This story beforehand aired on Jan. 27, 2024.
Kaitlin Armstrong is serving 90 years in jail for murdering skilled up-and-coming gravel bicycle owner Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson. It is a story that drew worldwide headlines as a result of after being suspected of killing Wilson in Texas, Armstrong vanished — seemingly into skinny air. The seek for the suspected killer sparked what would turn into a global manhunt — first main authorities throughout america, after which ultimately to the seashores of Costa Rica.
In June 2022, one month after Armstrong disappeared, Deputy U.S. Marshals Damien Fernandez and Emir Perez traveled to Costa Rica. A supply instructed them Armstrong might be hiding out in Santa Teresa. They knew discovering Armstrong within the small, tourist-filled village was going to be a problem — alongside the best way, Armstrong used a number of identities and altered her look — even getting cosmetic surgery.
They hit useless finish after useless finish. After many intense days of looking for Armstrong with no luck, the U.S. Marshals determined to attempt one final tactic, hoping that her love of yoga would repay for them.
“We determined we had been gonna put an advert out … or a number of advertisements for a yoga teacher and see — what would occur,” Perez instructed “48 Hours” contributor Jonathan Vigliotti.
However after nearly per week of searching, even that did not appear to be working. Perez and Fernandez had been about to move again to the States, when instantly they obtained a break.
CYCLIST MO WILSON WAS FORGING HER OWN PATH
In March 2022, up-and-coming professional gravel bike racer –25-year-old Anna Moriah Wilson, generally known as “Mo” to some, appeared on the “Pre Journey Present,” a web-based program about biking.
MORIAH WILSON (“Pre Journey Present interview): So excited to be right here. It looks like the primary huge race of the 12 months so yeah … I am able to kick it off.”
Simply two months later, Wilson was discovered murdered — the information surprising the biking neighborhood.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: I do not suppose anyone might actually consider it at first. You realize, why would anyone wanna damage or hurt or kill this pretty, proficient younger girl?
Lisa Gosselin Lynn is the editor of Vermont Sports activities Journal and Vermont Ski and Journey Journal. She can also be a CBS Information advisor.
Ansel Dickey
Lynn had been following Wilson’s profession for a lot of months earlier than her tragic dying.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: Moriah was just about profitable each race that she entered, profitable or ending within the high two. And the races that she entered had been high tier.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: Moriah had the potential to be one of many high bike racers, positively within the nation, and doubtless on the planet.
Remarkably, Lynn says that Wilson was new to the professional biking world. Her first ardour had been downhill ski racing, a love shared by her close-knit household.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: She was born right into a household of actually nice athletes. Her father Eric had been on the U.S. Ski Group. … and Moriah’s aunt … really was a two-time Olympic Nordic ski racer.
And it is no shock that Wilson was drawn to out of doors endurance sports activities. She was raised in northern Vermont subsequent to Kingdom Trails, a mecca for skiers and mountain bikers.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: And that was her playground.
Wilson attended Burke Mountain Academy, an elite ski faculty that produced Olympic greats like two-time Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin. Wilson had hoped to make the U.S. Ski Group, however knee accidents ultimately ended her snowboarding profession. That is when she switched sports activities.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: She had used biking as a means for rehabbing and type of constructing again her power. What was fascinating to me was she then went on to Dartmouth. She obtained an engineering diploma. And after doing that, she went to her mom and mentioned, “Hey Mother, I believe I need to be an expert bicycle owner.”
And Wilson instructed the “We Bought to Hangout” podcast that she needed to do rather more than simply win races.
MORIAH WILSON (“We Bought to Hangout” interview): How can I encourage folks? How can I give again to the biking neighborhood? How can I convey extra folks into the game? How can I make it extra inclusive? … I wanna discover which means and objective in biking that goes like far past the consequence.
Wilson ultimately moved to San Francisco the place she centered on biking, and shortly rose to the highest of the game.
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: Moriah was forging her personal path. … She knew what she needed to do. And he or she was working exhausting to pursue it.
On Might 10, 2022, only one week earlier than her twenty sixth birthday, Wilson arrived in Austin, Texas, to arrange for the Gravel Locos bike race — a race she was favored to win. Wilson stayed with an in depth good friend in her Austin residence. However the subsequent night, simply earlier than 10 p.m., the good friend returned house and found Wilson, who had been shot a number of occasions. She referred to as 911.
CAITLIN CASH | 911 name: … she’s laying on the lavatory flooring and there is blood all over the place.
Wilson’s good friend tried CPR, but it surely was too late.
Det. Marc McLeod: It sounded prefer it began off close to the door … and went backwards. Like she was making an attempt to get away or there was some type of wrestle.
Austin Police Officers Marc McLeod and Jonathan Riley labored the case from the start.
Det. Marc McLeod: Whoever shot her at that time stood over high of her and shot her at the very least as soon as.
Investigators questioned who might have murdered this promising younger athlete. As they canvassed the quick space, police found a doable clue. Wilson’s costly racing bicycle had been discarded within the bushes.
Det. Jonathan Riley: So, at that time … OK. Is that this a housebreaking, a theft gone unsuitable?
However that concept was shortly dismissed as a result of there was no signal of a break-in. Then, police realized that simply hours earlier than Wilson was discovered murdered, at round 8:30 p.m., she had been dropped off by one other skilled bike racer named Colin Strickland.
Det. Marc McCloud: So, clearly the main focus can be … who’s this Colin Strickland?
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: Colin Strickland was an excellent gravel racer. … He was on the high echelon.
Colin Strickland, who was 35, was thought-about a pioneer within the sport. He had received a few of the most prestigious races and was sponsored by the business’s high manufacturers, like Crimson Bull.
In 2020, he appeared in a web-based video referred to as Wahoo Frontiers about his lengthy and profitable profession.
COLIN STRICKLAND (Wahoo Frontiers video): My title is Colin Strickland and I am a bicycle racer and a basic entertainer.
Chris Tolley: Fairly early on I regarded as much as Colin once I was developing on the scene.
Chris Tolley is mates with Strickland. They met on the racetrack.
Chris Tolley: He was the one to beat. … He cherished to type of create a present round bike racing — type of promoting bike racing. He was actually enthusiastic about it.
Nicole Fara Silver
And Tolley mentioned though his good friend had been standard with girls, he ultimately turned severe with a girl named Kaitlin Armstrong. Nevertheless, in a social media publish after the crime, Strickland wrote that about six months earlier than Wilson’s homicide, throughout a brief breakup with Armstrong, he did have a “transient romantic relationship” with Wilson that “spanned per week or so.” He mentioned that it ended, and their relationship had became a “platonic {and professional} one.”
Chris Tolley: He simply needed to be mates with, like, somebody who was going to do nice issues in biking.
The day after Wilson’s homicide, police visited and spoke to Strickland at his house.
Det. Marc McLeod: My … my private take was he was being very cooperative, being very forthcoming. Um, clearly he was in shock.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Being very clear.
Det. Marc McLeod: Very clear. Yeah.
And investigators say, when he agreed to go all the way down to the police station to be interviewed, he did not appear to carry again when telling them in regards to the day he spent with Wilson — a day that might find yourself being her final.
That day in Might was sizzling, within the 80s. And this story began with a swim at an area out of doors pool. Strickland instructed detectives he took Wilson there on the again of his bike to chill off.
Det. Marc McLeod: They went swimming, then they obtained meals.
Wilson and Strickland are seen on the restaurant’s safety digicam.
Travis County District Lawyer’s Workplace
Jonathan Vigliotti: I do know he is being clear at this level throughout this questioning, however what he is saying is beginning to sound so much like a date.
Det. Jonathan Riley: Sure.
Det. Marc McLeod: Oh yeah. 100%.
Investigators had quite a lot of questions and their prior go to to Strickland’s house had raised much more. On the evening of Wilson’s homicide, police found an essential clue on video from a neighbor’s safety digicam. The video was taken only one minute after Wilson was dropped off.
Det. Marc McLeod: There is a video from a Ring doorbell digicam that clearly reveals like a black SUV with a motorbike rack. … You’ll be able to’t see the license plate due to the bike rack on it.
Det. Jonathan Riley: So, it was clearly … we have to give attention to this.
And a automobile that match that description was exterior Strickland’s home. Who was driving the black Jeep SUV with the bike rack? The reply would lead immediately to a different girl.
WHO IS KAITLYN ARMSTRONG?
The day after Wilson’s homicide, investigators shortly had a solution to who might have been driving that black Jeep that was seen on safety cameras shortly earlier than her dying.
Investigators had noticed an identical trying Jeep in Strickland’s driveway once they spoke to him.
Det. Jonathan Riley: They see a black Jeep with the bike rack on the again of it. … so at that time we run the license plate, and it comes again that it is registered to Kaitlin Armstrong.
Kaitlin Armstrong, Colin Strickland’s girlfriend. Tolley says he knew her very properly.
Chris Tolley: We related fairly early on. … Kaitlin and I turned mates.
They had been each from the Midwest.
Chris Tolley: We kinda had an identical — like, upbringing, and so I believe that type of — you realize, assist us turn into, like, even higher mates. … She’d come over to events I’d have.
Armstrong had a background in finance and cherished yoga.
Chris Tolley: She had a very sturdy, you realize, type of — you know, love for journey, love — you realize, she had hung out just about, you realize, globe-hopping around the globe … actually, you realize, a type of fascinating individual.
Armstrong obtained licensed as a yoga teacher in Bali. After she met Strickland in 2019, she additionally began stepping into biking.
Chris Tolley: He was very prepared to type of present her, you realize, what his passions had been and the way passionate he was for biking and, you realize, get her concerned with it … and he or she additionally turned … type of hooked on biking, together with Colin.
Armstrong even began racing on an beginner degree.
Chris Tolley: On the finish of the day, like, I really feel like that they had a reasonably, like, regular relationship. They each trip bikes collectively. They might, you realize, do enjoyable stuff. And, you realize, then 2020 occurred and the pandemic began. So everybody was type of, you realize, pressured with – you realize, shut quarters with their important others.
The couple ultimately moved in collectively.
Chris Tolley: The second I — I noticed the connection turn into extra severe is you realize, they talked about — that they’d bought a home not too long ago — collectively, which I thought, you realize, was a reasonably large indication that it is — you realize, a severe relationship.
In addition they began a enterprise collectively, restoring basic trailers.
Chris Tolley: I believe she was serving to with the finance facet of issues. Colin was doing quite a lot of the operations. … their relationship went from, you realize, only a — regular couple to additionally proudly owning a enterprise collectively.
Chris Tolley
However issues obtained bumpy in late 2021.
Chris Tolley: The breakup, I personally did not know, like, they had been break up up on the time. … neither of them talked about something to me.
It was throughout this time that Strickland and Wilson had briefly dated. Though Strickland had mentioned that that they had damaged it off, Wilson appeared confused within the aftermath. Pilar Melendez coated the case for the Day by day Beast.
Pilar Melendez | Day by day Beast senior reporter: Round this time, I believe Mo was fairly confused in regards to the standing of her relationship with Colin. … and he or she actually wrote:
…This weekend was unusual for me…
…For those who simply need to be mates…that is cool,
…Actually…my thoughts has been stepping into circles…
Pilar Melendez: it seems like somebody who’s of their early 20s who simply needs to know the standing of her relationship with somebody that is complicated her. And it appears completely affordable that she is likely to be confused.
Strickland had so much to say about his relationship with Armstrong.
Det. Marc McLeod: He begins to painting her as being the jealous kind, even saying issues like,” I can not hold folks in my cellphone.” Like “Mo’s not in my cellphone as Mo.”
Strickland instructed investigators he stored Wilson’s cellphone quantity underneath an alias in his contacts, and on that night after he’d been out with Wilson on the pool, he texted Armstrong that he’d been out working an errand and that his cellphone had died. That was not true.
Investigators say, there have been different clues pointing towards Armstrong.
Det. Jonathan Riley: … on the evening of the homicide, Kaitlin Armstrong’s cellphone was not related to a cell community.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Not related?
Det. Jonathan Riley: Right. So, whether or not she powered it off, whether or not she put in an airplane mode, uh, there’s some one thing occurred that her cellphone was not speaking with any cellphone towers.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Do you suppose this was on objective?
Det. Jonathan Riley: Completely … at the moment, in case your cellphone is off and never related to a community, you are both the sufferer of a criminal offense otherwise you’re in all probability committing one.
Jonathan Vigliotti: A silent cellphone speaks louder in some instances than actions.
Det. Jonathan Riley: Oh, completely.
Strickland additionally shared that he had purchased handguns for Armstrong and himself for private safety
Det. Marc McLeod: He talks about how they buy weapons.
Det. Marc McLeod: And that there are these two weapons and that she has a gun, um, they’ve taken classes and that these — these weapons are again on the home. And so few issues like that begin to paint an image of like, this might — it might positively be her
Police labored shortly. That very same day, investigators picked Armstrong up on an outdated warrant for failing to pay for a Botox remedy.
Travis County District Lawyer’s Workplace
DETECTIVE CONNER: … what had been you doing yesterday?
KAITLIN ARMSTRONG: I want to go away.
Det. Marc McLeod: And he or she’s simply type of sitting there and he or she’s not exhibiting very a lot emotion in any respect. … usually once we see some interviews happening and should you did not do it, that is your, like, you are going to be like, you realize, not me, not it. I need out of this room. What do you need to know? … In order that you do not come again on the lookout for me. And there was none of that.
DETECTIVE CONNER: Is there any clarification so far as why the automobile can be over there?
KAITLIN ARMSTRONG: I want to go away …
Det. Jonathan Riley: She was nearly fully disinterested in — in listening to what the detectives needed to say.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, it seems like this can be a huge crimson flag instantly?
Marc McLeod: Oh —
Jonathan Riley: Oh, completely.
However investigators needed to let Armstrong go. There was an issue — Armstrong’s birthdate did not match the date on the warrant, so the warrant wasn’t legitimate, and police did not have sufficient to cost her with anything.
Two days after that interview, police obtained an surprising name. It was from a good friend of Armstrong. Police say the caller instructed them that Armstrong was so offended about Strickland’s relationship with Wilson, that she needed to kill her. It was yet one more indication that they had been heading in the right direction. Just a few days later, an arrest warrant was issued, however when police went on the lookout for Armstrong, she was gone.
ON THE HUNT FOR KAITLIN ARMSTRONG
After Kaitlin Armstrong vanished, U.S. Marshals obtained the job of monitoring her down.
Chris Godsick: Plain and easily the Marshals are man hunters.
Chris Godsick hosts and produces a podcast with the U.S. Marshals Service. His “Chasing Evil” podcast tells tales of a few of the Marshals Service’s largest instances, together with the hunt for Armstrong.
Chris Godsick: No one thought Kaitlin Armstrong was going to run and he or she stunned all of them. She disappeared.
“CHASING EVIL” PODCAST: Kaitlin Armstrong ran from a homicide cost. … However the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive process power had a unique plan …
Jonathan Vigliotti: So take me by this. … The place do you start once you’re on the lookout for someone that doesn’t need to be discovered?
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: You realize, it relies on the case, actually. … we search for mates, generally we search for … household.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: One of many issues that I did was acquire as many images as I might.
CBS Information
Damien Fernandez and Emir Perez are Deputy U.S. Marshals. They joined Austin Police Officers Jonathan Riley and Marc McLeod on the case. The crew, primarily based in Texas, is called the Lone Star Fugitive Process Power.
With no signal of Armstrong, the duty power suspected she might have left city headed for her sister Christie’s place in upstate New York.
Det. Marc McLeod: We had been pondering possibly she’s driving cross nation. We did not know.
Their instincts had been proper. In upstate New York, one other Deputy U.S. Marshal managed to trace down Armstrong’s sister.
Jonathan Vigliotti: What did the sister say?
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: The sister finally mentioned … that her sister had come to go to her … and stayed together with her a few days, however that she had dropped her off on the airport in Newark. And final she heard, she was gonna board a flight again to Austin, however then referred to as her again later and mentioned that she determined that she was gonna drive again.
Det. Marc McLeod: … which made absolute — no sense to any of us that you’d simply drive again.
When the duty power checked outbound flights at Newark Airport, no reservations had been made in Kaitlin Armstrong’s title.
Det. Marc McLeod: We by no means obtained successful on Kaitlin Armstrong’s passport.
However the crew had a hunch as a result of Christie Armstrong instructed the Deputy U.S. Marshal in New York that she did not know the place her passport was. In order that they checked with their contact at Homeland Safety.
Det. Jonathan Riley: And inside minutes of reaching out to him, he obtained again to me and he is like, yeah, we’re exhibiting Christie Armstrong traveled out of Newark, New Jersey, Worldwide Airport on a one-way flight to Costa Rica
Jonathan Vigliotti: You knew it.
Emir Perez: I mentioned, there isn’t any means that the sister left. And we’re on the lookout for her and we will not discover Kaitlin. No, that is Kaitlin.
The U.S. Marshals suspected that Kaitlin Armstrong has used her sister’s passport to flee. Christie Armstrong later emphasised to authorities that she didn’t give her sister the passport. She has by no means been charged with any crime associated to the case.
Kaitlin Armstrong landed in Costa Rica, the gem of central America and residential to mountains, tropical rain forests and white sand seashores so far as the attention can see.
However she did not spend a lot time in San José. Shortly after arriving, Armstrong disappeared once more — and he or she had an enormous lead on the U.S. Marshals. Perez and Fernandez arrived in Costa Rica a month after Armstrong.
Jonathan Vigliotti: That is you guys now on the hunt. How intense is it when you contact down in Costa Rica? What occurs?
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: You are on a timeline.
Jonathan Vigliotti: I hear timeline and I hear the stress is on —
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Stress’s on. I do know we had been sitting within the airplane and we’re speaking, what is the sport plan?
Though they might have assist from the Costa Rican authorities and U.S. State Division officers on the bottom, they knew discovering Armstrong was going to be a giant problem.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: We had different intelligence indicating that … she was staying in hostels in Costa Rica. And I do not know if you realize something about Costa Rica, however Costa Rica has quite a lot of hostels, so much, an unbelievable quantity of hostels.
The U.S. Marshals would not inform “48 Hours” precisely how their intelligence gathering labored, however their crew again within the States had managed to trace down the cellphone quantity for an American businessman they believed had related with Armstrong in some unspecified time in the future.
Det. Marc McLeod: We did not know what metropolis he was in. So we determined, hey, let’s simply chilly name him. … So we name him. And we’re on the convention room and he solutions. And we’re like, “Hey, it is the U.S. Marshals. My title is Marc.” And he goes, “I do not need any,” click on simply hangs up. Prefer it’s a — like a —
Jonathan Vigliotti: A telemarketer.
Det. Marc McLeod: Yeah. A telemarketer.
Det. Jonathan Riley: Proper. Or a rip-off name.
After three or 4 name makes an attempt, the businessman lastly stayed on the road to reply the U.S. Marshals’ questions.
Det. Marc McLeod: And we really ended up sending an image of Kaitlin … whereas we’re on the cellphone with him. He appears at it and he goes, sure, however she would not seem like that and he or she’s not utilizing that title.
Jonathan Vigliotti: And did he inform you her new title?
Det. Marc McLeod: He did.
Det. Jonathan Riley: It was Beth.
Det. Marc McLeod: Beth.
Det. Jonathan Riley: She was going by Beth.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Going by Beth.
U.S. Marshals
And the businessman mentioned Armstrong not regarded like her picture. She had reduce her hair and altered its shade.
Det. Jonathan Riley: It was brown hair as an alternative of crimson.
Emir Perez: Yeah, she dyed her hair.
The businessman instructed the U.S. Marshals he had no concept that the girl who referred to as herself Beth was really Kaitlin Armstrong, however he did inform them the place they may discover her.
Det. Marc McLeod: He is like, “Nicely, I met her at a yoga studio in Jacó.”
Jacó is a well-liked vacationer vacation spot identified for its nightlife and its seashores and the right place to cover. It was the U.S. Marshals’ first actual tip, in order that they rushed there.
They canvassed the realm, combed by hours of surveillance video, however couldn’t discover a single signal of Kaitlin Armstrong wherever. It was a bust.
Chris Godsick: … however the Marshals have another stable lead and that takes them to a lovely touristy seashore city— a one-street city referred to as Santa Teresa.
WAS KAITLIN ARMSTRONG HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT?
One month after Kaitlin Armstrong disappeared, the U.S. Marshals had been in sizzling pursuit of her in one other space of Costa Rica. A supply had instructed she might need gone to a small village on the Pacific coast.
The U.S. Marshals took a ferry to achieve a distant peninsula. As soon as there, they drove by automobile by mountains to the tiny city of Santa Teresa. However once they lastly arrived, they bumped into an surprising downside.
Jonathan Vigliotti: … you get to Santa Teresa. … Was it straightforward to establish her there from the opposite those that had been there?
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: I believe from the get-go we had been instructed … you are gonna be in for a shock ‘trigger quite a lot of the ladies in Santa Teresa look similar to Kaitlin — quite a lot of them.
And it seems, that recommendation was proper. The city was stuffed with international vacationers. Deputy U.S. Marshals Fernandez and Perez arrived in Santa Teresa after darkish.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: So, we get there, and he begins strolling down a principal strip that is there, uh, like down the road.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: There’s just one highway on — on that city.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: And he sees —
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Foremost highway.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: He sees a woman and he says, you realize, that appears similar to her. Nicely, a pair minutes later, we see one other one. And it is late at evening and we’re like, whoa, oh, man, that is two. … After which there’s one other one.
Because the U.S. Marshals tried to seek out Armstrong, they even had considered one of their feminine operatives begin going to yoga courses to see if they might spot her.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: She really did three totally different courses for us.
They usually tapped into native contacts.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Oh, yeah. We made mates with folks there that might ship us footage. Oh look, I — I believe I noticed her at this restaurant yesterday and he or she’s within the again within the background of a photograph that I took, stuff like that.
U.S. Marshals
In reality, folks had seen Armstrong at native spots in Santa Teresa, however they did not understand who she was. Armstrong was hiding in plain sight utilizing totally different names.
Jonathan Vigliotti: She had like a number of names.
Greg Haber: Yeah. Um, she got here in —
Man in restaurant: Beth?
Greg Haber: Um —
Jonathan Vigliotti Beth?
Greg Haber: It wasn’t Beth.
Girl in restaurant: Ari?
Greg Haber: Ari.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Ari.
Greg Haber: Ari, proper. So she got here in as Ari.
Greg Haber is an American from the New York space who owns a restaurant referred to as Kooks Smokehouse and Bar in Santa Teresa.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Ari. What did Ari seem like? Did she stand out to you?
Greg Haber: Fairly, got here in, um, you realize, launched herself as a yoga trainer, which is mainly anyone else down right here … “hey, I moved right here, instructing yoga down the road” … and that was it.
Jonathan Vigliotti: What was her basic vibe like?
Greg Haber: She positively appeared like she was making an attempt to ascertain roots right here. Like this was gonna be her new house.
And Haber says sooner or later he observed one thing totally different about her.
Greg Haber: I noticed her on the seashore. … I stroll my canine on the seashore each evening for sundown. … And also you’re strolling by, and also you see the bandage on her face. It is like, “Oh, what occurred?” She’s like, “Oh, surfboard hit me within the face.”
Greg Haber: It is like, properly, occurs to all people, proper, at the very least as soon as. So, you would not even query that story right here. Like, you see folks on a regular basis.
Seems that bandage would later show to be an essential a part of this story — and one of many causes the U.S. Marshals say Armstrong was so exhausting to seek out.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, you are this near giving up.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Sure.
Lastly, they selected one final tactic: they turned to an area Fb web page.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: We determined we had been gonna put an advert out, for a yoga teacher and see what would occur.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So that is the equal of Craigslist.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez Sure, appropriate. Proper. Just about.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Somewhat bit extra full of life, however sure. … And simply saying, hey, we’re at this hostel, we’re on the lookout for a yoga teacher as quickly as doable. Please contact us at this quantity.
However after nearly per week of searching, even that did not appear to be working.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: Sunday, we determined we’ve not gotten any response again from something.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: Nothing. We’re burned.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: So, Sunday we’re like, OK, we’re completed. … None of ’em have panned out. So —
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: We’re going again to San José
Now again in San José, the U.S. Marshals had been on the brink of head house when instantly —
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: We obtained a chunk, someone that, um, recognized herself … as a yoga teacher and mentioned they needed to satisfy with us at a selected hostel … and we mentioned … “that is, that is our probability!”
Perez and Fernandez rushed again to Santa Teresa simply forward of a tropical storm.
Tourism Police Lieutenant Juan Carlos Solanos’ crew helped the U.S. Marshals of their seek for Armstrong. They did surveillance on a hostel referred to as “Don Jon’s” the place the yoga teacher — the one who answered that on-line advert — was believed to be.
Jonathan Vigliotti (to Solano in Costa Rica): So, there’s this large worldwide manhunt, and of all locations on the planet, it ends on this very discreet hostel.
Lt. Juan Carlos Solano: Sí, aquí se ubicó, ella estaba hospedada acá. (Translation: Sure, that is the place she was staying, she was staying right here.)
It was now time for the U.S. Marshals to make their transfer.
They determined that Deputy U.S. Marshal Perez would method the girl alone. They did not need to scare her off. He would faux to be a vacationer and attempt to get a very good have a look at her face.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: So I walked up … and I obtained in. And I noticed two people sitting there at a desk, off to the left, as quickly as I walked in.
He says one was a girl.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: She regarded like Kaitlin, however not 100%. … So I believed, properly, how can I method her or get shut sufficient the place I begin asking questions the place she would not suspect one thing, So, I made a decision that I used to be gonna converse to her in Spanish. So I spoke to her in nothing however Spanish.
Jonathan Vigliotti: So, you are speaking, she goes to make use of her cellphone for Google Translate after which –
Deputy U.S. Marshal Emir Perez: So, I obtained a bit nearer ‘trigger I noticed that she was making an attempt to get to Google Translate on her cellphone and he or she’d raised it as much as me and I obtained even nearer. … And I observed that she had a bandage on her nostril and probably her lips had been swollen. and I noticed her eyes … The eyes are the very same ones that I noticed within the image. And that is her 100%.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: He will get within the automobile, and he’s like, “That is her. She’s in there.”
U.S. Marshals
Native police moved in to make the precise arrest. And shortly the U.S. Marshals found why Armstrong had been so exhausting to seek out: she had been getting cosmetic surgery once they first arrived in Santa Teresa.
On the hostel, they discovered a receipt.
Damien Fernandez: The receipt for, surgical procedure.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Cosmetic surgery?
Damien Fernandez: Cosmetic surgery.
U.S. Marshals/Harris County Sheriff’s Workplace
In side-by-side images, you’ll be able to see that Armstrong modified the form of her nostril. The Deputy Marshals mentioned their feminine operative — the girl they despatched to yoga courses to attempt to discover Armstrong — instructed them Armstrong’s new look would have tricked her.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: She instructed me, I believe if I’d’ve run into her on the yoga studio doing yoga courses, I do not suppose I’d’ve acknowledged her.
Jonathan Vigliotti: Wow. It nearly labored.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Damien Fernandez: It nearly labored.
THE CASE AGAINST KAITLIN ARMSTRONG
The U.S. Marshals took Armstrong again to Texas, the place she was charged and held in jail. However simply weeks earlier than she was attributable to stand trial for the homicide of Moriah Wilson, Armstrong escaped from custody once more.
Pilar Melendez: She was at a health care provider’s appointment and tried to flee as they had been strolling out.
Pilar Melendez from the Day by day Beast says Armstrong did not get far earlier than deputies caught her.
Pilar Melendez: It was fairly astonishing that she did that given the truth that she had tried to flee prosecution prior.
D.A. José Garza: This was simply extra proof of her guilt.
José Garza is Travis County’s district lawyer. He says his crew of prosecutors — Rickey Jones and Guillermo Gonzalez — had been greater than able to attempt the case.
D.A. José Garza: After we realized that she had tried to flee, it simply added to our confidence degree within the information of this case … that we might be capable of safe justice for Moriah and her household.
On Nov. 1, 2023, Armstrong’s trial started.
RICKEY JONES | Prosecutor (opening assertion): The very last thing Mo did on this earth was scream in terror.
In opening statements, Jones instructed the jury about chilling audio from a safety digicam that
captured the final moments of Moriah Wilson’s life.
RICKEY JONES (opening assertion): These screams are adopted by “pow! pow!” Two gunshots. … Kaitlin Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and put a 3rd shot. Proper into Mo’s coronary heart.
Prosecutors mentioned Armstrong had been monitoring Wilson through the use of a sports activities app.
Pilar Melendez: Kaitlin, previous to the homicide, had been following Mo on the Strava app, which is mainly an app that athletes use to trace their miles, working, biking … And he or she knew precisely the place she was.
They usually mentioned that Armstrong, on the evening of the homicide, was most probably monitoring Colin Strickland, as properly.
Guillermo Gonzalez | Prosecutor: She did have the flexibility to observe his communications. She had entry to all of his passwords. She had entry to his Instagram account.
Rickey Jones: I consider that when Mo despatched Colin a textual content letting him know the deal with the place she was. I consider that Kaitlin Armstrong was at house on Colin Strickland’s laptop computer. … She noticed that message.
After murdering Wilson and earlier than leaving the scene, Jones instructed the jury that Armstrong took Wilson’s bike and discarded it within the bushes simply yards away from the place her Jeep was parked.
Travis County District Lawyer’s Workplace
Rickey Jones: Our perception is that she possibly staged it to seem like a theft or one thing. Or, one other concept is, Mo Wilson’s bike is a instrument of her commerce. It might need been just like the bullet shot within the coronary heart. I will shoot you within the coronary heart. I will throw away your bike.
However they mentioned Armstrong made one huge mistake: she left her DNA behind on the handlebars and seat of Wilson’s bike. And that is not all of the proof prosecutors had towards Armstrong. There was that receipt that confirmed Armstrong had obtained cosmetic surgery whereas hiding out in Costa Rica.
Rickey Jones: All the things she does … it is all in step with making an attempt to evade the authorities.
However when it was the protection’s flip, lawyer Geoffrey Puryear instructed the jury there was no direct proof — together with safety footage — that really confirmed Armstrong was on the scene of the crime.
GEOFFREY PURYEAR (in court docket): Not one witness noticed Kaitlin Armstrong allegedly commit this homicide.
Then why would Armstrong flee and conceal from authorities? Protection lawyer Rick Cofer pointed the finger at Colin Strickland.
RICK COFER (in court docket): Was she scared? What do you suppose? Do you suppose that she might have been involved a bit bit that her boyfriend had killed somebody? … Concern leads to struggle or flight and it was flight.
However Jones mentioned, there was a giant downside with this concept as a result of Strickland had nothing to do with the homicide of Wilson.
Rickey Jones: In reality, on the time of the homicide, he was really on the cellphone talking with somebody. … it wasn’t Colin Strickland.
Armstrong’s protection crew didn’t reply to “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview.
After a two-week trial, it took the jury round two hours to resolve Armstrong’s destiny.
JUDGE (studying verdict): We the jury discover the defendant Kaitlin Armstrong responsible of the offense of homicide …
AP
Rickey Jones: As a prosecutor, the primary row proper behind you is the household … you started to really feel their ache and their need for a simply consequence for his or her family members.
At some point after her conviction, Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years behind bars.
However earlier than the case got here to an finish, Choose Brenda Kennedy allowed Caitlin Money — Wilson’s shut good friend whose residence she had been staying at and who had discovered Moriah’s physique – to take the stand and converse on to Armstrong.
CAITLIN CASH (in court docket): So many individuals on this room have misplaced a lot. … I am offended at you, on the utter tragic nature, on the senselessness at not with the ability to hear Mo’s voice once more. … I really feel deep disappointment for the highway forward.
Then it was Moriah Wilson’s mom’s flip.
KAREN WILSON (in court docket): I hate what you probably did to my stunning daughter. It was very egocentric and cowardly that violent act on Might eleventh. It was cowardly since you by no means selected to face her woman-to-woman in a civil dialog. She would’ve listened. She was a tremendous listener. She would have cared about your emotions.
Elliot Wilkinson Ray
However regardless of the ache, Karen Wilson closed with phrases of affection and optimism, as a result of she mentioned that is how Moriah would have needed it.
KAREN WILSON (in court docket): You killed her earthly physique, however her spirit is so very a lot alive, and you may by no means change that.
Immediately in Kingdom Trails in northern Vermont, a spot that was sacred to Wilson, a path was inbuilt her honor. It is referred to as “Moriah’s Ascent.”
Lisa Gosselin Lynn: Moriah was a Vermonter. She was giving. She was hardworking. She was trustworthy. She was caring. And he or she got here from a beautiful household. And that household actually needs that legacy and all of her good qualities to encourage others …
To honor Moriah, the Wilson household created the Moriah Wilson Basis that promotes wholesome residing and neighborhood constructing.
“48 Hours” Publish Mortem podcast
Host Anne-Marie Inexperienced, correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti and “48 Hours” area producer Hannah Vair take you contained in the case.
Produced by Chuck Stevenson and Chris Ritzen. Hannah Vair is the sphere producer. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Ryan Smith, Jenna Jackson and Cindy Cesare are the event producers. Matthew Mosk is the senior investigative editorial director. Wini Dini, Mike Baluzy, Grayce Arlotta-Berner and Joan Adelman are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
