Kaitlin Armstrong Found Guilty of Murder in the Killing of Cyclist Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson

After just two hours of deliberation by a jury in the trial of Kaitlin Armstrong, who was accused of shooting and killing Moriah ‘Mo’ Wilson last May, the jury found her guilty.

“I’ve never seen so much evidence in my life against one person,” said Assistant District Attorney Rick Jones as he delivered his closing argument. He then reviewed all of the evidence against Armstrong.

Evidence included ballistics reports, autopsy results, video from outside of the apartment that heard Wilson’s screams followed by two gunshots, then a third, witnesses telling the jury how Armstrong said she wanted to kill Wilson, DNA evidence from Armstrong found on the bike, GPS data from Armstrong’s Jeep (recovered after being sold the day prior to her leaving Texas for New York and then Costa Rica), and cell phone data showing Armstrong tracked Wilson on Strava. Her two escapes—her flight to Costa Rica and subsequent Google searches and rhinoplasty—and her escape attempt last month—were also discussed. Over the course of the trial, 38 witnesses were called for the prosecution.

You can see how the trial unfolded since October 30, 2023 in detail here.

In the defenses’ closing argument, defense attorney Rick Cofer argues primarily that the evidence around Armstrong was ‘circumstantial’ and based on ‘assumptions, agenda and bias’ on the part of the investigative team.

Defense Attorney Geoffrey Puryear, who took over midway through the closing statements, also appeared to reverse his opening statement where he said the defense would prove that Armstrong went to Costa Rica because she loved travel and yoga. Instead, he suggested she fled out of fear and due to stress. He compared her flight (not mentioning the use of a different passport) to Strickland going to his father’s house around the same time.

The defense also pointed towards Colin Strickland several times. Alex Caprariello recapped some of their statements here:

The defense attorney made some awkward jokes and imitations of the police in the initial interview with Armstrong, asking ‘Is this a joke?’ He then moved on to add that “not guilty” doesn’t have to mean “innocent.”

“They’re spirited and they tried really hard,” said the Court TV commentator regarding the defense as the judge called for a 15 minute recess as a juror asked for a break.

Puryear then concluded by talking about about how Austin loves salsa, that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west—things we know to be true—“but that Kaitlin Armstrong is a murderer? Do we know that? Are we certain? Do we know that for sure?” as his conclusion.

You can watch the closing arguments here:

The jury began deliberation at 12:16 PM EST, and the Court TV commentators were quick to joke that they expected deliberations to take mere minutes before coming back with a guilty verdict.

In reality, the jury took just over two hours to come back with the guilty verdict. The defense requested a poll of the jurors as to Armstrong's guilt, which was completed.

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