A Texas woman charged with the murder of a cyclist was remanded to the Travis County Jail on Tuesday.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and theft of service. Her bonds are set at $3.5 million for the murder charge and $3,500 for theft of service. The secondary charge stems from a years-old incident in which she allegedly left a Botox clinic without paying.
Armstrong also faces a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid persecution. She allegedly fraudulently used someone else’s valid passport to fly to Costa Rica on May 18, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla told Fox News Digital.
After evading capture for 43 days, Armstrong was caught by U.S. Marshals in Costa Rica last week, The Dallas Express reported. On Saturday, she was apprehended upon her arrival at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and held in the Harris County jail until transport could be arranged to Travis County.
Armstrong allegedly shot and killed 25-year-old Moriah Wilson on May 11 while she was staying at a friend’s house on Maple Avenue in East Austin.
Wilson was found with several gunshot wounds. Despite the first responders’ attempts at life-saving measures, she was declared dead at the scene, according to Austin Police.
An autopsy determined that homicide was the cause of death and concluded that the incident was not a random act.
Security footage from a nearby home allegedly showed Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Cherokee stopping outside the residence the night of the murder.
Armstrong was “confronted with video evidence of her vehicle” on May 12, according to the affidavit, but “she had no explanation as to why she was in the area and did not make any denials surrounding the statements.”
However, she was not arrested at that time.
The victim was reportedly romantically involved in the past with Armstrong’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Colin Strickland.
Strickland told investigators that he and Armstrong had lived together for approximately three years. Still, he began dating Wilson while he and Armstrong were on a break from their relationship in October 2021.
He told police that he had to change Wilson’s name on his phone and delete their text messages to “prevent Armstrong from finding them.”
An anonymous tipster reported that when Armstrong learned about Strickland and Wilson’s relationship, she became enraged and allegedly declared that she intended to kill Wilson, according to the police.