Kaitlin Armstrong found guilty of murdering cyclist Moriah Wilson

Kaitlin Armstrong was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of Moriah Wilson, a professional cyclist who had briefly dated Ms. Armstrong’s boyfriend and was killed 18 months ago while visiting Austin, Texas, for a bicycle race.

State District Judge Brenda Kennedy said Ms. Armstrong was found guilty by the jury, which deliberated for about two hours. It was not immediately clear when Ms. Armstrong would be sentenced.

Rickey Jones, a prosecutor, said in his opening statement that Ms. Armstrong was “not happy” that her then-boyfriend, Colin Strickland, had communicated with Ms. Wilson. Mr Strickland and Ms Armstrong were in an “on and off” relationship and lived together, Mr Jones said, and during a period off in October 2021, Mr Strickland had a brief relationship with Ms Wilson.

Ms. Wilson was found unconscious and bleeding from gunshot wounds in her friend’s apartment on May 11, 2022, and was pronounced dead at the scene. She had gone swimming with Mr. Strickland hours before her death.

Mr. Jones said Ms. Armstrong’s Jeep was seen near the apartment less than an hour before gunshots were heard. Ms. Armstrong also owned a gun used in the shooting, Mr. Jones said.

Austin police named Ms. Armstrong, now 35, as a suspect and issued a warrant for her arrest six days after Ms. Wilson, 25, was killed. By then, Ms. Armstrong had left Texas for New York and would soon fly to Costa Rica, where she evaded authorities for 43 days and tried to establish herself as a yoga teacher, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Weeks before the trial began, Ms. Armstrong attempted to escape police custody, leading corrections officers on a brief chase.

Ms. Wilson, who lived in San Francisco and grew up in Vermont, was a rising star in the cycling world, especially in the discipline of gravel cycling, a mix of mountain biking and road cycling, before she was killed. She won a 130-mile off-road race, the Belgian Waffle Ride California, by 25 minutes in April 2022 and had recently decided to quit her job as a demand planner at Specialized Bicycles to focus on cycling full-time.

Mrs Wilson, also known as Mo, was looking forward to it months of intense racing Traveling to Austin in May 2022 for the 150-mile Gravel Locos in nearby Hico, Texas, she told VeloNews, a competitive cycling magazine, earlier that month.

Mr Jones said that on the day Ms Wilson was killed, she went on a five-mile cycle ride and then visited the Deep Eddy Pool with Mr Strickland, 36, also a professional cyclist.

Mr. Strickland said in a statement in May 2022, after Ms. Wilson’s death, that when she visited Austin their relationship was “platonic.” That month also Mrs. Wilson’s family said in a statement that she was “not in a romantic relationship with anyone” at the time of her death.

Mr. Strickland testified at the trial that Ms. Armstrong had had access to his financial records, his email and his Instagram account because she managed a company for him. The Austin American-Statesman reported this.

Ms. Armstrong’s lawyers said during the trial that police were too quick to name Ms. Armstrong as a suspect and that someone else could have killed Ms. Wilson. Mrs. Armstrong did not testify.

Rick Cofer, a lawyer for Ms. Armstrong, said the case against her was based “on assumptions, confirmation bias and a lack of direct evidence.”

Mr Cofer said the suggestion that Ms Armstrong killed Ms Wilson because she was jealous was an easy story for prosecutors. “Jealousy is a fundamental human emotion,” he said.

The day after Ms. Wilson died, police questioned Ms. Armstrong about the death after discovering she had a Jeep similar to the one seen outside the apartment. She was released.

Ms. Armstrong then sold her black Jeep Grand Cherokee for $12,200 and flew to New York on May 14, 2022. Three days later, Austin police issued an arrest warrant. And on May 18, she used a fraudulent passport to fly from Newark, NJ to San Jose, Costa Rica, according to the US Marshals Service.

Ms Armstrong was on the run for 43 days before being arrested in Costa Rica in June 2022 after changing her appearance and trying to set up a yoga teaching business. She was found at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas on Costa Rica’s west coast, the US Marshals Service said.

Ms. Armstrong had used several aliases in Costa Rica and had her hair cut and dyed brown, Brandon Filla, a deputy U.S. marshal, said at a news conference in July 2022. When she was arrested, she also had a bandage around her nose and discoloration under her hair. eyes, which she believed was caused by a surfboard accident, Mr. Filla said. During the trial, the prosecutor said Ms. Armstrong had undergone plastic surgery in Costa Rica.

Mrs. Armstrong was extradited to the United States and arrived in Austin July 5, 2022. She pleaded not guilty later that month.

As the trial approached, Ms Armstrong tried to escape police custody on October 11.

Kristen Dark, a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, said Ms. Armstrong ran from two corrections officers while leaving a medical appointment and lasted about a block and a half before she was recaptured.

Jesus Jimenez reporting contributed.