AUSTIN, Texas – The homicide trial of a woman accused of gunning down emerging pro cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson and fleeing the country started Wednesday with Texas prosecutors telling jurors they might listen Wilson’s ultimate screams and the photographs that killed her.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 35, has pleaded now not responsible to homicide and faces as much as 99 years in jail within the May 2022 slaying of Wilson, a aggressive gravel and mountain motorbike racer. Wilson were shot within the head and chest when she was once discovered at a good friend’s house sooner than a race that she was once a few of the favorites to win.
“The last thing Mo did on this earth was scream in terror,” Travis County prosecutor Rickey Jones told jurors in opening statements.
He said nearby surveillance equipment captured the screams.
“Those screams are followed by ‘Pop! Pop!’” Jones mentioned, smacking his palms in combination for emphasis. “You won’t hear any more screams after that.”
Seconds after the ones photographs, Jones mentioned, “Kaitlin Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and put a third shot right into Mo Wilson’s heart.”
In a short opening statement, defense attorney Geoffrey Puryear said Armstrong was caught in a “web of circumstantial evidence.”
No video proof or witnesses can put Armstrong on the scene of the capturing, Puryear mentioned.
Police have mentioned Wilson, a 25-year-old Vermont local, had prior to now dated Armstrong’s boyfriend, Colin Strickland, who additionally was once a aggressive gravel racer, and had long past swimming with him previous within the day. The trial started 3 weeks after government mentioned Armstrong attempted to escape from custody.
Prosecutors mentioned they are going to display that Armstrong tracked Strickland’s communications with Wilson — in addition to Wilson’s whereabouts — within the weeks and days sooner than the capturing. Armstrong was once in a position to trace Wilson’s location as a result of Wilson had now not became on a protection characteristic on a telephone app.
Armstrong’s SUV was once noticed on the condominium the place Wilson was once staying the evening she was once killed. Police additionally mentioned shell casings discovered on the scene matched a gun discovered at Armstrong’s house.
Investigators temporarily cleared Strickland. Prosecutors mentioned Wednesday that video and mobile phone calls, texting, and placement knowledge will ascertain that he was once nowhere close to the capturing.
Among the primary witnesses have been Caitlin Cash, the good friend who discovered Wilson lined in blood and now not respiring when she returned house from dinner and several other law enforcement officials who arrived on the scene. The jury heard a recording of Cash’s emergency name and the sound of her counting via chest compressions on Wilson. They later watched frame digital camera photos from the primary police officer who arrived and took over resuscitation efforts.
Wilson’s circle of relatives left the court docket for the 911 name, and her folks saved their heads all the way down to steer clear of looking at the frame digital camera photos. Cash was once subsequent to them all the way through the photos that confirmed her urgent Wilson’s chest when police arrived.
The case drew world headlines when Armstrong fled the country after her preliminary assembly with police, resulting in a 43-day seek. Investigators mentioned she offered her car for $12,000 and fled the rustic the use of her sister’s identify, e-mail, credit card and passport.
Federal government tracked Armstrong to Costa Rica, the place prosecutors mentioned she spent $6,425 for surgical treatment to switch her look and used a number of aliases whilst making an attempt to ascertain herself as a yoga teacher. She additionally had lower and darkened her hair, and had a bandage on her nostril and discoloration underneath her eyes when arrested at a beachside hostel.
Armstrong advised police when she was once arrested that she was once injured in a browsing twist of fate.
Armstrong’s lawyer urged the unexpected flight out of the rustic was once now not an try to get away justice.
“She would have no reason to know about any (arrest) warrant, You will hear Kaitlin is passionate about travelling and passionate about yoga,” Puryear mentioned.
The case took any other flip when government mentioned Armstrong attempted to flee from two officials who escorted her to a clinical appointment outdoor of the prison on Oct. 11.
Cellphone video recorded within the car parking zone confirmed Armstrong, handcuffed and in striped prison garments, operating from an officer and looking to climb a fence. Authorities have mentioned Armstrong perceived to plan her get away by means of complaining of an damage to get the outdoor clinical appointment and feature her leg restraints got rid of.
She faces an extra legal get away price punishable by means of as much as twenty years in jail.
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