![\"Raquel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4a0a8774-983a-4c94-a3b0-d2630c50cec6_1653489233.file.png\")
CALIFORNIA, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\nKaroline Heintz homicide: What we know about mom, son charged in death of PennWest California student<\/p>\n
CALIFORNIA, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n
A mother and her teenage son are being charged in connection to the death of an 18-year-old PennWest California student<\/a> and soccer player. <\/p>\n According to Pennsylvania State Police, 18-year-old Royce Moser has been charged with homicide while his mother, Rachel Moser, is charged with hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and obstruction. Both were arrested Thursday night.<\/p>\n Karolina Heintz had allegedly been with her family on Wednesday before returning to campus housing.<\/p>\n When Heintz did not check in with her family, they tracked her location to her vehicle on Wood Street in California and called 911.<\/p>\n When authorities arrived, they found Heintz dead inside her vehicle near the California Borough Library around 12:24 a.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n Sources tell Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that Heintz had reportedly been stabbed. <\/p>\n Watch the full press conference from State Police, the DA below<\/p>\n Mother, son arrested <\/p>\n Royce Moser is being charged with homicide while Rachel Moser is facing charges that include hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence, obstruction and related offenses.<\/p>\n The mother and son are both in custody.<\/p>\n Royce Moser did not comment as he was being taken away by state troopers on Thursday night.<\/p>\n Rachel Moser said, “I’m sorry,” as she covered her face with her hands while troopers put her into a police vehicle.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Jordan Cioppa said, “Tell us why you’re sorry.” Rachel Moser said, “That my son took a life.”<\/p>\n This story is developing and will be updated with new information when the criminal complaints are released.<\/p>\n Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karoline Heintz homicide: What we know about mom, son charged in death of PennWest California student CALIFORNIA, Pa.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8595,26,7,173943,9,8,173950,97591,38120,339,7359,174146,4744,1431,174148,134,174150,173941,6316,174149,1795,3335,82463,122009,13416,173951,174147,57965,174145,174144,40538,7756,15644,2429,178,150275],"class_list":["post-438980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-action-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-california","tag-california-borough-library","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-pennsylvania","tag-california-student","tag-campus-housing","tag-death","tag-district-attorney","tag-domestic-related","tag-evidence","tag-family","tag-hindering-evidence","tag-homicide","tag-karolina-heintz","tag-karoline-heintz","tag-mother","tag-mother-son","tag-multiple-charge","tag-official","tag-oppression","tag-pennsylvania-state-police","tag-pennwest-california","tag-pennwest-california-student","tag-pittsburgh-action-news-4","tag-rachel","tag-rachel-moser","tag-royce-moser","tag-soccer-player","tag-son","tag-state-police","tag-thursday","tag-vehicle","tag-wood-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3995efba-0f48-4e16-bb30-c3de80513228.jpg\")
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