What happened to former NFL star Antonio Armstrong? Details explored ahead of Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler
Season 2 Episode 6 of Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler on Oxygen will replay the double homicide of Antonio Armstrong and his wife Dawn at their southeast Houston house in 2016.
In 2016, Former NFL star Antonio Armstrong and his wife were shot and killed by their son, AJ Armstrong Jr. AJ Armstrong did everything he could to convince authorities that he was innocent, but the truth was eventually discovered.
The episode focusing on the double murders is titled A Family Divided. It will air on Oxygen on March 3, 2025, at 8 pm ET. Its synopsis reads as:
“Former NFL star Antonio Armstrong and his wife, Dawn, are murdered in their own bed.”
What happened to Antonio Armstrong?
According to ABC News, on July 29, 2016, authorities received a 911 call from AJ Armstrong Jr.. Upon the first responder's arrival at the crime scene, the former NFL star Antonio Armstrong, 42, and his wife Dawn, 42, were discovered dead in their bedroom, with pillows covering their heads.
Antonio was shot once in his head and Dawn twice. Dawn was declared dead at the scene, while Antonio was taken to the hospital but did not survive.
The murder weapon was found in the couple's residence. It was an A .22 caliber pistol, which was kept on the kitchen counter along with a piece of paper, that read:
"I have been watching you for a long time. Come get me.”
During the investigations, when authorities questioned AJ Junior, he alleged that he had seen a masked person in the house. Authorities found his story didn’t fit well, as they found no evidence of a break-in and the alarm to the house was turned off by AJ Junior only when the first responders arrived. Junior continued to claim that he had nothing to do with the killing of his parents, as per ABC News.
According to ABC News, AJ Junior was arrested as a juvenile on allegations of capital murder, but pleaded not guilty. After that, his case was transferred to adult court. Rick DeToto was hired to fight AJ Junior's case.
The first trial ended in a mistrial in April 2019 after the jury was deadlocked. The second trial, held in October 2022, concluded the same way, and despite the presentation of new evidence, the jury remained deadlocked.
Before the third trial could start in July, Celestina Rossi, a blood pattern analyst, discovered “small reddish brown circular stains” behind the visitor's badge sticker, which was stuck on AJ Junior’s t-shirt during his initial interrogation at the police station. The evidence was sent for a preliminary test.
The evidence was then sent to the Houston Forensic Science Center for confirmation. The results identified a single source to the former NFL star Antonio Armstrong.
During the third trial, Rossi testified that Antonio’s lungs were filled with blood when he was breathing, which caused the blood to spatter on AJ Junior’s T-shirt. The blood stayed on this t-shirt till the visitor’s sticker was put on, ultimately preserving the stains.
According to ABC News, when Rossi was questioned by AJ Junior’s attorney, DeToto, about how no other blood traces were found on AJ Junior, she replied:
"The size of that spatter, the surface area of the spatter is very, very small. The diameter of a mechanical pencil. That's how small they are. And so, in flight, they are drying. And so, when they're deposited on the shirt, they're not soaking into the shirt."
AJ Armstrong Jr. was found guilty of the double murders of Dawn and Antonio Armstrong
On August 16, 2023, the jury finally reached a verdict after 10 hours of discussion over two consecutive days and ultimately found AJ junior guilty. He was charged and sentenced to life in prison. However, as he was a minor at the time of the crime, he will be eligible for parole after 40 years.
AJ Junior had applied for a retrial in October 2023; however, the request was denied.
According to ABC News, AJ Junior was transferred from the Garza West Unit in Beeville, Texas, and is currently incarcerated at the Robertson Unit, a maximum-security prison located in Abilene, Texas.
To learn more about this case, watch Season 2 Episode 6 of Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler on Oxygen.
