The Heintz Murder Case

The story so far

As of August 21, 2026

An 18-year-old PennWest California first-year and soccer player, Karoline Heintz, was found dead in the rear hatch of her Jeep Cherokee parked near the California Public Library in Washington County. Her boyfriend, Royce Moser, 18, is charged with criminal homicide and related counts. His mother, Rachel Moser, 56, is charged with hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice.

The killing traces to a meeting outside Moser’s father’s house in North Strabane Township, where the couple talked in Heintz’s SUV. Moser told Heintz, “Wait, I have something for you,” went inside, retrieved a kitchen knife, returned to the vehicle, and stabbed her in the chest. He later said a demon took over. Heintz fell from the driver’s side, and Moser moved her into the cargo area of the SUV.

What followed turned a private attack into a documented disposal effort. Moser called his mother and drove the Jeep to her Beallsville home, where she helped clean the vehicle with disinfectant, gave him latex gloves, and told him to bathe as she washed his bloody clothes. The pair then took the Jeep to California Borough and left it near the library, with surveillance video showing both wearing blue gloves. The knife was later recovered from Rachel Moser’s household trash. Heintz’s family used an Apple AirTag to locate the Jeep, bringing officers to the vehicle just after midnight.

Both Mosers were located at Rachel’s home, taken into custody, and arraigned by a district judge. The case now turns on two tracks that the evidence fixes in place: Moser’s stated mental state against the deliberate steps he took before and after the stabbing, and the mother’s legal exposure from actions corroborated by video, recovered items, and their own accounts. The movements of the Jeep, the AirTag ping, the gloves on camera, and the found knife knit the timeline tightly, leaving little of the night unaccounted for.