The hunt for the Austin yoga instructor accused of killing professional cyclist Moriah Wilson has ended after six weeks with her arrest in Costa Rica, authorities said Thursday.
Federal authorities say they plan to return Kaitlin Armstrong to the United States to face charges of murder and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The arrest came about 50 days after authorities say Armstrong entered a home in Central Austin on May 11 and shot Wilson, who they say was a rival for her boyfriend’s affection.
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On Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals, Homeland Security Department and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, working with authorities in Costa Rica, located and arrested Armstrong at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Provincia de Puntarenas.
Officials did not yet say when Armstrong, 34, will be returned to the United States. As of Thursday afternoon, she had not yet been booked in the Travis County jail.
The slaying rocked the tight-knit cycling community, coming three weeks before UNBOUND, gravel racing’s premier event, in Kansas. Wilson, a rising star in gravel racing who this year notched wins in nearly 10 races, was considered a contender to win.
The shooting also put a spotlight on Colin Strickland, a star cyclist who dated and lived with Armstrong but went swimming with Wilson before the shooting. Though Strickland is not charged with a crime, some companies that sponsored him have ended those relationships in the wake of the incident.
Strickland, of Austin, told police he had a brief romantic relationship with Wilson last fall when he was separated from Armstrong. He said he soon reconciled with Armstrong and from that point on his relationship with Wilson was platonic.
The day after the shooting, detectives interviewed Armstrong and confronted her with video that showed a vehicle resembling hers pulling up to the home where Wilson was staying. Wilson, who lived in San Francisco, was at a friend’s house preparing for a race that coming weekend near Waco.
Armstrong ended the interview with police and was not arrested. The police had picked her up for questioning on an unrelated warrant from 2018 for allegedly not paying for a Botox treatment. Police said they mistakenly released her from custody because her birthdate in the Police Department’s system did not match her birthdate on the warrant.
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Authorities say that the following day, May 13, Armstrong sold the vehicle from the video and pocketed $12,200 that she used to flee the country. On May 14, she took flights from Austin to Houston to New York.
On May 17, police filed an arrest warrant and an affidavit that included information from a tipster who told detectives that Armstrong learned in January about Strickland’s relationship with Wilson. That person said Armstrong was shaking in anger and said she wanted to kill Wilson. Around that time, police say, Strickland bought two firearms: a 9 mm handgun for himself, and another for Armstrong.
In searching the home where Armstrong lives with Strickland, investigators say they seized a 9 mm handgun belonging to Armstrong. After comparing shell cases fired from that gun to those found in the home where Wilson was killed, police say the potential that the same firearm was used is “significant.”
On May 18, the day after the warrant was issued, authorities say Armstrong was dropped off at the Newark, N.J., airport but that they could not find an outgoing flight under her name. The implication was that she might have obtained identification under a false name. On Thursday, they confirmed that she used a fraudulent passport to board a flight for San Jose, Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is a country in Central America with coastlines on the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. Its population is about 5 million.
Last week, federal officials announced that an anonymous donor contributed up to $15,000 for information leading to Armstrong’s arrest. That brought the total reward to $21,000.
On June 10, a Travis County grand jury indicted Armstrong for murder, which carries a prison sentence of five to 99 years or life.
The unlawful flight charge will be handled in federal court.
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