US authorities have revealed that they captured the convicted killer of the professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson with a clever ruse: by placing an advertisement on social media purportedly seeking a yoga instructor, which in turn lured the fugitive out of hiding.
Investigators with the US Marshals Service came up with the ad idea while on an international manhunt for Kaitlin Armstrong, a former yoga instructor who had fled to Costa Rica after killing the 25-year-old Wilson in May 2022 in Austin, Texas, according to newly released information on the case reported on Sunday by the CBS News show 48 Hours.
Armstrong shot and killed Wilson on 11 May 2022 in what prosecutors described as an extreme act of jealousy. Wilson had briefly dated Armstrong’s boyfriend at the time, the cyclist Colin Strickland, after he and Armstrong had broken up.
The night Wilson was killed, she and Strickland had gone swimming together and had dinner. Strickland then dropped Wilson off at a friend’s house, where she had been staying to prepare for an upcoming bike race.
Soon after, Armstrong approached Wilson and shot her several times. A friend later discovered Wilson, who died while bleeding from multiple bullet wounds.
Armstrong evaded authorities for a month and a half by using her sister’s passport to fly to Costa Rica. She assumed several fake identities and underwent plastic surgery to change her appearance.
After intense but unsuccessful search efforts, officers received a tip that Armstrong could be living in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, a small beach town 93 miles (150km) outside the country’s capital, San José.
Authorities initially had difficulty spotting Armstrong in Santa Teresa, a popular travel destination, as many of those in the town physically resembled Armstrong.
“I think from the get-go we were told … you’re gonna be in for a surprise, ‘cause a lot of the women in Santa Teresa look just like Kaitlin – a lot of them,” the deputy US marshal Damien Fernandez said to CBS.
Investigators even enlisted a female operative to take local yoga classes with the hopes of spotting Armstrong, a yoga enthusiast. But police were unable to locate her.
In a last ditch effort, US investigators posted an advertisement looking for a yoga teacher on Facebook.
“Just saying, hey, we’re at this hostel, we’re looking for a yoga instructor as soon as possible. Please contact us at this number,” Fernandez told CBS of the advertisement.
After nearly a week of no responses, Armstrong reached out saying she was interested in the job.
Police arrested Armstrong after confirming she had indeed been the one to respond to the ad, and they extradited her back to Texas to face charges.
A jury in November convicted Armstrong of murder, and she was later sentenced to 90 years in prison.
Armstrong is serving her punishment in Lucille Plane state prison in Dayton, Texas, as the Washington Post reported.
