Investigators say surveillance video, rideshare records and license-plate readers helped trace a murder suspect from Florida to West Virginia.

VERO BEACH, Fla. — A three-day search spanning several states ended at a West Virginia motel after investigators traced the movements of a 33-year-old man accused of traveling to Florida and fatally shooting a former girlfriend outside her home, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Matthew Allen Waggle was taken into custody without incident at 8 p.m. Aug. 19 at a Super 8 motel in Dunbar, West Virginia, the Marshals Service said. A first-degree murder warrant had been issued for him earlier that day in the death of 52-year-old Dawn Kriskewic. Authorities said Kriskewic was found with an apparent gunshot wound in the roadway near her residence outside Vero Beach on Aug. 16. She was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. Waggle has been accused in the killing but has not been convicted, and the allegation against him remains to be resolved in court.

Investigators said the search developed quickly from a combination of surveillance footage, interviews and electronic records. Sheriff Eric Flowers said cameras in the neighborhood showed Waggle walking toward Kriskewic’s residence after being dropped off nearby. Detectives also identified the rideshare vehicles that carried him between the Orlando area and Indian River County. Flowers credited the sheriff’s office Real Time Crime Center and automated license-plate readers with helping investigators reconstruct those trips. The information allowed authorities to follow a trail that eventually extended through North Carolina and into West Virginia, where federal fugitive investigators joined the search.

The homicide investigation began about 8:41 a.m. Aug. 16, when deputies were sent to the 500 block of First Street after a caller reported a woman lying in the roadway. Deputies found Kriskewic wounded and began emergency measures before she was taken to a trauma center. The sheriff’s office later classified the case as a domestic violence homicide. Officials said at least one witness had seen the shooting, and investigators recovered a handgun and other evidence near the scene. Authorities have not publicly released every detail of the evidence they say links Waggle to the shooting.

Flowers said Waggle and Kriskewic had been in an on-and-off relationship and that she had recently ended it. According to the sheriff, Kriskewic had warned people at the salon where she worked that she did not want contact with Waggle. Flowers said she told co-workers that if he called or appeared, they should tell him she was not there. The sheriff said Waggle had moved away and that Kriskewic appeared to know there was a possibility he might return. Investigators have characterized the alleged trip to Florida as intentional, but those statements describe the prosecution’s developing case rather than a finding by a court.

Authorities said Waggle reached the Orlando area by Greyhound bus and then used a rideshare vehicle to travel to the Vero Beach area on the morning of the shooting. Flowers said surveillance cameras, including residential doorbell cameras, recorded Waggle walking through the neighborhood. Investigators say he reached Kriskewic’s home, had a short interaction with her and shot her before leaving. Flowers said Waggle spent only about 10 to 15 minutes in the area. Afterward, investigators said, he used another rideshare vehicle to return to Orlando and boarded a bus headed toward North Carolina.

Published accounts differ on where Waggle’s southbound bus trip began. Vero News reported, citing Flowers, that Waggle traveled from Arizona to Orlando, while Law&Crime reported that investigators said he traveled from West Virginia. WPTV described the point of origin as unknown in its detailed account of the sheriff’s briefing. Because authorities’ publicly reported descriptions are not uniform, the precise starting point of Waggle’s trip cannot be treated as settled from the available accounts. The central sequence is clearer: investigators say he arrived in the Orlando area by bus, traveled to Indian River County by rideshare and left by a similar route after the shooting.

Detectives also focused on a firearm recovered near the scene. The sheriff’s office said the 9 mm Ruger pistol investigators believe was used in the shooting belonged to Waggle’s former wife. Flowers said detectives later learned the former wife had been communicating with Waggle and making calls connected to the West Virginia motel where he was eventually found. U.S. Marshals took her into custody at the motel as investigators worked to locate Waggle, according to the sheriff. Flowers said at the Aug. 20 briefing that she was cooperating and had not been charged in connection with Kriskewic’s death. Authorities had not established publicly whether she knew of any alleged plan beforehand.

The Marshals Service said its Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force developed information indicating Waggle had traveled to West Virginia. That team coordinated with the agency’s CUFFED Task Force in the Southern District of West Virginia, which located him at the Dunbar motel. Federal officials described the arrest as the result of coordination among the Marshals Service, Indian River County investigators and other law enforcement agencies. The federal announcement said Waggle had been considered armed and dangerous during the search, though he was taken into custody without incident.

Kriskewic was remembered by friends as more than the victim at the center of a criminal investigation. She worked as a hairdresser and was a published author. Friends interviewed by Treasure Coast Newspapers described her as energetic and upbeat. A former partner said she was originally from New Jersey, had two children and regarded the beach as her “happy place.” Kriskewic had written the romance novel “Knew You Were Waiting” and had recently taken part in a book signing in Melbourne. A client told the newspaper that Kriskewic was conscientious about her work and had already discussed future hair appointments months in advance.

For now, the case remains in the criminal process rather than at its conclusion. The latest reliable records reviewed confirm Waggle’s Aug. 19 arrest on a first-degree murder warrant, but they do not establish a conviction or other final disposition. Authorities have said the investigation involved evidence gathered in Florida and leads developed across several states. Any determination of criminal responsibility will come through the court proceedings that follow.

Author note: Last updated September 29, 2026.