How Police Say a Yoga Teacher Accused of Murder Evaded Police for 43 Days
It took a six-hour drive through Costa Rica for Kaitlin Armstrong to finally admit her identity to authorities.
Armstrong—who had been on the run for 43 days after being accused of fatally shooting a rising professional cyclist in a jealous rage—had a remarkably different look than she did when she fled Austin, Texas, in May. The once blonde, curly-haired amateur cyclist and yoga teacher now boasted a dark brown bob. Her nose was covered in a bandage from what she claimed was a “surfboard accident” during her stay at Don John’s Lodge in Saint Teresa.
But despite the stark cosmetic changes, fake passports, multiple aliases, and stints in several Costa Rican towns after fleeing the country, Armstrong was finally caught on June 30 thanks to what U.S. Marshals called “old-fashioned police work,” which ended a harrowing case that garnered nationwide attention.
Suspected Cyclist Killer Used Fake Passport, Hair Dye, and Bandage Disguise to Escape Capture
“I would say she was exhausted” when she was arrested, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla said during a Thursday press conference. “When she was encountered by uniform officers in Costa Rica, she didn’t give her true identity at first. It took a little bit of time for her to reveal her true identity.”
Armstrong’s lengthy hold-out was one of several details U.S Marshals revealed on Thursday when announcing the 34-year-old’s capture and arrest. In addition to facing charges for the May 11 killing of 25-year-old Anna Moriah Wilson, Armstrong also faces a charge of unlawful flight to evade prosecution.
The sad saga began on May 11, when authorities found Wilson, a Vermont native who was in Austin for an upcoming race, fatally shot in an apartment. Just prior to her death, Wilson had allegedly gone swimming and out to dinner with Colin Strickland, who was dating Armstrong and had previously dated Wilson.
The following day, authorities went to Strickland’s house and found a 2012 Jeep Cherokee “with a large bicycle rack mounted on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, a luggage rack mounted on the roof, and chrome around the windows that appeared to be the same vehicle observed on surveillance footage.”
Armstrong was briefly interviewed by police after they discovered she had an open misdemeanor warrant on a theft of services charge after she allegedly skipped out on a Botox bill.
“Armstrong was confronted with video evidence of her vehicle, [and] she had no explanation as to why it was in the area and did not make any denials surrounding the statements presented to her,” the affidavit said about the interview, noting that she was eventually released after detectives determined the warrant “was not valid.”
On May 13, U.S. Marshals say that Armstrong sold her black Jeep Grand Cherokee to a CarMax dealership in south Austin for $12,200. The next day, she went to the Austin airport, where Filla said she took a flight to Houston, before boarding a connecting Southwest flight to LaGuardia Airport in New York.
Armstrong was last seen being dropped off at Newark Liberty International Airport on May 18—one day after Austin police issued a homicide warrant for her arrest in connection with Wilson’s murder.
Authorities say that “using a fraudulent passport,” Armstrong boarded a United Airlines flight from Newark to San Jose, Costa Rica. Filla previously said that while the passport itself was authentic, it belonged to someone else who looked “very similar” to Armstrong.
“She took a bus from the San Jose airport in Costa Rica, hours away,” Filla said.
In Costa Rica, Filla said, Armstrong visited multiple Costa Rican citizens, frequenting “more than a handful” of hostels and yoga establishments to avoid getting captured. At these locations, authorities say, Armstrong used three main aliases: Ari Martin, Beth Martin, and Liz Martin.
But while Armstrong apparently thought she was stumping investigators—and finding a new community among other yogis—authorities say she tripped up after taking a bus from San Jose to Jaco Beach. During that trip, she left a paper trail using one of her aliases, giving local police a lead to ultimately track her down.
Armstrong then fled to Saint Teresa, where she stayed at Don John’s Lodge and taught yoga part-time under the alias “Ari Martin.” The Daily Beast previously reached out to Don John’s Lodge, a $50-a-night hostel popular among surf tourists, but the establishment declined to provide information on past and present guests.
Local officials eventually arrested Armstrong at the hostel. Inside her lock box, authorities discovered two passports and a $6,350 receipt for cosmetic surgery. Filla, however, declined to comment on the authenticity of the receipt and noted it does not have Armstrong's name.
Zachary Paulsen, who was also at the hostel when Armstrong was arrested, told Inside Edition that he saw Armstrong with bandages on her nose. He added that “she was just asking how to get around cheaper, and then the police came.”
After Armstrong’s arrest, Wilson’s family released a statement saying they were “relieved to know this phase of uncertainty is now behind us and we trust that justice will prevail.” Armstrong is being held at Travis County Jail on a $3.5 million bond for the murder charge.
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