Woman sentenced to prison after using Strava to murder love rival cyclist
A woman has been sentenced to nearly 100 years in prison after she used Strava to track down and murder her love rival.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, was convicted of shooting dead pro cyclist Anna Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson, 25, in Texas, in 2022.
Back when the murder happened, the yoga teacher was in a relationship with professional cyclist boyfriend Colin Strickland.
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They’d been together for about three years before separating for a short while. And during this time, Strickland had a bit of a fling with Wilson.
When Armstrong got back together with her boyfriend, she remained rather jealous of his brief lover – even calling her and telling her to ‘stay away’.
However, one evening Wilson and Strickland went out for a meal and rum drinks together while she was visiting Texas for a cycling race.
Jurors heard in court from Armstrong’s friends that the woman has said she wanted to, or ‘could’ kill her love rival.
And that’s just what she did, using fitness app Strava to track Wilson down.
She found the cyclist at her friend’s apartment in Austin and shot her twice in the head and once in the heart on 11 May, 2022.
KXAN reported Amstrongs vehicle was seen near the crime scene but after questioning, she was mistakenly released.
The woman sold her Jeep, fled Texas and then eventually left the country using her sister’s passport.
She spent 43 days on the run and even spent $6,000 (£4,850) on surgery to alter her appearance, before being arrested at a beachside hostel in Costa Rica.
When Armstrong was brought back to the US, she was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
She tried to escape again while attending a medical appointment outside of jail last month – which she now faces a separate felony escape charge for.
After over two long weeks of testimony, jurors deliberated for around two hours before their verdict was delivered on Thursday (16 November).
Armstrong was found guilty of first-degree murder and she now faces a maximum of 99 years in prison.
The jury also ordered she pay a $10,000 (£8020) fine.
Her defence attorney Rick Cofer said she ‘has been trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial evidence’.
Armstrong didn’t testify on her own behalf during the murder trial.
Wilson’s mother Karen said to her in court at the sentencing: “When you shot Moriah in the heart, you shot me in the heart... all the people who loved her, pierced their hearts."
Jess Battison