She was well-known within the world of cycling as one to watch, a true athlete with a promising future ahead of her – until she was brutally killed by her friend’s psychotic girlfriend.
Moriah Wilson was a 25-year-old cycling star from Vermont on her way to an Olympic career, with a loving family and a trusted group of friends. It left all her knew were stunned when they discovered she had been murdered. Who would want to kill such a kind and caring young girl?
Kaitlin Armstrong was a cunning business owner with a horrifying agenda and the determination to run away from the law.
On May 11, 2022, Wilson was spending time with her friend Colin Strickland when, unbeknownst to her, his girlfriend, Armstrong, was growing increasingly jealous. The pair spent some time together catching up in Austin, Texas, before she hopped on the back of his scooter and he dropped her off at her friend’s house where she was staying.
In the pages of her diary, later revealed after her death, Moriah had written: “Being with Colin, I noticed myself gravitating towards his words of affection. They made me feel safe, like I mattered and had value. I think I like him more than I’ve wanted to admit out of major fear that he doesn’t feel the same way.”
View 3 ImagesMoriah was a well-known cyclist (Image: Courtesy of Netflix)
At the time Strickland was still in a complicated relationship with Armstrong, and while he was attracted to Moriah and keen to get to know her, he was wary of her big cycling career and getting in the way of it.
When Wilson said goodbye, what she didn’t know was that it would be the last time, as Armstrong was waiting for her around the block in her car. The crazed girlfriend then entered the house in which the cyclist was staying and shot her three times.
With no remorse, the jealous ex-girlfriend then left the house and, with it, left the budding athlete alone and bleeding out on floor. It wasn’t until police found footage of her car in the local area that she was even considered a suspect in this case, but by the time they had a warrant for her arrest, she was nowhere to be found.
It took 43 days for authorities to find Armstrong, where they finally discovered her in Costa Rica, where she had been partaking in teaching yoga and looking drastically different. The killer had undergone significant facial reconstruction surgery in an attempt to look more like her sister, whose passport she was travelling with.
This work included lip fillers, rhinoplasty and a brow lift, according to her plastic surgeon Dr Jorge Badilla, who later outed her on Dateline in 2024. It was estimated to have cost around $6,000.
View 3 ImagesKaitlin Armstrong before her plastic surgery
The evidence was stacked against her, and she was officially in police custody, but Armstrong was sure that she would walk away a free woman. Just a few days before her trial was scheduled to begin, she made a terrible attempt at escaping prison while receiving some medical attention and was seen trying to jump the fence.
Luckily she was caught, and went to trial on November 1, 2023, where she would plead not guilty to the murder of Moriah Wilson.
Although, with GPS data proving her whereabouts on the night of the murder and strong DNA samples belonging to her found at the crime scene, it was increasingly difficult for her to hide from the truth. After an emotional trial, Armstrong was finally sentenced to 90 years in prison and is serving time at the Texas State Prison for Women in Gatesville, Texas.
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The beautiful life and devastating death of Moriah Wilson are detailed in the Netflix documentary, which sees her family and close friends retelling the events that changed the trajectory of their lives.
At the result of the trial, Moriah’s mother gave a powerful victim impact statement where she told her daughter’s killer: “When you shot Moriah in the heart, you shot me in my heart.”