In a shocking revelation, prosecutors have accused a Texas woman of tracking her romantic rival through a GPS fitness app before allegedly shooting her dead.
The accused, Kaitlin Armstrong, 37, is currently on trial for the murder of Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson, a 25-year-old professional cyclist. The incident took place in Austin last year, and Armstrong is alleged to have fled the country and undergone plastic surgery following the crime.
Wilson, a rising star in the gravel cycling scene, had spent the evening swimming and dining with Armstrong's boyfriend, fellow cyclist Colin Strickland, prior to her untimely death. Caitlin Cash, a friend of Wilson's who was hosting her during her visit to Texas for a race, discovered the gruesome scene upon returning home on May 11, 2022, and promptly called 911.
According to courtroom testimony, police found Wilson in a pool of blood in the bathroom of Cash's apartment. Cash, in an emotional testimony, initially thought Wilson was lying down to cool off, but quickly realized something was terribly wrong when she noticed the blood.
Travis County Assistant District Attorney Rickey Jones, in his opening statement, detailed the horrific nature of the crime. Wilson had been shot multiple times, including once in the forehead, once in the temple, and once through the heart. "The last thing Mo did on this earth was scream in terror," Jones told the jury, adding that they would hear the chilling screams captured by a nearby security camera.
Jones further alleged that Armstrong had shot Wilson a third time in the heart after a 45-second silence. Wilson, a former college skiing star who had taken up gravel racing, was considered "one of the best in the world" at the sport. She had met Strickland, Armstrong's on-and-off boyfriend, during her visit to Texas for a race.
Investigators claim that Armstrong had access to Strickland's iPhone text messages and had allegedly tracked Wilson's movements through Strava, a GPS-linked fitness app. She is also accused of logging into Strickland's Gmail and Instagram accounts from her own phone.
Despite Strickland's initial claims that Armstrong was neither jealous nor violent, Jones revealed in court that Strickland had changed Wilson's name in his phone to "Christine Walsh." Following the murder, Armstrong was questioned by Austin police but was released due to a clerical error.
Prosecutors allege that Armstrong then sold her Jeep, took a rideshare to the airport, and flew to New York. From there, she obtained her passport from her sister and fled to Costa Rica, where she evaded authorities for weeks. After a 43-day manhunt, she was arrested by Costa Rican police on an immigration violation and extradited to the U.S. to face murder charges.
Jones confirmed rumors that Armstrong had undergone plastic surgery while on the run, spending $6,425 to alter her appearance. As the trial date approached, Armstrong allegedly feigned an injury and attempted to escape from Texas jail guards but was recaptured after about a mile.
Geoffrey Puryear, one of Armstrong's defense attorneys, criticized the detectives on the case in his opening statement, arguing that there was no solid evidence linking Armstrong to the crime. He also questioned the reliability of DNA and ballistics evidence connecting his client to the crime scene.
The trial, which is expected to last about two weeks, continues with Armstrong pleading not guilty. Wilson and Strickland are said to have had a brief romantic relationship in the past, and on the night of the murder, they had gone swimming and dining together in Austin.
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