The moment AJ Armstrong Jr sentenced to life in prison’ Kate Ober, the devastated wife of AJ Armstrong sobbed uncontrollably in court on Wednesday, August 16, as he was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his parents as a 16-year-old back in 2016.
Jurors deliberated for roughly 10-and-a-half hours before finding Armstrong guilty of fatally shooting retired NFL linebacker Antonio Armstrong Sr and Dawn Armstrong in the family’s southwest Houston home.
The jurors came to a guilty verdict in the third trial after hearing more than 40 hours of testimony from 31 witnesses over an 11-day span. The two previous trials had each ended in a hung jury and Armstrong has been out of jail with an ankle monitor, on bail, since 2017, according to Daily Mail.
Who is Kate Ober?
The 23-year-old Armstrong showed no emotion while the verdict was read out loud but his long-time partner, Kate Ober, openly cried in the courtroom.
As her husband was led away from the courtroom after being sentenced, she was consoled by his attorneys.
According to her Facebook page, Armstrong and Ober got married in the beginning of this year after dating all through high school. Additionally, they are parents to a child who is two years old.
Ober, a 2019 graduate of Cinco Ranch High School, has taken part in the murder trial since then. At the time, she had disclosed that AJ’s parents, Dawn and Antonio, were his “best friends” and that, even in the days preceding the sad deaths, he was “just happy, goofy,” and did not act suspiciously.
When did AJ Armstrong murder his parents?
The prosecutor noted that on July 29, 2016, Armstrong shot his parents at close range as they slept in their bed inside the Bellaire-area home. The teen then placed a pillow over each of their heads before calling 911 to report hearing gunshots.
Dawn, who was shot twice in the head, was pronounced dead at the scene while Antonio Sr, who was shot once, was rushed to a hospital where he too died. They both were 42 years old.
Armstrong Sr was a former linebacker for the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers. After initial investigation, Armstrong blamed a masked intruder but police claimed they discovered no signs of a forced entrance into the home.
However, investigators later discovered a .22-caliber pistol on the kitchen counter along with a note that read, “I have been watching you for a long time. Come get me.”
HPD Sgt. J.P. Horelica previously noted that Armstrong became the primary suspect after it was discovered that there had been no forced entry and that there was a gunshot hole in Armstrong’s bedroom ceiling.
Additionally, they said that he searched how to make a vehicle bomb on his iPad and his story of seeing a masked intruder fleeing his home didn’t add up.
Why AJ Armstrong killed his parents
Armstrong was allegedly upset with his parents when they reprimanded him after he was expelled from high school, had poor grades, and smoked marijuana.
According to NY Post, they said that he had started a fire outside his parents’ bedroom two days prior to the killings and shot a pillow and blanket with the same gun through the floor of his bedroom around a week prior.
The prosecution’s case was contested by the defense throughout the trial, which claimed that Josh Armstrong, Armstrong’s older brother, was a more likely suspect due to his severe mental health issues, which included paranoia and schizophrenia.
But, the prosecution rejected the defense’s claims and asserted that Josh’s mental health issues likely resulted from his parents’ deaths after they were killed. Now, AJ is sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
