That’s correct. It was characterized as “heated,” but the article also mentioned “frustrated.”
I’m not reading much into this, and don’t think it’s in any way connected.
A witness viewing an interaction may not understand the context.
Every witness is going to have (atleast) a slightly different interpretation of what they are seeing.
These two are suspected of that crime, which means that this guy just can’t be involved.
I’m sure that multiple people interacted with this couple, and those events just weren’t independently spotted.
Besides that, Leonard was killed quite a distance away, and on a different day.
Wouldn’t a likely interpretation of ‘heated and frustrated’ be: “You’ve got to let me help you! You can’t just camp at the side of the road all night!” (The danger of being hit by a car, if nothing else.)