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0:32

Tonight on Dateline. I

0:34

hear a female scream and

0:36

two gunshots. A heartbreaking

0:38

case. And now for the first

0:41

time, the full story. My

0:44

friend is laying on the bathroom

0:46

floor and there's blood

0:48

everywhere. Everybody

0:51

just loved Mo. I am here

0:53

with the fabulous Mo Wilson. You are

0:55

like ready. I'm ready. Exclusive

0:58

new video and the inside

1:00

details you haven't heard. He's

1:06

the last person she saw. There

1:09

had been a previous short romantic

1:11

history. His girlfriend didn't

1:13

know that he went out with

1:15

Mariah the night before. Did

1:17

you consider them both to be persons of interest?

1:19

Yes. The only

1:21

problem is she's gone. It's

1:24

a really good place for people to hide out. She

1:26

asked about he had no job. This

1:29

could be the person that we're looking for. I

1:31

see a call that an inmate has escaped. I

1:34

was just dumbstruck. Who

1:37

hated Mariah so much that they

1:39

wanted her dead? She was a

1:41

champion cyclist, but even she

1:43

couldn't outrace her killer. I'm

1:46

Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's

1:57

Keith Morrison with the Night.

2:00

time stopped. It

2:09

was too late for

2:11

all their frantic haste. The

2:14

young woman lying on the bathroom floor in

2:17

the tiny above the garage apartment was long

2:20

beyond saving. The

2:25

other one, the one who called 911, who

2:27

tried and tried CPR. was

2:30

a mess. Nothing

2:36

she could do. Whoever shot

2:38

her friend had made quite sure of the

2:40

result. This was

2:42

murder. It was

2:44

just before 10 p.m. May 11, 2022, Austin,

2:46

Texas. What's

2:49

her name? Her name is Mariah

2:52

M-O-R-I-A-H. Wilson.

2:56

She's here for bike races, Susan. This

3:04

is Ryan Wilson, the winner

3:06

of round one of the 2022 Lifetime

3:09

Grand Prix. It

3:12

had been a little like a fairy tale. Mariah

3:16

M-O-R-I-A-H. Sweet,

3:18

kind, hardworking. On

3:21

a fast and furious ride to the top

3:23

of her sport, gravel racing. On

3:28

the cusp of something that felt monumental.

3:33

Until... What

3:37

happened in that little apartment on a hot

3:39

spring night shocked the gravel racing world. One

3:42

of the detectives was very big into

3:44

bike racing and she actually called me.

3:47

She asked me, she said, wait, is this for real? I

3:49

said, yeah, she was like, this is

3:52

huge. Oh

3:54

yes, big and awful. How

3:56

to comprehend the murder of Mo

3:58

Wilson. The seething Presentments before it

4:01

the crazy events that followed it

4:03

the suspect determined to escape justice

4:05

twice All of

4:08

it so very strange Tonight

4:11

for the first time the whole story New

4:14

video and sound of that terrible night

4:17

an inside account of the investigation

4:20

And the never before told tale

4:23

The hunt for the killer But

4:29

that night May 11th it

4:31

was baffling It

4:34

was also Austin police detective Richard

4:36

Spittler's first case as lead investigator.

4:39

I was definitely nervous the only information

4:41

that I had gotten was there was

4:43

one deceased female inside of an apartment

4:45

and Multiple shell

4:47

casings on scene and we don't

4:50

have any suspect information and it's on you to figure

4:52

it out. Yes Who

4:55

did this? Why was

4:57

it robbery? Mariah's twelve

5:00

thousand dollar bike was missing

5:02

but these home invasion Robberies,

5:04

you know, you're looking at phones

5:06

being stolen Computers money any

5:08

jewelry and now that was taken

5:10

it was just the bike And

5:14

it wasn't lost for long They

5:17

found it about a block away dumped

5:19

in some bamboo so

5:23

all night They

5:26

They searched for clues and

5:29

for security video that may or may

5:31

not have existed and especially

5:33

for witnesses Like

5:36

of course the friend who called 911

5:40

Her name is Caitlin cash Did

5:43

you swap her for gunshot residue? We

5:45

did I believe that we also did

5:47

a swab for her DNA as

5:49

well Because again at this point, you know,

5:51

it's an open investigation. It's very active We

5:53

don't know who did this and we only

5:55

know that there's one person that is currently

6:00

involved in this investigation and that's

6:02

Caitlin Cash. But

6:05

she didn't seem like much of a suspect.

6:08

How broken up did she seem about it? Extremely.

6:11

She was definitely in shock, very upset.

6:13

She was trying her best to hold

6:15

it together. Caitlin

6:18

told Detective Spittler she'd gone out for

6:20

the evening and when she

6:22

returned, she walked inside

6:24

and she recalled seeing Mariah's

6:27

legs sticking out from the bin. And

6:32

she said she really didn't think anything about it

6:34

at the time. She said normally

6:36

whenever Mariah goes out on long rides

6:38

that she would lay down on that

6:40

bathroom floor because that it's a tile

6:42

floor so it feels a lot cooler.

6:44

So she walks in, you know, tries

6:46

to say hi to Mariah. Mariah doesn't

6:49

respond. Then Caitlin got closer. She

6:55

goes into the bathroom and she

6:57

sees that Mariah is covered in

6:59

blood and unresponsive. She immediately calls

7:01

911. Caitlin, are you with her now?

7:04

Yes, I'm with her now. They take her through

7:06

the steps of how to conduct CPR. Just pump

7:08

hard and fast and then count out loud

7:10

so I can count with you. Correct. One,

7:13

two, three, four, five,

7:16

six. Good. Now

7:18

in an interview room late into the night,

7:21

Caitlin tried to think of anything that

7:23

might help. She told the

7:25

detective Mariah didn't live in Austin. She was

7:27

only staying in town for that race on

7:29

the weekend and staying at Caitlin's place. She

7:33

also told the detective she

7:35

had an app for the lock on her door

7:38

and it showed the exact time Mariah

7:40

locked up and left earlier that evening,

7:42

5.55 p.m. And

7:46

the time Mariah returned, 8.36 p.m. And

7:49

was it locked again after that or not? So

7:52

we don't have any indication to show that it

7:54

was ever locked back. So

7:57

Perhaps the killer just walked in the front

7:59

door. Caitlin

8:01

also showed the detective or last

8:03

text from Mariah the five o'

8:05

five. I. Think I'm gonna

8:07

go swimming with Collins? Pokemon

8:10

was column Strickland as

8:13

cycling friend also famous

8:15

and gravel racing circles.

8:17

Who. Happen to live in Austin. What

8:20

did she tell you about the matches?

8:22

Going to see that like cause for

8:24

plan so she described pollen is is

8:26

are being also add a professional cyclist.

8:28

she didn't know too much about him.

8:31

Other than did they had dated. Previously.

8:34

With a grin Your that. Well. Now

8:37

a definite wanna know more about

8:39

All right? Of course they did.

8:42

Already industries. Race:

8:47

And excellent question one of

8:49

many in places near and

8:52

very far. The only problem

8:54

is that we can't like

8:56

she's gone in shifting shapes

8:58

and slippery name's Kate says

9:00

blew our minds for was

9:02

incredible and over deadly weapon.

9:06

And first we practice to

9:08

to see afterward. my brain

9:10

december on Alice Hi everything.

9:28

Ready. To

9:32

anyone close to Mariah, it was no surprise

9:34

she grew up to be a champion athlete.

9:37

Super duper think I delays

9:39

and really self defense. The

9:42

lights Charming, unassuming Mariah could

9:44

talk with great enthusiasm about

9:47

equipment strategy for God given

9:49

Durant's remember he told me

9:52

that flies away thinking about

9:54

how. my

9:58

dad was a series there A

10:00

few weeks before Mariah's death, she

10:02

spoke with her friend, Christopher Strickland,

10:04

for his podcast about growing

10:07

up in rural Vermont in a family of

10:09

skiers. I was on skis before

10:11

I could basically walk. I

10:13

really liked downhill skiing, or like

10:16

speed skiing, and I really wanted

10:18

to try to make the USP team for

10:20

downhill, but then I had some knee injuries.

10:23

That is when Mariah found another sport

10:26

to conquer, a mashup of

10:28

road and mountain biking called gravel

10:30

racing. Gravel could be fast.

10:33

But it is all Mariah Wilson

10:35

as she is making through into

10:37

the finish. The course

10:39

is long, some 100 plus

10:42

miles. An incredible ride as Mariah Wilson

10:44

knows exactly where to go. And the

10:46

terrain is difficult for Christopher. Some regions

10:48

of the country are a little bit

10:50

more sandy with their gravel and some

10:52

are a lot more chunky. Some of

10:54

the rocks are really sharp. It

10:57

just depends. None of that

10:59

stopped Mariah. Mo Wilson coming through. All

11:01

of a sudden everybody knew her. Everybody

11:04

knew her. Did she

11:06

let this go to her head? Mo is one

11:08

of the most humble people that you

11:10

could ever talk to. Her

11:13

thing was she wanted to make a

11:15

list of things that she thought would

11:17

improve her capabilities. Not

11:19

necessarily her results, but

11:22

she just wanted to check those things off. And if that

11:24

results in the wind, she was happy. Here

11:27

she was crossing the finish line of

11:29

a race called Sea Otter in Monterey,

11:31

California a month before she died.

11:34

This is Mariah Wilson, the

11:36

winner of round one. She

11:38

was getting all

11:41

sorts of congratulations.

11:43

Everybody just loved

11:46

Mo. What investigators were having

11:48

a hard time figuring out was who

11:51

didn't and why. Everything

11:54

from the scene is saying that this

11:56

is something very personal. And so who

11:59

personally hated Mariah? Mariah so much

12:01

that they wanted her dead. Within

12:04

hours of the murder, police canvassing

12:06

the area found this security video

12:09

of an SUV in

12:11

the vicinity of the crime scene. It showed that it

12:13

had a large bike rack and a luggage rack on

12:15

the roof. That car was

12:17

shown to drive past right around 837.

12:21

So one minute after Mariah

12:24

entered into the apartment. One

12:27

minute. Couldn't be a

12:29

coincidence, surely. The vehicle

12:31

had to be connected to the murder

12:33

somehow. The

12:36

detective sent a surveillance team to Collins Strickland's

12:38

house. He was the guy

12:40

Mariah was with the previous evening. So

12:42

certainly a person of interest. Quickly

12:45

the surveillance officers called in. They

12:47

tell me, hey, there is a

12:49

black SUV out here. There's a bike rack on

12:52

the back. It looks like this is the same

12:54

car that was on that

12:56

camera. So he's

13:00

in the garage. I

13:02

asked him if

13:05

he knew who Mariah

13:07

Wilson. Well

13:09

not Mariah Wilson because her name

13:11

is actually Anna Mariah Wilson. Do

13:13

you know Anna Mo? Anna

13:17

Mo. Yeah,

13:20

everybody calls her Mo. He said no, I

13:22

don't know who that is. And I'm thinking,

13:24

oh, this is a big red flag

13:27

now. I know that

13:29

you were just out with her last night. My

13:31

name is Wilson. Ryder, she's

13:33

a gravel rider.

13:37

So I told him she was killed

13:39

last night. How do you react to that? He

13:42

was surprised, kind of shocked. He

13:44

was being investigated as a homicide. And

13:51

I asked him, hey, what

13:54

happened last night? He

13:57

met you in the afternoon. and

14:00

then she's right there. And

14:02

I stopped her at her, um, very

14:05

distance. But, uh, a

14:07

partner just didn't say anything. Deep

14:10

at he is a local swimming pool where

14:12

Colin said they went to swim. He

14:14

said he took her on the back of

14:17

his motorcycle. But now the

14:19

detective knew about the Jeep parked in

14:21

Colin's driveway and that it looked just

14:23

like the one on surveillance video. Of

14:26

course, at that time, I'm thinking, I

14:29

have this Jeep on camera.

14:31

Now, I really think that you're lying to

14:33

me. I think you're distancing yourself from this

14:35

car. You don't want to be associated with

14:38

this car because you know what

14:40

happened. So, Spickler

14:42

asked Colin to come downtown, which

14:44

he did. And

14:47

on the face of it seemed

14:49

cooperative. Then we went down

14:51

to the motorcycle. She got her own helmet and

14:53

we rode to Deep Addy. We

14:56

went swimming for about 30 minutes to

14:58

40 minutes. Pretty

15:00

short. He asked

15:02

Colin about his relationship with Mariah.

15:05

Just friends, said Colin. But

15:08

Caitlin Cash had told the detectives that

15:10

Colin and Mariah had dated briefly.

15:13

Did he agree that this had once been a romance

15:16

with Mariah? Yes. It

15:19

was a brief fling six months earlier, said

15:21

Colin. Happened during a break

15:23

with his longtime girlfriend. He

15:26

was hanging on his face. Kind

15:28

of just like an interruption blip. Long

15:31

over, said Colin, he was back with his regular

15:33

girlfriend now, a real

15:35

estate agent and yoga teacher named Caitlin Armstrong. He

15:39

admitted he did not tell Caitlin about

15:42

his little outing with Mariah. She

15:44

didn't know that he went out with Mariah the

15:47

night before she thought that he was with someone else. He

15:53

believed he was keeping any and

15:55

all phone or text contact with

15:57

Mariah a secret from his girlfriend.

16:00

He didn't call Mariah by her

16:02

correct name in his telephone, did

16:04

he? No. No, he did not.

16:06

So he actually renamed

16:11

her contact to Christine

16:13

Wall. I would say it's

16:15

just a different name just because I... I

16:19

gotcha. It's Christine. Pretty much,

16:21

I feel the right to have a

16:23

friendship with this person, of course, without

16:26

having constant strife. He

16:30

did that because he knew

16:32

his girlfriend, Caitlin, had gone through his

16:34

phone in the past. He didn't want

16:36

to start any issues, any

16:38

drama. Drama, which

16:41

the detective read as jealousy. He

16:44

described her as just being just a regular

16:47

jealous girlfriend. A regular

16:49

jealous girlfriend. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, just,

16:51

yeah. Colin

16:54

was in the interview room for over

16:56

six hours. He was talking, but

16:58

the detective felt something was off. Some

17:01

of the stuff, you know, he was really

17:03

open and willing to tell me about, but

17:06

it just seemed like he was

17:08

still hiding something. Of course, Spittler

17:10

had to ask Colin about the Jeep. Who

17:13

drives that Jeep? He said, well, that's my girlfriend's

17:15

Jeep. That's Caitlin's Jeep. He

17:18

said, well, do you ever drive that Jeep?

17:20

And he described it as it being a

17:22

girly car. He refused to drive it. What's

17:24

wrong with it? It's a Barbie car. Oh,

17:27

really? I like manuals and

17:29

diesels and things that are hard to

17:31

drive. Although, given his guarded behavior, you

17:33

don't know whether he was driving the

17:35

car or not. He could have just

17:37

as easily been doing so. Exactly. One

17:40

of them had to be involved in this. Colin

17:43

or Caitlin or maybe.

17:46

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17:48

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Safe. When

20:11

I'm how much. For a

20:13

serve basis in Austin, Texas? How

20:16

south? Thirty Five meters that out

20:18

on the road? such Mariah Wilson

20:20

phones prisons example racy chances that

20:23

thirty five you been added for

20:25

much longer than she had a

20:27

letter. Perfect in my both breezy

20:29

and warmth. Common.

20:32

And Mariah Med in the Fall of

20:34

twenty twenty one at a race felt

20:36

a spark. perhaps? And certainly

20:38

recognize something special in each other. With

20:42

now have a year later he

20:44

was in an interview room at

20:46

the Austin Police Department answering questions

20:48

about Mirage murder and though he

20:50

seems helpful at first. When.

20:53

The question is shifted to more about

20:55

his girlfriend Caitlin Spitzer thought common went

20:57

into protective mode suddenly didn't seem

20:59

to know much about out asked him

21:02

off at would have where does

21:04

she work I don't know where she

21:06

works with your job in together

21:08

for. A few years

21:10

and. You. Know where she works in

21:12

a so it kind of see my teacher.

21:15

He didn't really know much about. Take

21:17

one's personal life or wasn't gonna tell you

21:19

fire or was going to tell me. Or

21:22

I was shot so spitzer had

21:24

to ask. Did. He own

21:27

a gun says to says

21:29

he senators actually to firearms.

21:32

Last. One of them

21:34

from going. To

21:36

protect. Yourself. Some

21:39

sort. Of those. He

21:43

had mentioned the. Ah,

21:45

Caitlin had been involved and and an

21:47

incident with a a homeless person so

21:49

she wanted a way to be able

21:51

to defend herself. By

21:54

December of twenty one after his

21:56

fling with Mariah Call and was

21:58

back with Caitlin. Together

22:00

they went to a gun store

22:02

and bought one for him, one for

22:04

her. So was

22:07

he a suspect for not. As

22:10

column left the interview Spitler still

22:12

wasn't sure color now was worried

22:14

now said he found himself an

22:16

attorney. Male who physically

22:18

strong outside the box is the

22:21

last person saw. There had been

22:23

a. Previous. Sort

22:25

romantic histories. Former

22:28

prosecutor turned defense counsel Clear

22:30

Carter understood is concerned. That

22:33

meets all the criteria

22:35

for sisters ss and

22:37

selling. He did deeper

22:39

and understand. Everything.

22:41

So sad at that. The

22:44

night was true. Clear.

22:46

Carter could see com and wasn't

22:49

familiar with how murder investigations work.

22:51

Pollen Monthly seemed confused to

22:53

me, informed and trust said

22:55

on. Pulling. The things

22:58

that he knew that he did

23:00

not. Fences. Had very

23:02

much partner and funnel said he

23:04

thought that his information. Started.

23:06

And stopped when so dropped

23:09

Mariah off. Based

23:11

on the questions police were asking, he said

23:13

they seem to be focusing more on Caitlin

23:16

than on him. He did not.

23:19

Believe. That Thailand was behind us.

23:21

That he did believe that the police.

23:23

Thought. See what? Across

23:26

town Austin Pd there was still

23:28

sorting out was know who they

23:31

were looking. Zola hands

23:33

on deck as detectors tried to

23:35

track down any and all leads.

23:38

Anytime anyone tells us anything of

23:40

what they did weird or are

23:42

always coin to do what we

23:44

can to either verified or disprove

23:46

it. Detective Jonathan wryly and his

23:49

team were very much focused on

23:51

column and busy fact checking everything

23:53

he told to take descriptive. As

23:56

he's lightness now yes we went here to

23:58

pull burger were sent him. people out

24:00

there to not to take his word for

24:02

we went there we actually found video of

24:05

him. With. Mo There and

24:07

there they were. Mariah in

24:09

blue collar with the yellow

24:11

hat. Sharing a meal of

24:14

burgers and beers, And here

24:16

at Eight Ten, they walked out

24:18

presumably the head back to Mariah,

24:20

his friend's apartment. Sure,

24:23

Enough A camera across the

24:25

street caught Com and Mariah

24:27

riding away on his motorcycle.

24:29

Just. As he had told them, So.

24:32

He wasn't driving the jeep. A

24:34

lot of the things that colonists

24:37

said no they they were corroborated

24:39

but at the same time I

24:41

I still felt that call and

24:43

new more. Than. Forty was

24:45

telling me. Investigators

24:47

suspected that what he was holding

24:49

back in vogue Caitlin of So

24:51

not only now are we looking

24:54

at him, we start looking into

24:56

Caitlin. We find that there is

24:58

a war out. It was for

25:00

assistive service for a Botox treatment.

25:02

We decided that were going to

25:05

go ahead and arrest Caitlin for

25:07

that warrant. Time to talk to

25:09

the girlfriend. says.

25:27

I remember driving into my and

25:29

seeing a go on one of

25:31

college bikes. said that custom painted

25:34

right since I cope. Ah. Sorry

25:37

friend's girlfriend. Journalists gravel

25:39

secular and friend of Cones James

25:41

Doubt on meeting the woman Austin

25:43

Police now considered a person of

25:45

interest in a murder investigation. Caitlin,

25:48

Armstrong. He seemed

25:50

perfectly possible. She was nice. They

25:52

seem very happy together. Call on

25:55

them. Cavan were also business partners

25:57

and a company that renovated midcentury

25:59

trailers. He did

26:01

the precise renovations see hand with

26:03

the money. These are style a

26:06

snob with dimmers for the alley

26:08

be lighting, Daves doubts on tape

26:10

and the woman who could get

26:13

things done. See. Struck me as

26:15

a sort of person who had one something can go

26:17

get it. From. The very determined person. He's

26:19

very determined that synonyms a good. They're like L

26:21

A. The power rangers you know me like come

26:23

together make a big power ranger. The

26:26

Christian for Police. Was

26:28

you determined enough to kill

26:30

someone? Offers.

26:34

So the day after Mariah was

26:36

murdered before calling was even done

26:38

with his police interview. Caitlin,

26:40

Armstrong was brought to a room down

26:42

the hall. Arrested for that

26:44

Mr. Bean or warrant for skipping out

26:47

on a Botox bill. To

26:55

college. For.

27:01

The course asked a detective Katie Connor

27:03

didn't wanna talk about Botox. She.

27:06

Wanted to talk about a murder? But

27:09

before her interview got going. Another

27:12

detective realize there had been

27:14

a mistake. Years.

27:26

For. This.

27:30

Purpose. You're

27:33

not under Saddam

27:35

Hussein's. Sincerely

27:38

Internet Athens of he has. Caitlin

27:42

was free to go. For

27:45

some reason, she didn't. So.

27:47

The detective kept asking questions did

27:50

you hear about lights in in

27:52

a the taxes on in the

27:55

Us and said when he. Insults.

28:00

You know, Colin's been maybe talking to

28:02

this girl for a little bit and kind of threw your

28:04

name in there. If Detective

28:06

Connor was trying to get a rise out

28:08

of Kaitlyn Armstrong, it didn't seem to

28:10

work. It sounds like there

28:13

are some issues between you and

28:15

this girl, and I think that

28:17

there's probably a lot more to it

28:19

that you can help explain. There's

28:23

maybe some explanations for a lot of

28:25

things that happen, and I

28:27

think there will be some kind of issues

28:29

to get her to this, or we can

28:31

clear it up. I'm not sure exactly what

28:33

information she has. It sounds like maybe she

28:36

went out with this girl the other day,

28:38

and maybe it sounds like from what you

28:40

think that you were a little upset about

28:42

it. I bet

28:45

it's not accurate. Kaitlyn

28:47

was right. Colin hadn't actually told the

28:50

police that she'd been upset. Well,

28:53

how could she be? He hadn't told Kaitlyn

28:55

about meeting up with Mariah. But

28:57

the question was perhaps more

28:59

a tactic to elicit a response, and

29:02

Kaitlyn did respond this way.

29:05

I would like to leave, I think. You'd like to

29:07

leave? Yeah. But she didn't.

29:09

That's completely your choice, but I understand if

29:11

you do, then we only have one side

29:13

of the story to go on. And

29:16

from what we're hearing from Colin, you

29:18

know, his wrong side

29:20

of it, I think it would be very

29:22

beneficial to get the other side of it and

29:24

kind of explain a little bit more of what's

29:27

going on, actually. Well,

29:30

I just am uncertain as

29:32

to even what he knew

29:35

what he could have said because I

29:37

didn't have any idea that he saw

29:39

or went out with this girl. Okay, yeah. Well,

29:44

Kaitlyn was in the interview room not giving up much

29:46

of anything. Other detectives

29:48

were at the house she shared with Colin.

29:51

The homicide detectives obtained a search

29:53

warrant for her and Colin's residence,

29:56

And they executed that the same

29:58

afternoon. These your

30:01

photos Police took the garage

30:03

full of bikes mostly cause

30:05

the yoga mat on the

30:07

kitchen counter. Statements: There.

30:09

Were passports and money from other

30:12

countries Satan had said his joker

30:14

in Bali and Mexico. That

30:17

attacked is photographed and seized their electronics

30:19

to see what stories they were tell.

30:22

And high up in the bedroom

30:24

closet they found those his and

30:26

hers hand guns. Police

30:28

took those two for ballistics testing.

30:31

Of course. There. Was that teeth

30:33

in the driveway? The. Biggest thing

30:35

of all. She. Was confronted

30:38

about her g been in

30:40

the neighborhood about it being

30:42

on camera your vehicle my

30:45

food lot of her house

30:47

our own food is it's

30:49

okay. But. Did

30:51

cake than explain why her jeep appeared

30:54

on video right outside the murder see.

30:57

Know she did not. I think if

30:59

if I were in that position and

31:01

I'm being told that my vehicle is

31:03

connected in some way to her a

31:06

crime I I would one offer some

31:08

explanation and see this said There was

31:10

almost no react. From.

31:13

Almost. As detectives couldn't

31:15

help but notice. She. Kept

31:17

nodding her head. Kind of

31:20

indicating. Okay, yeah, you have my

31:22

jeep on camera. Was the oddest thing

31:24

actually to watch that video was not

31:26

to watch her as in that interview.

31:29

And she's giving visual cues that don't

31:31

match any of the audio. And it's

31:33

odd, his friends. Yes, Finally,

31:36

Caitlin had really had enough of a.

31:44

Little soon as far as loud as a call

31:46

with younger than. Me:

31:50

Why did she say his own? She did.

31:52

I think she was trying to find out.

31:54

like. What exactly?

31:56

That. Texas knew about what happened just

31:58

so that seeking. out what she's going

32:00

to do next. All right, stay 20 until I give

32:03

you back. Yeah, I'm waiting for the detective to tell

32:05

me when I give you back. But

32:07

the detectives had sized up Caitlyn too. And

32:10

now she, clearly, was

32:13

their prime suspect, even

32:15

though they did not have enough evidence

32:17

to hold her. Oh,

32:22

how they would wish they had. She

32:37

wants us to race, and

32:39

she wants you to do your best. On

32:43

May 14th, 2022, just

32:45

three days after Mariah Wilson was murdered,

32:48

gravel locusts, the race she had come

32:50

to town for went on without her.

32:53

But it wasn't easy for anyone. I've

32:56

been in contact with her parents, and

32:58

they basically said, we want you all

33:01

to do what Mo wants you all

33:03

to do. She

33:05

wants you to race. And

33:08

they did, though gloom clung

33:10

to the event. Nice work,

33:12

you guys. Colin Strickland

33:14

was not there. Colin

33:17

had bigger concerns, like the fact he was

33:19

a person of interest in a murder investigation.

33:22

He believed he'd been forthright, honest. Investigators

33:26

thought otherwise, always

33:28

seeming to hide something. Yes, always. Colin,

33:31

then, as attorney, thought they should

33:34

clarify things. I

33:36

did not have any idea what the

33:38

officers were actually interested in talking to

33:40

Colin about. Was it to get information

33:42

from him as a suspect, or was

33:44

it to get information from him as

33:47

a witness? So six

33:49

days after the murder, Colin voluntarily

33:51

returned to the police station, this

33:53

time with his attorney, and offered

33:56

to answer whatever questions the detectives

33:58

asked. He Felt the police... We

34:00

had already established and narrative

34:02

which was that his girlfriend.

34:05

May. Have. Murdered.

34:07

Mariah Wilson. He. Wanted to

34:09

make sure that the ideas and thoughts

34:11

that came to him were also considered.

34:14

Simmons assumption was correct. That's exactly

34:16

what to be suspected. That

34:19

his girlfriend Caitlin murdered millions.

34:21

The also mean it. Was

34:24

column involved? somehow? Pollen.

34:26

May have been told by

34:28

Caitlin what happened. And.

34:31

That he was trying to cover for.

34:33

Was he the detectives as call on

34:35

this qaeda never said she wanted to

34:37

hurt Mariah. And colleagues had

34:39

no, not physically. The

34:42

As dictated ever contact Mariah.

34:45

This column admitted she did. It

34:48

was when he and Caitlin were taking their break.

34:51

And he was see Mariah. Basically

34:53

saying i'm with call and in ah,

34:56

don't know what what you're thinking this

34:58

year with Collins. Collins

35:00

Collins Supposed to be my boyfriend.

35:03

Things like that that sure sounded

35:05

like jealousy to investigators. Again, gonna

35:07

continue to say we couldn't pick

35:09

a to him. So. He

35:12

told me that she was nice, she

35:14

was loving, She was friendly in all

35:16

of a lot of very positive. Things.

35:19

About her wouldn't hurt a

35:21

fly. that server exactly. Detective.

35:24

Spitzer asked point blank if he

35:26

thought Caitlin killed the Rise in

35:28

Common replied i cannot fathom as

35:30

he said she was one of

35:32

the least volatile women he had

35:34

ever dated. For

35:37

almost three hours, the conversation wound

35:39

down and Caitlyn the swab for

35:41

his Dna and pianist. And.

35:44

I think the scientists that are with happen

35:46

to have the opportunity to ask. More

35:49

questions because the difference in what's

35:51

that? Police had learned by Know

35:53

Seven Top and what they had

35:55

no on May twelve that. occurs

35:59

because had come in. One

36:01

came from a friend of Mariah's.

36:04

She said Caitlin called Mariah, telling

36:07

her to stay away from Colin. Mariah

36:10

blocked her number. Another

36:13

tipster told how she ran into Caitlin

36:16

at a party. Mariah was also there.

36:19

Caitlin stopped someone at

36:21

that party and said, I can't

36:24

believe she's here. I'm so mad right now. I

36:27

want to kill her. People say things

36:29

you don't really mean it

36:32

literally. I think Caitlin said

36:34

it again. She said, no, I really

36:36

want to kill her. And then she mentioned

36:38

something about either that she had recently purchased

36:41

a firearm or that she was planning on

36:43

purchasing a firearm. That kind of

36:45

evidence, how useful is that if you're trying to

36:47

put together a murder case? It's a lot. It

36:49

shows motive. Motive,

36:52

of course, isn't enough to make an arrest,

36:55

nor our words overheard at parties. Investigators

36:58

needed hard evidence and within

37:00

hours of that second interview with

37:02

Colin, they had some. They

37:05

found more videos. One captured

37:07

a Jeep Caitlin's make of car driving past

37:09

what would soon be the murder scene. It

37:12

was not at all a coincidence to

37:14

detectives. Then came the

37:16

clincher. Ballistics were

37:19

back and the two guns seized from Colin

37:21

at Caitlin's house. We

37:23

were able to determine that the

37:25

bullets that were fired came from

37:27

Caitlin Armstrong's gun. With what degree

37:29

of certainty? It's a very, very

37:32

high probability between

37:35

those videos, the

37:37

tips about her anger at Mariah and

37:40

most incriminating the ballistics. Their

37:43

only suspect was Caitlin Armstrong. They

37:46

believed she acted alone. Spittler

37:49

got an arrest warrant. The

37:51

only problem is that we can't

37:53

find her. She's gone. Caitlin

37:56

Armstrong was in the wind.

38:04

He would lie his way into their

38:06

dreams, then twist them into a nightmare.

38:08

This guy has done this before. He'll

38:11

do it again. Until a group of

38:13

women banded together to put him behind

38:15

bars and keep him there. You have

38:18

to participate fiercely in what happens next.

38:20

I'm Keith Morrison and this is Murder

38:22

in the Hollywood Hills, an all-new podcast

38:25

from Dateline. To listen to the latest

38:27

episodes each week completely free. You can

38:29

find and follow Murder in the Hollywood

38:32

Hills on Amazon Music. Hello,

38:34

I'm Keith Morrison. Here to

38:36

tell you about something we think is pretty cool.

38:39

A new one-stop destination for

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more than a dozen Dateline

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about as cold-blooded as anything I've seen.

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From the true crime original, it's

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39:06

entire catalog is available now

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completely free. Search Dateline Originals

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and start listening now. Where

39:24

was she? Caitlin

39:27

Armstrong, crime suspect in the murder of

39:29

Mo Wilson, had pulled off like some

39:31

Vegas magician a total disappearing act. And

39:35

since no one had a clue where to find her, the

39:38

order came down. Do what you

39:40

have to. It's kind of

39:42

all hands on deck. It's a real team effort. Detective

39:45

Jonathan Riley wore two hats.

39:48

One with the Austin PD. The

39:51

other is a member of Austin's Lone

39:53

Star Fugitive Task Force, which is run

39:55

by the US Marshals. They

39:57

handle arrests for big cases in the region.

40:00

like Caitlin Armstrong's. Their

40:02

agents fanned out across Austin. We

40:04

have a lot of addresses that we're

40:07

going to get eyes on and check

40:09

to see if we see her. They

40:12

didn't. She wasn't at home.

40:14

She wasn't with friends. She wasn't

40:16

at any of the places she was known to frequent. And

40:20

so the hunt went public. Now to

40:22

a developing story tonight. U.S. Marshals are

40:24

searching for a woman in Texas accused

40:26

of shooting and killing an up-and-coming cyclist.

40:30

The search spread out. Caitlin

40:32

grew up in Michigan raised by a

40:34

single mom. She was the middle child

40:36

and looked after her younger sister, Christine,

40:39

before leaving for college and after to

40:41

travel and study yoga and wind up

40:43

in Austin. So had

40:46

she run back to Michigan? The

40:48

Marshals called her family. Caitlin

40:51

wasn't there. Colin

40:53

told them he hadn't seen her since the morning

40:55

of May 13th, two days after the murder, when

40:58

they went for coffee. Caitlin

41:00

had made the suggestion that possibly their

41:02

house was bugged now and

41:04

she didn't want to talk about anything

41:07

in the house. On

41:09

the advice of his new attorney, Claire

41:11

Carter, Colin stayed away from Caitlin after

41:13

that. So it made

41:15

the recommendation that they stay

41:18

separately until more

41:20

was revealed about who the suspect

41:22

was and what the facts were

41:24

around this murder. So

41:26

Colin steered clear of their place. He

41:29

told the police he had no idea where Caitlin

41:31

was and there was no

41:33

use tracing her cell phone. We

41:35

had Caitlin's cell phone at that time, so

41:38

we couldn't track her. Police had

41:40

taken her phone when they served the warrant

41:42

at Colin and Caitlin's house. But

41:44

if they couldn't track her, surely

41:46

they could track her Jeep and

41:49

find her that way. We had no

41:51

hits through our license

41:53

plate scanners showing that

41:56

her car had been seen anywhere.

42:00

No one knew where she was. But

42:03

made it worse? They discovered

42:05

they didn't have to let Caitlyn walk out

42:07

of the police station after that Botox bilking

42:09

arrest. Armstrong was mistakenly released

42:12

from custody on the misdemeanor warrant. They

42:14

thought her date of birth was wrong on

42:17

the warrant. It turned out it

42:19

wasn't. So now they had to admit

42:21

she slipped out of their hands. And

42:24

it had been six days since Caitlyn walked out of

42:26

the interview room. She had

42:28

lots of time to skip town. He

42:31

knew where. So I know

42:33

that she has a passport. I know that she travels

42:35

to Mexico. It

42:37

wasn't long before the Lone Star Fugitive

42:39

Task Force discovered video from May 14th.

42:42

Just three days after Mariah was murdered. Two

42:44

days after Caitlyn walked out of the police

42:46

department. And there

42:48

she was at the Austin airport. A

42:51

mask obscuring her face. A yoga

42:53

mat on her back. Well now

42:55

that we have that information that we know that she went up

42:57

to New York. We're checking

42:59

her passport. It's been flagged. Why

43:02

New York? She does have family

43:04

in New York. She has a sister that lives

43:06

there. Her sister, Christine,

43:08

who looked a lot like her. Caitlyn

43:11

could no longer travel on her own passport.

43:15

But what if she got hold of her sister's

43:17

passport and used that to fly out

43:19

of the country? Maybe.

43:23

The task force asked Homeland Security to

43:25

run a search on any recent travel

43:27

by Christine Armstrong. It

43:29

only took minutes. Christine Armstrong

43:31

or someone using her passport had been

43:33

busy. I

43:35

was like, wow, this took an unexpected turn.

43:38

But how far did she go? And how

43:42

in heaven's name could they ever track her

43:44

down? At this point it's kind

43:46

of like I'm a rookie all

43:48

over again. Oh,

43:50

there was a trail. Long,

43:53

weird, exotic, and

43:56

only partial. This just got a

43:58

whole lot more interesting and a lot of fun. lot

44:00

more difficult. The hunt

44:02

for Caitlyn to bring her back to

44:04

actually face justice would not be quick or

44:06

easy. If we don't find her in

44:08

five days we're not gonna find her. But

44:11

the only thing they knew for sure was

44:14

the name of the country she flew to. One

44:17

woman calling herself who

44:19

knew what, who knew where in Costa

44:23

Rica. Oh, one

44:26

good clue to guide them. I

44:28

don't know of any other cases that I've ever worked

44:30

where the person that's on the

44:32

run has a yoga mat with them. So

44:35

we felt like that was a really big piece of

44:38

her. The problem, one

44:41

among many, there are lots of yoga

44:43

studios in Costa Rica. There

44:46

was also a hurricane on the

44:49

way. Probably gonna turn into a

44:51

category one. And the

44:53

quarry had no intention of being

44:55

found. The

45:10

prime suspect in the murder of Mariah

45:12

Wilson, caked on Armstrong, had

45:15

vanished. But

45:17

it didn't take long for the Lone Star Fugitive

45:20

Task Force to get a lead. And

45:22

a copy of a one-way plane

45:25

ticket. Christine Armstrong had

45:27

traveled from New York to San Jose,

45:29

Costa Rica on the 18th on a

45:32

one-way flight. I said this has just

45:34

become a bigger case. And

45:37

though the name on the ticket was Christie,

45:40

deputy US Marshal Amir Perez was

45:42

all but sure. It had

45:44

to be Caitlyn on that flight. But

45:46

we couldn't confirm it 100%. We

45:48

had other deputies in

45:51

New York go and find the sister. That

45:54

part was easy. Christine was at

45:56

home in upstate New York. Definitely

45:58

hadn't left the country. told

46:01

the deputy she didn't know the whereabouts

46:03

of her passport, so

46:05

they asked her what she knew about

46:07

Caitlin's travel plans. So

46:09

her sister said that Caitlin had

46:11

come to visit her and that

46:14

she went to go and drop her

46:17

off at the airport because she was going

46:19

to fly back to Austin. Clearly

46:22

Caitlin had not flown back to Austin,

46:25

but why Costa Rica? I

46:28

think the most important question is like what's her

46:30

tie to Costa Rica? And

46:32

there really wasn't one, said

46:35

U.S. Marshal Damian Fernandez. Not

46:37

in the usual sense anyway. She

46:39

had no known past there. They

46:42

weren't aware of any family or friends in

46:44

Costa Rica. The only tie that

46:46

we can think of is yoga because Costa Rica is

46:49

a big, I think if it's not the first, it's

46:51

the second most tourist

46:54

visited place for yoga. Caitlin,

46:56

the yoga instructor. She

47:00

had even been spotted on camera toting her

47:02

yoga mat through the airport as she made

47:04

her escape. Still,

47:06

it wasn't much to go on. They needed

47:09

help on the ground. We

47:12

knew for certain that she had traveled into

47:14

Costa Rica. Jose Araya is a criminal

47:16

investigator with the Diplomatic Security Service at

47:19

the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica. His

47:22

team found security camera footage of Caitlin

47:24

arriving at the airport in San Jose.

47:27

They also learned she told immigration

47:29

agents the name of the hotel

47:31

where she'd be staying. About

47:34

six police agents, three

47:36

patrol cars, and myself, and

47:39

proceeded to just rush to the hotel in

47:41

downtown San Jose to see if

47:44

she was there, to see if Caitlin was there. No

47:47

luck. She'd made a

47:49

reservation, but never showed. Investigators

47:53

tracked her online activity, which

47:55

led them to places she may have

47:58

visited. We

48:00

were in old fashioned police work. We were

48:02

in our, by foot, missing

48:05

different sites that we thought

48:07

maybe she was at. The

48:10

Costa Rican government was helping too. They

48:13

had their own investigation going there as to why

48:15

she was actually in their country using

48:18

another person's passport. Meanwhile

48:20

the marshals needed some detailed photos of

48:23

their suspect, but when they

48:25

hunted around online... She

48:27

was always smiling and all her photos, when

48:29

you are walking around in life you're not

48:31

smiling like that, right? You're going to have

48:34

your serious face, your walk around face,

48:36

not the smile face. So we

48:38

made it a point to find a photo

48:40

of her not smiling. But

48:44

where else to look? No

48:47

one was even sure she was still in Costa

48:49

Rica. Costa Rica is

48:51

a very small country. It's very easy

48:53

to travel from one border to the other

48:56

within four or six hours. And

48:59

it's also very easy to

49:01

illegally enter either our neighbor

49:04

Nicaragua or Panama without inspection.

49:07

Then the marshals back in the U.S. got

49:09

a promising tip. They

49:13

learned that an American tourist recently returned

49:15

from vacation in Costa Rica had met

49:17

a woman in a yoga class who

49:20

just might be Caitlin Armstrong. Obviously

49:23

this is someone who we're

49:25

going to want to talk to to gain

49:27

whatever information we can about her, their interactions.

49:30

So the marshals called the guy. He

49:32

said, hey, we're the United States Marshal Service. We're

49:35

wondering if we could talk to you. And he

49:37

without missing a beat, he

49:39

interrupted and said not interested. We called him

49:41

back and he just blew

49:43

us off again. And finally on the third

49:45

call, we just said, he picked up.

49:47

We're like, wait, wait, wait, please don't hang up. Just

49:51

Google Caitlin Armstrong's picture, they pleaded.

49:54

And sure enough, said the guy, she

49:57

looked familiar. He's

50:00

like, I remember I did have

50:02

lunch with a woman, but her

50:04

hair was a little more brown, and

50:08

she went by the name Beth. Beth,

50:11

not Caitlin. He

50:13

said he and this so-called Beth met

50:16

in a popular beach town called Hakko.

50:19

One of the things that she told them was

50:21

that she was interested in yoga. He

50:24

told them he had suggested she check

50:26

out a place called Santa Teresa Beach,

50:28

about five hours away. He

50:30

told her that that's a really big yoga

50:33

community, and she should go look at that.

50:36

By this time, Caitlin had been in the wind

50:38

for four weeks. But

50:41

now it's something to go on. Vague

50:44

though it was, Marshals Perez and

50:46

Fernandez boarded a plane to Costa

50:48

Rica, with a

50:50

plan to head to Santa Teresa, where

50:53

she might or might not

50:55

be hiding out. We looked at each other and

50:57

we said this is going to be a lot

50:59

more difficult than we anticipated. Free!

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52:12

Are you ready for school?

52:26

David Armstrong was now a

52:28

wanted woman in two countries

52:30

united States said Costa Rica,

52:32

which is where Deputy Us

52:34

Marshals a Barisan, Damien Fernandez

52:36

landed to join up with

52:39

Jose Arise team and coastal

52:41

Region law enforcement. All of

52:43

them on the hunt. Now

52:45

for cakes and Armstrong. Season

52:48

They're already a month so

52:50

she's She's probably pretty comfortable

52:52

now as he has an

52:55

idea as to where she's

52:57

going wishes doing. They already

52:59

knew she wasn't going by

53:01

the name Caitlin in Costa

53:03

Rica switched to using different

53:05

aliases, many differently that she

53:07

was best seller sometimes. Ari,

53:09

your Allison. She'd.

53:11

Been pushing yourself into different hospitals

53:13

in different locations in different names

53:15

and then simply not showing up.

53:18

And honestly, I can't tell you. Whether.

53:21

It was to throw us off or not. Their

53:23

first job was hot Go where?

53:25

Who's a Araya and his team

53:28

at already obtained security video from

53:30

the local police. Once we were

53:32

able to analyze the video ah

53:34

we had confirmed that tailing had

53:37

indeed been and Hatkoff Ocho is

53:39

where she had lunch with that

53:41

American tourist and to the few

53:43

yoga classes and will talk to

53:46

the yoga instructor they're. Just

53:48

to see they remembered And they said

53:50

yes, they do remember her. Budget

53:53

apparently left town. that

53:56

american tourist until the marshals he'd

53:58

recommended she visits to Teresa for

54:01

yoga. They knew Cayton

54:03

had purchased a new phone before she

54:05

left Austin, and sure enough,

54:08

they found evidence tracking that phone

54:11

to Santa Teresa. Could

54:13

she be there? Maybe.

54:18

They gave themselves a deadline. If we don't

54:20

find her in five days, we're

54:22

not going to find her. It

54:26

takes several hours to get from Haco

54:28

to Santa Teresa, a long

54:30

drive and a ferry ride, to

54:32

a beach town whose residents

54:35

perhaps enjoy the isolation. Like,

54:41

for example, Teal Acreson, a true local raised

54:43

in Santa Teresa by American parents. When

54:49

I was a kid, there wasn't a road here, and

54:51

big people came by boat, and there was a

54:54

cattle trail, and you could come with

54:56

a bicycle or a horse or a motorbike

54:58

sometimes. And then they

55:00

opened the road up, and then everyone wanted a slice

55:02

of paradise. A particular kind

55:05

of paradise for a particular

55:07

sort of person. This

55:09

nature and the ocean, and people are looking

55:11

for silence. They get

55:14

to come to Costa Rica and surf,

55:16

and then also get to do their

55:18

yoga. Or just get

55:20

lost, said Teal. It's

55:24

a really good place for people to hide out, and

55:26

then tons of people do. When

55:29

the marshals arrived in Santa Teresa, they could

55:31

see that if Caitlin was here,

55:33

she just might have

55:35

found herself the perfect place to

55:38

disappear. I remember speaking to people

55:40

at the embassy about, this is who we're looking

55:42

for. She's slender, she's tall,

55:44

she's blonde, she stands out.

55:48

And they told us, she's not going to stand

55:50

out in Santa Teresa. You're going to see a lot

55:52

of women that fit that description. Indeed,

55:55

there were Caitlin doppelgangers

55:57

everywhere. The

56:00

marshals settled in, kept

56:02

a sharp eye out, and

56:04

tried to look inconspicuous.

56:07

When you go and you've got to look like

56:10

everybody else, you've got to look like the tourists. We

56:12

walked around a lot, up

56:16

and down the beach, maybe 10 miles a

56:18

day, something like that. Well,

56:21

a female member of their team

56:23

haunted yoga classes. She

56:25

would do a morning and

56:27

then an afternoon and then she did

56:29

another one, like just a meditation. But

56:32

no sign of Caitlyn there. Perez

56:35

and the others even attended a surf contest,

56:38

though their eyes were not

56:40

on the water. We're sitting there looking at

56:42

the crowd, trying to get a closer view, looking

56:45

kind of

56:47

creepish. Still, no

56:49

luck. So then they

56:52

tried telling townsfolk they were with the U.S.

56:54

Embassy and they were looking for a missing

56:56

tourist. Her family is very concerned

56:58

and there was a monetary

57:01

reward. But Nada

57:04

couldn't find anyone who had seen her. Perez

57:09

and Fernandez had given themselves five

57:11

days, but

57:13

they had blown past their deadline. I

57:15

was really frustrated as far as actually

57:17

laying eyes on her or getting

57:19

a good idea of her location.

57:22

At that point we were done. Their hope

57:25

was dwindling and so

57:27

was their team. Half of

57:29

our team ended up getting ill

57:31

with COVID. There were just three

57:33

investigators left standing. Nearly

57:36

desperate now, they came up with

57:38

what felt like one last-ditch idea.

57:41

They joined a Facebook group dedicated

57:44

to all things Santa Teresa. If

57:46

you lost your wallet, if you wanted to

57:48

rent a place, if you wanted to sell a place...

57:52

Caitlyn was a yoga instructor, so

57:55

if she was in town, she

57:57

might be looking for a job teaching

57:59

yoga. And that's where

58:01

we started creating those, saying that we

58:03

belong to this hostel and

58:06

that we were looking for you as a instructor. But

58:09

luck was just not going to be on their side,

58:11

it seems. First

58:13

COVID, now, word

58:15

of storm was rolling in. We

58:18

were told it was probably going to turn into

58:20

a category one hurricane.

58:22

And if it's bad, I mean,

58:25

people don't come out of their houses. They don't

58:27

come out of hostels and everybody stays shut in

58:29

because it's raining outside. There was actually a shelter

58:31

in place announcement that was being put out because

58:33

it was supposed to be really, really bad. Not

58:36

to mention, I was feeling really, really

58:39

sick. A week of fruit

58:41

to searching and then

58:43

COVID and then a

58:45

looming hurricane. Would

58:47

anything go right? And

58:50

then somebody replied to

58:52

the ad. It just

58:54

might be who they were looking for. In

59:15

mere Paris and Damien Fernandez went back

59:17

to the Costa Rican capital to regroup

59:21

after a fruitless week of searching for

59:23

the fugitive, Caitlin Armstrong. And

59:26

then a bite. Someone

59:30

responded to the ad they posted for

59:33

a yoga instructor in Santa Teresa. This

59:36

person could be the person that we're looking for.

59:38

Could be because the message came

59:41

in from a number investigators believed

59:43

might be Caitlin's. They

59:46

set a time and place to meet with the

59:48

job seeker. And when they arrived for the meeting,

59:50

another message, same person said

59:53

they needed to reschedule. The

1:00:00

owner of the place asked me to look after the

1:00:02

place because his uncle is

1:00:05

sick. Place

1:00:07

like that, where a guest would be left in

1:00:09

charge, that sounded like

1:00:11

Don Johns, one of

1:00:13

the cheapest places in town. And

1:00:16

so we decided to go there. And

1:00:19

I saw two people sitting there on

1:00:21

the patio. The male and female,

1:00:23

I noticed that the female sitting there kind

1:00:26

of resembled Armstrong. And

1:00:28

so I thought to myself, well,

1:00:30

how can I get close enough to make

1:00:32

that confirmation? I said, hola, ¿qué tal?

1:00:35

Perez decided to play Mexican tourist, speaking

1:00:38

only in Spanish. I asked

1:00:40

various questions about how is it,

1:00:42

¿qué tal esa lladentro? ¿Cómo están

1:00:44

los cuartos, estalínfio? Just

1:00:47

questions that you would ask at a hotel. What

1:00:50

they came up with was that

1:00:52

they could talk to me through

1:00:55

Google, translate. And so I

1:00:57

got close enough to see her phone when she would show

1:00:59

it to me. Perez

1:01:01

took a good close look at the woman. Her

1:01:04

hair was darker and shorter than photos

1:01:06

he'd seen of Caitlin. And

1:01:09

there was a bandage across her nose. But

1:01:12

the eyes, the

1:01:15

unsmiling eyes detectives had gone out of

1:01:17

their way to find in photos of

1:01:19

Caitlin. That was her. No

1:01:22

doubt about it. I said,

1:01:24

okay, well, I'll be back. So

1:01:26

I walked out the door

1:01:28

and back to the vehicle

1:01:30

where Damien was sitting. As I

1:01:32

see him come out, he's got this big old smirk

1:01:34

in his face. And I'm like, okay, jackpot. We

1:01:37

found her. I walked in. I

1:01:39

said, 100%. That's her. She's in there.

1:01:41

And I'm like, okay, what's next? What came next was

1:01:43

a call to the local police who

1:01:45

soon showed up at Don John's. They're

1:01:48

talking to her. And finally the question

1:01:50

comes up. What's her

1:01:52

name? And she says one of

1:01:54

the aliases that we knew, which is Eric Martin.

1:01:57

And the police got to risk a guy

1:01:59

turns and. looks at me and I

1:02:01

nod at him. That was their cue. The

1:02:05

local police arrested Ari and

1:02:07

brought her in for questioning and

1:02:09

that is when the marshals got to sit down

1:02:12

with her. And I'm like, all right, no

1:02:15

games, but for me. And

1:02:18

she looked at me for the longest time. She

1:02:21

took a big pause, maybe for a

1:02:23

minute and then she told me, Caitlin, all right,

1:02:26

what's your last name? Armstrong. And

1:02:29

I asked her, I said, well, what happened to your nose? I said,

1:02:31

why do you have a bandage on your nose? And

1:02:33

she said she had gotten hit with a surfboard. Surfing

1:02:36

accident, Fernandez didn't buy

1:02:39

it. I was convinced she had

1:02:41

work done. And sure

1:02:43

enough, when they returned to

1:02:45

the hostel and searched her belongings, they found

1:02:48

receipts for plastic surgery, work

1:02:51

done by this doctor, Jorge

1:02:53

Badia. He knew

1:02:55

his patient, not as Caitlin, but

1:02:58

as Alison Page. And

1:03:01

she behaves totally normal, like

1:03:03

a very shy, maybe patient.

1:03:06

Alison requested a nose job

1:03:08

and brow lifts. Not

1:03:10

unusual, he said, for tourists to see him

1:03:12

for those kinds of procedures. What was a

1:03:15

little strange though was how

1:03:17

she hid her face on surgery day. She

1:03:20

had like a head, a hoodie, and also

1:03:22

she had a mask over her face so

1:03:24

that we can only see her eyes. Dr.

1:03:26

Badia met with Alison about

1:03:29

five days after the surgery to remove

1:03:31

her cast and stitches. And that

1:03:33

was the last he saw of her. It

1:03:36

turned out Caitlin was off having surgery

1:03:39

in San Jose. Well, investigators

1:03:41

were busy searching for her in Santa

1:03:43

Teresa. We realized, man,

1:03:46

all that time that we spent walking up and

1:03:48

down the beach, looking at hostels, looking at all

1:03:50

these different places, she wasn't even there.

1:03:54

But she had been in Santa Teresa before

1:03:56

they got there and made a

1:03:58

big impression. especially

1:04:00

on one surfer dude,

1:04:03

and you've already met him, Santa

1:04:05

Teresa local Teal Acerson. He

1:04:08

knew Caitlin as Ari. She

1:04:12

did yoga, I did yoga, uh, we

1:04:14

ended up talking, and she had just gone through

1:04:17

a heavy breakup she had told me, and then

1:04:19

I had gone through a breakup, and we were

1:04:21

both kind of getting

1:04:24

along and talking and sharing. Talking

1:04:27

and sharing, activities that can

1:04:29

sometimes lead to much more,

1:04:32

but not said Teal for him and

1:04:34

Ari. We went on probably like about

1:04:36

four dates or something like that. We

1:04:38

never kissed and never hooked up. It

1:04:40

wasn't like that. She was,

1:04:43

she made it clear that she had

1:04:45

been traumatized, and I

1:04:48

was okay with being a friend and hanging out, and

1:04:51

I could understand. For

1:04:54

Teal, the news about who Ari

1:04:56

really was came crashing down like

1:04:58

a roadway. Afterwards

1:05:00

my brain just went, oh no, and I was

1:05:02

like, well that was why everything, lying to me

1:05:04

about everything in her name,

1:05:06

and, and

1:05:09

it was just my luck. A

1:05:13

wipeout for Teal, yes. But

1:05:15

such is life, said this surf

1:05:17

instructor and beach philosopher. Well,

1:05:21

this is a bummer. I need another

1:05:23

bummer story. We were just

1:05:26

people where God's lost children,

1:05:28

everyone's on their life trip

1:05:31

trying to figure it out, and no

1:05:33

matter how wise you are, how smart,

1:05:36

how enlightened you are, how much chill

1:05:38

you know, you're still just one

1:05:40

of those people on that ride. Kaitlin's

1:05:44

ride was over, this

1:05:46

leg of it at least. The

1:05:49

marshals raced to get out of town with

1:05:51

their suspect before the approaching storm could delay

1:05:53

their travel, and they accompanied Kaitlin on a

1:05:55

flight back to Texas. The

1:05:58

search for Kaitlin Armstrong has been... A

1:06:00

month and a half long saga. She's now back

1:06:02

in Texas. Back home,

1:06:04

Caitlin sat behind bars. Bail

1:06:07

set at 3.5 million. But

1:06:12

case closed? Oh no,

1:06:14

not at all. What

1:06:16

if I told you that about 98% of what you

1:06:18

just said is

1:06:21

either completely incorrect or

1:06:24

mostly incorrect? I'd love to hear your explanation.

1:06:38

Some people, some rare people,

1:06:40

though driven to achieve, though

1:06:42

uniquely successful and celebrated, remained

1:06:46

deeply humble, uncomfortable in the

1:06:48

limelight. Such a

1:06:51

one was Mariah Wilson. Her

1:06:54

very private family declined her

1:06:56

invitation to speak on camera.

1:06:59

But her father wanted us to know

1:07:01

about her humility, her kindness, about

1:07:04

never wanting things to be all about her. Great,

1:07:06

I'm stoked to be here. She

1:07:08

was a week from her 26th birthday when

1:07:10

she died, had just gone pro,

1:07:13

and was planning to return to Vermont,

1:07:15

said her father, to find a

1:07:18

way to give back to the community she grew

1:07:20

up in. She knew that

1:07:23

this place was foundational to her success and joy. In

1:07:25

the spring of 2023, Mariah's mother, Karen, father Eric,

1:07:29

and brother Matt posted a Ride for Mo event

1:07:33

to raise money for a local children's organization.

1:07:37

But more than anything, she just loved to

1:07:39

ride her bike in this beautiful place and

1:07:41

around the world where she biked.

1:07:44

So my hope today is that we

1:07:46

can all tap into that spirit of simply loving to ride,

1:07:48

and to be able to ride on

1:07:51

the ride up the road. Well, Mariah

1:07:53

was being remembered in Vermont. In

1:07:59

Austin. Caitlin Armstrong was

1:08:01

sitting in a jail cell. She'd pleaded

1:08:03

not guilty, but the case against her

1:08:05

was bulking up. And

1:08:07

one major mystery had been solved. The

1:08:10

whereabouts of Caitlin's Jeep, the

1:08:13

one that vanished when she left town. We

1:08:16

learned that the title was transferred

1:08:18

from Caitlin to CarMax. They

1:08:21

found video of Caitlin driving the

1:08:23

Jeep to CarMax, two

1:08:25

days after the murder, where she sold

1:08:27

it for just over $12,000 and flew

1:08:30

off to New York the next day. No

1:08:33

doubt the 12 grand helped her pay for

1:08:35

flights and room and board, and

1:08:37

that nose job too perhaps. But

1:08:41

that is not why investigators were excited

1:08:43

about finding the car. There

1:08:45

was a high probability that

1:08:47

it actually kept GPS data.

1:08:50

Indeed it did. A digital

1:08:53

forensics gold mine in fact. The

1:08:56

GPS tracked every turn and every

1:08:58

stop the Jeep made on the

1:09:00

night of Mariah's murder. At

1:09:03

6.33 p.m. the Jeep left Caitlin's

1:09:05

house heading downtown, and

1:09:07

then an hour later changed direction.

1:09:10

And then went over into East Austin. East

1:09:13

Austin, where Mariah's friend Caitlin

1:09:15

Cash lived, and where

1:09:18

Mariah was staying. Once

1:09:20

there the Jeep circled the neighborhood,

1:09:23

passing by Caitlin Cash's place over

1:09:25

and over again. Waiting,

1:09:27

it seemed, for Mariah

1:09:29

and Colin to return. Maybe

1:09:33

she wanted some

1:09:35

actual proof of her own that Colin

1:09:39

and Mariah were together here. The

1:09:41

investigators already knew what happened next.

1:09:45

At 8.35, Colin dropped off Mariah

1:09:47

at Caitlin Cash's house. At

1:09:49

8.36, Mariah unlocked the

1:09:51

front door. At

1:09:54

8.37, the Jeep was

1:09:56

caught on camera slowing down near the

1:09:58

house. But now, new

1:10:01

details thanks to the GPS. At

1:10:04

841, the Jeep parked down the block in

1:10:06

a church parking lot. And

1:10:08

then the GPS stopped. Ignition

1:10:11

turned off until

1:10:13

917, when the

1:10:15

Jeep was driven away. After

1:10:18

the murder, that's whenever that

1:10:21

vehicle ended up leaving from the area.

1:10:24

A 36 minute gap, during

1:10:27

which detectives now knew Mariah

1:10:29

was murdered. By

1:10:31

then, Detective Spidler had come across yet

1:10:33

another piece of security camera video. This

1:10:36

one from the front porch of a nearby home. Like

1:10:40

many of the other cameras, this

1:10:42

one also captured Catelyn's Jeep driving

1:10:45

by, again and again. This

1:10:48

particular camera also recorded

1:10:50

audio. So Spidler

1:10:52

took care of some paperwork, listening in

1:10:54

the background for cars going by, until...

1:10:58

Wait, could it be? The

1:11:00

horrific sound of a murder

1:11:02

in progress. All

1:11:06

of a sudden, I hear a female

1:11:08

scream, and then I hear two

1:11:11

gunshots. A

1:11:13

six second pause, and

1:11:16

one more gunshot. Have

1:11:19

you ever heard a murder in progress

1:11:21

like that before? No, no, I had

1:11:23

not. I was just in shock. The

1:11:27

sounds were recorded at 915, the

1:11:30

time they now knew for sure, when

1:11:33

Mariah Wilson breathed her last. The

1:11:37

investigators were sure the case against

1:11:39

Catelyn Armstrong was solid, impossible to

1:11:41

refute. But

1:11:44

apparently, defense attorney Rick Kofar didn't

1:11:46

get the message. Catelyn Armstrong is

1:11:48

not guilty. And if this

1:11:50

case goes to trial, she will be found not

1:11:52

guilty. We first spoke to attorney

1:11:54

Kofar in August 2022. You

1:11:57

become a lawyer in part to work on... on

1:12:00

cases like this? Well, yes.

1:12:03

But in this case, it looks

1:12:05

like the

1:12:07

public seems to have accepted the idea that they've got

1:12:10

her debt to rights. They got her Jeep on unringed

1:12:13

video. She goes out and sells her car,

1:12:15

and gets a plane ticket, and flies to

1:12:18

first see her sister, and then down to

1:12:20

Costa Rica, and gets plastic surgery, and dyes

1:12:22

her hair brown. I mean, if

1:12:24

she didn't do it, why go

1:12:26

to all that trouble? You know, looks really can

1:12:29

be deceiving. What if I told

1:12:31

you that about 98% of what you just said is

1:12:36

either completely incorrect, or

1:12:38

mostly incorrect? I'd love to hear your explanation.

1:12:41

Kofer said he had one, starting

1:12:43

with Mohiv, or

1:12:46

the lack of it. What if I told

1:12:48

you that Kaitlyn Armstrong, in fact, is

1:12:50

not a jealous person? No

1:12:53

jealousy means no motive,

1:12:55

he said. Why did she

1:12:57

run away to Costa Rica? Not

1:13:00

because she was a killer, said Kofer, but

1:13:03

because she feared her boyfriend

1:13:05

Colin was. Her

1:13:08

boyfriend of three and a half years,

1:13:10

the person that she has lived with,

1:13:12

and made a life with, spent

1:13:15

basically all day with homicide

1:13:17

detectives being interrogated for murder.

1:13:21

And Kait Armstrong is, as you can

1:13:23

pretty well imagine, terrified. She's

1:13:25

lived years of her life abroad. It

1:13:27

makes perfect sense that when her world

1:13:29

is turned upside down, destroyed, she goes

1:13:32

to Costa Rica to go do yoga

1:13:34

stuff. Kaitlyn Armstrong did not kill Miss

1:13:36

Wilson. But you can prove that she

1:13:38

wasn't in that vicinity, that's what you're

1:13:40

saying. I don't have to prove that.

1:13:43

That's not how the system works. I expect

1:13:45

this. The government's own evidence will

1:13:47

acquit Kaitlyn Armstrong. They just haven't looked at

1:13:50

it. Certainly a bold

1:13:52

defense to counter a mammoth amount

1:13:54

of evidence against her. So

1:13:57

why did Kaitlyn Armstrong make

1:13:59

the wildest decision? decision imaginable.

1:14:25

Aiden Armstrong, three weeks to her murder

1:14:27

trial, had a doctor's appointment outside the

1:14:29

jail. Her keepers prepared

1:14:32

her, walked her out toward a waiting

1:14:34

car, and she ran. Ran

1:14:39

from the guards, ran from everyone. For

1:14:42

ten desperate minutes, later

1:14:44

it would turn out she had used a pin

1:14:46

of some sort to undo her handcuffs. The

1:14:50

prosecutor saw this video as more evidence

1:14:52

of her guilt. November

1:14:58

1, 2023. Good

1:15:00

morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Her

1:15:03

trial began. Was

1:15:05

there anything you were worried about particularly getting

1:15:07

across to the jury? You're always worried. Until

1:15:10

it's over. The case

1:15:12

was obviously by and large

1:15:14

a circumstantial case. I think

1:15:16

that term circumstantial often

1:15:19

gets a bad rap or bad

1:15:21

reputation, especially on TV. Now

1:15:25

in real life, Travis County prosecutors

1:15:27

Guillermo Gonzalez and Ricky Jones have

1:15:30

laid out their circumstantial case against

1:15:32

Aiden Armstrong. On November 11,

1:15:35

2022, the long-term court of the U.N.

1:15:43

and Austin Tech, the

1:15:45

last thing Mo did on

1:15:48

this earth was

1:15:50

scream and terror. The

1:15:53

star witness was Colin Strickland, who

1:15:56

did not seem happy to be

1:15:58

there. He wanted

1:16:01

to help. He just did

1:16:03

not enjoy the process at

1:16:05

all. A process that was

1:16:07

not on camera, so we

1:16:10

can't show you Colin telling the

1:16:12

jury about his on-again, off-again relationship

1:16:14

with Caitlin. Certain days was

1:16:16

romance, certain days was business. It

1:16:19

was during one of those off times he

1:16:21

told the jury when he and Mariah got

1:16:23

together. That was in the fall of 2021, and

1:16:27

for just a couple of weeks when

1:16:29

Mariah was visiting Austin, after

1:16:31

Mariah left town, he said he

1:16:33

and Caitlin reconciled, which

1:16:35

was easy because she never moved out of

1:16:37

his house. At

1:16:39

the time of the murder, Colin testified, his

1:16:42

relationship with Caitlin was very

1:16:44

smooth, or so

1:16:46

he thought. But,

1:16:55

meaning that though Colin may have

1:16:57

thought he fooled Caitlin by changing

1:16:59

Mariah's name in his phone contacts

1:17:02

list, Caitlin could easily

1:17:04

see on their shared electronic devices

1:17:06

exactly what Colin was up to.

1:17:09

And the prosecutors alleged she

1:17:12

was essentially stalking Mariah using an

1:17:14

app called Strava, on

1:17:16

which Mariah had been keeping track of her own

1:17:18

bike rides. It can

1:17:20

be used to track your path,

1:17:22

and at your option you can

1:17:25

make that information available

1:17:28

to anyone who wants to see it.

1:17:31

Because Mariah was a gravel racing

1:17:33

star, her profile was public, and

1:17:36

prosecutors told the jury this was of particular

1:17:38

interest on the last day of her life

1:17:40

when she went on an 80 mile bike

1:17:42

ride. Her

1:17:45

workout started and ended at her friend

1:17:47

Caitlin Cash's apartment, and

1:17:49

prosecutors believe that's likely how

1:17:51

Caitlin Armstrong knew Mariah was

1:17:54

in Austin, and exactly

1:17:56

where she was staying. Mariah

1:18:00

Wilson's profile

1:18:04

and activity on Strava on

1:18:06

May the 9th, on May the

1:18:08

10th, and on May the 11th. She's

1:18:11

not a fan. She's

1:18:13

not a fangirl of Mariah Wilson." Which

1:18:16

is why she would be particularly incensed

1:18:19

if she looked at her boyfriend's text

1:18:21

messages with Mariah about making

1:18:23

plans to swim. Then there

1:18:26

was Caitlin's own cell phone data, or

1:18:29

lack thereof. Her phone

1:18:31

stopped pinging at 7.30 p.m.

1:18:33

that fateful evening when

1:18:36

Mariah and Colin were still having dinner.

1:18:39

What did that say to you?

1:18:41

This is a sophisticated, intelligent person

1:18:43

who's aware of the fact that

1:18:45

her phone can be later on

1:18:47

used to incriminate her. She knew

1:18:49

that she could be tracked. And

1:18:52

that's why she turned her phone off, said

1:18:54

the prosecutors. Which she did

1:18:57

know, presumably, is that her jeep was

1:18:59

doing the same thing. It's pretty hard

1:19:01

to escape the technology now, isn't it?

1:19:03

It's everywhere. More

1:19:06

than 40 witnesses helped tell the

1:19:08

prosecution story. Like the

1:19:11

friend who testified that she asked Caitlin

1:19:13

what would happen if Colin started dating

1:19:15

someone new, and Caitlin said, I

1:19:17

would kill her. And then there was

1:19:19

the report of that stay away from my man phone call,

1:19:22

and the photos of Caitlin's plastic surgery, and

1:19:25

the evidence that she'd googled herself while on the

1:19:27

run. The

1:19:30

prosecution even showed video of Caitlin practicing

1:19:32

at a gun range. She

1:19:35

apparently can hit a target at least 20 or

1:19:38

so feet away, which, by the way, is more than

1:19:40

enough of a distance to kill

1:19:42

Mariah Wilson. Two to the head, and she

1:19:44

was laying on the floor, probably already dead.

1:19:46

And for good measure, the defendant walked up

1:19:49

to her and

1:19:51

put another bullet right in her heart. A

1:19:54

ballistics expert testified that the bullets that

1:19:56

were found at the scene were most

1:19:58

likely shot from Caitlin. an Armstrong's

1:20:00

gun. Most likely.

1:20:03

Not absolutely certain. So

1:20:06

you worry about a defense attorney getting up and

1:20:08

saying this is all just circumstantial evidence, you can

1:20:10

ignore it. Of course. Which is what they did.

1:20:13

And in fact, Kaitlin's defense attorney,

1:20:15

Rick Koford, told the jury, there

1:20:17

is a lot of sizzle. There's

1:20:20

not much steak. Why would

1:20:23

you say that? They had a lot

1:20:25

of steak, didn't they? Circumstantial evidence cases

1:20:27

are peculiar. When there's not

1:20:29

an eyewitness, when there's not a

1:20:31

confession, when there's not video of

1:20:33

the actual criminal act. If

1:20:36

you think of it like a

1:20:38

Jenga Tower, the government is trying

1:20:40

to piece together little

1:20:42

different logs of evidence and we're trying

1:20:45

to poke them out. So

1:20:47

Rick Koford went at it, poking out

1:20:49

the pieces, best he could. Starting

1:20:51

with that secondhand account of

1:20:53

Kaitlin's so-called threatening phone call

1:20:56

to Uriah. Kaitlin called

1:20:58

Uriah Wilson once in

1:21:01

October 2021. Probably it was a phone call, something to the extent

1:21:06

of by the by, Collins

1:21:08

Strickland is a little bit of an

1:21:11

ass and I live with him. Is

1:21:14

that so unreasonable? Is that

1:21:16

in the chain? But then there

1:21:18

was that new evidence

1:21:20

that Kaitlin gave the prosecutors just

1:21:23

before the trial. How

1:21:25

badly did it hurt you that she

1:21:27

tried to escape just before the trial?

1:21:30

I think every criminal defense lawyer in America

1:21:32

who saw that, shook their head

1:21:34

and said those guys in Austin, they're

1:21:37

in a load of trouble. At trial,

1:21:39

he explained that Kaitlin Armstrong ran

1:21:41

from her jailers because she was

1:21:44

afraid. Terrified woman, fearful

1:21:49

woman. Same sort of reason

1:21:51

for running to Costa Rica, he told the jury.

1:21:53

Was she scared? What do you think? Do

1:21:57

you think that she may have been concerned

1:21:59

a little bit? bit that her boyfriend

1:22:01

killed someone? If

1:22:03

not that, that whoever killed Mariah Wilson

1:22:05

might want to kill Caitlin Armstrong next?

1:22:09

Now Caitlin Armstrong was a captive

1:22:11

audience. I think you would pass

1:22:13

that verdict to the mail-in-please. And

1:22:15

she was about to find out that

1:22:18

jury's verdict. There's

1:22:24

always more to the story. To

1:22:26

go behind the scenes of tonight's

1:22:29

episode, listen to our Talking Dateline

1:22:31

series with Josh and Keith. Available

1:22:33

Wednesday. Detective

1:22:42

Richard Spittler waited. All

1:22:45

he could do. And

1:22:47

every minute the jury was out

1:22:50

seemed an eternity. I

1:22:52

just had to tell myself, hey, I've done everything

1:22:54

that I possibly can. And now

1:22:56

I just have to put my faith

1:22:58

in the judicial process. But your heart's

1:23:00

flipping away like crazy. Yes, yes,

1:23:03

yes. But this jury only

1:23:05

took 118 minutes. The defendant

1:23:08

will please rise. What was she

1:23:10

thinking? We cannot

1:23:13

know. We, the jury,

1:23:15

found the defendant, Caitlin Armstrong, guilty

1:23:17

of the offense of murder as

1:23:19

alleged in the indictment. Guilty

1:23:22

of murder. In

1:23:25

Texas, defendants get to decide whether the

1:23:27

judge or the jury will determine

1:23:29

their sentence. Caitlin decided this

1:23:32

jury still had work to do.

1:23:35

And so attorneys from both sides addressed

1:23:37

them again. Kofer asked

1:23:39

the jury to consider the possibility that

1:23:42

his client could someday find

1:23:44

redemption. If we're

1:23:46

not allowed at least the opportunity to

1:23:48

atone for our sins, then

1:23:51

we cannot row as a society.

1:23:54

But Prosecutor Gonzalez urged the jury

1:23:56

to hold Caitlin fully accountable for

1:23:59

her crime. And I

1:24:01

submit to you that without accountability there

1:24:03

cannot be redemption

1:24:06

and forgiveness. This is somebody who thought

1:24:08

and had time to calculate and meditate

1:24:10

about what she was about to do.

1:24:14

And all of this is

1:24:17

because of her, because of her action.

1:24:20

The jury had a profound decision

1:24:22

to make. They did not

1:24:24

hold back. We the jury

1:24:27

assess her punishment at confinement in the

1:24:29

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional

1:24:31

Division for a period of 90

1:24:34

years. 90

1:24:36

years in prison. But

1:24:39

there was one more thing before the

1:24:41

bailiff escorted her away. Mariah's

1:24:44

friends and family had said very

1:24:46

little since her death their silence

1:24:48

and expression of how deep their

1:24:50

pain was. But now

1:24:53

they let it out. Caitlin, I

1:24:57

want you to know that I fought for

1:25:00

Mo with everything I had that

1:25:02

night. The friend who

1:25:04

found Mo on her bathroom floor, Caitlin

1:25:07

Cash. This

1:25:26

is deep sadness for the road ahead that

1:25:28

Mo's family must continue to walk.

1:25:32

Mo's mother, Karen. I

1:25:34

hate what you did to my beautiful daughter. It

1:25:38

was very selfish and cowardly. But

1:25:42

I didn't act. It

1:25:45

was cowardly because

1:25:47

you never chose to face

1:25:49

her woman's woman in

1:25:52

a civil conversation. She

1:25:54

would have listened. She

1:25:57

was an amazing listener. And

1:26:00

then it was timed. As

1:26:26

Armstrong was now remanded to the

1:26:28

custody of the Travis County Sheriff's

1:26:30

Office beginning of the execution of

1:26:32

sentence. She

1:26:36

will almost certainly never

1:26:39

be free again. Outside

1:26:42

the courtroom, Mariah's father Eric said,

1:26:45

what Mariah might have said, given

1:26:47

the way she was. This

1:26:50

sad story is a perfect example of

1:26:52

why integrity and honesty

1:26:54

are crucial in our

1:26:57

personal relationships and

1:26:59

how dishonesty can often

1:27:01

lead to unintended consequences.

1:27:05

Selfless manipulation, jealousy, and

1:27:08

hatred never lead to positive outcomes. In

1:27:12

the postscript, Colin

1:27:15

Strickland, that celebrated

1:27:17

world-class cyclist, has

1:27:19

given up the sport of gravel racing. Murder

1:27:22

makes many victims, many

1:27:25

ways. I have

1:27:27

personally seen Colin become a

1:27:29

much more private person who

1:27:31

has moved more inward

1:27:34

with his life. On her

1:27:36

friend Christopher's podcast recorded not long before

1:27:38

she died, Mariah Wilson was

1:27:41

posed a lighthearted question by

1:27:43

Christopher's co-host and what

1:27:45

an answer she gave. poignant

1:28:00

now than it was. And it's

1:28:02

a great answer either way, because it doesn't want

1:28:04

to just like, you know, be able to savor

1:28:07

some special time in your life or memory. And

1:28:10

she recognized that as a special time. Mm-hmm.

1:28:13

If only she could have

1:28:16

stopped time. That's

1:28:20

all for now. I'm Lester Holt.

1:28:23

Thanks for joining us. Hee

1:28:30

hee hee hee.