The woman accused of murdering young cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson will go on trial in Austin on Wednesday – following her attempt to flee custody this month, on the lam in Costa Rica in May 2022.
That international trip involved Kaitlin Armstrong getting a new haircut and color, a fraudulent passport, and a 43-day-long fugitive hunt by authorities.
A police affidavit describes that on May 11, 2022, Wilson was found shot at a friend’s East Austin home hours after going swimming with Colin Strickland, a cyclist and Armstrong’s then-boyfriend. Armstrong and Strickland had been dating for three years and were living together at the time of the murder but had broken up briefly in October 2021. At that time, he dated Wilson, per a police affidavit. Strickland told police that the day of the killing, he lied to Armstrong about where he was going when he went swimming with Wilson.
Armstrong traveled to Costa Rica days after being questioned about the murder, but was eventually arrested and brought back to Travis County jail. Armstrong has pleaded not guilty for the charge of killing Wilson, and Armstrong’s attorneys, Rick Cofer and Mark Pryor, wrote in a motion last year that APD “concocted a misogynistic and fictitious story portraying Ms. Armstrong as a jealous woman scorned by Mr. Strickland.”
An Austin jury was selected on Monday, and Armstrong’s trial is set to begin at 9am Wednesday with opening arguments.
This article appears in October 27 • 2023.