The murder of Moriah Wilson: Killed by a jealous love rival
Moriah Wilson was a talented and beloved young woman with a bright future ahead of her when her life was maliciously taken from her.
When the details of her death started to come to light, it became clear that this was a vicious killing driven by jealousy. The shocking nature of the crime created a media frenzy, capturing the attention of people around the world.
Join us here at Crime+Investigation as we examine the murder of Moriah Wilson to see why and how she was callously killed.
Who was Moriah Wilson?
Anna Moriah Wilson, known to many as ‘Mo’, was a young professional cyclist who hailed from New Hampshire in Vermont, New England. Born on 18th May 1996, Mo came from a particularly athletic family. She followed suit and was highly successful.
She was originally a skiing enthusiast who ranked nationally in the sport, but her passion turned to cycling after a knee injury led her away from skiing. Mo was able to take her love for cycling to a new level when she became a professional gravel cyclist full-time.
Moriah Wilson and Colin Strickland
Mo became good friends with another professional cyclist called Colin Strickland. The two dated for a very short period of time, about a week. Mo stayed good friends with Strickland as they were able to keep in contact due to their connections in the cycling community.
On 11th May 2022, Mo travelled to Austin in Texas to attend a bike race. Strickland was living in Austin at the time, so the two met up to spend some time together. They went swimming and then went out for dinner. Despite Strickland’s claims that the two were just friends, their relationship seemed very close, and their time together that evening seemed to be a date. Strickland dropped Mo off at her friend's house where she had been staying during her visit, and that would be the last time she was seen alive.
The murder of Moriah Wilson
Not long before 10pm, Mo’s friend arrived back at her home. She found Moriah unresponsive and covered in blood. Despite the best efforts of the medical personnel on the scene, Mo did not survive and was pronounced dead. An autopsy confirmed that her death was a homicide, as she had been shot three times (once in the chest and twice in the head).
Who killed Moriah Wilson?
Suspicions of Mo’s murderer quickly turned to a 34-year-old woman named Kaitlin Armstrong, whose Jeep was seen leaving the residence not long before the murder. But who is Kaitlin Armstrong, and why was she a prime suspect?
Kaitlin was a realtor and yoga teacher who was in an on-and-off relationship with Strickland. In late 2021, Armstrong and Strickland were on a hiatus, and this is when Strickland and Moriah had a brief relationship.
Strickland purposely hid his relationship with Mo from Armstrong, admitting that he saved Mo’s number under a different name on her phone. Armstrong became aware of Mo and Strickland’s relationship, leading to Armstrong raging with jealousy. She reportedly told a friend, who later informed police, that she wanted to kill Moriah and had been tracking Mo via a fitness app.
A handgun matching the one found at the scene of Mo’s killing was found in Armstrong and Strickland’s home when a search warrant was executed. This led to an arrest warrant being issued to Armstrong. However, at this point, Armstrong was nowhere to be found.
The search for Kaitlin Armstrong
Armstrong took on false identities and even used plastic surgery to change her appearance after taking her sister’s passport and flying to Costa Rica. US Marshals searching for her didn’t arrive in Costa Rica for another month. However, they were able to find her after using Facebook to place an ad for a yoga instructor. She was arrested on 29th June 2022, in a hostel in Santa Teresa.
The trial and charges
After briefly escaping from police officers while attending a medical appointment in October 2023, Armstrong’s trial began on 16th November 2023. She was found guilty of murder and given a 90-year sentence. Armstrong is currently imprisoned in the Dr. Kane Murray Unit women’s prison in Gatesville, Texas.
Mo’s life was tragically and unnecessarily cut short, but her family are keeping her memory alive with the Moriah Wilson Foundation.
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