Caitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, was found Wednesday in a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach in the Province of De Puntarenas, the Marshals Office said in a press release. She will be deported and returned to the United States, the agency said.
On May 17, police issued an arrest warrant for Armstrong. The affidavit mentions details such as a video showing a vehicle similar to hers near her home in Austin, Texas, where Wilson was staying shortly before her body was found.
On May 18, Armstrong used a fraudulent passport to board a flight from Newark Liberty International Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, U.S. marshals said.
The victim was a star skier and cycling champion
Wilson, 25, was a talented athlete in a variety of sports. She was an exceptional skier in her young years before moving to cycling.
“In alpine skiing, Moria has risen to the level of a nationally ranked junior skier, finishing 3rd in the downhill competition at the 2013 U.S. National Junior Championships,” her obituary said. Wilson was also captain of her high school football team, according to her athletic profile in Dartmouth.
After college, she moved away from skiing to competitive cycling.
Wilson excelled in gravel racing, a relatively new category of cycling that some consider a hybrid between road cycling and mountain biking.
A profile on VeloNews, published on the day she died, called her “the most defeated woman on the American off-road scene.” Wilson had several wins this year, including Shasta Gravel Hugger and Rock Cobbler in California, according to the article. She also won the 137-mile Belgian waffle ride 25 minutes above second place.
At the time of his death, Wilson was only days away from competing in the Gravel Locos. The day after the race, the event organizer remembered her on Facebook as “a role model, a shy, compassionate person, an energetic tactical racer and a racer who really cares about those who compete against you.”
What happened in Wilson’s last hours?
On May 11, the day of her death, Wilson told her friend that she was going for an afternoon swim with Strickland, according to an affidavit filed with the Travis District Court. Wilson was staying with a friend as he prepared for the upcoming Gravel Locos race in Hico.
Strickland told investigators that after swimming, he and Wilson had dinner. Then, Strickland said, he left her at her friend’s house but did not go inside, according to the affidavits.
Austin police responded to the home later that evening, shortly before 10 p.m. CT, and found Wilson with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead on the spot.
On May 19, authorities filed an affidavit stating that Strickland had admitted to trying to hide his communications with Wilson of Armstrong by changing Wilson’s name on his phone and deleting texts.
The affidavit cites an adviser who claims that Armstrong believed that Strickland and Wilson’s romantic relationship had lasted since January 2022.
Armstrong contacted Wilson several times and on one occasion told her to “stay away” from Strickland, one of Wilson’s friends told investigators, according to the oath.
Strickland was quoted by the Austin American-Statesman as having a “brief romantic relationship” with Wilson from late October to early November 2021 while he was separated from Armstrong.
Wilson’s family said she did not have a romantic relationship at the time of her death.
“Although we will not elaborate on the ongoing investigation, we believe it is important to clarify that at the time of her death, those closest to her clearly understood, directly from Moria, that she was not in a romantic relationship with anyone.” the family said in a statement last month.
Strickland and Armstrong reconciled and resumed their relationship about a month later, he told the newspaper. Strickland said his relationship with Wilson had since become “platonic and professional” and he considered her a “close friend”, he said.
“There is no way I can adequately express the regret and torture I feel for my closeness to this horrific crime,” Strickland told the Austin American-Statesman. “I’m sorry and I just can’t make sense of this inexplicable situation.
CNN’s Hannah Sarrison, Dakin Andone, Emma Tucker and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
Add Comment