Kaitlin Armstrong Defense Team Calls Police Narrative “Misogynistic and Fictitious”

Austin police interviewed Kaitlin Armstrong May 12 without mirandizing her (image via Public Documents)

The case police have built against Austin yoga instructor Kaitlin Armstrong in the murder of a young rising-star cyclist sounds like the plot of a mystery novel. It centers on motive: Armstrong and Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson were in love with the same man, Colin Strickland (also a well-known cyclist), but Armstrong had him first.

That Armstrong fled the country a few days after the murder – dyed her hair, used a fraudulent passport, and ended up on an idyllic beach in Costa Rica for more than a month while authorities in the U.S. searched for her – may seem a de facto admission of guilt. Her defense team doesn't refute that she left the country using a new identity, but in a 178-page motion filed Aug. 18, they took aim at almost every other piece of evidence. On Friday, Aug. 19, they told District Judge Brenda Kennedy they're ready for her to consider these motions now. After another flurry of motions this week, which saw both sides calling for gag orders, prosecutors and Armstrong's defense team said during a Wednesday, Aug. 24, Zoom hearing that they'd signed an agreement that would bar both sides from making prejudicial comment to the media (rather than all comment). Kennedy had yet to sign on to the agreement Wednesday morning, but said she was "glad we were all able to move in a positive direction." What the Wednesday hearing did not cover was the explosive motion from Armstrong's defense that accused police of lying repeatedly to form a case against her.

That motion, obtained by the Chronicle, asserts that the police affidavit was full of "lies, mischaracterizations, and reckless disregard for the truth." It also includes the transcript of the lengthy police interview with Colin Strick­land, as well as pieces of Armstrong's own interrogation (excerpts available at austinchronicle.com).

Here's what both sides agree on. While 25-year-old Wilson was staying at a friend's house in Austin (ahead of a race in Dallas a few days later), she and Strickland went on a secret swimming date. Police allege the evidence suggests that Armstrong followed Wilson into her home and shot her twice in the head and once in the chest, then quickly fled, returning home in time to meet up with Strickland less than an hour later.

Armstrong's defense counsel says there's no good evidence, and police know it, despite claims made in the affidavit: No, a test fire did not show that there was a "significant" potential that Armstrong's gun and the casings found near Wilson's body matched. No, Armstrong did not nod when detectives said maybe she'd been hanging around Wilson's home because she was upset. No, Strickland did not say Armstrong blocked Wilson in his phone. No, a car like Armstrong's was not seen near Wilson's house one minute after Wilson arrived home – the detective later found that a security camera's time stamp was wrong, and took more than 50 days to update the report. No, an anonymous female caller's account that Armstrong was shaking with rage and said she wanted to kill Wilson was not credible – a second anonymous caller said he was present during the same conversation the first caller had described, but Armstrong didn't seem furious and didn't say she wanted to kill Wilson.

And no, a neighbor did not observe a bike speeding away from Wilson's place the night of her death. Actually, he told police he was high the night of the murder and said, "I may or may not have imagined the whisking bike part and having the impression of a southbound bike. But I, it's like ... actually hard for me to testify in a court of law to that only because like I didn't fucking see it and it could be my imagination. ... Like the whole thing about me saying there was a bike? Like I don't fuckin' know for sure."

Armstrong's attorneys, Rick Cofer and Mark Pryor, conclude: "[APD] Detective [Richard] Spit­ler concocted a misogynistic and fictitious story portraying Ms. Arm­strong as a jealous woman scorned by Mr. Strickland."

The affidavit that led to Armstrong's arrest lays it out like this: On May 11, 2022, just before 10pm, police found Wilson dead in the bathroom of a friend's home in East Austin. Based on texts, interviews, and phone alerts delivered every time the friend's door unlocked and locked, police believe Wilson left just before 6pm to swim with Strickland, a well-known racer who had been sponsored by Red Bull and other brands and was in a three-and-a-half-year relationship with Kaitlin Armstrong, with whom he shared a home. She returned just after 8:30pm.

When police questioned Strickland on May 12, he spoke highly of Armstrong. He said they'd broken up briefly in October, Wilson had visited, and he and Wilson dated. He said Armstrong may have blocked Wil­son's number in his phone. He said he did go swimming with Wilson on May 11 and lied to Armstrong about where he was going.

And Strickland told police he drove Wilson home on his motorcycle and dropped her off around 8:30pm. At 8:36pm, Strickland texted Armstrong, "Hey! Are you out? went to drop some flowers for [a sick friend] at her sons [sic] house up north and my phone died. Heading home unless you have another food suggestion." (Shortly thereafter is when police had believed a neighbor's doorbell camera captured a black SUV with a bike rack similar to Armstrong's near Wilson's house.)

Then, at 8:48pm, Strickland was recorded driving near the 4900 block of the southbound I-35 frontage road, about a 10-minute drive from where Wilson was staying. Strickland told police Armstrong arrived home around 9:20pm.

The affidavit lays out other facts that it says point to Armstrong: the casings, the anonymous caller who said Armstrong was "shaking" with anger, the neighbor who saw a bike speed past, Armstrong's nodding during her brief interview with police.

The defense motion states that a video of her brief interrogation on May 12 (after being picked up on a 2018 warrant for theft of services) showed Detective Katy Conner saying, "Maybe you were upset and just in the area," at which point Armstrong did not move her head. When Conner added, "I don't know, because I don't have your story," then Armstrong slightly nodded.

One of the more complicated truths to unravel is what exactly Strickland's two police interrogations tell us about the case. While Strickland did say he suspected that Armstrong had blocked Wilson's number in his phone, he also repeatedly told officers it could have been a glitch on his phone. While he described her as occasionally jealous, he also said her jealousy was "normal" and that she was "one of the least volatile women I have dated in terms of emotion over up – upwelling of, like, anger and jealousy and emotion." He did describe the two breaking up in October, but said Armstrong was dating other people herself during that time and didn't seem upset. When pressed repeatedly about Armstrong's anger and potential to kill, Strickland said, "I cannot fucking fathom it. I cannot fathom it," and, "This is not possible in my experience of three years spending every – virtually every day with this person."

Strickland also told detectives repeatedly that he could tell they were trying to create a "narrative" that paints Armstrong as jealous, but he didn't want to be part of it. When a detective left the room during his second interrogation, Strickland's attorney asked, "Is there something that you wanted to say last time that you don't feel like you got to say?" Strickland responded, "I have something to say. Fuck you guys for manipulating me."

May 11 Timeline

~5:30pm Mo Wilson's friend and host leaves their residence at 1708 Maple Ave.

~5:45pm Colin Strickland arrives to pick Wilson up for swimming, per his account5:55pm ... Door at Maple Avenue locks, indicating Wilson had left

8:16pm Strickland and Wilson leave Pool Burger on Strickland's motorcycle, per camera

8:35pm Strickland's motorcycle arrives in an alleyway near Wilson's Maple Avenue home, per camera

8:36pm Door at Maple Avenue unlocks with unique code; Strickland texts Kaitlin Armstrong, "Hey! Are you out? went to drop some flowers for [a sick friend] at her sons [sic] house up north and my phone died. Heading home unless you have another food suggestion."

8:43pm Dark-colored SUV with a bike rack travels near Maple Avenue home (police originally believed the SUV arrived at 8:37pm, but time stamps were later found to be six minutes off)

8:48pm Strickland's motorcycle drives down the 4900 block of southbound I-35 frontage road

~9:21pm Armstrong arrives home at 5301 Fort Clark Dr., per Strickland's account

9:56pm Police respond to residence and find Wilson dead

Excerpts from the transcripts of Colin Strickland’s police interrogation and Kaitlin Armstrong’s brief interrogation are available online at bit.ly/3R39d8w.