There is an old saying, “evil contains the seeds of its own destruction.” This is a fairly poignant statement, one that has been proven time and again by the dedicated people who work in law enforcement. If you think about, any scrap of evidence that a criminal leaves behind is a kernel of truth towards their ultimate undoing.
Some criminals are better at being criminals than others, of course, and commit terrible crimes without ever being caught. This is not a story about one of those criminals. This is a story about a criminal so woefully unprepared, that he led the police right to his front door…so to speak…
Missing Student
Haruka Weiser, a college student at the University of Texas at Austin, was missing. Campus security was dispatched, as were local police, but no one had seen her since she left the dorm. She was last seen by her roommate, who said she left wearing her favorite Doc Martin shoes, a black shirt, and black pants.
A Fire Call
The next morning, before anyone had located Haruka, Austin firefighters received another call from University. Someone had lit a fire inside a vacant building north of campus on Medical Arts Street. Inside, the firefighters discovered a young homeless man named Meechaiel Criner inside. He’d allegedly been burning trash for warmth…
A Body
The day after her disappearance, a university police officer stumbled upon Haruka Weiser’s remains. Someone had laid her body between two boulders on Waller Creek and covered them with tree limbs. It appeared as though she had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled by a tow rope.
Shelter Trip
Criner was taken to the LifeWorks shelter down the road and chastised for burning items in a residential area. On the surface, it seemed like the innocent mistake of a cold and desperate young man. Once the firemen put out the blaze and discovered what Criner had been burning, however, that interpretation changed…
His Story
After a few days at the LifeWorks shelter, Criner was placed under arrest. The police began by once again asking him why he had been staying at the abandoned building. Criner added to his story, explaining that he’d squatted in the building only while he looked for work in the area. That day, he’d come back exhausted after looking for jobs all day.
Stolen Trash
Before that though, he’d gone picking through the trash for anything useful and had found red bike beside some rather full trash bags. Inside, Criner found: condoms, ropes, gloves, hats, phone, ropes, an electronic watch, a shoe, and some papers. He also apparently found a boot; which allegedly belonged to the murdered college student…
Burning Belongings
Criner seemed confused about the allegations and quickly amended his statement. This time, he admitted that many of the things he’d procured had come from his rummaging through backpacks at a nearby dumpster. Perhaps this dumpster was where the killer had disposed of his victims’ things.
Coincidental
Haruka had been wearing Doc Martens on the day she’d disappeared and one of these was found inside the smoldering remains of the fire that Criner had lit inside the abandoned campus building. Could this have been a coincidence? Had someone else killed Haruka Weiser and an innocent homeless man happened upon her dumped belongings?
Another Suspect
Not wanting to make a mistake, homicide detectives reviewed campus surveillance video for the night of the disappearance to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. They identified a man riding a red girls bicycle on campus and watched as he eventually followed Haruka down a dimly lit path and disappeared from view.
The Red Bike
Even with the video, there was no way of telling whether or not it was Criner who was riding the girl’s bike. As far as they could tell, Criner found the bike after the killer abandoned it at the abandoned building. Austin police detective Ray Tynes decided to revisit the area to see if he could find anything else in the meantime…
The Orange Bandana
The dumpster where Criner had allegedly found both the bike and Haruka’s belongings also happened to contain a rather unique, orange bandana. This bandana was almost identical to the one worn by the biking man in the surveillance video. In addition, he also found a sweater that may have belonged to the girl.
The Missing Link
One of the things the police had been puzzling over was the location of Haruka Weiser’s laptop. It hadn’t been with her body or with her belongings, and being that it was an expensive piece of technology, it seemed reasonable that the killer had stolen it. When police discovered it in Criner’s locker at the shelter, the pieces finally began to fall into place…
Out of Hand
Criner continued trying to explain that he was innocent. He said after he’d found the items and lit the fire, he tried to download some things on his tablet. The tablet kept kicking him off the network so he decided to just go to sleep and that’s why the fire had gotten out of hand. The police were still looking at him for the murder, but first, they needed to know more about him.
Living on Campus
The investigation continued while Criner remained in custody. Soon, police learned that Criner had been living in a storage room at for some time. His squatting was discovered when a student who wanted to use the room for his club rowing team took photos of the messy area and alerted campus security. But these photos were more telling than even that student knew…
Fervent Denial
The images from months before just happened to show the hammer and tow rope, both of which investigators believe Criner ultimately used to attack Haruka, in Criner’s possession long before he’d “found them” in the garbage on the night of the disappearance. He denied any involvement in the attack of course, but the evidence was stacking up.
Stacking Evidence
There was clear evidence that the yellow nylon strap and hammer had both been used to kill Haruka Weiser and since both had been in Criner’s possession for some time, it made sense that he had orchestrated the whole thing; albeit purely. He’d neglected to notice that he’d been caught on camera or realize that being in possession of the bike made it obvious he was the killer…
Rough Upbringing
When Criner took the stand to testify, he told the jury of his rough upbringing, of his life in foster care, his desire to become a writer, and his failure to make it in the world. He had run away from foster care at an early age and had been homeless ever since, living where he could and going to the hospital only to charge his technology and find food if he needed.
Seeds of Destruction
Criner’s cries of hardship were no excuse, however. Despite all his potential and intelligence, he seemed to drop a whole lot of stitches along the way. Some of the prosecution and detectives believe that Criner was on his way to becoming a serial killer, though that does not seem like the case at this point…
Serial Killer
Victoria Winkeler, the prosecutor for the state, argued that the evidence against Criner was damning. There is even some evidence that he had fantasized about exactly that sort of behavior and that Haruka was his first foray into serial killing. “You should know, he committed this horrific and brutal murder and rape, just like his fantasies,” Winkeler explained to the jury.
Possible Punishments
Since he was 17 at the time of Haruka’s murder, he is not eligible for the death penalty, but that doesn’t mean that Criner is out of the woods. If found guilty, the 20-year-old will spend the rest of his life in prison. See the stunning verdict in the videos below…
