Kaitlin Armstrong knew where slain cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson was staying, prosecutor says

Audio from a surveillance camera was able to pick up the last few moments of Anna "Mo" Wilson's life, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

"On May 11, 2022, at 9:15 p.m., the last thing Mo did on this earth was scream," prosecutor Rickey Jones said during opening statements on the first day of the trial of Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of killing Wilson.

"You can hear those screams, and they are followed by two gunshots. One is to the front of the head and one to the side of the head," said Jones, telling jurors they would hear the audio. "You won't hear any more screams, and there will be silence. Four or five seconds of silence while Kaitlin Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and then put a third shot right into Mo Wilson's heart."

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Armstrong, 35, is accused of murder in the 2022 shooting death of Wilson at an East Austin home in a case that has attracted international attention. If convicted of the first-degree felony, she faces up to 99 years in prison. Wilson, 25, was a pro cyclist who had briefly dated Armstrong's boyfriend, Colin Strickland, when Strickland and Armstrong had broken up, police have said.

Wilson was in Austin from San Francisco to prepare for a race near Stephenville, about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth. She had just returned to her friend's home after swimming at Deep Eddy Pool when surveillance video showed a vehicle resembling Armstrong's Jeep pull up to the home on Maple Avenue, police said. The friend whose house Wilson was staying at found Wilson a short time later in the bathroom with gunshot wounds.

Police said they found a 9 mm handgun in a house where Armstrong lived with Strickland. Investigators compared shell casings fired from that gun to those found where Wilson died.

"Ballistic results show that the casings were identified as being fired from Kaitlin's gun," Jones said.

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He told jurors on Wednesday that the GPS system on Armstrong's vehicle showed that she was at the East Austin house when Wilson was killed. Armstrong's phone was turned off during the time of the shooting, Jones said.

He said Armstrong knew that Wilson was in Austin because Armstrong had access to Strickland's phone messages, including ones he sent to Wilson when she was in town. Armstrong and Strickland shared an iPad and a laptop that received Strickland's iPhone messages, Jones said.

Defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear said in his short opening statement that no one had ever seen Armstrong with Wilson at the time she was killed, and that no surveillance video showed Armstrong at the scene of the shooting, even though there were several cameras around.

Jones said Armstrong knew that Wilson was in town because the day before the shooting she looked Wilson up four times on a phone app called Strava that showed where Wilson planned to race and gave the address of the house where Wilson was staying, Jones said.

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Wilson arrived at the East Austin home at 8:36 p.m. May 11, 2022, after swimming with Strickland, using a code to get into her friend's house that notified her friend when it was locked or unlocked, said Jones. Wilson was on the phone with a podcaster until 9:13 p.m., which was two minutes before she was heard screaming, Jones said. When her friend, Caitlin Cash, came home around 9:54 p.m., she found Wilson lying on the bathroom floor and gave her more than 80 chest compressions before paramedics arrived.

Wilson's bike was found lying about 5 yards from where Armstrong's Jeep had been parked by the East Austin house, Jones said. There is a strong likelihood that DNA found on the handlebars and the seat of the bike belonged to Armstrong, he said.

More: Kaitlin Armstrong trial in death of Moriah Wilson set to begin. What you need to know.

Police questioned Armstrong the day after Wilson's death because she had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, but because of a mistake in the warrant, they told her she was free to go, Jones, said. When she continued to stay at the police interview, investigators asked her why her Jeep was the scene of the murder, but she didn't answer. She also said she didn't know if Strickland had been meeting with Wilson, Jones said.

The prosecutor said that after flying to New York, Armstrong used her sister's passport to travel to Costa Rica, where she paid $6,425 to change her appearance.

Investigators found her on June 29, 2022, at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas. They said she was going by several names and was teaching yoga.

Armstrong tried to escape from custody on Oct. 11 when she ran away from correction authorities after being taken to a medical appointment in South Austin, Jones said. They captured her about a mile away.

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During his opening statement, Puryear noted that at the time Armstrong left Austin for New York and Costa Rica, "police told her she was free to go."

"Kate is passionate about traveling, and she's passionate about yoga, and she was totally cool with traveling to far-off locations that intrigued her at the drop of a hat on a moment's notice," he told jurors.

Puryear also said that Armstrong left Austin because there were "things that could cause a reasonable person to fear for their safety." He also said the state's ballistic evidence was "far from the gold standard."

"At the end of the (state's) evidence," he said, "you will be left with the conclusion that the state's purported forensic science is inaccurate, unreliable and unscientific."

Tensions arose while Puryear was making opening statements, with Jones frequently objecting to them. Jones said Puryear was not laying out evidence that the defense would provide but was instead making statements about how the jury should deliberate when coming to a verdict. Visiting District Judge Brenda Kennedy sustained most of Jones' objections.

The first witness to testify Wednesday was Matthew Wilson, the slain woman's brother. He said he was close to his sister and that she had a platonic and professional relationship with Strickland at the time she was killed.

Cash, the friend whom Wilson was staying with on Maple Avenue, testified that when she got home at 9:54 p.m. on May 11, the door was unlocked, and she saw Wilson lying in the bathroom. She said she tried to wake her up and then called 911.

"There was blood everywhere, and I didn't know what happened," Cash said. She said she started administering CPR until police came.

Former Austin police officer Martin Salinas testified Wednesday that he was the first to arrive at the scene and saw no forced sign of entry at the home and no signs of a struggle.

There was a shell casing in the bathroom and another shell casing in the kitchen, he said. Salinas said he left the Police Department on Oct. 20.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Prosecutor: Kaitlin Armstrong knew where Anna Wilson was staying