Anna Wilson, 25, was a former competitive skier from Vermont, and was considered one of America's top gravel and mountain cyclists. According to a statement from Austin Police, Wilson died May 11 from multiple gunshot wounds. She was killed at the East Austin apartment of a friend she was staying with.
Wilson's friend told investigators she called 911 after returning home that evening and finding the professional athlete unconscious and covered in blood. Wilson was declared dead at the scene despite efforts by emergency medical personnel to save her. Detectives have said Wilson was not targeted at random, and that her death has been ruled a homicide by medical examiners.
According to VeloNews, Wilson — known throughout the cycling world as "Mo" — had been working as a demand planner for California-based bicycle manufacturer Specialized but had left that post earlier this month to compete full-time.
She had flown to Austin the day before her murder, in preparation for Gravel Locos, a 150-mile race through the Texas heartland (Gravel cycling involves riding a racing bike on unpaved roads and rugged trails). The VeloNews article notes Wilson "was a favorite for the win."
Investigators found out that she previously dated another cyclist, Colin Strickland. Before Strickland started seeing Wilson, he was dating another woman named Kaitlin Marie Armstrong. Strickland and Armstrong separated in the fall of 2021 by which point Strickland had met Wilson and began a brief romantic relationship with her. Armstrong and Strickland would later reconcile.
Armstrong grew up in Livonia, Michigan. A Fox News article reported that she graduated high school in 2005 at Stevenson High School, where she was described as "a red-headed, athletic teenager who excelled in volleyball and track and field, and also briefly played basketball". She attended Schoolcraft College and Eastern Michigan University. She has been described as a yoga teacher and licensed realtor.
On May 11, 2022, Wilson was found with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead "shortly before 10 p.m" at her friend's Austin home where she had been staying to compete for a big race in Hico. Hours before her death, Wilson had gone out with Strickland for a swim at Deep Eddy Pool and afterward ate dinner. Strickland denied ever going inside Wilson's friend's house after dropping Wilson off.
Police named Armstrong a person of interest after video surveillance showed Armstrong's black Jeep Grand Cherokee arriving to the residence moments before the killing. Armstrong was then taken into custody over an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for theft (She was charged with allegedly skipping out on a $650 Botox procedure in 2018). She made no statement to the police when confronted about the video evidence of her vehicle; however, investigators observed she "turned her head and rolled her eyes in an angry manner" when questioned about how Wilson was with Strickland. Armstrong was released on a technicality stemming from discrepancies between her date of birth in the police department's database and the one in the warrant.
Police examined the victim's phone and concluded that Wilson was romantically tied to Strickland while he was still dating Armstrong. Strickland originally denied knowing the victim when first interviewed, according to investigators. Strickland then went on to admit he had a relationship with the victim and that he had been keeping communication with Wilson hidden from Armstrong, going so far as to delete text messages from Wilson in his phone while saving her phone number under a fictitious name. It also states that Armstrong was aware of Strickland's relationship with Wilson, and she expressed a strong desire to kill Wilson, according to an anonymous caller. Armstrong then told this same caller that she "had either recently purchased a firearm or was going to." Strickland revealed he had bought two handguns for Armstrong and himself. Through a search warrant, police recovered two firearms from the house Strickland shared with Armstrong. One firearm belonging to Armstrong, a SIG Sauer P365 handgun, was examined and its test-fired cartridge shell yielded a "significant" match with that in the crime scene. On May 17, 2022, an arrest warrant for first-degree murder was issued against Armstrong.
After spending 43 days on the run from authorities, Armstrong was found in a hotel in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica where she was apprehended by US marshals on June 29, 2022. Authorities said she had tried to change her appearance and used several aliases as she moved around Costa Rica while trying to set herself up as a yoga instructor in that country.
Armstrong faces up to 99 years in prison if she's convicted.
She is being held on $US3.5 million ($5 million) bond.
Prosecutors questioned whether the quick trial setting amounted to a “privilege” for Armstrong, as it would put her case in front of other murder trials that have waited for two years or longer because of pandemic slowdowns.
They also noted that investigators are still gathering evidence that prosecutors and defense attorneys have yet to receive.
“If they chose to indict without evidence, that’s the district attorney’s problem,” Armstrong’s attorney, Rick Cofer, told District Judge Brenda Kennedy before she granted the request to set a trial date and scheduled it to begin October 24.
After the brief court hearing, Cofer suggested that Armstrong’s defence will challenge the evidence gathering and conduct by Austin police investigators, and whether they didn’t follow leads that could have led to a different suspect.
“Ms Armstrong wants her day in court,” Cofer said, without taking questions.
“Simply put, there is a lot more to this story that has yet been heard.”
Will continue to update as investigation continues
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