TX - Moriah Wilson, 25, prized cyclist, fatally shot before race, Austin, May 2022 #2

[Cryptic]

It’s a wonder that she hasn’t called her father to get an attorney to arrange a surrender to US Marshals. She’s been running for 5-6 weeks.

I am guessing that the lack of mitigating circumstances supporting the charges might lead her to conclude that she will be spending the rest of her life productive life in prison if convicted.

For example, the charges are not supported by:

Career housewife with limited options murders adulterous husband in a sudden fit of rage. The couple had three children together. Murder occurred in small town "deep east" Texas where religious sentiments are strong. Adulterers are seen to be putting themselves at risk.

Not going to get a green light, but juries assign penalties in Texas and they could be sympathetic to the remorseful housewife.

Instead, these charges are supported by:

Woman with lots of options stalks, then murders a female who was a nominal romantic rival. No children in the relationship. Crime also occurred in Austin that does not have east Texas views about, well, nearly everything.

No chance of jury sympathy, and no chance of reduced sentence. Rather, the circumstances suggest the opposite.

 

[SteveP]

This is truly surprising if LE just learned the car was sold to a Carmax on the 13th, or 40 days ago. With the amount of multi-agency LE involved in the hunt, it seems very difficult to believe that an employee of the Carmax would not recall this after the news really blew up and particularly in the Austin community. Even more so, it seems like it would be a massive ball drop to not have checked the local car dealers. This feels like a delayed reporting more than the fact that they actually just discovered the car sale. One could see why it would not be reported as it would have little impact on the manhunt after she left town. However, if it was just discovered, it seems like a very sad effort to locate the auto which could (or could have) contained evidence vital to the case against KA if she is in fact guilty of the crime.

I agree with you. I have to believe that her Jeep was not just found, but perhaps this information is just now being reported, perhaps because locals had been hearing rumors of such for a while, I think it is highly unlikely that the Carmax dealership is only now realizing that a vehicle, thought to be connected to a high-profile murder, that was all over their tv stations and news sites, was brought in and sold by someone whose name and photo was also on all of those same places, and no one gave it any thought when this murder hit the news only a few days after it happened. I also think if it was at the dealership long enough to be serviced and cleaned up, and placed on the lot, it is likely it would have been recognized by a random person car shopping, and especially so, if the bike rack had not been removed.

Checking large public parking areas, malls, shopping centers, airports and other transportation hubs, car dealers, etc are likely the first places LE look when searching for a vehicle. Also, when the car was bought, data including the purchaser and seller, the automobile's VIN, and other vital info would have been entered into DMV records, and would surely pop up in any LE search of records.

I think this article is a lot about a little, at this point. JMO

ETA...I do believe it is very possible that the vehicle was cleaned aand detailed before LE found it, and likely any potential evidence inside was destroyed.

 

[Sundog]

But why do you think she hasn’t done this after so many weeks now? Going on 6 weeks.

Lots of frenetic activity from May 13 to May 18. Sold car, flight to LaGuardia, trip upstate to camp Haven to meet with sister, arrest warrant on May 17, and splitting from sister and camp to Newark airport on May 18.

From May 18 onward, she needs to stabilize. The shock and flight adrenaline is starting to wear off. Once she finds a stable environment to think things though and possibly confer with trusted family or friends or attorneys, she can think through a plan. And the $12,000 is probably still keeping her afloat, but won't last forever.

JMO.

 

[NOLAScottie]

ETA...I do believe it is very possible that the vehicle was cleaned aand detailed before LE found it, and likely any potential evidence inside was destroyed.

Even if not, the fact that it was in the hands of the Carmax for even a little bit of time would present clear chain of custody issues for any evidence found in the auto, even if they found it just a few days after the sale. However, it does seem like a good fact to keep in reserve to allow for full forensic testing (just in case) and another news bump item to keep the pressure on via national coverage. The timing since sale/national awareness of the search for KA's vehicle would allow for a significant amount of detailed analysis of the car including things like any ability to track it's movement and whereabouts. That year model likely has a nav system but who knows.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

<snip> it is likely it would have been recognized by a random person car shopping, and especially so, if the bike rack had not been removed.

I don't think I've ever seen a vehicle on a dealer lot with a bike rack. If it had been a hitch mounted rack (typical of most high end racks), the dealer might leave the hitch receiver in place. Non-cyclists would find that of value.

 

[SteveP]

Lots of frenetic activity from May 13 to May 18. Sold car, flight to LaGuardia, trip upstate to camp Haven to meet with sister, arrest warrant on May 17, and splitting from sister and camp to Newark airport on May 18.

From May 18 onward, she needs to stabilize. The shock and flight adrenaline is starting to wear off. Once she finds a stable environment to think things though and possibly confer with trusted family or friends or attorneys, she can think through a plan. And the $12,000 is probably still keeping her afloat, but won't last forever.

JMO.

While I suppose it is not the only option she had, the most likely option she had for cashing that check from Carmax was one of the banks she had accounts with, and I think that info would have been uncovered before now. Yet another reason I doubt that LE have only now found her Jeep.

 

[SMK777]

I think this article is a lot about a little, at this point. JMO

True. But they seem to want it to seem like a lot. I just did a Google search and various news stations from Austin to NYC are running it as a breaking story.

Additionally, FOX news had the US Marshals press release posted, announcing the finding of the vehicle, dated this morning, June 23, 2022. As if it’s a break.

 

[SteveP]

True. But they seem to want it to seem like a lot. I just did a Google search and various news stations from Austin to NYC are running it as a breaking story.

Additionally, FOX news had the US Marshals press release posted, announcing the finding of the vehicle, dated this morning, June 23, 2022. As if it’s a break.

Perhaps, but if I were the US Marshals Service, and had JUST NOW located her vehicle, at a car dealer in the city the murder occurred in, I wouldn't be announcing it. It does not make them look good, JMO

 

[Sundog]

Here is a link to the MSM article that includes the U.S. Marshals' press release dated today that they located KA's Jeep at a Carmax dealership.

Kaitlin Armstrong: Suspect accused in Texas love triangle murder sold car for $12,200 before fleeing, feds say

Kaitlin Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee, spotted near the crime scene around the time of Moriah Wilson's shooting death, one day after she was detained by Texas cops.

www.foxnews.com

 

[SMK777]

Perhaps, but if I were the US Marshals Service, and had JUST NOW located her vehicle, at a car dealer in the city the murder occurred in, I wouldn't be announcing it. It does not make them look good, JMO

No, people are asking why she wasn’t tailed the night she left, and discovered selling it in the act. She got a huge head start on them while they were looking for this vehicle as her mode of transportation. And now it can’t be processed for evidence.

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[SMK777]

Here is a link to the MSM article that includes the U.S. Marshals' press release dated today that they located KA's Jeep at a Carmax dealership.

Kaitlin Armstrong: Suspect accused in Texas love triangle murder sold car for $12,200 before fleeing, feds say

Kaitlin Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee, spotted near the crime scene around the time of Moriah Wilson's shooting death, one day after she was detained by Texas cops.

www.foxnews.com

Thanks !

 

[Sundog]

Perhaps, but if I were the US Marshals Service, and had JUST NOW located her vehicle, at a car dealer in the city the murder occurred in, I wouldn't be announcing it. It does not make them look good, JMO

Perhaps we have been giving too much credit to the work of the U.S. Marshals. Locating her vehicle 6 weeks after KA sold the car to a Carmax dealer in Austin sure doesn't make them look good. She cashed the check before the arrest warrant, but they've had plenty of time to find the car that was sold to a car dealer in her home town.

 

[SteveP]

Perhaps we have been giving too much credit to the work of the U.S. Marshals. Locating her vehicle 6 weeks after KA sold the car to a Carmax dealer in Austin sure doesn't make them look good. She cashed the check before the arrest warrant, but they've had plenty of time to find the car that was sold to a car dealer in her home town.

Perhaps you are right. I know the Marshals did not come in until the case was a couple weeks old. Perhaps they took for granted that an exhaustive search had already been made for the vehicle, and their focus was on finding KA.

Having said that, any of you here who followed the Heidi Planck case out in LA will remember that LAPD's elite Robbery and Homicide Division claimed to still be looking for her Land Rover until a news conference on Nov 30, IIRC, when her ex-husband held a press conference and slipped up and reported than it had been recovered on Nov 4, which was then confirmed by LAPD.

While the wording of their release does seem to imply that the Marshals have just found her Jeep, it does not specifically say anything more than they have found it. It is possible that they are just releasing news a bit at a time, to keep the story in the national spotlight, thus keeping pressure on KA. JMO

ETA I would love to hear from someone at that Carmax, when they and LE discovered it was KA's Jeep that they had.

 

[GDawg89]

Perhaps you are right. I know the Marshals did not come in until the case was a couple weeks old. Perhaps they took for granted that an exhaustive search had already been made for the vehicle, and their focus was on finding KA.

Having said that, any of you here who followed the Heidi Planck case out in LA will remember that LAPD's elite Robbery and Homicide Division claimed to still be looking for her Land Rover until a news conference on Nov 30, IIRC, when her ex-husband held a press conference and slipped up and reported than it had been recovered on Nov 4, which was then confirmed by LAPD.

While the wording of their release does seem to imply that the Marshals have just found her Jeep, it does not specifically say anything more than they have found it. It is possible that they are just releasing news a bit at a time, to keep the story in the national spotlight, thus keeping pressure on KA. JMO

ETA I would love to hear from someone at that Carmax, when they and LE discovered it was KA's Jeep that they had.

Is it also plausible KA signed the check over to a friend using a different bank and the friend gave her the cash? Would this make it more difficult for LE to trace?

I also think KA was wearing one of those travel waist money belt from looking at the pictures from airport surveillance in Austin a few days later, her mid section just seems to look bloated, could be extra layer of clothing or $20K in cash. I think some money belts are made to wear under clothing, close to skin. AMOO

 

[SMK777]

While I suppose it is not the only option she had, the most likely option she had for cashing that check from Carmax was one of the banks she had accounts with, and I think that info would have been uncovered before now. Yet another reason I doubt that LE have only now found her Jeep.

As late as May 23, 2 weeks after the murder, US Marshals were saying she was still in the Austin area.

US Marshals believe suspect connected with homicide still in Austin area

The U.S. Marshals, along with other law enforcement agencies, are looking for Kaitlin Marie Armstrong in connection with Wilson’s death. The Austin Police Department issued an arrest warrant …

www.kxan.com

I assumed they had been tracking bank and phone activity.

Then they announce she had flown to La Guardia on the 14th.

Do they deliberately release all their news weeks late, for some odd reason?

 

[citizen_sleuth]

I wonder whether the delay between when the car sale happened and when it was announced is intentional, or if the USMS just discovered it. I’m on the fence about it. On one hand, I think it might be strategic, but on the other hand, there was a delay between when KA flew to NYC and when the information was released, which I would assume the USMS would want to release ASAP in order to get potential witnesses to come forward.

 

[SMK777]

The US Marshals have more than quadrupled the reward, from 5K to 21K :

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[SteveP]

The US Marshals have more than quadrupled the reward, from 5K to 21K :

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The additional 15K came from an anonymous donor, not any LE agency.

A $21,000 reward is being offered for information leading to her arrest. $5,000 of the sum is offered by the U.S. Marshals, $1,000 by the Capital Area Crime Stoppers and an anonymous donor is contributing up to $15,000.

Vehicle of Texas woman wanted in murder of cyclist Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson is found

Kaitlin Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee to an Austin car dealership for $12,200 on May 13. She is last known to have been dropped off at a New Jersey airport on May 18.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[SMK777]

I will look for the link, and add it here, if this doesn't get reported and deleted first, but I read that the additional 15K came from an anonymous donor, not any LE agency.

ETA...here it is.

A $21,000 reward is being offered for information leading to her arrest. $5,000 of the sum is offered by the U.S. Marshals, $1,000 by the Capital Area Crime Stoppers and an anonymous donor is contributing up to $15,000.

Vehicle of Texas woman wanted in murder of cyclist Anna Moriah 'Mo' Wilson is found

Kaitlin Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee to an Austin car dealership for $12,200 on May 13. She is last known to have been dropped off at a New Jersey airport on May 18.

www.nbcnews.com

Oooh Thanks….. I thought maybe the US Marshals were getting really serious…..

 

[SMK777]

I wonder whether the delay between when the car sale happened and when it was announced is intentional, or if the USMS just discovered it. I’m on the fence about it. On one hand, I think it might be strategic, but on the other hand, there was a delay between when KA flew to NYC and when the information was released, which I would assume the USMS would want to release ASAP in order to get potential witnesses to come forward.

Exactly. I’m beginning to think it’s not strategic, and that they’re always about 4 weeks behind her.

As you point out, they asked for the public’s help but released the airport footage late for strategic reasons? Not likely: People may have sat next to KA, conversed with her— why release it when so much time has passed?