The Murder of Mo

0:13 Discretion advice. This is ten minute murder. Anna Mariah Wilson, known as Moe, grew up surrounded by people with a deep love for sports. Her entire family was athletic in some way, and as a young child, Moe quickly fell in love with competitive cycling. She was also a talented skier, but cycling was the sports that she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing. Even after graduating from high school and then receiving her Bachelor's of Engineering degree, cycling was at the center of Moe's life, and eventually she was able to launch into a career as a professional gravel cyclist. In late twenty twenty one, Moe had a fling with another professional gravel cyclist, world champion, Colin Strickland. Even though the two shared a deep passion for the sport, the romantic part of the relationship quickly ended. But while Moe and Colin were quick to move on, Colin's ex girlfriend, Caitlyn Armstrong was not.

1:37 Colin and Caitlin, who was a relator and yogurt teacher from Michigan, had an on again, off again kind of relationship. During one of their separations, Colin started dating Mo but afterwards he decided to get back together with Caitlin. On the eleventh of May twenty twenty two, Moe was staying at a friend's house in Austin, Texas, while preparing to compete in a cycling race. While she was in town, she decided to meet up with Colin. The pair traveled to the Deep Eddy pulled together for a swim, and then had dinner together before Colin dropped her back off at her friend's house. Before leaving to see Mo, Colin lied to Caitlin about where he was going, hoping that she would not find out that he was meeting up with Moe.

2:19 However, after using her laptop to look at his messages, Caitlyn managed to use the exercise app Strava to track his location. Only a couple of hours later, Moe's friend Caitlin Cash got home and found Moe lying in a pool of blood on the tiled bathroom floor. This, by the way, is a different Caitlyn spelled with the sea instead of a K. She dialed nine one one, telling the operator quote, I can't tell what happened. She's not awake and there's blood all over her face. When first responders arrived at the house, they pronounced Mo dead at the scene. Mo's autopsy revealed that her cause of death was blood loss due to multiple gunshot wounds, one to the chest and two to the head. The angle and positioning of the bullet holes revealed that she had been shot while lying face up on the floor, in the same position where her body was later found. Several nine millimeter casings were found at the scene, but the gun that was used to shoot Mo was nowhere to be found. Now that investigators knew that Moe had been murdered, it became crucial to find out who had been in and out of the house before Caitlin Cash arrived home at nine forty five. Police were able to recover footage from several neighborhood surveillance cameras which showed Colin Strickland pulling up outside the address and dropping Moe off. It was clear from the footage that Colin remained in the vehicle, he had not followed Moe inside, and he had not returned to the property after leaving. However, less than two minutes after Moe

3:51 had gone inside the house, a second vehicle had been captured near the address, a black twenty twelve jeep Grand cherry Key, identical to the car that Caitlyn Armstrong drove. Initially, Colin told the police that he didn't know Mo, but after a while he admitted that the two of them were still romantically linked, and that he often deleted text messages from his phone to prevent Caitlin from finding out. And to pause the story really quick, if you've ever find yourself in Colin's situation here, which I hope and pray that you never do. But Colin is asked by the police if he knows Mo. He says he does not, when they know he definitely knows Mo. Doing that only makes him look like he's hiding something He's guilty in some way. So if you ever find yourself in that situation, do not lie tot the police, especially about something that they already know. They're just asking to see what you say to gauge whether or not you could be a suspect. It makes the investigation go by smoother, and the police were able to focus on the possibility of who actually committed the crime. Okay, back to the story.

4:57 Despite Colin's best attempts at hiding his infidel, Caitlyn found out and she was willing to do anything to make sure that Colin and Moe could no longer see each other. The police received an anonymous tip from somebody close to Caitlin, claiming that shortly after finding out about Colin and Moe's continued relationship, Caitlyn expressed interest in buying a gun. The jeep's plates were traced and investigators confirmed that the car was registered to Caitlin and Colin's address. On the twelfth of May, police searched the property and recovered Caitlyn's firearm, a nine millimeter handgun, which matched the casings that had been found with Moe's body. On that same day, coincidentally, Caitlyn was arrested due to an unrelated misdemeanor theft warrant.

5:44 Four years prior. She had gotten botox done and left the SPA without paying for her treatment. The police questioned her, but then released her immediately afterwards because of an error that caused her recorded date of birth in the police database not to match the one printed on the outstanding warrant. It was only a technicality, but it meant that Caitlin was free to leave. The following day, she went to a dealership and sold the jeep Cherokee. After that, she began the process of fleeing the country altogether. On the fourteenth of May, Caitlyn got on a flight to New York and visited her sister Christine. She spent four days there before boarding a flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, but the ticket was under Christine's name instead of her own. From then on, Caitlyn stopped using her own name, instead introduced herself as Ari and using the full name Alison Page. She arrived in Santa Teresa, a small beach town located west of San Jose, and booked accommodation at a surf and yoga lodge called Don John's. Caitlyn tried to blend in with the other travelers, working on her laptop on the lodge's patio and going out for drinks with the other guests in the evening. Despite going by a different name, Caitlin was still concerned that she would be recognized. There was a warrant out for her arrest, and the Austin Police Force had asked the US Marshals for their assistance in locating her, and on the twentieth of May, the Marshals released a wanted poster with Caitlyn's picture on it. So after spending a few weeks

7:15 in Santa Teresa, Caitlyn made a trip back to San Jose, where she dropped thousands of dollars on plastic surgery to change the appearance of her face. By late June, the US Marshals were closing in and they had started to interview locals and travelers staying in Santa Teresa. According to CBS News, who interviewed one of the US marshals signed to tracking her down, he said, quote, we decided we were going to put out an ad or multiple ads for a yoga instructor and see what would happen. Those Craigslist ads appeared to pay off. Less than a week later, they were able to locate Caitlyn sitting outside Don Johns on the patio. One of the marshals who apprehended Caitlin initially didn't recognize her due to to the plastic surgery, saying quote, Initially it didn't appear to be her, but as I got closer, I realized it was her. It appeared she had a bandage on her nose and her lips were a bit swollen. Her hair was a little bit lighter. The marshals escorted Caitlyn to the closest jail before she was extradited back to the United States. On the eleventh of October twenty twenty three, only a few weeks before the trial, Caitlyn attempted to escape from law enforcement a second time.

8:28 She was escorted out of jail by several corrections officers to go to a medical appointment, but after her appointment was finished, she was able to break free, removing the restraints from one of her hands and sprinting away from the officers. While she was running, Caitlyn ripped down her jailed pants, revealing that she was wearing thermals underneath in a hope to be less recognizable. After her path was blocked by a six foot tall fence, Caitlyn attempted to climate and was grabbed by one of the corrections officers in pursuit. It was pretty clear that the escape attempt was not spontaneous. In fact, prison staff had noticed Caitlyn exercising vigorously for months before her escape attempt, doing squats in her cell, practicing hours of yoga, and running as much as she was able to.

9:15 Caitlyn also made sure to complain about an injury that would guarantee her leaving to go see a doctor without any restraints on her legs. A search of her jail cell revealed a thin, sharp piece of metal, which investigators believe that she used to remove one of her handcuffs. With Caitlyn's attempted escape failing, the trial's opening statements began on the first of November. More than twenty witnesses testified, including one of Caitlyn's close friends, Nicole Mertz. Nicole told the court that during a conversation with Caitlyn, she asked her what she would do if Colin ever started dating someone else. Seriously, Caitlyn had been quick to reply, I would kill her. The trial concluded on the sixteenth of November, when after only a couple of hours of deliberation, the jury reached their verdict. Caitlin Armstrong was guilty of Moe Wilson's murder and received a ninety year prison sentence. During the trial's punishment phase, Moe's mother told the jury quote from the day she was born, Moe had a force in her.

10:16 She lived as if every day was her last day, and she lived it so fully. She never wasted any time. It's as if she knew her life would be short. That's ten minute Murder for today, brief and bingeable true crime. My name is Joe, I'm the host, and thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to listen to ten Minute Murder. If you're on to the next episode, you're on a binge, don't let me stop you. But if you're new to listening to ten Minute Murder, take the time now to subscribe to the podcast. That will more easily help you catch up on all of the back episodes and all the new ones will be right there in your face when you open the app to listen.

11:13 If you like this episode, leave a rating and review on Apple, Spotify, Audible, any place that that's possible. Your positive feedback helps the show grow. You can go to ten minute Murder dot com for all things related to the podcast and coming up on the next episode of ten Minute Murder, let me tell you what that story is going to be about. As a matter of fact, let me just read you what's written here, and this is what's going to be in the episode description, so that you know exactly which one you're listening for. A killer stalked the streets of nineteen nineties apartheid South Africa, targeting vulnerable women and leaving a trail of brutality behind him, using a front and the promise of a potential job to lure his victims. In this twisted, sadistic murderer perpetrated the life of pain that seemed to follow him like a dark cloud. Right, it sounds pretty interesting, so do not miss that one coming up on the next episode of Ten Minute Murder.

12:05 And that's going to do it for today. Thank you so much for listening to Ten Minute Murder.