Kaitlin Armstrong’s passport was laid out on the table of her home ‘meticulously’ sitting next to foreign currency and US dollars when police visited her home the day after the murder of Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson, her murder trial heard today.
Armstrong is accused of shooting Mo Wilson three times on May 11, 2022, after discovering her ongoing contact with Colin Strickland.
At the time, Armstrong and Strickland had reconciled, but he was secretly still speaking with Wilson and took her to dinner on the night she died behind his girlfriend’s back.
On May 12th, when officers visited Strickland to inform him that Wilson had died, he denied knowing her at first, then said ‘oh yes’ when officers repeated her full name. The video from police officer bodycam was shown today at Armstrong’s trial but will not be made public.
The jury also heard testimony from some of the police officers who searched Armstrong and Strickland’s home after the murder.
They found a 9mm handgun in a closet that matched the shell casings at the scene. Strickland would later tell police how he bought the weapon for Armstrong.
The passport and cash were laid out, an early indicator of Armstrong’s risk of flight. After an initial questioning on May 12, she skipped town, flying first to New York then to Costa Rica where she stayed for 43 days before being extradited back to the US.
Colin Strickland told police he didn’t know Mo Wilson when he was first contacted by police the day after her murder. His girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong, is accused of murdering Wilson, driven by jealousy because he was still talking to her and seeing her
Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson was shot dead in Austin on May 11th. She had just returned home from an evening swim with Strickland, who she had at one time been romantic with
Kaitlin Armstrong is shown on the first day of her murder trial. She has pleaded not guilty, but is yet to make any public statement or take the stand
No cameras are allowed inside the court for the duration of the trial. The judge has instead agreed to the opening statements and closing arguments being televised.
Two cops approached Strickland and asked if he knew Wilson. He shook his head at first, then confessed that he did know her.
When the officers told him she had died, he appeared shocked. He told the cops how they had been together the previous night.
‘She passed away? That’s a lot,’ he said, before describing how he dropped her off at her friend Caitlin Cash’s apartment then returned home, telling her: ‘See you tomorrow.’
The pair had both planned to attend a cycling race on May 12th.
It was 8.36pm when Wilson entered her friend’s apartment. The last time she used her phone was 9.13pm, leading police to believe that is around the time she was killed.
‘So I’m the last person who saw her, from her circle?’ he asked the police.
After Wilson and Strickland’s secret meet-up, Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee was spotted driving outside the Austin home of Wilson’s friend, where the cyclist was murdered
He denied that they had been intimate during their date, insisting that they had only hugged, but admitted dating Wilson while on a break from his relationship with Armstrong.
‘I ended up getting back together with my girlfriend,’ he said, before admitting that he’d concealed his plans with Wilson from Armstrong.
When asked why he stayed in touch with Wilson, he said: ‘[I’ve] just been keeping up with her because she’s awesome.’
The officers then asked if he had Wilson’s mother’s address.
US Marshals launched a massive manhunt for Armstrong after she fled
At 8.36pm, Strickland sent Armstrong a text telling her he was on his way home.
One minute later, her jeep was filmed approaching the apartment where Wilson was staying.
At 9.15pm, two gunshots were captured by a neighbor’s surveillance camera. A third was later heard.
At 9.21pm, Strickland sent Armstrong another text telling her he was home. She then arrived home shortly afterwards.
Cash, the friend Wilson was staying with, returned home at 9.54pm. She found her body in the bathroom and called 911. Police arrived and declared Wilson dead at 10.10pm.
Kaitlin Armstrong in her booking photo after being brought back to the US from Costa Rica
How Armstrong is believed to have entered the home remains a mystery. Her jeep was filmed circling the block of the murder scene multiple times between 8pm and 9pm.
Cash’s landlord and neighbor told police that he entered his garage at some time between 8.30pm and 9.30pm. While inside, he heard someone running down the stairs from the apartment.
He saw a cyclist then speed away southbound in an alley behind the building, but the garage door was only partially raised which blocked his view of who was on the bicycle.
Wilson’s bike was the only thing missing from the apartment. It was found 20 yards from the building in vegetation. Prosecutors claim DNA found on the bike has a strong potential match for Armstrong’s.
Shortly after 9.21pm, Armstrong arrived home.
On May 12, Armstrong was questioned by police on an outstanding, unrelated warrant. Because of an error in that paperwork, she was released without charge.
Two days later, she used her sister’s passport to board a plane to New York and then to Costa Rica, where she remained until she was arrested on suspicion of the murder in July.
She has pleaded not guilty. Strickland is listed among prosecution witnesses for the trial. He went into hiding while Armstrong was on the run, and has never been arrested or charged in connection with the killing.
Prosecutors say Armstrong was a woman possessed by jealousy and rage who had discovered her boyfriend’s lies and decided to kill Wilson to get her out the picture.
The trial in Austin, Texas, is slated to continue for another two weeks.