okay.
38:06The flip side of this act that she's putting on for us is she just murdered this individual,
38:12Matthew Collins, and it's like she doesn't even care that that happened.
38:16Right there?
38:18And that's where you guys dug out?
38:21Okay.
38:21How deep do you say it was?
38:23It was probably up to here at me.
38:25So, like, underneath the...
38:26Mid-stomach area?
38:27Yes.
38:28Okay.
38:28And then you guys placed him in there?
38:30Mm-hmm.
38:30Okay.
38:31Anything else that went in there with him?
38:34Okay.
38:34And then what did you do from there?
38:36We proceeded to go.
38:37My forensic crime scene team comes and starts to dig up this area, and they do locate a
38:44body in there, which confirms to us now her story that she's telling us is true.
38:56Breaking right now, a Southwest Florida couple is accused of killing a Lehigh Acres man and
39:02then hiding his body within walking distance from their home.
39:06Aria Armstead was charged with murder, and Nathan Ortiz was charged with accessory to the murder.
39:13The Florida pageant world is left reeling at the story of Aria's shocking downfall from queen to killer.
39:20When I learned what Aria did, I felt a pit in my stomach.
39:27I didn't think it was real.
39:29Miss Amity?
39:31She just looked beaten down and tired and like she stopped caring about herself.
39:40It took me looking at Aria's mugshot like maybe two or three times before I even realized that it was her.
39:51I was in shock, like pretty big shock.
39:55It's, I mean, it's kind of insane.
39:58It's kind of crazy.
39:58Nathan Ortiz accepted a plea deal.
40:10He was willing to testify against Aria in this case, and in the end was given 42 months in prison.
40:18Aria Armstead pleads guilty to first degree manslaughter.
40:23Aria Armstead will not be released until 2037.
40:28These girls are all daughters to me, and to see somebody do this, it just absolutely, just totally destroyed me.
40:41Are people born as bad people, or does something turn them bad?
40:46Did the pageant create an unseen monster?
40:49We don't know the toll it took on her to be the parade girl.
40:54I believe that Aria is hurt, and hurt people hurt people.
40:58She is forever going to be remembered as Miss Murder.
41:06Representing Cape Coral, I am Aria Armstead.
41:10On the next Mean Girl Murders.
41:14Witchcraft is about power.
41:16We were friends until she came into the picture.
41:19Very bad things are going to occur if they don't break this spell.
41:24I was scared.
41:25I was nervous.
41:26And I was wondering what I had gotten myself into.
41:29I was so worried about happening.
41:31I was scared.
41:32I was scared.
41:33I was scared.
41:34I was scared.
41:35I was scared.
41:36I was scared.
41:36I am scared, but I felt right and were Kollegah syndrome-driven.
41:39I made sure, and that heard because I want to be quite innocent of God.
41:41The такое then?
41:43I noticed that there was a mystery.
41:49It does suck it?
41:51I am scared.
41:51I was sorry.
41:52It did good.
41:54It did that?
41:55I was scared?
41:55That sucked me.
41:56And I was kinda scared.
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