Kaitlin Armstrong found guilty in 2022 shooting death of cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson
A Texas jury has found Kaitlin Armstrong guilty of murder in the 2022 shooting death of 25-year-old cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson. She faces up to 99 years in prison during sentencing. The jury deliberated for about 2 hours and 15 minutes before reaching the verdict.
The case has garnered international attention and involves what police say was a possible love triangle, a fake passport, a 43-day international hunt and Armstrong's recent attempted escape from custody.
Wilson's mother, father and brother all held each other in a tight hug and cried after the verdict. Other relatives and friends of Wilson's also cried. Armstrong, 35, did not show any emotion. The punishment phase of the trial started late Thursday afternoon.
Prosecution witnesses said she was jealous of Wilson for dating her boyfriend for a few weeks when they had broken up briefly in October 2021, and that she talked about wanting to kill her.
A friend found Wilson, 25, with multiple gunshot wounds in the bathroom of the friend's home in Austin on the night of May 11, 2022, police said. Wilson, a rising star in the competitive world of gravel and mountain cycling, was in town from San Francisco to prepare for a race near Stephenville, according to police. She was staying at the friend's home.
The shooting seemed personal, prosecutor Rickey Jones said, because Wilson was shot in the heart while on the floor after being shot twice in the head. During the closing arguments on Thursday morning, prosecutors said DNA evidence and GPS data pointed straight to Armstrong as the person who killed Wilson, while defense attorneys told jurors about the possibility of other suspects and evidence that was not tested for DNA.
Armstrong's DNA was found on the handlebars and seat of Wilson's bicycle, witnesses testified during the trial. Video surveillance cameras from neighbors showed a black SUV resembling Armstrong's Jeep driving around before Wilson was killed. Witnesses testified that the GPS in Armstrong's Jeep showed the vehicle was parked near the garage apartment where Wilson was staying about a half-hour before she was shot. The GPS in the Jeep also showed the vehicle left the area about two minutes after the shooting, witnesses said.
Attempted escape: Texas woman accused of killing pro cyclist escaped police custody after doctor's appointment
Defense lawyers never said where Armstrong was when Wilson was killed but they said the videos did not show who was driving the dark-colored SUV. They also have suggested that Armstrong never touched Wilson's bike, which was found lying in grass a few yards from where Wilson was staying. Armstrong's DNA could have gotten there, a defense witness said, after Wilson wore a motorcycle helmet that Armstrong had worn.
Witnesses testified that Armstrong knew Wilson was visiting Austin from San Francisco at the time because she repeatedly viewed an app called Strava that showed where Armstrong was taking bike rides.
Earlier in the day before her death, Wilson had gone swimming with Armstrong's professional cyclist boyfriend, Colin Strickland, police said. Strickland later told the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, that he and Wilson had a platonic and professional relationship after he got back together with Armstrong.
Police arrested Armstrong on May 12, the day after the killing, after finding out she had an outstanding Class B misdemeanor warrant for an unrelated matter. They brought her in for questioning but released her, and Armstrong soon fled to Costa Rica using a fake passport.
The U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security Department and the Diplomatic Security Service, working with authorities in Costa Rica, located and arrested Armstrong at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas on June 29, 2022.
Defense attorney Rick Cofer said during closing arguments that Armstrong was "trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial evidence." He said that Austin police detective Richard Spitler, who wrote the arrest affidavit that charged Armstrong with murder, had made up a convenient narrative that cast Armstrong as the "woman scorned."
Defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear said during closing arguments that Armstrong didn't flee to Costa Rica after the killing. He said police had told her she was free to go anywhere.
"Do you think she might have been concerned that her boyfriend killed someone?," Puryear asked the jury. He also said that Armstrong got on a plane to Costa Rica before a murder warrant had been issued for her.
In response, Prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez questioned why Armstrong flew to a foreign country with a fake passport, used fake names in Costa Rica and also had plastic surgery there. She also looked up stories online that stated she was a murder suspect and searched online for a way to erase fingerprints with pineapple, witnesses said during the trial.
What to know: Woman set for trial in 2022 killing of cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Kaitlin Armstrong found guilty in murder of Anna 'Mo' Wilson
