Aria Armstead was once a promising teenage beauty queen. However, in just a few short years, her life took a completely different direction and eventually landed her in prison.
The Strained Relationship
Aria Armstead once had a promising future ahead of her. Born in 1997 and raised in southern Florida (USA), Aria impressed with her radiant smile and bubbly personality.
As a teenager, she frequently participated in beauty pageants and earned the title of “Miss Congeniality” in a teen pageant in Florida.
But eventually, Aria grew uncomfortable and felt pressured by her mother pushing her to participate in those pageants. Gradually, their relationship became strained.
At 16, Aria abandoned this path. Soon after, she started dating Nathan Ortiz. Nathan gave Aria attention and advised his girlfriend that she didn’t need to talk to her mother. Aria even became unwilling to finish high school or get a job.
After turning 18, Aria moved in with her boyfriend at his parents’ home in Lehigh Acres, Florida. Through her boyfriend, Aria met and got to know Matthew Collins.
Matthew Collins grew up in Williamstown, New Jersey, but relocated to southern Florida after graduating high school and worked various jobs. In his free time, Matthew enjoyed partying with friends.
The late-night antics eventually led Matthew down a worse path – drug addiction and committing crimes to fund his habit. He frequently broke into homes to steal valuables and bragged about the money he acquired.
In 2014, Matthew went to prison for theft and dealing in stolen property. He was released in 2016 after serving about 1.5 years. This experience seemed to scare Matthew straight. He wanted to turn his life around and focus on finding employment.
The Mysterious Disappearance
In the summer of 2017, Matthew began dating a 32-year-old woman named Francesca, whom he met online. After four weeks, they moved in together and discussed their future.
But on the night of October 13, 2017, Francesca called 911 to report her boyfriend missing. She had not seen or heard from him in over 24 hours.
Francesca said her boyfriend had left their home around 3 pm on October 12th. She said he had borrowed her 2015 red Chrysler 200 to get a haircut in Fort Myers, about a half-hour drive from their home. Later that evening, Matthew texted his girlfriend saying he was on his way home. But Matthew never showed up.
Hours went by as Francesca tried calling her boyfriend, but the calls went straight to voicemail. By the next morning with still no word, Francesca knew something was wrong with Matthew.
Six days later on October 18, 2017, Francesca’s car was found abandoned in a remote dead-end area by a local resident. A witness claimed to have seen it there for a few days.
Police quickly responded to the scene to search for clues. And what they saw inside was deeply concerning.
The Suspicious Girlfriend
On the windshield, they saw a bullet hole patched with duct tape. Inside the car were dirt and blood stains. The electronics had been damaged and the license plate was missing.
The car was taken for DNA and fingerprint testing. The forensics unit found blood and drag marks on the rear bumper. The trunk contained a significant amount of blood and dirt. Police believed something had been inside it at one point.
When speaking to Matthew’s father Mike Collins, investigators learned about his son’s criminal past and hot temper. Mike said in the days before his son went missing, Matthew did not seem well. Mike worried Matthew had relapsed into drug use or was going through withdrawal.
Mike also expressed concerns and distrust about his son’s girlfriend Francesca based on recent phone conversations with her.
Once again, police tracked down Francesca and continued questioning her.
The Mysterious Texts
Francesca recounted the story she had previously told investigators – that Matthew left around 3 pm on October 12, 2017, to get a haircut and texted her around 7 pm that evening saying he was on his way home.
Since Francesca had to work an overnight shift, she went to sleep shortly after that. When she woke up, her boyfriend still wasn’t home. She went to work and continued trying to reach him.
Francesca told investigators that a day after Matthew disappeared, she received strange texts from his phone. A woman identifying herself as Tiffany messaged saying Matthew was currently with her. Francesca then continued receiving texts from Matthew saying he had been lying to her. Francesca tried to get her boyfriend to call her back but the phone went dead.
Francesca said she deleted all those messages. At first, police grew suspicious of Francesca. But they eventually confirmed this story after obtaining Matthew’s phone records.
Police discovered that on the day he vanished, Matthew had made numerous calls to a woman named Tiffany.
Working with the police, Tiffany confirmed she and Matthew had met on an online dating site but never met in person. Tiffany said they were supposed to meet the night Matthew disappeared but he never showed up. She also denied ever sending any messages to Francesca. Ultimately, both Francesca and Tiffany were ruled out as suspects.
With no leads on Matthew Collins’ whereabouts, police turned to using mobile phone data to track his coordinates from October 12, 2017 – the day he went missing.
The Dirt Mound by the House
The mobile data led police to a gas station in northeast Fort Myers on the afternoon of October 12th. Surveillance footage showed Matthew with a tall male companion. They appeared to be friends. The two then got into the car Matthew had borrowed from his girlfriend Francesca before disappearing.
Police continued following the location data. It led investigators to the home of another friend of Matthew’s. This friend revealed the man seen with Matthew on the day he vanished was not him, but rather “Nasty Nate” aka Nathan Ortiz.
The final location Matthew’s phone pinged before going offline was a house in Lehigh Acres. Police went there and spoke to the middle-aged female homeowner. She said her husband lived there with their son Nathan Ortiz and his girlfriend Aria Armstead. However, Nathan and Aria had been gone from the home for a few days.
Police then checked Nathan’s background and confirmed he matched the description of the man seen with Matthew at the gas station.
While speaking to Nathan’s parents, detectives noticed a fresh mound of dirt by the side of the house. After obtaining a search warrant for the home and garage, police found a dirt-covered ATV and two shovels containing similar dirt substances as the trunk of Francesca’s car and the new dirt hole.
The Deadly Night Out
Nathan’s mother eventually convinced her son to meet with investigators. Nathan and Aria then agreed to come to the police station.
Aria was interviewed first. She admitted to knowing Matthew and said she and her boyfriend would occasionally hang out with him. According to Aria, Matthew had unexpectedly shown up at Nathan’s house on the night of October 12th, the day he vanished.
Aria claimed the three got into a car and drove around listening to music. Everything was fine until Matthew pulled out some drugs to use. Then Matthew and Nathan got into an argument.
“Nathan really snapped, and a fight broke out between the two of them. Matthew pulled out a gun and said, ‘I’m going to take your girlfriend,'” Aria stated.
Aria insisted Matthew pointed the gun at her while she was sitting in the backseat. At one point when Nathan managed to knock the gun from Matthew’s hand, Aria quickly grabbed it.
Aria said she was terrified at that moment since she was pregnant. In the heat of the moment, she pointed the gun at Matthew and pulled the trigger, killing him.
Police then spoke to Nathan and got a similar story. However, investigators knew they were both lying.
The Shallow Grave
After Aria Armstead’s confession, police continued questioning her boyfriend Nathan Ortiz. Nathan also provided a nearly identical story to his girlfriend’s, claiming Aria shot Matthew Collins in self-defense when the victim pointed a gun at her and made threats.
However, investigators believed the couple was lying. From interviews with Matthew’s family, police knew the victim suffered from a condition affecting his right hand. Additionally, subsequent blood testing showed Aria was not actually pregnant as she had claimed.
When asked by police what happened after Matthew was shot, Aria revealed that she and Nathan decided to dig a grave next to Matthew’s home and bury him there. However, the ground was too hard, causing this plan to fail.
They then placed the body in the trunk of the car Matthew had been driving before disappearing and moved to another area to try to dispose of it. Initially, they planned to burn Matthew’s remains but were unable to do so. Finally, the pair buried the body in a heavily wooded area across from Nathan’s home.
Aria agreed to lead police to where Matthew’s body was buried. His skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave. The medical examiner confirmed the victim had been shot once in the head. Evidence from the car matched Aria’s account of being the one who pulled the trigger.
The Tragic Outcome
20-year-old Aria Armstead and 21-year-old Nathan Ortiz were arrested on October 28, 2017. Aria was charged with second-degree murder while Nathan was charged as an accessory after the fact. Both were also charged with tampering with physical evidence. Prosecutors believed the couple killed Matthew in order to steal his drugs.
Nathan Ortiz took a plea deal and helped investigators locate the gun the pair had tossed into a pond after the killing. Divers later recovered the murder weapon.
Nathan also agreed to testify against his girlfriend in court. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison plus 10 years of probation. Nathan was released in October 2020.
Meanwhile, Aria Armstead pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a dead body on August 20, 2018. The 20-year-old was sentenced to 40 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2037. All of Aria’s appeals were denied.
Authorities believe Nathan and Aria did not plan to commit murder, but may have decided to do so upon seeing Matthew had drugs. For Aria, going from a promising teenage beauty queen to throwing her life away, she now faces spending nearly her entire life behind bars.
