Jurors are now deliberating after hearing closing statements on Thursday in the murder trial of Kaitlin Armstrong, a Texas woman accused of fatally shooting professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in 2022.
Wilson, 25, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds at a friend’s home in Austin on the night of May 11, 2022. The cycling prodigy was once romantically linked to Armstrong’s then-boyfriend, Colin Strickland, a fellow professional cyclist, and was found shot hours after meeting up with him, police said.
Armstrong, 35, was arrested in June 2022 at a hostel in Costa Rica following a 43-day search and has been detained since then on a $3.5 million bond. She has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Wilson’s death.
Kaitlin Armstrong enters the courtroom during the first day of her trial at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, Nov. 1, 2023, in Austin, Texas.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via AP
After calling nearly 40 witnesses over the two-week trial, Travis County prosecutor Rick Jones told the jurors there is “overwhelming” evidence that points to Armstrong pulling the trigger.
Prosecutors presented evidence that they say showed Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Cherokee circling the residence’s block the night of the homicide, that her firearm was used in the homicide and her DNA was likely found on Wilson’s bicycle.
“Only Kaitlin Armstrong, the defendant, fits these facts that was presented to you through that witness chair,” Jones said.
Prosecutors also replayed audio on Thursday of the moments Wilson was fatally shot — twice in the head and once in the heart “for good measure,” Jones said. They also showed the jurors footage they said showed Armstrong attempting to flee from deputies in the weeks leading up to the trial while being transported to an off-site medical appointment.
“She’s not just running from the sheriff’s department,” Jones told jurors. “She’s running from you and you and you and you and you and you and you.”
Jones implored the jurors to not go down the defense’s “rabbit holes.”
Defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear gives opening arguments during the first day of trial for State of Texas v. Kaitlin Armstrong at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, Nov. 1, 2023.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman/USA Today Network
In their closing statements, the defense said Armstrong is “trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial evidence.”
“There is a lot of sizzle, but there’s not much steak,” defense attorney Rick Cofer said. “This is a case based on assumptions, it’s based on confirmation bias and a lack of direct evidence.”
Cofer said police narrowed in on Armstrong to fit an easy narrative of a “spurned, jealous lover” and didn’t investigate other potential suspects in the case.
“She had to be portrayed as a jealous psycho to create the motive,” Cofer said while refuting the prosecutors’ characterization of her as being a jealous girlfriend.
Defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear also refuted the state’s DNA and ballistics evidence and told jurors Armstrong was free to leave when she flew to Costa Rica days after being interviewed by police about Wilson’s death.
In wrapping up their closing, prosecutors asked why Armstrong used a false name and passport to fly to Costa Rica and sought plastic surgery once there.
“These are all indications of guilt, ladies and gentlemen,” state attorney Guillermo Gonzalez told the jurors. “This isn’t somebody on a frolic. This is somebody who’s a fugitive and desperately trying to get away.”
Armstrong declined to testify during the trial.
Strickland took to the stand and testified about his and Armstrong’s on-again, off-again “tumultuous” relationship.