A court has ordered a convicted killer to pay $15 million to her victim’s family. A jury found Kaitlin Armstrong guilty of murder last November for killing professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson during a jealous rage in Austin, Texas. Armstrong killed the athlete with two gunshots to the head after discovering she had gone on a date with her on-again-off-again boyfriend Colin Strickland.
The murder happened in May 2022 when Strickland drove Wilson to an Austin apartment where she was staying with a friend. Prosecutors said that Ms. Armstrong tracked the sports star’s movements through an online app that allows cyclists and other athletes to share their race routes and other competition details.
The day after the shooting, Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee to a car dealership for $12,000 and fled to New York, where she assumed a fake identity and left the US for Costa Rica. US Marshals caught up with her there when she placed an ad for a yoga instructor on Facebook. After 43 days on the run, Armstrong was arrested at a beach hostel, where police discovered she had undergone plastic surgery to change her appearance.
State District Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle made the recent ruling, ordering Armstrong to pay substantial funds to the Wilson family, including $5 million to each parent in wrongful death damages. A further $2.5 million each was also awarded to deter Armstrong’s potential future actions.
The Wilsons’ attorney, Randy Howry, conceded it is unlikely that the convicted killer has such funds available but said the ruling will ensure that Armstrong cannot get rich by writing a book or otherwise profiting from her sentence because the victim’s family is entitled to any funds she might accrue in future.
Armstrong’s attorney, Jessi Freud, would not comment to reporters about the civil matter but confirmed she is launching a criminal appeal for her client. Ms. Armstrong did not appear to have legal representation for the civil matter.
