29 January 2024 , 13:00
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Authorities caught a woman convicted in a love triangle murder in a cunning plan that involved them placing a fake ad for a yoga teacher.
Kaitlin Armstrong had fled the US, having used plastic surgery to alter her face, but a new report has revealed that she was ultimately caught after she responded to a phoney advert looking for a yoga teacher. Armstrong, from Texas, took off to Central America after shooting and killing professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson in May 2022.
A new report has revealed that Armstrong was caught by US Marshals that same summer after she responded to an advertisement for a yoga teacher placed by the feds. Authorities had changed Armstrong across the US and into Costa Rica, where they believed she was hiding somewhere near the coast.
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Armstrong shot cyclist Moriah Wilson three times, killing her (Instagram/ Moriah Wilson)
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She had used numerous different names and even changed the shape of her nose with plastic surgery in a bid to throw the cops off her trail. But, in a last-ditch effort, authorities decided to make the killer come to them.
They took what they knew about the murderer and capitalised on her love of yoga in order to lure her in. Using a local Facebook page, they advertised for a yoga teacher in the tiny town of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. At first, they were unsure as to whether it would work.
Armstrong, who is now serving 90 years for murdering Ms Wilson in a jealous fit due to her past relationship with Armstrong's boyfriend, took a week to bite. US Marshals were on the verge of heading back to the US, believing their attempt to lure in the killer had failed, when they received a message from someone identifying themselves as a yoga instructor.
Before she changed how she looked with surgery
After the plastic surgery to change her appearance (Travis County Sheriff's Office)"We got a bite, somebody that identified herself... as a yoga instructor and said they wanted to meet with us at a particular hostel", Deputy US Marshal Emir Perez told CBS. "And we said... 'This is, this is our chance!'"
Perez and fellow Deputy US Marshal Damien Fernandez made their way to Santa Teresa from San Jose as fast as they could. There, they found Armstrong sitting at a table in the hostel.
Perez spoke to Armstrong in Spanish as he took in her bandaged nose and swollen lips - remnants of the surgeries she had undergone to conceal her identity. While her nose and lips appeared altered, Armstrong's eyes were the same as he'd previously seen in a photograph of the wanted woman.
"He gets in the car, and he is like, 'That's her. She's in there'," recalled Fernandez. It was local law enforcement who made the arrest before the feds took Armstrong back to Texas where she was charged and held in jail.
Moriah Wilson was the ex of Armstrong's boyfriend (Instagram/ Moriah Wilson)
Armstrong was finally captured in Costa Rica after 43-day international manhunt (Ministerio de Seguridad Pública / MEGA)The sly killer managed to escape again, but didn't make it far before deputies caught up to her this time. Armstrong's detainment marked the first step in what had become a lengthy road to justice for Ms Wilson, who had been found dead on May 11, 2022.
Ms Wilson was a Vermont native and former alpine skier at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. As an avid lover of the outdoors and outdoor sports, she was emerging as a star in pro gravel and mountain bike racing at the time of her death.
In fact, that's what had led her to Austin, Texas, on the night she was killed. Ms Wilson had been set to race in Texas, and she was one of the favourites to win, but she never rode the race.
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Armstrong tracked Ms Wilson to the apartment where she was staying using a fitness app, according to investigators. She then shot Ms Wilson three times - twice in the head and once through the heart, according to accusations.
A Jeep matching Armstrong's was caught on camera outside the home where Ms Wilson's body lay, sparking a 43-day international manhunt. It took a Texas jury just two hours to convict Armstrong, and a day later, she was jailed by a judge who sentenced her to 90 years.