AUSTIN, Texas — A jury found Kaitlin Armstrong guilty in the murder of acclaimed cyclist Moriah Wilson in 2022.
The verdict came after the jury deliberated for about two hours following Thursday's closing arguments. The jury in her trial has listened to testimony for nearly three weeks.
On Wednesday, the state rested its case and the defense questioned a police officer and several expert witnesses. Defense attorneys also brought Colin Strickland, Armstrong's on again, off again boyfriend, back to the stand. Armstrong herself decided not to testify.
Prosecutor Ricky Jones makes closing arguments for state
The prosecution began its closing arguments visually. Attorneys played a video of Armstrong shooting a gun at a gun range, then played video from outside her friend's apartment she was staying at in Austin on the night of her murder. In the video, Wilson can be heard screaming before two gunshots.
The state also showed an autopsy photo of the gunshot wound on Wilson's chest. Attorney Rick Jones wrote on the slideshow, "There was silence and no more screams, then Armstrong put another bullet right in Wilson's heart."
"I've never seen so much evidence in my life against one person," Jones told the jurors.
Jones noted that the defense asked why every other gun in the world was not excluded. The prosecution's slideshow stated that no one else in the world with a Sig Sauger P365 left their DNA at the scene, no one else in the world was angry and jealous about their boyfriend being with Moriah Wilson, no one else in the world had their Jeep circling the location of the murder and no one else in the world left the scene of the murder in Armstrong's Jeep two minutes after the crime was committed.
Jones said the defense argues that it could have been any black Jeep that was in the area on the night of the murder.
"However, her Jeep is traveling with her phone while sending personal texts. Proving that Kaitlin is in the Jeep, and Colin testified that she ultimately drives up to the house while Colin is in the garage," Jones said.
Jones said it isn't probably that someone else had Armstrong's phone. He said the in texts that were sent from her phone during that time, she provided her home address to someone and messaged Strickland about the real estate lawsuit the two were involved in at the time.
Jones showed a full-screen photo of Wilson on her bike, saying she was a 25-year-old prodigy who was taken away from her parents. He said Caitlin Cash, Wilson's friend who found her body, doesn't even like to go by her own name anymore. Jones said Cash said, "Kaitlin killed my friend." Jones also brought up how Cash pumped her friend's heart over 100 times in the ten minutes until first responders got there, not knowing that she had been dead for 45 minutes, making that point that no one should have to go through that.
Jones also talked about Armstrong fleeing the country after Wilson's death, saying, "She was on the beach, teaching yoga, while the Wilsons were trying to pick up the pieces."
Jones wrapped up his closing arguments by saying, "Don't do me a favor, do Mo Wilson a favor ... Justice for Mo Wilson ... Don't let her [Armstrong] run like she tried to do 19 days before the trial."
Defense begins closing arguments
Just before 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the defense began delivering its closing arguments.
Defense attorney Rick Cofer began in a quiet voice, saying that it has been one year, four months and 12 days that Armstrong has asserted her innocence. Cofer said this is a case based on assumptions, confirmation bias and a lack of direct evidence.
He said Strickland fostered insecurity and was not honest with Armstrong about his "special friend." He said Strickland testified that Armstrong was not a particularly jealous girlfriend and that it was Detective Spitler who brought in that narrative.
"Who brought up jealousy first? The Austin Police Department, Det. Richard Spitler. He first said that 'j' word because it was a great theory," Cofer said.
Cofer drives home the point that jealousy is a basic human emotion, but it does not make a murderer.
"What a wonderful and easy way to paint a woman and to tell this story," Cofer said. "The woman scorned, whether the facts meet the narrative or not. It's a great story. The truth of the matter is that Kaitlin's emotions and her actions were normal and routine and human, but she had to be portrayed as a jealous psycho to create some motive."
He said the problem in Armstrong and Stickland's relationship was not Wilson – it was always Strickland. Cofer also brought up the fact that Strickland changed Wilson's name in his phone and deleted his text exchange with her on May 11.
"What was different on May 11?" Cofer asked.
Cofer said the PowerPoint prosecutors showed during their closing arguments hid what is essential. He said the jury should look at the raw data.
"The problem isn't the data," Cofer said. "It's the presentation of the data."
Cofer also brought up the fact that the first time Strickland testified, he said he thought maybe Armstrong was the one to get out of the black Jeep when it pulled up to his home on May 11. But when Strickland testified again on Wednesday, his recollection was clear – Cofer said the one fact Strickland was able to remember was that Armstrong was the one to get out of the Jeep. Cofer said it's the one fact that drew attention away from Strickland and back to Armstrong.
Cofer also demonstrated how to hold a bike from the center and said that area was not swabbed for DNA, which he believes is where the killer would have grabbed the bike. He also brought up the fact that no DNA swabs were taken from inside Armstrong's Jeep to see if someone else could have been driving it that night.
He addressed the unknown DNA on Wilson's bike, gun and the rape kit that wasn't tested, saying that APD didn't want a single piece of evidence in front of the jury that might point away from Armstrong.
"They didn't want any evidence that could potentially be inconsistent with their version of the case," Cofer said.
Cofer also addressed Armstrong going to Costa Rica. He brought up the possibility that she could have been concerned her "boyfriend," Strickland, had killed Wilson, or that the person who killed Wilson could kill her next. He said with fear, people act in fight or flight, and she chose flight.
Cofer said the argument the state is making is a "beautifully simple story, but it's wrong."
He also brought up the fact that Strickland's laptop was the only piece of evidence to be removed from this case and that Colin seemed to have been given special treatment during the case.
"What a world to be treated like Colin Strickland has," Cofer said.
Cofer said APD thinks Armstrong killed Wilson because she fits the story they have created of a jealous lover. He said that story is so easy to tell because it ties into a framework of patriarchy and misogyny in America.
"If Kaitlin Armstrong didn't kill Wilson, who did? I don't know," Cofer told the jury, adding that people want answers not a mystery. He said that answer is so unsatisfying because humans demand closure.
Cofer brought up more of Strickland's testimony, where he said he thought of Armstrong as a mild and gentle person who is not particularly needy and said that he couldn't imagine her hurting anyone.
He asked the jury to start thinking about the unknowns.
"That's the whole point of the trial: the 'I don't knows' are important," he said. "It's easy to swipe them off the table and accept Det. Spitler's narrative, but jury duty is not supposed to be easy."
He also brought up the ballistic evidence and said it's not scientifically defensible. He compared it to DNA, saying both pieces of evidence how Armstrong as a possibility but not a definite match.
Cofer wrapped up his portion of the closing arguments by saying if the jury convicts Armstrong and then she's exonerated, it will be because of untested DNA. The state objected to that statement, and defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear took over for the defense.
Puryear questioned how much trust Armstrong would have in the professionalism of APD after May 12, the day she was brought in on a theft of service charge, then told she could go because APD made a mistake, then told she should stay to talk because Strickland brought up her name.
"Det. Spitler had tunnel vision and jumped to conclusions," Puryear said.
State attorney Guillermo Gonzales leads rebuttal
Gonzales started each sentence with "but Rick...," following a tactic Rick Cofer used in his argument to bring up questions the jury might have about the case.
"Rick, you seem to be blaming it on Colin Strickland, but you say you don't know who did it. Why can't you stick to one simple reasonable version of what happened?" Gonzales said.
He then addressed the jury, saying, "Be reasonable. Use your common sense and look at the evidence."
Gonzales said all the evidence points to Strickland being in South Austin at the time of Wilson's murder, which explains why his devices – including his laptop – weren't investigated further. Gonzales said the defense is trying to distract the jury by focusing on Strickland's laptop and other seemingly 'unimportant' details.
He brought up the DNA evidence and how Dr. Tim Kalafut testified that if it wasn't direct DNA from Armstrong on Wilson's bike, it would have had to have been transferred four times, which Kalafut said was highly unlikely.
Gonzales said the most reasonable explanation for Armstrong's DNA to be on Wilson's bike is that she picked it up by the handlebars and seat and threw it.
"Every time you turn around, it's pointing at her [Armstrong]," Gonzales said.
Gonzales asked why Armstrong would use fake names in Costa Rica and why she would desperately search for plastic surgery. He said it was because she was a fugitive trying to get away with a crime.
Gonzales closed by saying, "Keep your eye on the ball, that's all I'm asking ... Let the evidence take you where it's going" before pointing directly at Armstrong and saying, "That's the evidence right here, beyond a reasonable doubt."
Closing arguments wrapped at around 12:15 p.m., and the jury went straight into deliberations.
Punishment witnesses: Wilson's mom, dad and brother testify
After the jury delivered its verdict, the court went straight into the sentencing portion of the trial. The state called Moriah Wilson's mother, Karen Wilson; her brother, Matt Wilson; her dad, Eric Wilson; and Caitlin Cash, Wilson's close friend and the one who found her dead.
Cash was first up to the witness stand. She was emotional immediately when the state asked her how close she was to "Mo." Cash told the jury about Wilson's last day on earth and how she was so excited to be visiting Cash in town. She said they stayed up late talking the night before because they had so much to catch up on.
Cash said the next day, before Wilson went on her bike ride, she took a photo of her and sent it to Wilson's mother writing, "Your girl is in safe hands here in Austin." Cash said through tears that she had no idea what was coming.
She said she has held a lot of guilt for not being able to protect Wilson that night and said she relives it every single day. She said she has also had extreme panic attacks since then, and she recalls those 10 minutes trying to save Wilson as the longest 10 minutes of her life.
Matt Wilson, Moriah Wilson's brother, was next to take the stand and immediately broke down in tears when the state asked, "Can you tell us about your sister?"
Matt Wilson described his sister as his closest confidant, his only sibling and the only person in the world that he could talk to about certain experiences only she could understand.
He recounted the emotional day he found out she was killed. He said it was his last day of classes ever in college, and he was home at his apartment when his parents knocked on the door. He said his parents lived hours away and there was no reason for them to be there, so he immediately knew something serious was wrong.
When his parents told him "We lost Moriah," he said he ran into the street screaming. He fell and his mom had to get home. His mom then said "it gets worse" and told him his sister had been murdered.
Matt Wilson said that moment, "It changed my entire world instantly."
He also described how difficult it was after his sister was killed to have to hear his mom call people who were close to Moriah Wilson and tell them what had happened. He finished by saying, "My sister had her life taken from her for no reason at all. She'll never ride a bike again, she'll never get married, never buy a home, have kids, never meet someone she loves ... I and my parents will never be able to see that happen and have her enjoy that life and build that life."
Moriah Wilson's mom, Karen Wilson, was next to the stand. She started by describing her daughter's character as gentle, but strong. She emotionally described the relationship between her children, saying, "They were like best friends, always."
She also recalled the day state troopers pulled up to her home. Upon seeing them, she asked if it was her son and they said, "No, your son is fine." But then when she heard about her daughter, she said, "It was the worst, worst moment of my life. It's never been the same since. Everything is upside down."
Karen Wilson finisheed by saying she would have done anything to stand in the way of that bullet.
"She had to die alone on the floor. She did not deserve a death like that," she said.
Eric Wilson, Moriah Wilson's father, was next. He told the jury that it's not possible to explain the devastation that you go through when you lose a child like this. He said he doesn't really sleep anymore, and he feels like he's living through a bad nightmare.
He said the thing he worries about is his son, especially.
"When we're gone, Matt won't have a sister," Eric Wilson said. "It's just really hard to accept that and live with that."
Defense calls Armstrong's father and sister
For the defense's witnesses, attorneys decided to call up Armstrong's father, her sister and someone who works at the chaplaincy program from the Travis County Jail whose been getting to know her in the last few months.
Her father, Mike Armstrong, described her as someone who has always been a very special person. He also addressed the Wilson family's pain.
"It's a tragic time, but it's far worse for the Wilson family," Mike Armstrong said.
KVUE stepped out of the courtroom for most of the other testimony for the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts.
Armstrong could face up to 99 years in prison. The prosecution is not pursuing the death penalty. The jury will be back in court at 9 a.m. Friday to start deliberations on Armstrong's punishment.