A rising biking star who was visiting Texas for a contest was discovered shot lifeless in Austin this month, rattling the tight-knit neighborhood of off-road biking and racing.
Investigators started to piece collectively a story of that night time with surveillance video, a remorseful interview with one other skilled bicycle owner she had been seeing, and finally ballistics. Now, U.S. Marshals are serving to the police look for a lady who has been recognized as a suspect within the dying of Anna Moriah Wilson, 25.
The suspect, Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was courting Colin Strickland, 35, one other star gravel bicycle owner, a self-discipline that blends mountain biking and street biking. The police mentioned Ms. Wilson had additionally been romantically concerned with Mr. Strickland.
On the night time of Might 11, a pal returned to her dwelling in Austin the place Ms. Wilson had been staying, discovered Ms. Wilson bleeding and unconscious and referred to as 911, the police mentioned.
Ms. Wilson, who was often called Mo, was pronounced lifeless shortly after, the police mentioned. An preliminary investigation revealed that somebody had shot Ms. Wilson a number of occasions inside the house and that the taking pictures didn’t seem like random.
On the night time she was killed, Ms. Wilson and Mr. Strickland had collectively visited the Deep Eddy pool in Austin, in response to a police affidavit posted by The Austin American-Statesman.
In an interview with the police, Mr. Strickland mentioned he had dropped Ms. Wilson off at her pal’s home and didn’t go inside. He informed the police that he had been in a romantic relationship with Ms. Wilson in October throughout a one- or two-week break from his roughly three-year relationship with Ms. Armstrong, in response to the affidavit.
In December or January, Mr. Strickland bought two 9-millimeter handguns, one for himself and one for Ms. Armstrong, the affidavit mentioned. A police evaluation of Ms. Armstrong’s gun, which was recovered at Mr. Strickland’s dwelling, revealed that it had “important” potential to be the identical because the one used to kill Ms. Wilson, the affidavit mentioned.
A car much like Ms. Armstrong’s, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, was seen in entrance of the Austin dwelling the place Ms. Wilson was staying an hour earlier than the police responded to her pal’s 911 name, the affidavit mentioned. Ms. Armstrong didn’t clarify why her car was seen close to the scene of the taking pictures, the police mentioned.
The day after Ms. Wilson was discovered lifeless, the police took Ms. Armstrong into custody on an unspecified misdemeanor warrant however had been then knowledgeable that the warrant was not legitimate and informed Ms. Armstrong she may go away if she wished to, the affidavit mentioned.
The Austin police didn’t instantly reply to messages searching for additional remark. Mr. Strickland and his sponsor, Crimson Bull, didn’t reply to e-mail requests for remark. Ms. Armstrong couldn’t be reached.
The affidavit mentioned the police had obtained a tip from an nameless caller. The caller mentioned Ms. Armstrong had mentioned in January that she wished to kill Ms. Wilson after studying that Mr. Strickland was in a romantic relationship with Ms. Wilson whereas he was courting Ms. Armstrong.
Mr. Strickland mentioned he had not been involved with Ms. Armstrong since Might 13, in response to the affidavit.
“There isn’t any solution to adequately categorical the remorse and torture I really feel about my proximity to this horrible crime,” Mr. Strickland mentioned in an announcement to The American-Statesman. “I’m sorry, and I merely can’t make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.”
Mr. Strickland mentioned that he had a quick romantic relationship with Ms. Wilson within the fall “that spanned every week or so,” then reconciled with Ms. Armstrong. He mentioned that he and Ms. Wilson had not been in a romantic relationship after that, however had been in a platonic {and professional} relationship and would usually see one another at biking occasions.
He mentioned Ms. Wilson was “the very best feminine bicycle owner in the US and probably the world,” in response to the affidavit.
“Moriah and I had been each leaders on this lonely, area of interest sport of biking, and I admired her significantly and thought of her a detailed pal,” Mr. Strickland mentioned in his assertion. “I’m deeply grieving her loss.”
In an interview in Might with VeloNews, a aggressive biking journal, Ms. Wilson mentioned she had lately stop her job with the bike firm Specialised to concentrate on biking full time. VeloNews mentioned that Ms. Wilson had received 10 off-road races this 12 months.
Biking publications described Ms. Wilson as a rising star within the off-road racing world who had racked up spectacular performances currently, together with profitable an 80-kilometer race in April on the Sea Otter Traditional, a biking competition in Monterey, Calif.
Her dying rattled the mountain biking and gravel racing world, and tributes to her had been posted on-line.
Rebecca Rusch, knowledgeable bicycle owner, mentioned on Instagram that there “was a bubble of positivity and pleasure” round Ms. Wilson.
Ms. Wilson had traveled to Texas to compete in Gravel Locos, a 150-mile race in Hico, about 135 miles north of Austin. The winner of the race, Marisa Vandersteen Boaz, mentioned on Instagram that she wished Ms. Wilson may have received it.
Ms. Boaz mentioned she had not identified Ms. Wilson personally, however had been impressed by her.
“I do know everybody taking part gave it their all and I believe that’s what Mo would have wished,” Ms. Boaz wrote.
Vimal Patel contributed reporting.