Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was found Wednesday at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in Puntarenas Province, the Marshals Office said in a press release. She will be deported and returned to the US, the agency said.
On May 17, police issued a manslaughter warrant against Armstrong. The affidavit lists details such as a video showing a vehicle similar to hers near the Austin, Texas home where Wilson stayed shortly before her body was found.
On May 18, Armstrong used a fraudulent passport to board a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, the US Marshals said.
The victim killed was a star skier and champion cyclist
Wilson, 25, was a gifted multisport athlete. She was a standout skier in her younger years before transitioning to cycling.
After her studies, she switched from skiing to competitive cycling.
Wilson especially excelled at “gravel racing,” a relatively new category of bicycles that some consider to be a hybrid of road racing and mountain biking.
At the time of her death, Wilson was just days away from competing in the Gravel Locos bicycle race. The day after the race, an event organizer recalled her on Facebook as a “role model, a shy compassionate person, a feisty tactical racer and a competitor who genuinely cared about those who compete against you.”
What happened during Wilson’s final hours?
On May 11, the day of her death, Wilson told her boyfriend she was going for an afternoon swim with Strickland, according to an affidavit filed with the Travis County court. Wilson was staying with a friend as she prepared for the upcoming Gravel Locos race in Hico.
Strickland told the researchers that after they swam, he and Wilson ate. After that, Strickland said, he dropped her off at her boyfriend’s house but didn’t go inside, according to the affidavit.
Austin Police Department responded later in the evening, shortly before 10:00 p.m. CT, and found Wilson with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead on the spot.
On May 19, authorities filed an affidavit saying that Strickland admitted to trying to hide his communications with Wilson from Armstrong by changing Wilson’s name on his phone and deleting texts.
The affidavit cites a tipster who claimed that Armstrong had come to believe that Strickland and Wilson’s romantic relationship had been going on from January 2022.
Armstrong had contacted Wilson several times, and in one instance told her to “stay away” from Strickland, one of Wilson’s friends told investigators, according to the affidavit.
Wilson’s family said she was not in a romantic relationship at the time of her death.
“While we won’t dwell on the ongoing investigation, we feel it is important to clarify that at the time of her death, those closest to her clearly understood, directly from Moriah, that she was not in a romantic relationship with anyone,” he said. the spokesman. the family said in a statement last month.
Strickland and Armstrong reconciled and resumed their relationship about a month later, he told the newspaper. Strickland said his relationship with Wilson then became “platonic and professional” and he considered her a “close friend,” he said.
“There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel for my closeness to this horrific crime,” Strickland told the Austin American-Statesman. “I’m sorry, and I just can’t understand this unfathomable situation.”
Hannah Sarisohn, Dakin Andone, Emma Tucker and Eric Levenson of DailyExpertNews contributed to this report.
