The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson (2026) Movie Script

1
[insects chirping]
[gentle music playing]
[Eric Wilson] The red one.
- Now it's recording. Hi.
- [baby fussing]
- [Karen Wilson] Hi.
- Look.
Okay, now you can
you can move in and out.
Okay, and then this right here
is the focus.
And we have
And I'm cooking the breakfast.
Karen cooking the breakfast.
And here's our little baby, Moriah.
Moriah is eight weeks old right now.
[Karen] Moriah was born
during a thunder and lightning storm.
Flashing, thundering.
All this energy all around her.
And her lungs were like thunder.
[baby babbling]
[vocalizing]
Probably one of the reasons
why she was a good athlete,
because she exercised
those lungs like crazy.
[gentle music continues]
So many precious moments to cherish.
- Yes, so many.
- [Eric] Yeah.
It was amazing seeing her being born.
Seeing her take her first breath.
She's sitting up.
That's her sitting up for the
Pretty much for the first time.
She's starting to learn.
And that light of her
was twinkling already.
[Eric] Oh, I see you.
There we go.
Show us how you can ride.
It was as if I always had known her.
[voice breaking]
It was, like, so familiar.
Yeah. Still happy, though.
[Eric] Hi.
[Karen] And then
within days of her being born,
I was sitting on the couch
listening to a Shawn Colvin song.
And the song made me think
that she's gonna leave me someday.
["You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome
When You Go" by Shawn Colvin plays]
[Karen] First time Moriah on skis.
I've seen love go by my door
It's never been this close before
[Eric] Well, we got two of them coming.
It's never been so easy or so slow
Here comes Moriah.
How you doing?
- Good.
- [Eric] Good. You having fun?
- Yeah.
- [Eric] All right.
You're gonna make me lonesome
When you go
It is interesting that, looking back,
somehow her body or her soul
in some way knew
that she had less time than most people.
And that's why she was
Maybe had that sense of anxiety,
that sense of urgency
underlying everything she did.
[announcer] Five, four, three, two, one!
[upbeat music playing]
[Eric] Nice job, Mo.
[commentator 1] Not even looking
like she's slowing down.
An incredible ride as Moriah Wilson
knows exactly where to go.
[commentator 2] She looks so comfortable.
I know she trains hard.
I know she trains long.
She is no stranger
to these sort of conditions.
This is Moriah Wilson,
the winner of round one
of the 2022 Life Time Grand Prix.
- [spectator] Go, go, go!
- [Eric] Come on, Mo.
[upbeat music continues]
[Allen Lim] She was an absolute
diamond in the rough.
She was a once-in-a-generation athlete.
[laughs]
[Lim] She knew
she was coming into her own.
And emotionally,
it was filled with just raw possibility.
[music turns poignant]
[call connecting]
[responder] Austin 911.
[Cash in shaky voice] Um, my friend
is staying with me, and I just walked in,
and she's laying on the bathroom floor
and there's blood everywhere.
[tense music playing]
It's hard kind of reliving it.
- [responder] What's your name?
- My name is Caitlin.
- [responder] Caitlin, are you with her?
- Yes, I'm with her now.
- [responder] Is she awake?
- [Cash] She's not awake.
There's blood all over her face
and all on the back of her head.
[responder] Is she breathing?
[Cash] She's
No.
[responder] I'm getting help
started right now,
and then I'm gonna tell you
exactly what to do, okay?
[Cash] Okay.
[responder] Lay her flat
on her back on the floor.
Place the heel of your hand
on the breastbone
and put your other hand
on top of that hand.
[Cash] Yeah.
[responder] Then pump the chest
hard and fast at least twice per second
and two inches deep.
Count out loud so I can count with you.
[Cash] One, two, three,
four, five, six
[responder] Good. Keep going.
There's a lot of help
coming as fast as they can. Keep going.
[Cash] 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
[responder] Keep going. There might be
a police officer coming in soon.
That's okay.
Don't leave her alone and don't stop.
[Cash] I won't. Two, three I hear them.
[responder] Okay, that's good. Keep going.
Don't leave her. They'll come to you.
[Cash] It's the back house.
They have to come in the back alley.
26, 27, 28, 29, come in.
[responder] Keep going. Don't stop.
Keep going. You're doing good.
Keep going.
[Cash crying] Uh, do I stop?
I don't know what happened!
You're not [indistinct]
[indistinct chatter]
[unsettling music playing]
- [responder] Is that the police with you?
- [Cash] Yeah.
Yeah, that's the police officers.
[sobbing] She doesn't live here.
She was with our friend Colin.
- [officer 1] What's Colin's last name?
- Colin Strickland.
[Cash] I could not understand
why they weren't bringing her down
to take her to the hospital.
[officer 2] What's her name?
Her name is Moriah.
Moriah is her middle name.
Her first name is Anna.
And so finally, I asked
the officer questioning me. I said
"Why is it taking them so long
to get her into the ambulance?"
"Like, she needs help."
His words were something
along the lines of,
"Your friend didn't make it."
[poignant music playing]
Two years ago today,
on May 12th
[music fades]
2022
I was out here
laying down pieces of cardboard
to kill off the grass
because I wanted
to make our garden a little bit bigger,
because Moriah was gonna move home.
And then I looked
down there at the driveway,
and I saw state--
The state police.
And he asked me if I
knew--
"Do you know Anna? Anna Wilson?"
[voice breaking] And I said,
"Yeah, it's my daughter. Is she okay?"
And he said, "No, she's she's gone."
[Karen sniffles]
And, like,
it just didn't make sense.
It didn't make sense. It still doesn't
It still doesn't make sense.
make sense, really. We just [sniffles]
Some things we just
aren't gonna understand and figure out.
There's really no good explanation.
[pensive music playing]
[Richard Spitler] I was at home.
And all of a sudden, my phone rings.
It was the on-call sergeant.
He gave me just the small details
of, "Hey, there's been a murder."
"Um, one person has been shot,
and there's no suspect information."
Can you have a seat right here
on this white chair right here?
The, uh, detective's gonna come
and talk to you.
[Spitler] This was my first homicide
investigation as a lead detective.
I was definitely nervous.
You know,
I-- I didn't know what to expect.
Whenever she got here,
did she say that she had
already spoken to anybody else?
Or any plans that she may have mentioned
of saying,
"Hey, I've talked to so-and-so?"
- Only Colin.
- Okay.
Yeah. She doesn't know any people here.
She's not
- Okay.
- She hasn't spent a long time here.
- Okay.
- This is only her second time to Austin.
My colleague had already
kind of described the scene to me.
Uh, he had mentioned that there was
no forced entry into the residence.
Nothing was damaged.
It didn't look as though
anything was thrown around,
which indicated to me
that there was no disturbance.
We're just gonna have them
swab your hands for gunshot residue.
Okay.
I realized that I was being questioned
as a potential suspect.
[Spitler] So a buccal swab.
What that is
is basically just a small little DNA swab.
Just goes on the inside of your mouth.
Well, we took, you know, DNA samples,
and they swabbed my hands,
took my photos,
and eventually let me wash my hands.
When I'm washing my hands
in the police station bathroom,
I'm seeing
all of her,
you know, blood go down the
go down the sink,
and I have a very [chuckles dryly]
I have a very distinct memory of
wanting wanting it back.
Did they take her from my house?
[Spitler] So our crime scene unit,
they're still there right now.
They're processing everything. Um
She's just still laying there?
So right now, she is.
Um, because we want to make sure
that we do everything right.
[crying] No, I understand,
but she's just by herself.
- I know.
- [sniffles]
- [Spitler] I know.
- Okay.
But they're not gonna leave her?
[Spitler] No. No.
Like, she'll never be,
like, actually alone?
[Spitler] No. No. Not at all.
Um
[interviewer]
Before we get into everything else,
I want to hear
about how you met the Wilson family,
and who did you meet first?
- Mm-hmm.
- Because you met them before you met Mo.
Yes. Yeah.
I was
Let's see, let me start that again.
Let me think through this.
Yeah.
[gentle music playing]
Right after the pandemic,
I moved up to Vermont for the summer.
I was a part business owner
of a small bed and breakfast
in East Burke.
I didn't have any friends in Vermont,
and so I sign up
for all of these women's gravel clinics,
mountain biking clinics, things like that.
And found this really wonderful community,
and was asked to do the social media
for a race called Rooted Vermont.
[cheering]
[Karen] The only time we ever saw
Moriah race was at the Rooted race.
We were on the road cheering her on,
and we ran into this girl.
[Cash] And I was like,
"Who are you here supporting?"
They're like, "Our daughter Moriah."
I was like, "There is no way." [laughs]
"There is no way. She's my favorite."
"And I can't say that because I have
to be impartial about everything."
[announcer] Moriah Wilson coming in.
Third place, women.
[gentle music continues]
Cash tells us that she's part owner
of an inn down here in East Burke.
[Cash] Just was such a kind of
one of those moments where it's like,
"Wow, this is really meant to be.
I'm supposed to be here in Vermont."
"I'm supposed to be meeting this family.
I'm supposed to be seeing this."
[Matt Wilson] Moriah hears
about Cash through us,
and they eventually meet later that fall.
["Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley playing]
[Cash] She was racing
a bike race called Big Sugar.
It's a 110-mile course.
And I was riding the 50-mile course.
And I finished my race.
And I swear, ten minutes later,
they're like,
"First place, Moriah Wilson."
And she had done double the distance
that I had done in the same time.
Hooray, hooray
I'm your silver lining
Hooray, hooray
[Eric] They became
like sisters, just like that.
They just bonded, you know, immediately,
and were just instant friends.
- And I was your silver lining
- [laughing]
Just was really a special thing to have,
to have a friend in a new community.
Here's Mo Wilson doing laps around me.
She's got her 14th lap. She's come back.
It was really inspiring
to see her succeed.
She had the racing down.
She had the athleticism.
She had the drive.
Now I'm gold
[music fades]
[Karen] Starting from a young age,
Moriah had
the natural inclination to be athletic.
She was very determined.
If she didn't do well, she'd be so upset.
So she would just work harder.
[upbeat music playing]
We would spend a lot of time
downhill skiing.
[Eric] Hey!
- How's it going, sweetie?
- Good.
[Karen] I remember when she first
went to her first ski race,
she studied the people on the podium.
She had this look in her eye
like, "I want to be up there."
[Eric] She writes quite a bit
about that in her journal.
[chuckles]
"So inspired by the Olympics."
"I want to be an Olympian so badly."
"One day, I will. One day, I will."
Moriah, free skiing.
[Moriah Wilson speaking]
[Eric] Burke Mountain Academy
started in 1970.
They had the first program in the country
that really was focused
around skiing half a day
and going to school half a day.
[Matt] One of the main requirements
for going here
is that you aspire
to be an Olympic-level athlete.
She had that dream from the beginning,
a lot inspired by our father
who was on that track
and missed the Olympics by one spot.
[Eric] Moriah, first run still.
[Moriah speaking]
[Eric] Oh. Oh, no.
[Matt] Injuries were a big part
of why she didn't reach her goals.
She tore her ACL in high school,
and then she tore it again after that.
[Karen] She still loved skiing and I think
it was hard for her to let go of that.
But she knew that it was over.
Her skiing career was over.
[Moriah] I had spent a lot of time
riding bikes growing up with my family,
and then I discovered
that gravel cycling was a thing
and, like, ended up buying a gravel bike.
[Karen] She was determined
to be a professional cyclist,
and I really encouraged her
to go for it, that she could do it.
[cheering]
[Eric] Let's go, Mo!
Hang in there, Mo!
You got it, Mo! You got it!
["Vagabond" by Caamp playing]
Let's go, Mo!
[Lim] The thing about a bike race
is that there's only one winner.
And if 3,000 people start at the line,
you have a 1-in-3,000 chance to win.
A hundred miles an hour in my head
[Eric] Nice job, Mo!
[Lim] The probability of winning
in a bike race is really, really low.
So for Mo to always be on the podium,
that was extraordinary.
[announcer] Here is our women's champion,
Moriah Wilson!
Give it up for Mo!
[Ian Dille] I was talking with a friend.
He was like,
"Man, have you heard about Moriah Wilson?"
"You need to know this name."
"She's gonna be dominating pro bike racing
moving forward for a long time."
[Maude Farrell] In the span of two years,
she won, like, six or seven races.
And not by minutes, not by--
I mean, she won things by hours.
[announcer] The champ is in the house!
This is Moriah Wilson!
[Eric] Go, Mo!
- [reporter 1] Wilson, just untouchable.
- [reporter 2] What an impressive result.
My heart does beat
Like a Cherokee drum
In early 2022, we were talking.
She was like, "I'm coming to Austin."
I was like, "When are you coming?"
She's like, "Two days from now."
I was like, "What?"
She ended up coming to live with me
at my house for a couple of weeks
while she was in town.
So we were co-working together.
We were eating all of our meals together.
And it was
this incredibly beautiful unfolding
of this friendship.
in the fast lane
[laughs]
100 miles an hour till I'm done
[music fades]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Guillermo Gonzlez] When this case
came in, I didn't know anything
other than it was a young woman
who had been murdered
and that she, uh, had some kind
of relationship to the cycling community.
I certainly had really no idea
who Moriah was at the time.
[Rickey Jones] Guillermo's very intense.
Very intense.
And because we tried these types of cases,
it's a lot of pressure if you're the kind
of person that feel the pressure.
And I think he does feel the pressure.
- [interviewer] Do you?
- No.
[Pamela Mazak] This was the big case
everyone was working on.
And it was shocking
because nobody could figure out
a reason why somebody
would want to kill this person.
- [officer 1] 74 to 17.
- [officer 2] Is there a bike? See a bike?
She said she'd put it by the door.
- [officer 3] No, no bike.
- [officer 2] No bike.
[Gonzlez] It certainly seemed
that it could have been a home invasion,
robbery event.
But, uh, the more
we started digging into it,
it became more and more likely
that something else was going on.
I needed more, and I started immediately
trying to pick out things
that needed to be followed up on.
Most people's houses have cameras on them.
Uh, you know, everybody has a phone.
The amount of digital evidence
is just overwhelming.
The only other person she knows
is Colin Strickland,
who she was supposed
to be meeting tonight.
Does he-- He still lives here in Austin?
- Yeah, he lives in Austin.
- Okay.
Colin Strickland was the last person
to see Moriah alive.
So I wanted to talk to Colin
and find out, you know, what happened.
Myself and the other detective,
we approached and introduced ourselves.
Hey, I'm looking for Mr. Strickland.
- That's me.
- Hey.
- So Colin, is that your first name?
- Yes.
Hey. So, um, do you know Anna?
Um Mo?
- Anna Mo?
- Yeah.
- Everybody calls her Mo. Um
- No.
Mon-- Monique-- Monic uh
Last name is Wilson.
- Rider, she's a gravel rider.
- Oh, yes.
- Yes, I do.
- Okay, so
Um there's really no easy way
to say this, sir.
So, apparently last night she passed away.
How did that happen?
She-- Right now,
it's an open investigation,
but it is being investigated
as a homicide.
Wow. Okay.
[tense music playing]
- Are you okay?
- Yeah. I'm good.
Um
[Spitler] My first thought is,
"Wow, like, you just went out
on a date with her the night before."
"You killed my victim.
You killed Moriah Wilson."
[Gunnar Shaw] I didn't meet Mo until 2017.
I was up in Burke, Vermont,
with a good friend of mine,
going mountain biking.
George said, "Mo's gonna join us."
And I said, "Great, can she keep up?"
And George goes,
"That's not gonna be a problem."
[Shaw chuckles]
[upbeat acoustic music playing]
It's not often that you meet
another person who can keep up.
You know, I really liked
that she was a strong athlete,
but not in an egotistical way.
Just in a, you know,
"I'm here, I'm strong,
and I'm not afraid
to show you my strength."
I was her first real boyfriend.
I liked that she was
a quiet and reserved person,
because I'm not.
She was a little bit
of a consummate introvert,
always thinking, but not always expressing
or telling you what she was thinking.
We both grew up in Vermont.
We both went to Dartmouth.
And so there's tons of overlap
and similarities there.
[Matt] Gunnar and Moriah
started dating her sophomore year.
He was out of college at that point.
[Shaw] I was in a transitionary period,
having graduated a couple years ago.
Trying to get a job in California.
Even though we would end up having to date
for almost two years long-distance,
I was very sure
about things at that point, so
- Aah.
- [Moriah panting]
[both] Mm
[Shaw] In October of 2020,
we moved to Mill Valley,
which is close to San Francisco.
It was a ton
of excitement at that point of,
"Can't wait to live
in the same city together."
We're doing this journey together,
and it felt right.
She was just so focused on bike racing
and being fast and fit,
that we just lost a lot of the spark
and romance in our relationship.
And it was a hard thing for both of us.
I remember her saying,
"I am more in love with biking,
and I find all the emotion and feedback
and pleasure in my life
from riding my bike."
And yeah, that said
kind of all I needed to hear.
[Kimmi Bolsinger] I met Moriah
at Dartmouth.
We were very close throughout school.
I moved out to San Francisco
after my boyfriend and I had broken up,
and I was really looking
for kind of a change of pace.
- Cheers!
- Cheers.
[Bolsinger] Happy Valentine's Day.
And so we moved in together
in January 2022.
She understood what I was going through,
and I understood
what she was going through.
We had to learn how to do
some things on our own
and figure out exactly
what it was that we were looking for.
[Karen] One of the things
that she told me was,
"I've got to date other guys.
I've never dated other guys."
And she gravitated to people
who were successful.
She liked to learn from them.
[Spitler] Do you just want
to take a seat in here?
So yesterday, run me through,
like, your day and stuff yesterday.
[Strickland] Um, Mo had said that Cash had
some event that night with some friends.
So that's why I proposed
going to the pool.
'Cause, I mean, she's in town,
and she's kind of a loner person,
so I wanted, you know
[Spitler] Yeah.
[Strickland] I wanted to catch up with her
and do something fun.
[Spitler] Yeah.
[Dille] Colin and I knew each other
through the cycling community in Austin.
I'm a journalist,
writing and covering outdoor recreation,
sports, things like that.
And I have done stories
with him professionally.
We are here in Austin, Texas,
outside the garage
of 2019 Dirty Kanza winner
Colin Strickland.
- Hey, Colin.
- Hey, Ian.
- How you doing, man?
- How are you?
- Doing good?
- Welcome to my garage.
Yeah, this is, uh
- You got a lot of stuff, man. [chuckles]
- I do have a lot of stuff.
Where do we start?
[Dille] Colin Strickland
really dedicated himself
to gravel racing and being
the best gravel racer in the world.
He was really sort of at the forefront
of realizing how he could accrue sponsors
and make a living
by kind of building up his personal brand
and social media presence.
I can take you through
some of the stuff I did on this ABLE.
- So this was my most recent build.
- Yeah.
[Strickland] Up shift, down shift.
[Kate Quay] I remember Moriah telling me,
"I went on a training ride
with Colin Strickland."
She said it in a way that, like,
I should have known who Colin was.
[Dille] You're a Texas state champion.
Yeah. Yes, I am. Yes.
I knew that he had a history
of manipulating women in relationships.
And I was aware of past things.
[Strickland] I had met Moriah
at Rebecca's Private Idaho.
She just smashed the race.
We just kind of chatted briefly
during the event.
And then at the end of the event,
I invited her out to get a beer.
I had a girlfriend.
We didn't have
any romantic conversations at all.
We just talked about her future career.
And I told her, like,
"You are going to win so many events."
Definitely was attracted to her,
but also just wanted to be helpful.
And at that point,
it was totally inappropriate to be dating.
He didn't go to bike races
and act like he had a girlfriend.
He wouldn't talk about her
or bring her around.
[Dille] It was sort of like a joke.
"Who is Kaitlin?"
Oh, she was the woman
standing right next to Colin
that he didn't introduce you to.
[Shaw] I remember hearing about Colin
because Moriah had come back
from that race and was like,
"I met Colin Strickland, and he's going
to help me with potential sponsors."
Male cyclists historically have gotten
more attention and sponsorship dollars,
and, motives aside,
will help female cyclists.
[Caldwell] Mo wanted to go
to a gravel race in Texas.
That was, like, at the end of 2021.
I had signed up for it,
and then it got canceled.
She was like, "Do you still want to go?"
I was like, "No."
[Bolsinger] She said that
she was excited to see Colin in Texas,
that there might be something more there
than just a friendship.
[atmospheric music playing]
[Strickland] Moriah and I had
no romantic anything at this point.
I was driving home
with my girlfriend, Kaitlin,
all the way back from Bentonville,
and we essentially had a breakup drive.
I just told her, like, "I don't feel it.
I can't do this anymore."
We didn't really fight at all.
And we were partners
in so many different things.
A few days later,
I get a message from Moriah saying,
"Hey, I'm visiting a friend
in Austin for a week."
"I'm just gonna work remotely."
Kaitlin moved into a separate room,
and we had had, like,
a very clear breakup.
We were not together.
I needed, personally,
to close the door on the relationship.
That's kind of what I felt.
Like, no turning back.
Make her angry at me.
And I effectively
started dating Moriah for a week
when she was in Austin.
Colin was "on a break" with Kaitlin,
even though she was still living
in the same house in a separate room.
And Moriah and Colin started hanging out
and were romantic or intimate
during that time period.
I definitely warned her about Colin,
but not in the--
Like, you could never think, like,
"He would hurt her."
[Spitler] Do you know if Mo or Cash owned
any, like, firearms or anything like that?
- [Strickland] I would highly doubt it.
- [Spitler] Okay.
Do you own any firearms?
Would they ever come and talk to you?
I own a-- I actually bought a--
I bought a pistol last fall,
and I have actually never shot it.
[Spitler] What type of gun was that?
Um, it's a 9mm.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Spitler] He indicated that he does own
his 9mm handgun.
The cartridge cases that were
recovered on scene were 9mm cartridges.
[Strickland] I have it in a case,
and I've never shot it.
- Haven't made the time.
- [Spitler] Okay.
[Strickland] She sent me
a photo of her on the bike.
- [Spitler] Is that Mo?
- [Strickland] That's Mo.
- This is more complexity.
- [Spitler] What time was that at?
[Strickland] I have it saved
as a different name just because.
[Spitler] Why was it that you had
to change the name from Mo?
[Strickland] Because in the past,
Kaitlin has looked at my phone,
and I just didn't want to
I just didn't want to surface
- [Spitler] That would always start fights.
- [Strickland] Exactly.
Kaitlin had all of my passwords.
She managed all of my bank accounts.
She went into my phone
and read everything.
She had blocked
a bunch of contacts in my phone.
I knew that she could find information
if she wanted to.
[suspenseful music heightens]
[Moriah speaking]
[Cash] There were questions that she had
in terms of her footing with Colin.
He had kind of disappeared
and really pulled back,
both, you know, friendship-wise,
relationship-wise,
and, um, wasn't very communicative.
[Moriah speaking]
A lot of times, we weren't able
to connect over the phone.
And so if there was something
that she really needed a quick opinion on,
I'm like, "Leave me a voice memo
and I'll get back to you."
[Moriah] Hey.
Got to Arkansas yesterday.
Kind of just been hanging out by myself.
I have not heard from Colin at all.
Total radio silence.
Uh, have you seen him in Austin at all?
There just hasn't been
any communication from either of us
until I texted him today,
at which point my text didn't go through.
Maybe he thinks
that I'm not interested or something.
Not quite sure.
Okay, last night.
I went to the Meteor
for happy hour and who do I see?
Colin and Kaitlin and a couple other guys.
Eventually, Colin comes over
and we hug each other.
Don't really say that much.
Just are like, "Oh, great to see you."
Like, I don't know. Super, kind of, weird.
And yeah, I haven't seen him
or heard from him since.
I need some sort of closure.
I don't know how to get it.
I'm probably gonna see him tonight
because there's this party.
But if Kaitlin's there, like,
he's probably not going to talk to me.
Very uncomfy.
[Spitler] Mo's going to be taken
to the medical examiner's office, um
Full autopsy, you know, is gonna be done,
everything on her.
Um
That being said, are you sure,
at any point in time,
did y'all have sex?
[Strickland] We had not.
We had no physical intercourse.
- [Spitler] Okay.
- [Strickland] Didn't We didn't even kiss.
[Spitler] Okay.
I-- I just want to check
because with the autopsy,
they're gonna check everything.
- [Strickland] I know.
- [Spitler] So
[Strickland] I understand that.
Nope, nothing.
[Spitler] Okay.
Colin was really struggling
with whether he was gonna be
in a committed relationship or not.
But he'd saw that Kaitlin
was a compassionate, caring person.
I think the biggest thing for him, too,
is she was incredibly helpful.
Colin was trying to build
the Spartan Trailer business.
Kaitlin was definitely
very knowledgeable in finance
and was obviously,
like, smart about money.
She did a lot of the managerial stuff
for the business,
which allowed Colin
to focus on other elements
of his cycling career and whatever else.
[Strickland] Moriah and I had reset
our relationship in my mind.
I was kind of on the end of the scene
and kind of burned out.
And she was needing to get, like, momentum
and she was enthusiastic with it,
and that's great.
But I just saw it as
I wasn't gonna be a great match for her.
She was gonna be the most
dominant racer in the US by far.
And I would just get in the way of that.
Kaitlin didn't want to separate.
She liked being a part of my life.
[Moriah speaking]
[commentator] And now, there she is!
- [spectator 1] Yeah, Mo!
- [spectator 2] Yeah, Mo!
- [commentator] Mo Wilson!
- [spectator 3] Yeah!
[commentator] The women's champion
leaves no doubt about it.
Mo Wilson absolutely crushes
the Belgian Waffle Ride.
[woman] Congrats, girl.
- [reporter] Another dominant performance.
- Thank you.
[reporter] What's next for you?
What are you winning next?
[chuckles] Um
The next gravel race
that I do will be Gravel Locos.
Moriah was going down to Austin
to race in the Gravel Locos race.
[reflective music playing]
[Cash] Mo came a couple of days
before the race.
And I am just so excited that she's there.
I made some coffee.
We were just hanging out.
So I take a video,
and I send this text message to Karen.
All right, wave to the camera.
[Cash laughs]
- [Moriah giggles]
- [Cash] Welcome to the Texas heat!
- [Moriah] Wow!
- [giggles]
- [Cash] Okay, be safe. Ride fast.
- Thanks.
- [Cash] Bye.
- Bye.
[Karen] Oh, yeah, that text.
It was of Moriah getting ready
to go out for a training ride on her own.
And Cash sent it to me and said,
"Your girl's here, safe with me."
[Cash] I feel a lot of guilt
about sending that text message.
Like, I can't believe that I told her mom
she was okay and in good hands when, um
I couldn't protect her.
[music turns somber]
[Cash] Mo texted me later and she said,
"Just FYI, I'm going to go swim
and eat dinner with Colin tonight."
[Strickland] I had contacted Mo, like,
"Hey, you want to go swimming?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Picked her up, drove to Deep Eddy.
Went to Pool Burger,
grabbed two drinks and a burger,
and we just chatted, essentially,
about her career, my career,
and the relevance
of what does it mean to be a bike racer?
What's the point of it all?
And then Kaitlin called me
while I was at Pool Burger,
and I didn't answer it.
Yeah, dropped off Moriah
at the base of the steps.
Said, "All right, cool, see you tomorrow
at this Gravel Locos pre-dinner."
That was the last I saw her.
[poignant music playing]
[Moriah speaking]
[Cash] Karen called me,
and I was really afraid to talk to her.
[voice breaking] Karen said,
"Cash, I love you so much."
[sniffles]
And I needed to hear that because I felt
so inadequate and so guilty.
I'm like,
"If only I would have come home sooner,
if only I would have not gone to dinner,
if only I'd have
forced her to come with me."
There was a million "what if" questions
that I was endlessly
playing in a loop in my head.
What could I have done
differently to help?
I remember seeing
two missed calls from my dad,
a text from my dad, "Call me ASAP,"
and I think a call from Karen too,
before my dad had called me.
That was bad. I knew that was bad.
Something had happened.
[Bolsinger] I was in, uh, Hawaii
with my family.
Um, I got a phone call and it was Gunnar.
I will never forget him saying, uh
[voice breaking] "Moriah died today."
My husband had put our daughter to bed,
and I just collapsed on the ground,
and I'm sobbing. I'm so--
Like, I have never cried like this before.
And my husband's like,
"Oh, my God, are you okay?"
And I was like, "No, I'm not okay."
Like, "Moriah's been shot."
"She was left alone to die."
It feels a lot like her death came
right as she was starting
to open up to the world,
and that she was starting to learn
what was important to her, and
[voice breaks] learn that it was safe
to open up to people.
[tense music playing]
[music turns intriguing]
[Katy Conner] I was working
my regular shift,
and I found out
that there was a murder the night before.
Typically, when we have a murder,
it's all hands on deck.
Detective Spitler was there.
He was already
interviewing Colin Strickland.
[indistinct chatter]
We have a conference room,
and in that conference room we have a TV
that we're able to actually watch
the interview while it's taking place.
I'm able to see
what's being said and verify his story.
[Spitler] One of the detectives
found a video clip
from a motion-activated camera
in an alleyway
that's directly next to Cash's apartment.
The video shows
a black SUV with chrome windows,
a luggage rack on the roof,
and a bicycle rack
that was mounted onto the trailer hitch.
And at 8:37 p.m.
the brake lights illuminate,
indicating that it's slowing down
or even stopping,
right where the stairs lead up
to the front door of the apartment.
[Conner]
One of the other detectives realized,
"Hey, that's a vehicle that looks just
like a vehicle that was in their driveway
when detectives had gone
out there to speak with Colin."
That was something
we relayed to Detective Spitler,
and so he starts
bringing that up in the interview.
[Spitler] Colin had mentioned
that he took Moriah on his motorcycle
that was parked in the driveway.
So I asked him about the Jeep.
"Who is it that owns that black Jeep?"
He said, "That's my girlfriend
Kaitlin Armstrong's car."
When Kaitlin got back home,
did she tell you anything?
Like where she was, what she was doing?
[Strickland] I didn't ask.
I was working on stuff in the garage.
Getting my bicycles ready for this race.
[Gonzlez] The police
served a search warrant
on the home of Colin Strickland.
While there,
they found a couple of pistols.
[Spitler] Are there
any other firearms that are inside?
[Strickland] There's two pistols.
- [Spitler] Two pistols?
- [Strickland] Two pistols.
[Spitler] Where is the other pistol?
[Strickland] That I don't know
because that would be Kaitlin's pistol.
[Spitler] So Kaitlin has a pistol?
[Strickland] Kaitlin has a pistol
that I purchased for her.
I do remember saying
to the officer [sniffles]
[exhales] "I bet
it was Colin's girlfriend."
[interviewer] Wait, what?
I said the only person
I could think of that didn't like her was
this guy's girlfriend.
[Spitler] I know for a fact,
through our investigation,
that her vehicle was at that apartment.
[Strickland] I don't know
what to say to that.
[sniffles]
Mm.
[sniffles]
[Conner] All right,
so I'm Detective Conner.
And, um, so, my partner is actually
talking, uh, to Colin right now.
It sounds like you may
have some information,
may have witnessed something,
so I just wanted to chat about some stuff.
Um
Can you give me any information
on what you're talking about?
Did you hear about what's happened
over the past 24 hours?
Colin walked in the house
and said one of the women
in the cycling community passed away.
Yes. Yeah.
Um, while Colin was talking to us,
your name came up.
And it sounds like there's
a lot of stuff that's going on,
and it sounds like, you know,
Colin's been maybe
talking to this girl for a little bit
and kind of threw your name in there.
I think he might be saying some stuff,
and I want to get your side of it, okay?
I feel like I should have
an attorney present.
So that's totally your choice.
Um, so you-- So at this point,
you are free to leave at any point.
So this is going to be consensual
because you're not under arrest, okay?
So
[Brown] We were really good friends,
and I always thought she was just
this really sweet, kind individual.
She wasn't getting what she wanted,
and Colin wasn't
Right, didn't want to give it
or couldn't give it,
or didn't have it to give.
They'd break up, they'd get back together,
they'd break up, they'd get back together.
It sounds like maybe he went out
with this girl the other day,
and maybe it sounds like,
from what he's saying,
that you were a little upset about it.
And so that's why
I wanted to get your side of it
because that's not fair
if he's just saying one thing
and trying to-- to go down a route.
I That is not accurate.
Yeah, and that's why I wanted
to chat with you because
It's a guy.
[chuckling] He's gonna say stuff.
And so we want to make sure
that we get both sides of the story
and clear it up.
So what What were you doing yesterday?
I would like to leave, I think.
That's-- That's completely your choice,
but understand if you do,
then we only have
one side of the story to go on.
Well, I just am uncertain
as to even what you mean
or what he could have said
because I didn't have any idea
that he spoke, he saw,
or went out with this girl.
- Okay, yeah.
- Like, recently. I--
Had he been, like,
talking to her on the side?
I would like to leave.
I don't actually know.
And I would like to leave.
Um, but again, that limits us to where
we only have one side of the story.
And your vehicle
was seen next to her house,
um, and we needed
to talk about that, okay?
[Bolsinger] I remember
being in our apartment,
and Moriah came into my room and said,
"You'll never believe
what happened today."
She looked down at her phone,
and she saw an unknown number calling her,
but because it was a Texas number
and she had a sponsorship in Austin,
she thought she should answer it.
So she picked up the phone,
and someone just said, "Hi, Mo."
And Moriah said,
"Hello," you know, "who is this?"
And she said, "It's Kaitlin."
Moriah just said that Kaitlin mentioned,
"Hey, Colin and I
are still seeing each other,
so it would probably just be better
if you, you know,
didn't involve yourself in that anymore."
It sounds like there are
some issues between you and this girl,
and I think that there's
probably a lot more to it
that you could help explain.
Maybe you were upset
and you were just in the area.
Like, I don't know,
because I don't have your story.
And all I see is
that your vehicle's over there.
That kind of makes it
look not too good, right?
Okay? And then 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.
Um, so that's why I really want
to get your side of the story,
because maybe there's a lot more going on.
I would like to leave
if I am free to leave.
Okay.
[Jones] They let her go.
They concluded that they didn't quite have
enough information to hold her on.
I don't even think at the time
they had enough information to say
Colin wasn't driving the Jeep,
he couldn't have parked the motorcycle
and doubled back.
You know in your heart what took place.
I don't know what took place.
You're asking me to tell you
that I think Kaitlin did this.
- Is that what you're asking?
- I'm asking what you think.
- Is she capable of doing that?
- I don't believe she--
I wouldn't be living with a fucking person
who I think is capable of doing this.
So the answer is no, I don't believe it.
[somber music playing]
[Brown] I was there when we were
all sitting outside the Meteor.
I'm the one who asked her, I was like,
"What would you do
if you saw Colin with another person?"
And, you know, she blankly
and coldly said, "I'd kill them."
And we thought she was joking.
[Strickland] No. No.
No, no, no, no.
No.
[Dille] The police had come
and really turned their house upside down.
Kaitlin was worried the house was bugged
or that the police were listening,
so she wanted to go somewhere else.
So the next morning
they walked to a coffee shop.
And Colin was basically like,
"Look, from a criminal standpoint,
we just need to account for where we were
every minute of the day yesterday."
The police took
Kaitlin and Colin's phones.
And so Kaitlin was like,
"What should we do?"
"Where should we get phones?"
They were walking back
from the coffee shop.
Colin was like, "Why don't you just
go over to Walmart or something
and get a new phone?"
[suspenseful music playing]
[Spitler] A few days after the murder,
I returned back to the neighborhood.
I want to see who has cameras,
who may have captured this black SUV.
Maybe I can see who the driver is.
I was contacted by one of the neighbors,
and he provided me with two hours
of video from a doorbell camera.
But what was significant
about this doorbell camera
was that it constantly recorded.
It wasn't motion-activated.
And so it had video,
but it also had audio.
I would be typing my report or anything
that I needed to do with the case,
and I had this video
playing in the background.
If I heard a vehicle passing,
I would stop what I was doing,
see if this is the black SUV
that I was looking for.
At 9:15 p.m. on the video,
all of a sudden
I start hearing a female scream,
and I hear two gunshots.
The screaming stops,
and there's a six-second pause,
and then there's a third gunshot.
So I knew exactly
when this murder happened.
The first thing we tried to do
was not put her in the Jeep,
but take Colin out of the Jeep.
Look at him so close
where he could not have been
the person driving the Jeep.
[Mazak] As soon as he dropped Moriah off,
Colin's motorcycle is seen leaving.
[Jones] We were able
to trace his path back home.
He receives a phone call,
um, while he's at home.
His phone was shown to be at his residence
at the time
that the gunshots could be heard.
Now it becomes
very difficult for you to say,
"Well, Colin was driving the Jeep."
So that only leaves her with access to it.
[Spitler] Later on that day, I'd received
information from our ballistics unit
that had said that the gun recovered
during the search warrant
at Colin's residence
was the gun that was used
during the commission of this murder.
It was the same type of cartridges
that were located inside the apartment.
There were only two people that actually
had access to this firearm at that time.
Colin and Kaitlin.
And because I knew
where Colin was the entire time,
but I didn't know where Kaitlin was,
I believed that there was
enough probable cause
that indicated that Kaitlin was the person
responsible for this murder.
So on May 17th, I issued
a warrant out for Kaitlin's arrest.
The only problem was, Kaitlin was gone.
[suspenseful music rising]
[reporter 1] Police, U.S. Marshals,
and the FBI are all on the hunt
for the killer of a 25-year-old cyclist.
[reporter 2] Law officials are now asking
for the public's help to find her.
A municipal court judge issued a warrant
for Armstrong's arrest
for the offense of murder.
The United States Marshal Service
and Lone Star Fugitive Task Force
are leading the fugitive investigation.
Do you think that she would go back home
to Detroit to be with family?
I think that's very possible.
A manhunt underway for a Texas woman
accused of murdering an elite cyclist.
[reporter 3] The 34-year-old woman
has disappeared
since her interview with police.
[reporter 4] They do believe
the realtor and yoga teacher
is likely still in the Austin area.
[reporter 5] Their biggest clue
right now is her car.
They're looking
for a black Jeep Grand Cherokee.
[Jones] Detectives were able to find
that she had sold her Jeep to CarMax.
[Mazak] The CarMax video, she's actually
setting up one of her new iPhones.
[Conner] We start looking at flights.
We start looking at buses.
Any capabilities of leaving.
[Jones] She flew from Austin to Houston
and from Houston to New York.
[Conner] We found out that she went to see
her sister in Upstate New York.
We were able to confirm
that Kaitlin Armstrong was dropped off
at that airport in Newark, New Jersey.
[Spitler] The marshals in New York locate
a video that showed Kaitlin
walking through the airport.
And she had changed her hairstyle.
She was trying to make herself
appear more like her sister.
We have not been able
to confirm or identify any flight
in the name of Kaitlin Armstrong
that was outbound from the Newark airport.
[Spitler] There was no record
of Kaitlin's passport
ever actually leaving the US.
So I had asked the marshals in New York
to just check for her sister's passport.
They discovered that her sister's passport
had been used to fly
from New York to Costa Rica.
[suspenseful music continues]
[Mazak] She knows she looks
similar enough to her sister,
takes that passport,
and flees the country.
[Filla] We were able
to actually have factual information
that Kaitlin Armstrong boarded
United Airlines headed towards Costa Rica.
When she escaped, we just were like
We were just blown away that she could
actually get out of the country.
I don't see I don't know
how that could happen.
[reporter] U.S. Marshals retracing
the steps of Kaitlin Armstrong
have a new lead.
[suspenseful music playing]
Now everyone is just on this full hunt
trying to track her down.
And we were starting
to get worried she would escape.
[music stops]
During this time, we are trying
to strengthen our case
and make it clear
that there would be no reasonable doubt
that Kaitlin Armstrong was the killer.
[uneasy music playing]
It was clear early on
that Kaitlin Armstrong
had either turned off
or put her phone into airplane mode.
And so the phone records
that a lot of times are helpful
to show someone's
at the scene of the crime
weren't actually going to be
very effective in this case.
And so we were trying to look
for any other way
we could show her presence
or her whereabouts
at the time of the murder.
[Spitler] During the search warrant,
we also searched Kaitlin's Jeep.
I noticed that it had
an infotainment system installed in it.
I checked with our digital forensics unit
and asked them, "What type of information
would this infotainment system collect?"
One of the things that they said
that it collected was track logs,
your GPS data.
We knew that the Jeep
was actually sold at CarMax.
I went to CarMax and located the Jeep.
I researched on how
you pulled this device out
from various videos,
and submitted it
to our digital forensics unit
for them to process it
and see if there was
any data that was still on the device.
Kaitlin had a pretty promising career.
Colin actually described her
as being a financial guru,
that she was in charge of all
of the financial aspects of their company.
Colin had told me that he did provide
Kaitlin $40,000 to invest in the company.
So we knew that Kaitlin was on the run
with a significant amount of cash
available to her.
[Brown] Kaitlin's one
of those types of people
that she gets an idea in her head
and she makes it happen.
[Jones] The U.S. Marshals
were close to giving up
because they couldn't find her.
That was a scary thought to me.
[probing music playing]
[Gonzlez] Based on
her strong interest in yoga,
they put out an ad in the town
where they thought she might be,
seeking a yoga instructor.
Amazingly,
there was a response.
They went to that location,
and they saw her.
Someone asked her
if she was Kaitlin Armstrong
and she said yes.
[Filla] I'm here to announce
that Kaitlin Armstrong
was captured on June 29th
by foreign officials
in the Republic of Costa Rica
following a 43-day fugitive investigation.
[Mazak] After she was arrested,
we find out that she actually
went through plastic surgery,
trying to make herself
look more like her sister.
I think she just thought
she was smarter than everybody else
and that she could get away with it.
[tense music playing]
[reporter] Armstrong is now in custody
at the Travis County Jail.
She's currently being held
under a $3.5 million bond.
[Rick Cofer] Unfortunately,
a lot of the information
that's been presented so far in the media
is simply not accurate.
The police have a vested interest
in painting a picture
that supports
their initial assumptions and actions.
We look forward
to this legal process ahead
and these issues being heard
in a court of law.
[intriguing music playing]
[Jones] 18, 19 days before trial,
someone from the sheriff's office
called me and said,
"Put your coffee down,
you won't believe this."
Kaitlin Armstrong escaped
from the Travis County Jail.
[reporter] Two deputies
escorted Kaitlin Armstrong
to a doctor's appointment
Wednesday morning.
She had this injury
that she could not have leg restraints on
that required her
to go see an outside doctor.
And so they allowed her to.
The minute she left that doctor's office,
she booked it.
[officer] Deputy chasing an inmate
in the area.
[officer speaking]
[Conner] We were hearing
that she did start working out
excessively leading up to that,
so there was definitely
some thought process
that went into this escape.
She ran, and they apprehended her
about a mile down the road.
[Sullivan] It was just even more evidence
that Kaitlin Armstrong really thought
she could get away with this.
And that she wasn't going
to have to answer for what she did
like anyone else might have to.
[Karen sniffles]
[melancholic music playing]
Oh, my gosh.
[sighs]
[Karen] When I open drawers in her room,
I love picking things up
and just sticking them
in my face and smelling them.
And sometimes that makes me feel good,
and sometimes that makes me,
you know, feel sad too.
The more that I can be thankful
for the fact that
[crying]
that I, you know, that we had
Moriah here for 25 years
[sniffles]
the more I can give thanks for that
and, um, and not focus on the loss.
And, um
You know, it's not easy, though, because
I still want her to be here and, um
[sniffles] and I miss her.
[melancholic music continues]
[Karen] Moriah?
Okay? Okay, Mommy?
- [Karen] Love you.
- Love you.
[Karen] Mm.
[Eric] Aw, that's a nice picture.
Hi, everybody.
[Karen and Moriah] Hi!
[melancholic music continues]
[Karen] Grief is like a big mud puddle.
You can walk around it and around it.
Just be circling it
for the rest of your life.
Or you can walk right through it
and out the other end.
[suspenseful music playing]
[reporter 1] A highly anticipated
murder trial gets underway here in Austin.
[reporter 2] It's a case that has received
international media attention.
[Gonzlez] There's a large contingency
of news reporters.
There's spectators, people tweeting live
the proceedings in the courtroom.
[reporter 2] Did Kaitlin Armstrong
shoot and kill Moriah Wilson?
That is a question
that a jury will answer.
[Spitler] Sometimes when there's
no direct evidence, no eyewitness,
no video of the murder,
it's enough for a jury to hang
their hat on and acquit somebody.
[Cofer] Evidence will come out
that Kaitlin Armstrong
was nowhere near the scene
of Miss Wilson's murder.
[Judge Kennedy] To the allegations
in paragraph one of the indictment,
how do you plead?
[Kaitlin] Not guilty.
[Judge Kennedy] To the allegations
to paragraph two of the indictment,
how do you plead?
[Kaitlin] Not guilty.
[Judge Kennedy] You may be seated.
We're going to start by giving you
information about three key players.
Number one will be Mo Wilson.
Second key player is Colin Strickland.
The third player is Kaitlin Armstrong,
the defendant,
who lived with Colin
in an on-again, off-again
romantic relationship.
Kaitlin Armstrong was not happy
with Colin still communicating
with Mo Wilson
after their romantic relationship ended.
What a wonderful and easy way
to paint a woman and to tell a story.
The woman scorned.
She had to be portrayed
as a jealous psycho to create the motive.
[somber music playing]
[Jones] Mo was so young,
had so much life ahead of her.
My main thing was to hold
Kaitlin Armstrong accountable.
[Cash] I was the second to take the stand.
All of a sudden, it's like,
"Get up, we're going in."
"We're swearing you in. It's starting."
There's no way to actually prepare you
for going into a situation like that,
where you're on the stand
facing Kaitlin Armstrong,
right there looking at you.
I just became hyper-focused.
I went into this, like, zone of,
"This is the most important thing
I could possibly do in my life."
"I want to see justice served,
and I want to do
my absolute best for my friend."
I fought for Mo
with everything I had that night.
From the moment that I got home,
I started doing chest compressions,
which was the longest ten minutes
of my entire life.
When I stepped down from the stand,
I looked Kaitlin Armstrong in the eyes,
and she showed nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
[unsettling music playing]
[officer] Hey, come here.
Somebody might be in here.
This might be the bike, okay?
Like-- Oh, look.
[Jones] We had evidence
Kaitlin Armstrong drags Mo's bike
and throws it in the weeds.
[officer 1] Over there.
[officer 2] Okay, um
[officer 1] 432, I located the bike.
[Jones] I don't know if she did that
just to thumb her nose at her,
or she was trying
to make it look like a robbery.
One of the hardest things
was when they rolled her bike in.
That That kind of hit me,
seeing her bike.
[Matt] Yeah, I remember it.
It was in the bag.
[sighing deeply] Oh
That was her bike.
That was what she cared about.
That's what gave her joy.
When they recovered the bicycle,
they had processed it
for DNA and fingerprints.
I asked them to process
a couple other spots or items on the bike,
just to be sure.
We compared it with the DNA
that we collected from Kaitlin.
That comparison showed that Kaitlin's DNA
was actually on the bicycle.
The simplest, logical,
most reasonable explanation
for the defendant's DNA
to be on this bike?
The defendant touched the bike
after she exited.
She took the bike out,
and she threw it outside.
Every person that handled this bike
handled it in the same way.
I was very upset about the way
that Attorney Cofer handled the bike.
I didn't think that showed much respect.
[Cofer] And what's astounding, right here.
This was the area not swabbed for DNA.
What if it had shown
yet another unknown profile?
[Karen] I mean, it's hard for all of us
to be in that room with Armstrong.
- And I think it's especially
- [Matt] Yeah.
I mean, it's hard for all of us, for sure.
- It feels cold in there. It's like
- [Karen] Yeah, it can be still.
I don't even feel that much
because I'm just like,
this just doesn't feel like a space
where I'm being encouraged
to feel anything. [chuckles]
Seeing her not show any emotion at all,
all I see is a stone.
When I look at her,
she looks like a stone.
Every once in a while,
I look and I just think, "Is there any"
"Is there any softness
in that heart anywhere?"
"Is there any flesh in that heart,
or is it all stone?"
[chuckling] I don't know.
- [sucks air over teeth]
- [Matt clears throat]
[reporter 1] Testimony on day three
of the Kaitlin Armstrong murder trial
with Colin Strickland,
Armstrong's then on-and-off boyfriend.
[Sullivan] It was hard to watch Colin
on the witness stand.
He did not look like the same person
in trial that he was before Moriah died.
[Bolsinger] It was hard
to see Colin face-to-face.
Particularly because I placed
so much blame on him
for his manipulation
of both Moriah and Kaitlin.
Colin Strickland gave many
noncommittal answers to attorneys today,
and also sat with his body
angled away and his hand up
in what may have been
an attempt to block out Armstrong.
His demeanor was,
"I do not want to be here."
He looked away.
He had his head down often.
He was slumped over the microphone.
He would put his hand
on his head like this.
His eyes were often closed,
and rarely would he look at the person
who was questioning him,
whether it was us or the other side.
[Karen] When Colin was asked
in his cross-examinations
if he knew the defendant,
he actually came out and said, like, "No."
And I think it was a statement of,
"I thought I knew her, but I don't."
He had very pertinent information
to help us put this case together
to get justice for Mo.
And I didn't like the fact that
he came off as being
very reluctant at times.
And I wanted to tell him, "Come on, dude."
"Do it like this
and make it easy on yourself."
[reporter] The state pulled up texts
between Strickland and Armstrong
from October 2021.
That was a time when Wilson
and Strickland met up in Austin.
The message that's seemingly
from Armstrong to Strickland,
"I know you better than to show up
at Meteor with that girl."
Strickland says "that girl"
is a reference to Wilson.
Jurors were shown
a text message sent to Strickland
containing a video at some kind
of firing range, shooting a gun.
The person's face isn't shown,
but Strickland testified
he believed it's Armstrong.
Colin ended up in the middle
of some very unfortunate events.
I don't think that he ever anticipated
or intended for things
to happen the way that they did.
But I also don't think
that we can look at what happened
without acknowledging his involvement.
[Jones] It bothers me that him lying
created the situation
and the scenario that led to Mo's death.
But on the other hand,
he didn't pull the trigger.
He didn't kill her.
And there's nothing
about Kaitlin Armstrong, in my opinion,
that suggested to Colin,
"I'd better be careful.
This girl could kill someone."
I don't think he saw it coming.
And if he did, maybe he'd have done
something different.
We wanted Pam Mazak
to be our final witness
to summarize the whole case, all the data,
and following it
in a chronological timeline.
[tense music playing]
[Mazak] From Colin's phone,
we realized he had Moriah
in his phone as Christine Wall.
Around 4:45, Colin's asking Moriah
if she'd like him to come
pick her up on the motorcycle.
Kaitlin did have access
to a lot of his information,
and there was an iPad at home,
and she more than likely would be able
to see all of this texting
between Colin and Moriah.
At around 4:49,
Moriah sends Colin
the address of where she's staying.
Now, it is under Christine Wall,
but Moriah sends a picture from her ride.
So, Kaitlin knows absolutely
that's who he's making plans with.
Kaitlin leaves the house,
and we believe she's got the gun with her.
She is heading up Lamar
towards the downtown area.
[intriguing music playing]
Then she takes a left
onto West 6th and heads west,
which would take you
to Deep Eddy, or that area.
But then, she turns around
and she starts heading east, onto 5th.
Then, her car takes a turn
around another block.
It's like she's trying
to figure out what to do.
And she pulls over into a parking lot area
and sits there for about a minute.
I don't know if initially
she was just going to go confront them.
A jealous person might, you know,
yell, scream, you know, slap, pull hair.
But that's not what happened.
She sits there for a minute and then makes
the decision to turn her phone off.
And then her Jeep starts heading east
and goes straight to Cash's neighborhood.
Kaitlin's Jeep locations match exactly
with all the surveillance video.
She's circling that neighborhood,
and she's sitting in her car and waiting
at about three different spots, at least.
We see Moriah and Colin heading back over.
Kaitlin's circling the block
until she sees them come home.
[music turns ominous]
They're within a block of each other.
She's waiting for Colin to leave.
I know how it ends, and it's still
just really hard to watch this unfold.
[Bolsinger] One of the most horrific
things that we learned
was just how long
she had circled Cash's house.
Just how intentional it was.
She basically stalked her.
[Sullivan] It was mind-blowing
just that we were able
to put all of that together
and that, really,
that-- that digital evidence
almost became
another witness in the trial.
You can't really accuse data of lying.
[Jones] 8:35, he drops her off.
Then Colin goes home.
He does stop at 8:38 on MLK,
a few blocks
from dropping Mo off.
Then he texts Kaitlin
about the errand he was running.
Said, "Finished."
"Want to get something to eat?"
She doesn't respond.
[unsettling music playing]
[Mazak] As soon as he leaves,
she circles that alley.
She parks her Jeep.
And then she sits
in the Jeep for a little while.
Moriah unlocks the door.
She gets in.
And then she's, uh, texting
a podcaster around 9:13.
A few minutes later,
the the screams
and the gunshots are heard.
Pow! Pow!
Two gunshots.
One to the front of the head.
One to the side of the head
that hits the index finger as it passes.
After four or five seconds of silence,
Kaitlin Armstrong
stood over Mo Wilson
and put a third shot
right in Mo Wilson's heart.
[voice breaks] Hearing those screams,
you know, they
still bother me.
[sniffles] I try not to listen
to that one. It's-- It's very difficult.
[somber music playing]
[Cash] I was coming to terms with,
"What if she's not put away?"
What does that mean for the Wilsons?
What does that mean for me?
[Matt] I felt tense, nervous.
It's up to these 12 people.
[Gonzlez] Everything we do
all comes down to the jury.
If they didn't like it,
or they didn't buy it,
or even one of them didn't like it
or didn't buy it,
you're done.
[music fades]
The defendant will please rise.
In cause number D1DC22301129,
verdict of the jury
for the offense of murder,
we, the jury, having found
the defendant, Kaitlin Armstrong,
guilty of the offense of murder.
This court hereby
sentences you to 90 years
in the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice
and a $10,000 fine as imposed by the jury.
You may be seated.
[woman sobbing]
[Kennedy] Is there
any allocution to be done?
[Jones] Yes, Your Honor.
[Karen sniffling]
Kaitlin Armstrong.
I'm not sure if my words
can penetrate your heart,
but I'm gonna try.
I hate what you did
to my beautiful daughter.
It was very selfish and cowardly,
that violent act on May 11th.
It was cowardly
because you never chose
to face her woman to woman
in a civil conversation.
She would have listened.
She was an amazing listener.
She would have cared about your feelings.
She was a caring, empathetic person.
If you allowed yourself
to actually know her,
you never, ever would have
wanted to hurt her.
When you shot Moriah in the heart,
you shot me in my heart.
[sniffles]
You shot Eric and Matt in their hearts.
I don't know why God let this happen,
but He let it happen.
We trust that there's going
to be good come from it.
[poignant music playing]
[Eric] Maybe it'll help somebody,
you know, down the road
so something like this doesn't happen.
[sniffles]
[poignant music continues]
There really are no winners here.
This is not a time for celebration,
but a time for prayer.
A time to pray for our family,
our friends, the Armstrong family,
and their friends.
This sad story is a perfect example
of why integrity and honesty are crucial
in our personal relationships.
And how dishonesty can often lead
to unintended consequences.
Selfish manipulation, jealousy, and hatred
never lead to positive outcomes.
Violence is never a good way.
It only leads to more suffering.
Our lives are changed forever,
but with this challenging ordeal
now behind us,
we are ready to move forward
and continue our healing.
And we will do this
with Moriah's strong, determined,
gentle and kind spirit,
for we know
this is what she would want us to do.
[poignant music continues]
[Matt] This is someone
that I'm sure most people in her life
couldn't have imagined her
doing something like this.
So it raises all these questions of, like,
"Do you ever really know anyone?"
"Am I capable
of doing something like that?"
"Is everyone capable
of doing something like that?"
[Karen] This just
is still so incomprehensible.
And when I do get angry,
all I can think of is,
"You stupid girl,
Kaitlin Armstrong, you stupid girl."
"Look what you did."
[gentle music playing]
[Matt] Kaitlin Armstrong took
so many things away from my sister.
She took away her life.
Her freedom.
Her ability to experience this world.
Her ability to feel joy.
The only just consequence for that
is that she should no longer be able
to have any of those experiences either,
for the rest of her life.
[gentle music rising]
[barking]
[Karen] In my belief system,
whenever we make choices
and they have negative consequences,
we can't just walk away.
It's about what's right and wrong.
And being held accountable.
It was just such a senseless crime.
[Strickland] This is pretty much
my life these days.
Just time alone in the shop.
[mechanical clicking]
Part of that's just,
things are just outside of my control.
So I shrunk my world massively
so that it could feel
some kind of control.
Things are spinning out of
out of control.
[whirring]
I regret everything.
I'm ashamed of everything I've done.
I would have never
fucking started bike racing.
Not ever met Kaitlin.
Not ever met Moriah.
Not ever spoken with Moriah in private.
Every single thing.
Because it all led to this.
[Cash] This is what I found
in a thrift store
when I was trying to decide
whether or not I was going to be capable
of moving back into this space or not.
And I pulled it
out of a wall of 300 frames.
And it has a little bike
going out of the frame,
which feels really appropriate
for what was happening at the moment.
It's got a bloom over here,
so there's some hope going on.
Um, and then it says,
"With you all the way."
And I just kind of, um,
was totally overcome when I saw this.
When I moved back in,
I wanted this space
to feel joyful and bright.
And so I wanted there to be
a lot of color on the walls.
I wanted every single thing
I brought back into this home
to be intentional and to be joyful.
Everyone assumed that I would not
move back into my house.
My landlord, my dad, kept asking
if we needed to start moving my stuff out.
And I just was really reluctant.
I somehow felt
a strong connection there
and a strong pull.
[poignant music playing]
When I look back at it,
the last day of her life
was really beautiful.
We laughed a lot together.
We made breakfast and coffee.
She went on a bike ride.
We talked about life and boys and family.
And it was a really beautiful last day.
And that feels sacred to me.
I want to safeguard that.
I feel her there.
I feel her joy there.
And I'm able to take that and harness it.
And I think she would be proud.
She'd be proud that I didn't just give up.
[poignant music rising]
[Matt] Growing up,
going to Burke with Moriah,
and now coaching.
Alright, line up on the red line.
Being around the kids in this community
has been really healthy in a lot of ways.
Millie's to Trillium, to Magill,
to Moose Deuce, to Moriah's Ascent.
I do think
about what Mo would say quite often.
To get yourself
a little bit out of that hole,
she would tell me to get on my bike.
Just try to get
a little bit of momentum there.
And take it one step at a time.
[Moriah speaking]
[poignant music soaring]
[Eric] Come on, Mo! Come on! Get up there!
Yeah, Mo!
Mo! Let's go, Mo!
Get up the hill! Dig it, Mo!
Go, go, go, go, go!
[music softens]
["Otherside of Paradise"
by The Revivalists playing]
If my senses fail
Meet me on the other side of paradise
Free from complications
Of our sense of time
Fill my windless sail
With broken echoes
Of a never-ending life
Whispered conversations
Twisted faces in the clouds
I've been hot-winged and hoodwinked
And dead on my feet
The sound and the fury remain over me
And all of the footprints
That fall in a line
Were our common ancestors
Wandering hills in the night
If my senses fail
Meet me on the other side of paradise
Free from complications
Of our sense of time
Fill my windless sail
With broken echoes
Of a never-ending life
Whispered conversations
Twisted faces in the clouds
Let unanswered question marks
Fall where they will
The thoughts that imprison me
Walk with me still
And seconds that fly by
Like days of my life
Were hours spent wasted
On chasing the words of the wise
If my senses fail
Meet me on the other side of paradise
Free from complications
Of our sense of time
Fill my windless sail
With broken echoes
Of a never-ending life
Whispered conversations
Twisted faces