Authorities in Texas were searching Friday for a woman accused of fatally shooting an elite cyclist after discovering the athlete had been romantically involved with her cyclist partner.
The U.S. Marshals Service said it was looking for Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 35, in the May 11 killing of Anna Moriah Wilson, 25.
Austin police issued a homicide warrant for Armstrong on Tuesday, the service said.
The cyclist, known as “Mo,” had traveled to Texas for a race in Hico, southwest of Fort Worth, according to the cycling outlet Velo News.
A friend of Wilson’s found her body at an Austin home on the night of May 11, Austin police said in a statement. Wilson was pronounced dead shortly after 10 p.m.
Police initially said she had been shot multiple times inside the house in a killing that “does not appear to be a random act.”
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin, Armstrong had been in a relationship with professional cyclist Colin Strickland for roughly three years.
But during a break in their relationship, Strickland had begun seeing Wilson, the affidavit says, KXAN reported.
An unnamed friend who reported being with Armstrong in January when she learned of the relationship said Armstrong “became furious and was shaking in anger,” according to the affidavit.
Based on a search of Wilson’s phone, investigators said messages indicated Wilson believed she was “still in a romantic relationship with Strickland even though he was currently dating Armstrong,” the affidavit says, according to KXAN.
Armstrong deleted her social media accounts and was last heard from on May 13, the affidavit says, according to the station.
Strickland has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement earlier Friday to an Austin American-Statesman reporter, he said he was “reeling from grieving Mo Wilson’s death and from the facts that have emerged during the investigation.”
“There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime,” he said in the statement to the Statesman.”I am sorry, and I simply cannot make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.”
Strickland added that he and Wilson had a “brief romantic relationship” from late October to early November last year while Wilson was visiting Austin. They had both recently ended previous relationships, Strickland said. He and Armstrong reconciled one month later.
“After our brief relationship in October of 2021, we were not in a romantic relationship, only a platonic and professional one,” he said, adding: “Moriah and I were both leaders in this lonely, niche sport of cycling, and I admired her greatly and considered her a close friend.”
Velo News described Wilson as a “dominant” mountain biking and gravel racer, winning several races this year and resigning her position at a bike company to pursue full-time racing.
Source: NBC News
