Murder of Moriah Wilson

Moriah Wilson, a 25-year-old professional gravel cyclist, was fatally shot at a friend's residence in Austin, Texas, on May 11, 2022. Kaitlin Armstrong was identified as a suspect through surveillance footage and forensic evidence, fled to Costa Rica for 43 days, and was convicted of murder in November 2023.

Wilson was born on May 18, 1996, in Littleton, New Hampshire, and grew up in Kirby, Vermont; she was a nationally ranked junior skier before turning to gravel cycling. She graduated from Burke Mountain Academy in 2014 and from Dartmouth College in 2019 with a Bachelor of Engineering, and had worked as a demand planner before becoming a full-time professional cyclist. Armstrong, born November 21, 1987, grew up in Livonia, Michigan, graduated from Stevenson High School in 2005, and attended Schoolcraft College and Eastern Michigan University; before her conviction she had worked as a yoga teacher and a licensed realtor. Armstrong was in an on-and-off relationship with a professional cyclist who, after a separation in the fall of 2021, briefly dated Wilson before he and Armstrong reconciled.

On May 11, 2022, Wilson was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds shortly before 10 p.m. at a friend's residence in Austin, where she was staying while preparing for a race in Hico. Earlier that day she had gone swimming and had dinner with the cyclist, who dropped her at the residence, denied entering it, and was ruled out as a suspect. An autopsy found the death to be a homicide, with three gunshot wounds — two to the head and one to the chest — inflicted, per a search warrant, after Wilson was already on the floor. Surveillance footage of a black Jeep Grand Cherokee arriving shortly before the killing led investigators to Armstrong, then 34, who was briefly held on an unrelated theft warrant and released over a discrepancy in her recorded birth date. Investigators said Armstrong had learned of the relationship and, per an anonymous tipster, had said she intended to buy or already owned a firearm. A shell casing from a pistol registered to Armstrong significantly matched one found at the scene, and an arrest warrant charging her with first-degree murder was issued on May 17, 2022.

Armstrong fled the country using a family member's passport, altered her appearance through plastic surgery, and used false identities while seeking yoga-teaching work; U.S. Marshals located her through a Facebook advertisement, and she was apprehended at a hostel in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, on June 29, 2022, after 43 days at large. Extradited to Texas, she was arraigned on July 21, 2022, pleaded not guilty, and was held on a $3.5 million bond. She unsuccessfully sought to suppress her police interrogation, and on October 12, 2023, briefly escaped custody during a medical appointment before being recaptured. Trial began October 30, 2023, and on November 16, 2023, Armstrong was found guilty of murder; she was sentenced to 90 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 30 years, her appeal was later denied, and she is incarcerated at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit.

On May 6, 2024, Wilson's parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Armstrong seeking $1 million in damages and asking that she be barred from profiting from the crime. On June 17, 2024, a judge ordered Armstrong to pay $15 million to the Wilson family. A nationwide asset search found that Armstrong emptied her bank account and transferred assets to relatives and the cyclist three days after the wrongful-death suit was filed, and Wilson's family later filed a further lawsuit alleging fraudulent transfer.