HOUSTON – A Texas murder suspect is in Houston after the U.S. Marshals Service arrested her in Costa Rica.
Kaitlin Marie Armstrong is accused of killing professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson, 25, at an Austin home in May. Wilson was in Austin for a race.
Armstrong is expected to face a judge when she is taken to Austin, where she faces a murder charge. According to an official from PC court in Harris County, Armstrong will be transferred back to Austin in 10-15 days.
Officials say Armstrong went on the run a day after she was questioned in Wilson’s death.
On May 13, two days after Wilson was found dead, authorities learned Armstrong sold her black Jeep Grand Cherokee to a CarMax dealership in south Austin for $12,200.
She then used that money to begin her 43-day run.
Investigators said they suspect Armstrong was at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport days after the murder, “on May 14 at approximately 12:30 p.m., and that she boarded Southwest Airlines Flight WN2262 from ABIA to Houston Hobby Airport, where she boarded a connecting SW Flight WN30 to New York LaGuardia Airport.”
According to authorities, sources informed them on May 18 Armstrong had been taken to Newark Liberty International Airport with a “fraudulent passport, had boarded United Airlines Flight 1222 from Newark International Airport at 5:09 p.m. EST on May 18 and arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, at 8:27 p.m. EST.”
Officials say investigators searched all outbound flights at Newark Airport but didn’t find any with Armstrong’s name.
Armstrong was captured by officials on June 29 at a Costa Rica hostel. Lonestar Task Force brought her back to Texas.
Susan Pamerleau with the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas said the Marshals Service elevating Armstrong’s case “likely played a key role in her capture after a 43-day run,” she said. “This is an example of combining the resources of local, state, federal and international authorities to apprehend a violent fugitive, bring an end to that run and hopefully a sense of closure to the victim’s family.”
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