Real Names: Kristine Sue Westin and Kevin Dale Woo
Aliases: Kari Lynn Meeker (Westin)
Wanted For: Murder
Missing Since: July 13, 1997
Case[]
Details: Kristine Westin and her boyfriend, Kevin Woo, were drug addicts. To finance their addictions, they would shoplift expensive merchandise from department stores. Their schemes worked well until December 1996 when they were arrested. However, they were soon back on the streets and up to their old tricks. On July 10, 1997, Westin, who was eight and a half months pregnant, and Woo checked into the Lady Luck Hotel in Las Vegas. They then spent three days partying, drinking, doing drugs, and ripping off retail stores.
Three days later, Westin went into labor and delivered a healthy, normal, fully-developed baby boy in the bathroom of their hotel room. Woo, not knowing what to do, called the hospital. However, when they started asking questions, he hung up. An hour later, he called 911. He claimed that it was a medical emergency and asked them to not call the police. The dispatcher was suspicious, so they sent a police officer, along with an ambulance, to the hotel. Security was alerted when the ambulance arrived, so they went to their room where they found her on the bed and their baby dead in the toilet.
Westin was taken to the hospital and Woo followed, but when authorities tried to question him, he excused himself to the bathroom and fled. An officer was sent to patrol the hotel in case he returned to their room. With the baby's cause of death undetermined, authorities questioned Westin, and she was surprisingly calm and not upset. She appeared to care more about her belongings in the hotel than her baby. The next morning, an autopsy determined that the baby had been born alive and had been drowned by his parents. When authorities went to the hospital, they found that Westin had checked out and vanished.
Two days later, Westin and Woo apparently stole a pickup truck in Henderson, Nevada; it was later found abandoned in Los Angeles. The FBI was brought in since they had crossed state lines. They were charged with second-degree murder, child abuse, possession of a controlled substance, and carjacking. Authorities soon discovered that they had continued in their life of crime. Westin has been sighted twice in southern California, and in October 2001, she was arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department for shoplifting. However, she was able to avoid identification by using one of her aliases, Kari Lynn Meeker, and she soon vanished again. Authorities believe that she and Woo are traveling together.
Shortly after the murder, the Las Vegas Chapter of the Knights of Columbus gave their son a name, Kyle, and a proper burial. However, his parents are still at large.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the June 27, 2002 episode.
Results: Captured. In March 2003, Westin was arrested in Lynwood, Washington on a charge of shoplifting. The police then tracked Woo to the motel where they were living. After a thirty-hour stand-off with the police, he took his own life. Westin pleaded guilty to felony child abuse and involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to five to twenty-four years in prison. She was released on parole in 2009.
Links:
- Kristine Westin and Kevin Woo on the archieved Unsolved Mysteries website
- Standoff at Lynnwood hotel ends with suicide - March 19, 2003
- Fugitive wanted in drowning of newborn son kills himself - March 20, 2003
- Suspected killer found dead after standoff at motel - March 20, 2003
- Lynnwood standoff ends - March 20, 2003
- Suicide ends standoff at Lynnwood motel - March 21, 2003
- Vegas fugitive found dead after standoff - March 21, 2003
- Woman faces murder charge in 6-year-old case - May 2, 2003
- Judge sentences baby-killing mom - November 7, 2003
- Woman sentenced for leaving newborn to die - November 7, 2003
- Kevin Woo on Find a Grave