Woman suspected of killing cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson was dropped off at Newark Airport, authorities say

By Melissa Alonso and Dakin Andone, CNN

The woman suspected of fatally shooting elite cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson in Texas last month was seen at Newark Liberty International Airport just one day after Austin police obtained a warrant for her arrest, according to the US Marshals Service.

Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was at the airport on May 18, the US Marshals said in a news release Monday — four days after she departed Austin, where Wilson was killed.

However, no reservations were made under her name, the Marshals said, citing a search of outbound flights at the Newark airport.

Armstrong is wanted in connection to Wilson’s death in Austin on May 11, which authorities suggest was motivated by jealousy: Wilson had previously dated Armstrong’s boyfriend.

“Kaitlin Armstrong is accused of a very serious crime that she needs to answer for,” Susan Pamerlau, US Marshal for the Western District of Texas, said in a statement.

“The best thing she can do at this point, wherever she is, is surrender to authorities, so she can return safely to Austin and answer the charges against her. She needs to know the Marshals are not going to stop looking for her.”

Investigators previously learned Armstrong was at the Austin International Bergstrom Airport early in the afternoon of May 14. There, she boarded a flight to Houston Hobby Airport, where she took a connecting flight to LaGuardia Airport in New York.

A homicide warrant was issued for Armstrong on May 17, with an affidavit pointing in part to surveillance video that purportedly shows a vehicle similar to Armstrong’s near the scene of the fatal shooting shortly before Wilson’s body was found.

Wilson had told a friend she was going for a swim with Colin Strickland — a professional cyclist who said he had been in a romantic relationship with Wilson while he and Armstrong were briefly separated — that afternoon, which he confirmed in an interview with police. They had dinner together afterward and he then dropped her off at her friend’s home around 8:36 p.m., Strickland said. He did not go inside.

Officers responded to the home shortly before 10 p.m. to find Wilson suffering from gunshot wounds, according to Austin police. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

In the hours after Wilson’s killing, Armstrong was taken into custody for an unrelated misdemeanor warrant and questioned about her vehicle being near the scene of the crime. But Armstrong ended the interview, police said, and she was released from custody because of a discrepancy between the birth date listed on the warrant and the police computer system, police said.

Authorities separately obtained a federal warrant for Armstrong on May 25 for “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,” the US Marshals said.

The US Marshals Service has upgraded the search for Armstrong to “major case status,” it said in a news release Monday. The agency is offering up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to her arrest.

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