Crime Crime News Courts & Trials Kaitlin Armstrong 'Said in So Many Words She Wanted To Kill' Romantic Rival, Friend Testifies Kaitlin Armstrong is accused of murdering cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson, who briefly dated Armstrong's on-again, off-again boyfriend By Christine Pelisek Christine Pelisek Christine Pelisek is a senior crime writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2014. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on November 16, 2023 10:21AM EST Close Kaitlin Armstrong; Mo Wilson. Photo: U.S. Department of Justice Professional cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson, 25, arrived in Austin, Texas, to compete in the 157-mile Gravel Locos bicycle race on May 10, 2022. The following day, Wilson went on a three-hour cycle before meeting up with fellow professional cyclist Colin Strickland. The cyclists went for a swim at Deep Eddy swimming pool. After that, they shared a meal and rum drinks at the nearby Pool Burger café before Strickland dropped Wilson off at her friend’s home around 8:30 p.m. Just over an hour later, Wilson’s friend would find the up and coming gravel racer fatally shot in her bathroom. “The last thing Mo did on this earth was scream,” Travis County Assistant District Attorney Rickey Jones told jurors during opening statements in the trial of 35-year-old Kaitlin Armstrong, who is accused of the targeted killing of Wilson, who briefly dated Armstrong’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Strickland, 36, during a split in the fall of 2021. Armstrong has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. “Those screams are followed by two gunshots," said Jones. "One is to the front of the head and one to the side of the head. [Then] four or five seconds of silence while Kaitlin Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and then put a third shot right into Mo Wilson’s heart.” Prosecutors claim Armstrong — who a friend testified was bitterly jealous of Wilson — not only followed Wilson’s movements on a fitness tracking app but began to monitor her whereabouts on social media in the days before the killing. On the day Wilson arrived in Austin, Armstrong looked her up four times on the Strava fitness app, authorities claim, and again the next day at 4:54 p.m. — five minutes after Strickland and Wilson exchanged a text message before meeting up that evening, per prosecutors. Kaitlin Armstrong. City of Austin Police Department Later that night, Caitlin Cash, the friend Wilson was staying with while in Austin, came home from dinner at 9:54 p.m. and found Wilson lying on the bathroom floor. “I can’t tell what’s happened,” she told a 911 operator. “She is not awake, and there is blood all over her face.” Video Shows Love Triangle Murder Suspect Kaitlin Armstrong Fleeing from Officers After Doctor’s Appointment Called to the scene, police quickly traced a Jeep Grand Cherokee allegedly seen outside the house on surveillance footage to the home that Armstrong and Strickland shared, where, after obtaining a search warrant on May 12, they allegedly found a 9mm handgun belonging to Armstrong, which authorities allege is linked to the crime scene. For more on the Kaitlin Armstrong case, subscribe now to PEOPLE, or pick up this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. Two days after the killing, Armstrong flew to New York then boarded a flight to Costa Rica. She was located there at a hostel in Santa Teresa by U.S. marshals on June 29 and brought back to Austin, where she was charged with murder. Yoga Instructor Accused in Love Triangle Killing Tracked Victim on Fitness App, Shot Her in Heart: Prosecutor “[She’s] a woman trapped in a nightmare of circumstantial evidence,” said Geoffrey Puryear, an attorney for Armstrong, during opening statements. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. At trial last week, Armstrong’s friend Nicole Mertz testified that when Wilson traveled to Austin for a week and spent time with Strickland in late October 2021, Armstrong was visibly angry when Wilson arrived at a local restaurant where Armstrong’s and Strickland’s friends had gathered. “I asked Kaitlin if Colin ever started dating anyone else seriously, what would she do? And she said, ‘I would kill her,'” Mertz said. Another of Armstrong's friends, Jacqueline Chasteen, testified that Armstrong was “shaking” after she saw Wilson at a restaurant in Arkansas in Jan. 2022. “She said in so many words she wanted to kill her,” Chasteen testified. Armstrong declined to testify in her own defense, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Closing arguments are expected for Thursday. • With reporting by KRISTEN O'BRIEN