Texas murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong had access to $450G, practiced shooting with sister, warrants reveal
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas love triangle murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong had access to more than $450,000 and allegedly went to a range to "learn how to use a firearm" with her sister before the shooting death of Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson, court documents allege.
Search warrants obtained by Fox News Digital reveal a new look at how Austin police quickly zeroed in on Armstrong as a suspect before she allegedly led investigators on an international manhunt ending in a Costa Rica beach town. They also reveal new gruesome details about the slaying.
Documents revealed Armstrong’s boyfriend, 35-year-old pro cyclist Colin Strickland, initially denied knowing the victim, a 25-year-old fellow riding pro, to detectives when they first interviewed him after the murder.
On the evening of May 11, police found Wilson dead on a bathroom floor with at least three bullet wounds, two to the head and a third to her chest that allegedly occurred "after she was already laying supine on the floor." She had an exit wound on her back, and police found a bullet and chipped tile beneath her.
Wilson had lacerations on her right finger and under her chin, according to the warrant. Police found shell casings labeled "9mm JAG" in the room.
Strickland had also given Armstrong $450,000 as investment capital. According to the warrants, he asked for it back, but she did not return it before fleeing the state on May 14. She allegedly flew to New York, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
There, she met with her sister at a campground, according to a man staying there who answered questions when Fox News Digital visited last month.
He said he saw her "right before the whole thing blew up" and that law enforcement arrived soon after she had left.
A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at the camp where Christie Armstrong was living – and is listed online as the camp's communications team member – hung up when a reporter identified himself.
Fugitive murder suspect Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of gunning down pro cyclist and romantic rival Moriah Wilson in Austin, Texas, has been linked to a campground in upstate New York. (Stephanie Pagones/Fox News Digital, Inset: US Marshals)
On May 18, Armstrong flew from New Jersey to Costa Rica, according to the Marshals.
Before she fled, the warrants note that police found passports – plural – in her purse on May 12, the day they seized two of her cellphones.
Authorities said she used someone else’s passport to board the international flight, and Inside Edition reported last week that the owner of a beachfront hostel where she had been staying found two passports in her lock box – hers and her sister’s.
"Strickland further advised Armstrong has visited an unknown gun range with her sister to learn how to use a firearm," the warrants state.
Strickland and Wilson had a romantic history and allegedly went out swimming at the Deep Eddy Pool -- and to dinner at Pool Burger across the street -- behind Armstrong’s back the night of the murder. The victim, who lived in California, was visiting Austin ahead of a competition.
Armstrong, who an anonymous tipster described as enraged and jealous after learning about Wilson and Strickland’s past encounters, was also linked to the crime scene by surveillance video that recorded her Jeep in the area. The warrants state that a neighbor’s camera recorded it pulling up to the home where Wilson was staying while visiting Austin, about a minute after Strickland dropped her off and rode away on his motorcycle.
Strickland purchased two handguns at the same Austin gun store, according to the warrants, including one later linked to shell casings recovered at the crime scene.
Police obtained search warrants for Strickland’s DNA, his phone, two phones belonging to Armstrong, her MacBook Pro and a house she owned in Austin that is different from where she lived with Strickland.
One of the warrants states that Strickland texted Armstrong right after dropping off Wilson at 8:36 p.m., a minute before police say her Jeep showed up on surveillance video outside the crime scene. It also alleges that Armstrong arrived home shortly after 9:21 p.m.
The warrants state that Strickland’s version of events was corroborated by surveillance video. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When police captured Armstrong in Costa Rica, she had changed her appearance. She'd cut her long, auburn hair, voted "best hair" in her high school class of 2005, down to shoulder-length and dyed it brown. Images also appear to show a change in her facial features, although authorities have declined to confirm reports that she may have undergone plastic surgery.
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