The boyfriend at the center of the trial of a “killer” yoga teacher took the stage in Austin today to tell the jury about their “tumultuous” two-year relationship that started on a dating app and ended with the murder of his former lover, a guy cyclist that his girlfriend was jealous of.
Strickland testified on behalf of the state against ex-girlfriend Kaitlin Armstrong. She is accused of murdering Strickland’s ex Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson after learning the pair were still talking and met in May 2022.
Wilson, he testified, was a sore spot for Armstrong. She was jealous of their shared love of bicycles, and of the fact that Strickland took Wilson on rides she was not invited to.
After allegedly killing Wilson by shooting her three times – twice in the head and once through the heart – Armstrong fled to Costa Rica in May 2022. She was finally arrested after 43 days on the run.
She denies the murder, but her lawyers have yet to present an alibi.
Today, Strickland told a court in Travis County, Texas, how they met on a dating app. It developed into a two-year relationship that, he said, was often “tumultuous.”
Colin Strickland took the stand today to testify against his ex-girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of murdering one of his exes, Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson
Kaitlin Armstrong is shown on the first day of her murder trial. She has pleaded not guilty but has yet to make a public statement or take a stand
“I was very insecure about getting into a long-term relationship with her,” he said, telling the jury he never intended for things to get serious.
Armstrong moved in, he said, during the COVID-19 pandemic when he “urgently” needed a place to stay.
‘It wasn’t intended for the long term, but it ended up being long term. I just wasn’t sure if we were compatible for a long-term partnership, life partners,” he said.
In 2021, the couple split after falling out over his relationship with Wilson.
Both he and Wilson were professional cyclists, which Armstrong said he envied.
Strickland admitted that he traveled to Colorado to visit another woman during his relationship with Armstrong, but insists it was not romantic, despite lying to his girlfriend about where he was going.
When he returned and told her where he had been, she confronted him about an explicit photo the woman had sent him. He had no idea how she got into it.
A shocked Strickland said he “hesitated to inform her of any of my future actions.”
Strickland testified that he owned multiple Apple devices, which Armstrong had access to, including his iCloud. As her suspicions about Wilson increased, he says he deleted the text messages because he “simply didn’t want to annoy the defendant.”
Moriah “Mo” Wilson was shot and killed in Austin on May 11. She had just returned from an evening swim with Strickland, whom she had once dated
He added that he changed Wilson’s name to Christine Wall on his phone “simply to avoid conflict with the defendant.”
At the time of Wilson’s murder, Strickland was a professional cyclist who made a living through sponsorship deals.
Strickland says that after one race he posted a video of racers with many people, including Wilson. Armstrong became enraged because Stickland posted the video on Instagram.
He added that Armstrong was angry, despite claiming that he had made it clear to her that he was not involved with Wilson, and that his relationship with her at the time was strictly professional.
Another time, Strickland went racing in California and contacted Wilson, and he says they met again in Santa Cruz to train.
The couple was living together again after briefly breaking up. During their time apart, he became romantic with the murder victim, Wilson.
It is the state’s case that Armstrong shot Wilson with a gun Strickland bought for her.
After Wilson and Strickland’s secret meeting, Armstrong’s 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee was spotted driving outside Wilson’s friend’s home in Austin, where the cyclist was killed.
US Marshals launched a massive manhunt for Armstrong after she fled
The day before the shooting, Strickland said Wilson texted him to let him know she would be in Texas for a race, and they discussed a short training run in Austin.
The next day he was going to the dentist when Wilson texted him to say she was going on a solo bike ride. Wilson and Stickland agreed to meet and she texted him the address where she was staying, at Cash’s apartment.
They decided to go swimming instead because it was over 100 degrees before stopping at a restaurant.
He dropped her off at the apartment, and he said he especially enjoyed telling Wilson to grab his waist with her knees and hold on to his waist to keep her from falling.
He added in his testimony that Armstrong called him while he was out with Wilson, but he did not respond.
Police found that gun in the couple’s shared home on May 12, the day after the murder, where they also found Armstrong’s passport and foreign currency on a table.
The day after the murder, two officers approached Strickland and asked if he knew Wilson. He first shook his head and then admitted that he knew her.
When officers told him she had died, he seemed shocked. He told police how they had been together the previous night.
‘She died? That’s a lot,” he said, before describing how he dropped her off at her friend Caitlin Cash’s apartment and then returned home and told her, “See you tomorrow.”
The pair were both planning to attend a cycling race on May 12.
It was 8:36 p.m. when Wilson entered her friend’s apartment. The last time she used her phone was at 9:13 p.m., leading police to believe this was around the time she was killed.
“So I’m the last person to see her, from her circle?” he asked the police.
Kaitlin Armstrong in her booking photo after returning to the US from Costa Rica
He denied that they had been intimate during their date and insisted that they had only cuddled, but admitted that he had dated Wilson while he was on a break from his relationship with Armstrong.
“I ended up back with my girlfriend,” he said, before admitting that he had hidden his plans with Wilson from Armstrong.
When asked why he kept in touch with Wilson, he said, “(I) just kept up with her because she’s great.”
The officers then asked if he had Wilson’s mother’s address.
At 8:36 p.m., Strickland sent Armstrong a text message telling her he was on his way home.
A minute later, her Jeep was filmed approaching the apartment where Wilson was staying.
At 9:15 p.m., two gunshots were captured by a neighbor’s surveillance camera. A third was heard later.
At 9:21 p.m., Strickland sent Armstrong another text message telling her he was home. She came home shortly afterwards.
Cash, the friend Wilson was staying with, returned home at 9:54 p.m. She found her body in the bathroom and called 911. Police arrived and pronounced Wilson dead at 10:10 p.m.
How Armstrong would have entered the house remains a mystery. Her Jeep was filmed circling the block from the murder scene several times between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM.
Cash’s landlord and neighbor told police he entered his garage sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. While inside, he heard someone running down the stairs from the apartment.
He then saw a cyclist running south into an alley behind the building, but the garage door was only partially open, so he couldn’t see who was on the bike.
Wilson’s bicycle was the only thing missing from the apartment. It was found in vegetation 20 meters from the building. Prosecutors say DNA found on the bicycle is a strong potential match to Armstrong’s.
Armstrong arrived home shortly after 9:21 p.m.
On May 12, Armstrong was questioned by police about an outstanding, unrelated arrest warrant. Due to a paperwork error, she was released without charge.
Two days later, she used her sister’s passport to board a plane to New York and then to Costa Rica, where she remained until she was arrested on suspicion of the murder in July.
She has pleaded not guilty. Strickland is listed as one of the prosecution’s witnesses for the trial. He went into hiding while Armstrong was on the run and was never arrested or charged in connection with the murder.
Prosecutors say Armstrong was a jealous and rage-ridden woman who discovered her boyfriend’s lies and decided to kill Wilson to get her out of the picture.
The trial in Austin, Texas, will last another two weeks.