The Fatal Love Triangle: How a Jealous Obsession and a Stolen Second Chance Turned a Champion Cyclist’s Return to Austin into a Cold-Blooded Execution That Shook the Nation’s Biking Community

The Chilling Discovery

The world stopped spinning for me the moment I heard his voice crack over the phone.

“Hey, so, um… do you know Mo? Anna Moriah Wilson?”

The name hit me like a physical blow. Mo. The vibrant, fiercely competitive gravel cyclist who was an absolute star in the sport—and who I’d spent a beautiful, complicated month with just last fall. I told him I knew her, of course. Everybody knew Mo.

“There’s really no easy way to say this. Apparently, last night… she passed away. It’s an open investigation, being looked at as a homicide.”

I was talking to Colin Strickland, my ex-girlfriend’s on-again-off-again boyfriend. He was the last person to see her alive, and the sheer, brutal finality of what he said—homicide—sent a cold dread snaking through my gut.

Hours earlier, Mo had been found clinging to life, or what was left of it, in a friend’s bathroom in Austin, Texas. There was blood everywhere. The 911 call from her friend, Kaitlyn, was panicked and gut-wrenching. They suspected a robbery. The motive? Mo’s $14,000 racing bike was gone.

The Red Herring

When the Austin PD arrived at the scene—1708 Maple Avenue—the immediate visual was horrific. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was oozing onto the bathroom floor. The bullet had pierced her skull. She was gone instantly. There was no saving her. Only bringing her killer to justice.

Kaitlyn Cash, the caller, was the only witness. She’d arrived home from dinner to find Mo dead just two minutes before calling 911. She provided the only name she had: Colin Strickland. Mo had been swimming with him earlier that day.

The missing bike was their first, strongest lead. It pointed to a robbery gone wrong. Officers scoured the area. A short distance away, in the dense undergrowth, they found it. Mo’s state-of-the-art racing bike.

But it wasn’t hidden. It was dumped. Too carelessly. Too close. It was a classic red herring. The killer was smarter than a common thief. They wanted the cops chasing ghosts. The game had just changed. This wasn’t a robbery; it was a meticulously planned execution.

The Black Jeep and the Fatal Flaw

Back at the station, the police confirmed Kaitlyn Cash was clean—her hands were negative for gunshot residue. Everything now pointed to the last person to see Mo alive: Colin Strickland.

Investigators dug into Colin’s life, and that’s when the “deadly love triangle” began to crystallize.

Colin was in a relationship with Kaitlin Armstrong, but during a brief breakup in the fall of 2021, he had an affair with Mo. Even after he and Kaitlin got back together, he and Mo remained in contact. Mo was back in Austin for a bike race, giving the two a reason to meet up.

The police then checked the local CCTV footage. A grainy, black-and-white image revealed a black Jeep Grand Cherokee driving toward the house the night of the murder.

Moments later, a faint, gut-wrenching sound was recorded by a neighbor’s doorbell camera: a scream, then two quick pops. The killer escaped immediately.

A few days later, the officers went to interview Colin. Parked right outside his house? The exact make and model—a black Jeep Grand Cherokee. Except, it wasn’t Colin’s. It belonged to his girlfriend: Kaitlin Armstrong.

The Interrogation and the Escape

Kaitlin Armstrong, the main suspect, had a history of jealousy. Colin admitted he even saved Mo’s number under a fake name to avoid fights. Now, her car was caught on surveillance footage at the crime scene.

Police used a minor, incorrect warrant as a pretext to bring Kaitlin in for questioning, hoping to get a GSR swab or a confession. Detective Connor, calm and almost nonchalant, began the interview.

Kaitlin was tense, uneasy. When the warrant was found to be for the wrong person—a massive administrative blunder—Kaitlin realized she was free to go.

“I think I should have an attorney present,” she said, shutting down all questioning.

The detective, desperate, played their final card: “Your vehicle was seen next to her house… When we’re talking to Colin and we’re hearing like, yeah, there was some jealousy stuff going on, like that doesn’t sound very good.”

Kaitlin’s face was unreadable. “I would like to leave.” And she did. She walked right out of the police station.

The Stolen Life and the Stolen Identity

With Kaitlin gone, the police focused on forensic evidence. Colin admitted to buying Kaitlin a gun for self-defense—a gun of the exact same caliber as the shell casings found next to Mo’s body. Ballistics proved the link: the gun was the murder weapon.

Cell phone data and the surveillance footage confirmed the final, damning timeline:

7:00 PM: Colin and Mo leave the pool and head to her friend’s house.

7:30 PM: Kaitlin’s black Jeep, seen on surveillance, begins stalking them.

7:45 PM: Colin drops Mo off. His phone shows him driving away, clearing him.

7:51 PM: The black Jeep pulls up. Mo screams. Two shots.

7:52 PM: The black Jeep speeds away.

The evidence was irrefutable. Kaitlin was the killer. They moved to arrest her, but they were too late. Hours before, Kaitlin had vanished, using a fraudulent passport—her sister’s—to board a one-way flight to Costa Rica.

Justice Served in Paradise

Kaitlin, the yoga instructor with a dark secret, resurfaced in Santa Teresa Beach, Costa Rica. She’d gone to extreme lengths to disappear: cutting and dying her hair, losing weight, and undergoing cosmetic surgery to alter her nose and lips. She was living a new life, teaching yoga, all while the world hunted for her.

To lure her out, an officer posed as a local seeking a yoga instructor. Kaitlin took the bait.

The arresting officer recognized her not by her surgically altered face, but by her eyes.

She was flown back, charged, and put on trial. A year and a half later, on November 16, 2023, the jury returned a verdict of Guilty of First-Degree Murder.

Kaitlin Armstrong, consumed by a jealousy so toxic it led to a cold-blooded execution, was sentenced to 90 years in prison for stealing the life of Anna Moriah Wilson, a cycling star whose only crime was being loved by the wrong man. Her obsessive rage, her meticulous planning, and her desperate flight proved to be no match for the truth.