Kaitlin Marie Armstrong is seen in a driver’s license photo, left, and on video surveillance footage, right (images via U.S. Marshals Service).
A vehicle registered to the Texas woman suspected of killing a professional cyclist over the other woman’s relationship with her boyfriend has been located, federal authorities announced Thursday.
The black Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was discovered at a CarMax dealership in south Austin, more than a month after she allegedly shot and killed Anna Moriah “Mo“ Wilson, 25.
According to a press release from the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, the yoga teacher may have sold the car knowing she would need funds before going to ground.
On May 13, two days after Wilson’s death, Armstrong’s Jeep was sold to the dealership for $12,200. The dealership paid Armstrong with a check one day after authorities questioned her about Wilson’s murder. Authorities said she fled the state the following day, flying to New York after a stopover in Houston.
Authorities said Armstrong was last spotted in New Jersey, when she was dropped off at Newark International Airport on May 18. Investigators searched the outbound flights, however, and said that “no flight reservations have been found under Kaitlin Armstrong” — sparking speculation that she might have been using her sister’s name.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Wilson, who was in Texas for the Gravel Locos race, had apparently had a romantic relationship with Armstrong’s boyfriend, professional cyclist Colin Strickland, during a period when Armstrong and Strickland were separated. On the day she was killed, Wilson had gone swimming with Strickland and out to eat at a restaurant. He then dropped her off at the East Austin home of her friend Caitlin Cash, where she was staying, just moments before she sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Cash found Wilson around 10:00 p.m. after arriving home and finding Wilson in the bathroom, unconscious and covered in blood. She called 911 and was performing CPR when first responders arrived. Paramedics attempted to continue life-saving procedures but Wilson succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead on the scene.
Armstrong’s vehicle played a pivotal role in identifying her as Wilson’s potential killer. Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s security camera reportedly showed the vehicle drive past Cash’s house one minute after Strickland dropped her off at the residence, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast.
“The dark-colored SUV then slowed down, appearing to come to a stop, directly next to [the friend’s] residence,” the affidavit reportedly states. “The SUV appeared to have a large bicycle rack mounted on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, a luggage rack mounted on the roof, and what appeared to be chrome around the windows. No other vehicles were observed on video surveillance passing by until marked emergency vehicles arrived.”
Police said they saw what appeared to be the same vehicle from the surveillance footage at Strickland’s home the day after Wilson’s killing. Strickland reportedly told investigators that Armstrong had come home in the Jeep at approximately 9:30 p.m. the previous night.
According to police in Austin, Armstrong was questioned in connection with the investigation into Wilson’s death. She was arrested on what was described as a “misdemeanor warrant,” but police apparently — and “mistakenly” — let Armstrong go.
“Armstrong was mistakenly released from custody on the misdemeanor warrant because her date of birth in our report management system did not match the date of birth on the warrant,” Austin Police Detective Richard Spitler said in a press conference on May 25.
The U.S. Marshals Service earlier this month elevated the search for Armstrong to a “Major” case and is offering up to a $5,000 reward in addition to $1,000 cash reward by the Capital Area Crime Stoppers for information leading to her arrest. An anonymous donor also contributed up to $15,000 in reward funds, bringing the total combined reward up to $21,000, U.S. Marshals said.
U.S. Marshals described Armstrong as white, standing 5’8″ and weighing around 125 pounds, with long, curly, light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue denim jacket, black shirt with a pink design on the chest, white jeans, black and white tennis shoes, and a black COVID-19 mask, and was carrying what was described as a “possible yoga mat” on her shoulders.
[Images via U.S. Marshals Service]
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