It’s a case that shook the cycling world and made international headlines when a Texas yoga instructor was accused of fatally shooting a rising star cyclist in a jealous rage following an alleged love triangle.
Kaitlin Armstrong was questioned by police after the May 2022 slaying of 25-year-old Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson, but then fled the country to Costa Rica for 43 days.
Police have said Wilson had previously dated Ms Armstrong’s boyfriend, Colin Strickland, who also was a competitive gravel racer, and had gone swimming with him hours before she was killed. Mr Strickland cooperated with police and was quickly cleared.
Meanwhile, Ms Armstrong was finally captured and brought back to the United States but made headlines again when she tried to escape police custody during a doctor’s appointment, jumping a fence and running about a mile before the escape was thwarted.
Ms Armstrong, now 35, has pleaded not guilty to murder and faces up to 99 years in prison if convicted. The trial in Austin, Texas is expected to take two weeks as she awaits her fate.
Here are the key revelations from the trial so far:
Mo Wilson’s final screams captured on video
The murder trial began on 1 November with Texas prosecutors telling jurors they would hear Wilson’s final screams and the shots that killed her.
“The last thing Mo did on this earth was scream in terror," Travis County prosecutor Rickey Jones told jurors in opening statements.
He said nearby surveillance equipment captured the screams.
“Those screams are followed by ‘Pop! Pop!’” Mr Jones said, smacking his hands together for emphasis. “You won’t hear any more screams after that.”
Seconds after those shots, Mr Jones said, “Kaitlin Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and put a third shot right into Mo Wilson’s heart."
Moriah 'Mo' Wilson fue uno de los mejores ciclistas de carreras de grava del mundo— (Instagram/Mo Wilson)
Defence says Armstrong fled the country after shooting ‘because she likes to travel’
The murder case drew international headlines when Ms Armstrong fled the country after her initial meeting with police just days after the fatal shooting, leading to a 43-day search.
In a short opening statement at trial, defence attorney Geoffrey Puryear suggested Ms Armstrong’s sudden flight out of the country was not an attempt to escape justice.
“She would have no reason to know about any (arrest) warrant, You will hear Kaitlin is passionate about travelling and passionate about yoga,” Mr Puryear said.
He also said that Ms Armstrong was caught in a “web of circumstantial evidence” and that no video evidence or witnesses can put Ms Armstrong at the scene of the shooting.
Investigators said she sold her vehicle for $12,000 and fled the country using her sister’s name, email, credit card and passport.
Kaitlin Armstrong listens to opening arguments during the first day of her trial at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center— (AP)
Federal authorities tracked Ms Armstrong to Costa Rica, where prosecutors said she spent $6,425 for surgery to change her appearance and used several aliases while attempting to establish herself as a yoga instructor.
She also had cut and darkened her hair, and had a bandage on her nose and discoloration under her eyes when arrested at a beachside hostel. She told police when she was arrested that she was injured in a surfing accident.
Wilson’s family breaks down listening to heart-wrenching 911 call
Caitlin Cash, Wilson’s friend who the cyclist was staying with the night she was killed, was one of the first witnesses to take the stand.
Ms Cash found her friend covered in blood and not breathing when she returned home from dinner.
Her voice cracked as she recalled seeing her feet and thought she was just lying on the bathroom tile floor to cool off. But when she announced her arrival, there was no response.
“She was covered in blood, lying on her back,” Ms Cash told the court as she began to cry. “I immediately bent down and tried to wake her up. Pretty quickly, I called 911.”
Caitlin Cash, who found Wilson’s body, is embraced during the first day of trial for State of Texas v. Kaitlin Armstrong— (AP)
Prosecutors then played Ms Cash’s gut-wrenching 911 call where the court could hear crying as she told the dispatcher, “Her brain is leaking.”
An emotional Ms Cash could be heard counting out loud as she follows the dispatcher’s instructions and delivers chest compressions to her friend.
“She is laying on the bathroom floor and there is blood everywhere. I can’t tell what happened,” she is heard telling the dispatcher. “She’s not awake. There is blood all over her face and the back of her head.”
As the 911 call was played in court, Ms Cash was visibly distraught on the stand and many of Wilson’s family left while others were seen weeping in court.
Armstrong remains ‘emotionless’ as graphic photos shown
Early in its case, the prosecution presented graphic photos of the bloody crime scene where Wilson was found dead and has listened to a harrowing 911 call after her body was found by her friend.
Many of Wilson’s loved ones broke down in the Austin courtroom. Family members left, unable to watch or listen to the horror. Her father, at one point, appeared to plug his ears with his fingers and kept his head down.
But Ms Armstrong sat at the defence table and stared ahead. Reporters in the courtroom tweeted that she did not turn away from the horrific images, but instead stared ahead and remained “emotionless” throughout the testimony.
Yoga teacher tracked Wilson with an app
Mo Wilson had previously dated Ms Armstrong’s boyfriend, Colin Strickland, who also was a competitive gravel racer, and had gone swimming with him earlier in the day of the murder.
During opening statements, prosecutors said they would show that Ms Armstrong tracked Mr Strickland’s communications with Wilson — as well as Wilson’s whereabouts — in the weeks and days before the shooting.
Ms Armstrong was able to track Wilson’s location because she had not turned on a safety feature on a phone app, they said.
The yoga teacher’s SUV was seen at the apartment where Wilson was staying with her friend the night she was killed. Police also said shell casings found at the scene matched a gun found at Ms Armstrong’s home.
Investigators quickly cleared Mr Strickland and prosecutors said on 1 November that video and cellphone calls, texting, and location data will confirm that he was nowhere near the shooting.
Key DNA evidence ties Armstrong to murder
Dramatic courtroom testimony on 2 November revealed that DNA evidence found on Wilson likely ties her accused killer to the crime scene.
Jurors heard testimony from Sgt Timothy Price who responded to the scene of the murder. He said Wilson’s bike was found lying in the middle of bamboo a few yards from the apartment.
It was swabbed by another crime scene investigator, he said.
DNA found on the bike was “highly likely” to have come from Ms Armstrong, prosecutors told the court during opening statements.
Kaitlin Armstrong makes a pre-trial appearance at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center in Austin— (Austin American-Statesman)
But, during witness testimony, defence attorney Rick Cofer questioned crime scene specialist Katie Ferrara about why the bike had been taken to the police department without a protective covering.
She said the police did not have a big enough bag for the bike.
Ms Ferrara also testified that there were no track marks in the grass leading to where the bike was located, and that she did not know how the bike got there.
Austin police detective Rolando Ramirez, another witness for the prosecution, testified on 2 November that he thought Wilson’s killing was “more of a personal thing or more of anger type of shooting”.
His theory was based on the fact that there was no sign of forced entry and no signs of struggle. Nothing appeared to have been stolen from her home, he added.
Ms Armstrong’s eerie ‘send my love to Mo’ message
The man at the centre of the love triangle that prosecutors say is the motive behind Wilson’s murder took the stand on 3 November.
Visibly shaken and with his eyes closed for most of his testimony, according to reporters in the courtroom, Mr Strickland told the jury about his relationship with both Wilson and Ms Armstrong.
Mr Strickland said that while he and Ms Armstrong loved each other, their relationship was “tumultuous” due to her constant fits of jealousy. He also said that he and Wilson maintained a brief relationship while he and Ms Armstrong were broken up, but remained friendly after he reconciled with the yoga teacher.
However, Wilson and Mr Strickland kept seeing each other at competitions or cycling events. And in one instance shortly before the murder, he posted a video on Instagram of himself after a race in which Wilson happened to be in the background.
“Send my love to Mo,” Mr Strickland testified that Ms Armstrong had texted him in reference to the video, which he said he found “passive-aggressive.”
Missed signs of Armstrong’s plans to flee
Mr Strickland and Ms Armstrong were told about Wilson’s murder by Austin Police detectives on 12 May 2022, just a day after the murder. Bodycam footage shown to the court reportedly showed that the two seemed shocked after learning the tragic news.
Mr Strickland later joined investigators at the police station, where he gave a statement for nearly six hours. The following day, authorities served a search warrant and seized weapons from his home.
Crime scene specialist Mirezha Guevara testified on November 3 that while she was taking pictures of the firearms evidence and Ms Armstrong’s black Jeep, she also noticed Ms Armstrong’s passport and foreign currency inside the home.
An attorney representing both Mr Strickland and Ms Armstrong was present while the warrant was served, but investigators did not ask to interview Ms Armstrong.
Colin Strickland testified in his ex-girlfriend’s Kaitlin Armstrong trial— (Instagram)
However, they did ask Mr Strickland about her black Jeep, the same model of car seen on surveillance footage near the home where Wilson was found. The car had also been spotted near the swimming pool bar that Mr Strickland and Wilson had been at just hours before she was killed.
Mr Strickland suggested during his testimony that investigators knew it belonged to Ms Armstrong.
Mr Strickland said that after he was interviewed and the warrant was served, he and Ms Armstrong were exhausted. He asked her to write a timeline of her activities on the day and reportedly said she went to yoga and visited a “healer” but made no mention of seeing Wilson.
He then went to his business’ headquarters in Lockhart and did not see Ms Armstrong again.
On 14 May, Ms Armstrong took a flight from Austin to Houston. She was found in Costa Rica 43 days later.
This story will be updated as the trial unfolds
