(NewsNation) — The black Jeep registered to a woman accused of killing a popular cyclist amid an alleged love triangle has been found, U.S. Marshals said Thursday.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, is accused of murdering Moriah Wilson, 25, a rising star in the cycling world. Wilson had been visiting Austin before a race in Hico, Texas, last month, NewsNation affiliate KXAN reported. She was found unconscious with a gunshot wound at an Austin residence on May 11 and succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
Armstrong was brought in for questioning and released. She has been on the run ever since.
Investigators earlier this month said Armstrong was dropped off at an airport in Newark, New Jersey, on May 18. Surveillance footage also places her at a Texas airport three days after the alleged crime.
This week, the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force also confirmed that Armstrong sold her Jeep on May 13 to a CarMax dealership in South Austin for $12,200. She received a check from the dealership one day after being questioned by Austin Police.
A police affidavit related to the case shows Wilson met with Armstrong’s boyfriend, fellow pro cyclist Colin Strickland, on May 11 — the same night as her death.
Strickland, who said he dated Wilson last fall, told police the two went swimming and then to dinner on May 11 before he dropped Wilson off at the home where her body was later found.
Security footage shows an SUV similar to Armstrong’s pulling up outside Wilson’s home one minute after she was dropped off. Shell casings found at the scene of the killing were analyzed against a gun belonging to Armstrong, with police writing in an affidavit that there was “significant” potential that the same firearm was involved in Wilson’s death.
One anonymous tipster, who police regard as credible, said Armstrong became “furious” and wanted to “kill” Wilson after discovering Strickland was romantically involved with her.
However, Strickland has called the police’s affidavit into the murder investigation “misleading,” KXAN reported, insisting in an interview with The Sun that he and Wilson had a “completely platonic relationship and friendship” throughout 2022.
“It’s unfortunate how that has been skewed out to be a salacious aspect to this story when it really wasn’t the case,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Austin Police Department told KXAN that the department has “been in discussions with Moriah’s family, and we are respecting their privacy in this matter.”
Strickland is not a person of interest in the case.
