- Istimewa
Texas – Kaitlin Armstrong was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thursday in the death of Moriah Wilson, a professional cyclist who had briefly dated Armstrong's boyfriend.
Wilson killed while visiting Austin, Texas, for a bike race 18 months ago.
State District Judge Brenda Kennedy said that the jury delivered the guilty verdict against Armstrong after deliberating for about two hours.
After the verdict was announced, more witnesses were called to testify as the court sought to determine what the sentence will be before going into recess late in the afternoon.
Penembak Pesepeda Moriah Wilson
- Istimewa
It was unclear when Armstrong would be sentenced. Her lawyer declined to comment, citing a gag order in the case, which drew international attention as details about the investigation and Armstrong’s whereabouts slowly emerged.
Rickey Jones, a state prosecutor, said in his opening statement that Armstrong was “not happy” that her boyfriend at the time, Colin Strickland, had been communicating with Wilson.
Strickland and Armstrong had an “on-and-off-again” relationship and lived together, Jones said, though he had briefly dated Wilson during an off-period in October 2021.
Wilson was found unconscious and bleeding from gunshot wounds at a friend’s apartment on May 11, 2022, and was pronounced dead at the scene. She had gone swimming with Strickland hours before her death.
Jones said that Armstrong’s Jeep had been seen near the apartment less than an hour before gunshots were heard. Armstrong also owned a handgun that was used in the shooting, Jones said.
The Austin Police Department named Armstrong, now 35, as a suspect and issued a warrant for her arrest six days after Wilson, 25, was killed.
By then, Armstrong had left Texas for New York and would soon fly to Costa Rica, where she evaded the authorities for 43 days and tried to establish herself as a yoga teacher, according to the US Marshals Service.
Weeks before the trial began, Armstrong attempted to escape police custody, leading corrections officers on a brief chase.
Wilson, who lived in San Francisco and was raised in Vermont, was a rising star in the cycling world, particularly in the discipline of gravel cycling, a blend of mountain biking and road cycling, before she was killed.
She won a 137-mile off-road race, the Belgian Waffle Ride California, by 25 minutes in April 2022, and had recently decided to leave her job as a demand planner at Specialized Bicycles to focus on cycling full-time.
Wilson, also known as Mo, was looking forward to months of intense races when she traveled to Austin in May 2022 for the 150-mile Gravel Locos in nearby Hico, Texas, a competitive cycling magazine, earlier that month.
Jones said that on the day, Wilson was killed, she went on a three-mile bike ride and then visited the Deep Eddy Pool with Strickland, 36, also a professional cyclist.
Strickland said in a statement in May 2022, after Ms. Wilson’s death, that when she visited Austin, their relationship was “platonic.”
That month, Wilson’s family also said in a statement that she was “not in a romantic relationship with anyone” at the time of her death.
Strickland testified at trial that Armstrong had had access to his financial records, his email and his Instagram account because she managed a business for him, The Austin American-Statesman reported.
