Kaitlin Armstrong sentenced: Killer yoga teacher will spend 90 YEARS in prison for gunning down love rival Moriah Wilson
Killer yoga teacher Kaitlin Armstrong has been sentenced to 90 years in prison after a Texas jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding her guilty of shooting love rival Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson.
Wearing a gray pantsuit in a Texas courtroom Friday afternoon, Armstrong stood as her sentence was read in a packed courtroom filled with Wilson’s family members and her own mother and sister looking on, and cries could be heard from someone in the gallery.
She was sentenced to 90 years in prison and fined $10,000.
Armstrong, 35, faced between 5 and 99 years in prison for fatally shooting Wilson, who had had a sexual relationship with Armstrong’s boyfriend, Colin Strickland, while the couple separated and later reconciled.
On Thursday, it took the jury less than two hours to find Armstrong guilty. The former yoga teacher stalked Wilson and Strickland as they went for a swim and dinner in Austin on May 11, 2022.
After Strickland dropped Wilson off at a friend’s apartment and left, Armstrong entered the house and shot Wilson twice in the head, once in the heart and once in the hand — a wound that the medical examiner said meant Wilson probably had her hands up. to protect themselves from the gunfire.
Kaitlin Armstrong moments before he learned that an Austin, Texas jury had convicted her Thursday of the murder of love rival Moriah “Mo” Wilson. Jurors reached a ‘guilty’ decision in less than two hours
A photo of victim Moriah “Mo” Wilson, 25, was shown during closing statements in court Thursday. Prior to her murder, Wilson was a rising star in gravel cycling
Armstrong’s former partner Colin Strickland, left, had previously admitted to having a sexual relationship with Moriah Wilson, pictured right, when he and Armstrong split for a few months in the fall of 2021. He and Armstrong later reconciled, but he maintained contact with Wilson
Prosecutors had urged the jury that Armstrong would be eligible for parole after serving half her sentence or 30 years, whichever comes first.
A key piece of evidence was a neighbor’s surveillance video that captured Wilson’s blood-curdling last screams as Armstrong approached her with the gun. Then three shots are heard.
Jurors also saw multiple videos showing Armstrong’s black Jeep outside the apartment where Wilson was killed.
Additionally, Armstrong’s phone and vehicle GPS both placed her at the murder scene.
Armstrong’s DNA was also found on Wilson’s bicycle outside the apartment.
The killer turned down a chance for a lighter sentence in exchange for pleading guilty months before her trial began, DailyMail.com exclusively reported.
Moriah “Mo” Wilson’s photo appears on screen Friday during the sentencing portion of Kaitlin Armstrong’s murder trial at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center
Mo Wilson, whose full name was Anna Moriah Wilson but went by “Mo,” was the subject of the state’s closing remarks to the jury. “I’m here to talk about her life, not her death… she was taken from us far too soon,” prosecutor Rickey Jones said.
The former yoga teacher rejected a plea deal from Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza.
“She could have been released from prison at 50 or 60… much sooner than if she were convicted by a jury,” a source who spoke on condition of anonymity told DailyMail.com.
“Against her attorney’s advice, she rejected the settlement. She insists on taking that case, but for her to have to run again… it’s just crazy.”
Armstrong tried to escape from police custody 19 days before her. The Oct. 30 trial began while she was out of jail for a doctor’s visit, but the guard caught her.
Authorities later revealed that she had made up a reason to go to the doctor and that she had trained by running for her failed escape.
The prison break marked the second time Armstrong tried to evade authorities.
The yoga teacher is pictured before the attack (left) and after fleeing the country (right). Police said she had plastic surgery, a nose job, and dyed her hair brown while on the run
Days after Wilson, after police questioned Armstrong about the murder, she fled to Costa Rica using her sister’s passport to leave the country.
After a warrant was issued for her arrest in Wilson’s case, U.S. Marshals tracked her down in a remote beach town and brought her back to the US.
While on the run, she spent nearly $7,000 on plastic surgery to change her appearance, including a nose job, a brow lift and filler and dying her hair dark, according to court testimony.
However, her days in court are not over yet. The convicted murder faces a separate charge stemming from her failed escape from prison guards in Austin, which has yet to go to trial.