Kaitlin Armstrong trial: Initial crime scene is focus on day 2

AUSTIN, Texas - Witness testimony continued on Thursday, Nov. 2 in the murder trial of Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of killing Moriah Wilson on May 11, 2022.

The East Austin crime scene was the focus of Thursday’s testimony. 

Two crime scene specialists took the witness stand; one had photographed the scene and the other had lifted prints and swabbed for DNA. 

The state entered dozens of exhibits into evidence including latent print cards and photos of blood splatters and fired cartridge casings left at the scene. 

Wilson was an up-and-coming pro-cyclist and her bike, which had been found a couple of hundred yards from the home where Wilson was killed, became a focal point on Thursday as well. 

Caitlin Cash, the friend that Wilson was staying with, said the bike had been left at the front of her apartment when she left for dinner that evening. 

The defense asked the specialist who swabbed the bike for DNA if there was any evidence it had been ridden to that location. She said there was not.

During cross-examination of the crime scene specialists, as well as APD detectives involved in the investigation, the defense’s line of questioning appeared to be focused on finding the evidence unreliable or finding flaws in how the evidence was gathered.

"Have you heard of confirmation bias?" a member of the defense team asked when cross-examining Sgt. Ramirez with APD, who at the time, was essentially supervising the detectives on scene. 

MORE STORIES:

• Kaitlin Armstrong trial: Opening statements begin
• Kaitlin Armstrong trial: Jury selected, opening statements set for Nov. 1
• Accused murderer Kaitlin Armstrong faces new felony charge for brief escape

Confirmation bias is defined as "people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs."

David Harris, the landlord of Cash’s apartment, was called to the witness stand, as well. 

Cash’s apartment sits over his garage behind the house he lives in. He said he was 3-D printing inside his home when he briefly popped in the garage for a "bong hit before heading on a walk."

"I opened the garage door about a foot or so, and as soon as I opened the garage door I heard somebody go out of the apartment and rush down the stairs, and then I could hear what I perceived to be a bicycle whisking off," he said. "Whoever was upstairs would have heard me open the garage, and then immediately took off."