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CHILLING ESCAPE PLOT
Kaitlin Armstrong’s loved ones ‘could face charges’ if they had contact with ‘killer’ fugitive during 6 weeks on the run
KAITLYN Armstrong's friends and family members could be criminally charged if any of them are found to have made contact with the accused murderer during her 43 days on the run, a PI warns.
Armstrong, 34, was arrested by authorities at a hostel on Santa Teresa Beach, in Costa Rica, on Wednesday and will now be extradited back to the US to be charged with the murder of Moriah "Mo" Wilson.
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Wilson, a 25-year-old rising-star cyclist, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in Austin, Texas, on May 11, shortly after going out for dinner with Armstrong's boyfriend, Colin Strickland.
Armstrong was questioned by police the day after the fatal shooting and later sold her car before fleeing to New York on May 14 - three days before a warrant was issued for her arrest.
She was last seen at Newark International Airport in New Jersey on May 18, where investigators with the US Marshals Service (USMS) said she boarded a United Airlines flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, using a "fraudulent passport."
The fugitive yoga teacher was then located at an unnamed beach-front hostel in Provincia de Puntarenas on June 29, where she had been hiding for the last six weeks.
Police say she had cut her hair short and dyed it dark brown in an effort to conceal her identity.
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While Armstrong awaits extradition, veteran private investigator Bill Warner told The US Sun that anyone who was in contact with Armstrong or privy to her whereabouts during her time on the lam could be charged as an accessory if they failed to alert authorities prior to her capture.
"Because it [was] well known she's a fugitive, then anyone who had contact with her during that time should expect to be charged by the authorities," said Warner.
"She seemed to have a real tight network of people and friends, and her family seemed to be standing by her too, insisting she was innocent.
"So I'm sure someone must've been in contact with her at some stage," Warner claimed.
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"Investigators will now be looking back through phone records to see if that's the case."
The USMS has been contacted for comment by The US Sun to clarify whether or not investigators believe Armstrong was in contact with anyone during her time on the run.
Three members of Armstrong's family have also not yet returned a comment request.
Warner, who has been a private investigator for the last 25 years, suggested that USMS would've been monitoring Amstrong's parents, younger sister, and any close friends over the last few weeks, including their cellphone activity.
"They'll be looking to see who that person is calling - who they are, and where they were, in addition to watching for any new phone calls to unrecognized numbers, which may have been a burner phone," Warner said.
"They're going to look for any strange calls: did she call her parents? Did she call her sister? Did she call any of her buddies back in Austin?"
Should any such calls have been made, Warner said Marshals would've used something called a stingray - or ISMI catcher - to track the location of the burner phone or any anomalous phone numbers.
The same technology was famously used to ensnare longtime Jeffrey's Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in July 2020, who earlier this week was sentenced to 20 years for her role in procuring underage girls for the pedophile to abuse.
"The stingray is the US Marshals' number one tool to catch fugitives," explained Warner, who has been involved in USMS investigations in the past.
"They find a phone number that fugitives contact - such as a mother, a sister, or a brother - and they'll track the activity of that phone and eventually they'll track it down to where that guy is, sometimes within 10 yards of accuracy."
ACCUSED KILLER 'DISGUISED' HERSELF
News of Armstrong's arrest on Wednesday brought an end to a six-week, multi-agency effort to hunt her down.
When authorities swooped on Armstrong they found the fugitive had cut her hair short and dyed it a dark shade of brown in an attempt to disguise herself, Deputy US Marshal Brandon Filla told reporters on Thursday.
The passport she had used to flee the country was real, Filla said, but had been "fraudulently used" by Armstrong because the document belonged to a different person with whom she shared a resemblance.
"I will tell you that passport was ... a passport that was issued to someone else, who was very close in physical description, that she could use because she looked very similar to that other individual.
"So that was the fraudulent use of it," he added.
Filla said investigators learned Armstrong was in possession of the passport after conducting a search on the passport's true owner earlier this week.
While declining to name that person, Filla continued: "Based on a search on another individual, we were able to determine that their passport was missing and that the individual’s passport was used to obtain a flight from Newark to Costa Rica."
Filla said nobody else has been charged in relation to Armstrong's failed disappearing act, though he didn't rule out the possibility in future as an investigation continues.
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The Marshals' Office of International Operations, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service all worked with authorities in Costa Rica to locate and arrest Armstrong on June 29, the USMS said in a press release.
"The Marshals Service elevated the Kaitlin Armstrong investigation to major case status early in this investigation, which likely played a key role in her capture after a 43-day run,” said Susan Pamerleau, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas.
"This is an example of combining the resources of local, state, federal and international authorities to apprehend a violent fugitive, bring an end to that run and hopefully a sense of closure to the victim’s family.”
Armstrong will now be deported and return to the United States to face charges related to Wilson’s death. She has also been charged with taking an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
'LOVE TRIANGLE MURDER'
The saga first began on May 11, when police received a call at around 10pm from a friend of Wilson's who found her with multiple gunshot wounds, lying unresponsive on the bathroom floor.
The world-class cyclist was pronounced dead shortly after.
In the hours preceding her killing, Wilson had gone swimming and out for dinner with fellow cyclist Colin Strickland, Armstrong's boyfriend, whom she had briefly dated last fall when the couple was on a break.
Wilson is believed to have returned home from hanging out with Strickland at around 8.36pm.
Then, just one minute later, a dark-colored SUV bearing a striking resemblance to one owned by Armstrong was pictured pulling up outside.
Police believe Armstrong killed Wilson in a jealous rage, having allegedly grown convinced she was having a secret affair with Strickland.
She was interviewed by police on May 12 but wasn't arrested.
Armstrong sold her car, a black 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, to a dealership in South Austin for $12,200 the next day before fleeing to New York on May 14.
In an exclusive interview with The US Sun, Strickland said Armstrong "had sides to her personality that I don't think she shared with anybody."
"I would say she is one of the least volatile people I have ever met," Strickland said. "I had no indication of anything like that."
AFFAIR DENIALS
Strickland admitted that he and Wilson had a brief fling in 2021, but he maintains this was after he and Armstrong had agreed to see other people.
"I had ended the relationship with Kaitlin, and it was just interesting timing because Mo had come to Austin to visit a friend that exact week," Strickland said.
"It was completely unplanned, and yeah, we started spending some time together."
Regarding his brief dating relationship with Wilson, Strickland said it "was clearly expressed to Kaitlin at that time, and Kaitlin dated other men directly after that."
"We were clearly going our separate ways, but we just didn't get enough inertia to separate."
But he vehemently insists that after getting back together with Armstrong, his relationship with Wilson was strictly platonic.
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Wilson's family has also denied she was romantically involved with Strickland at the time of her death.
"While we will not elaborate about the ongoing investigation, we do feel it's important to clarify that at the time of her death, those closest to her clearly understood, directly from Moriah, that she was not in a romantic relationship with anyone," the family said in a statement last month.
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