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[Music] here with the fabulous Mo Wilson you are like ready I'm ready I'm so excited to
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be here um feels like the first big race of the year so um yeah I'm ready to kick
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it off I'm still getting better I'm still learning it's an exciting time there's
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still so much for me to learn her name was Mariah but everybody called her Mo my name is polar Melendez and I am a
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senior reporter with The Daily Beast funny and friendly and smart and driven Mo was a rising star she
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graduated from Dartmouth and Engineering everyone thought she was about to make her big break in cycling
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[Music] I have always relied on other people to push [Music] myself what happened to Mo was a
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tragedy they found Mo inside the residence it was pretty grizzly scene she had been
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shot multiple times at first detectives thought it was a robbery you're looking into this possibility of a robbery or a
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burglary but parallel to that there is this name Colin Strickland my name is Colin Strickland I
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am a bicycle racer Colin Strickland was a top biker and he was also friends with
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Mo I mean Colin you know he was an interesting character had a lot of like you know cool qualities about him
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motorcycled professional athlete I mean Colin had dated like a few girls in the cycling scene you know girlfriends here
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and there but you know pretty standard stuff Colin's relationship with Mo like was like they were both bike racers they
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had like a romantic relationship there had definitely been something romantic between
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them colins said they had broken up the situation was complicated there was another woman in
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colins Lake her name was Caitlyn Armstrong Caitlyn you know first impressions she was really nice Globe
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hopping around the world was you know really interested in yoga like very attractive person uh both inside and out
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at least the Caitlyn and I you know initially knew homicide detectives were very
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interested in talking to Caitlyn Armstrong he's starting to get this sense that there could be some jealousy
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to it she has a gun few things like that start to paint a picture of like it could definitely be
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her we were still trying to figure out are they going to have enough information to sit down and scratch out
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a warrant at this point she kind of disappears no one knows where she [Applause]
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is Caitlyn Armstrong vanished seeming in a thin air sparking what would become an
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international Manhunt first leading authorities across the United States and then eventually here to the beaches of
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Costa Rica along the way she used multiple identities and changed her appearance even getting plastic
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surgery how smart was Caitlyn Armstrong she did some pretty intelligent things the thing that people don't know is you
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don't have to be just smarter than 1 2 three or four of us cuz there's a team of 20 plus people you have to be smarter
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than a lot of people to get away with it it almost worked it almost worked [Music]
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[Music] hello I'm here with the fabulous Mo Wilson you are like ready I'm ready ready in March of 2022 upand cominging
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PR gravel bike racer 25-year-old Anna Mariah Wilson known as Mo to some appeared on the pre-ride show an online
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program about cycling so excited to be here um feels like the first big race of the year so um yeah I'm ready to kick it
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off just two months later Mariah was found murdered the news shocking the cycling
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Community I don't think anybody could really believe it at first you know why would anybody want to hurt or harm or
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kill this lovely talented young woman Lisa gosin Len is the editor of Vermont Sports magazine and Vermont ski and Ride
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magazine she's also a CBS News consultant Mariah Wilson right there coming in Lynn had been following Mariah
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Wilson's career for many months before her tragic death is all Mariah Wilson as she is snaking through into the finish
00:06:05
of Mariah was pretty much winning every race that she entered Mariah Wilson the winner of round one of winning or
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finishing in the top two and the races that she entered were top tier first place Mo Wilson Mariah had the potential
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to be one of the top bike racers definitely in the country and probably in the world MO
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phenomenal race remarkably Lynn says that Mariah was new to the procycling world her first Passion had been
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downhill ski racing a love shared by her close-knit family she was born into a family of really great athletes her
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father Eric had been on the US ski team and Mariah's Aunt actually was a two-time Olympic Nordic ski racer and
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it's no surprise that Mariah was drawn to outdoor Endurance Sports she was raised in Northern Vermont next to
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Kingdom Trails a mecca for skiers and mountain bikers and that was her playground
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Mariah attended Burke Mountain Academy an elite ski school that produced Olympic rates like two-time gold
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medalist Michaela schiffren Mariah had hoped to make the US ski team but knee injuries eventually ended her skiing
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career that's when she switched Sports she had used cycling as a way for rehabbing and kind of building back her
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strength what was fascinating to me was she then went on to Dartmouth she got an
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engineering degree and after doing that she went to her mother and said hey Mom I think I want to be a professional
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cyclist and Mariah told the podcast we got to hang out that she wanted to do much more than just win
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races how can I inspire people how can I give back to the cycling Community how can I bring more people into the sport
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how can I make it more inclusive like I want to find meaning purpose in cycling that goes like far beyond the the
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result Mariah eventually moved to San Francisco where she focused on cycling and quickly Rose to the top of the sport
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Mariah was forging her own path she knew what she wanted to do and she was working hard to pursue
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[Music] it on May 10th 2022 just one week before her 26th birthday Mariah arrived in Austin Texas
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to prepare for the gravel Loos bike race a race she was favored to win Mariah stayed with a close friend in
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this Austin apartment but the next evening just before 1 p.m. the friend returned home
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and discovered Mariah who had been shot multiple times she called 911 she's laying on the bathroom floor and there's
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blood everywhere Mariah's friend tried CPR but it was too late it sound like started off near the door and went
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backwards like she was trying to get away or there was some sort of struggle or Austin police officers Mark McLoud
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and Jonathan Riley worked the case from the beginning whoever shot her at that point stood over top of her and shot her
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at least once Char you're in apartment investigators wondered who could have murdered this promising young athlete as
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they canvas the immediate area police discovered a possible clue I2 all located the bike Mariah's expensive
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racing bicycle had been discarded in the bushes so that point okay is this a burglary a robbery gone wrong but that
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theory was quickly dismissed because there was no sign of a Breakin then police learned that just hours before
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Mariah was found murdered at around 8:30 p.m. she had been dropped off by another
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professional bike racer named Colin Strickland so obviously the focus would be who's this Callin
00:10:01
Strickland Colin Strickland was a very good gravel racer he was at the top Echelon Colin Strickland who was 35 was
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considered a Pioneer in the sport he had won some of the most prestigious races and was sponsored by the industry's top
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brands like Red Bull my name is Colin Strickland I am a bicycle racer and general
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Entertainer in 2020 he appeared in an online video called Wahoo Frontiers about his long and successful career
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pretty early on I looked up to Colin when I was coming up in the scene please welcome for Chris
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T Chris T is friends with Colin Strickland they met on the racetrack he was the one to beat he loved to kind of
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create a show around bike racing uh kind of selling bike racing he was really passionate about
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it and tally said although his friend had been popular with women he eventually became serious with a woman
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named Caitlyn Armstrong however in a social media post after the crime Strickland wrote that about six months
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before Mariah's murder during a short breakup with Armstrong he did have a brief romantic relationship with Mariah
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that spanned a week or so he said that it ended and their relationship had turned into a platonic and professional
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one he just wanted to be friends with like someone who was going to do great things in cycling
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the day after Mariah's murder police visited and spoke to Colin Strickland at his home my personal take was he was
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being very Cooperative being very forthcoming um obviously he was in shock being very transparent very transparent
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yeah an investigators say when he agreed to go down to the police station to be interviewed he didn't seem to hold back
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when telling them about the day he spent with Mariah a day that would end up being her last that day in May it was
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hot in the80s and this story started with a swim right here it's a famous old outdoor pool and Colin Strickland told
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detectives he took the victim Mo Wilson on the back of his motorcycle here to cool off they went swimming then they
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got food Mariah and Strickland are seen here on the restaurant's security camera
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I know he's being transparent at this point during this questioning but what he's saying is starting to sound a lot
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like a date oh yeah 100% investigators had a lot of questions and their prior visit to
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Strickland's home had raised even more on the night of Mariah's murder police discovered an important clue on video
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from a neighbor security camera the video was taken just one minute after Mariah was dropped off there's a video
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from a ring doorbell camera that clearly shows like a black SUV with a bike rack
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can't see the license plate because of the bike rack on it so it was obviously like we need to focus on this and a
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vehicle that fit that description was outside Strickland's house who was driving the black Jeep SUV with the bike
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rack the answer would lead directly to another woman [Music] the day after Mariah Wilson's murder
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investigators quickly had an answer to who could have been driving that black Jeep that was seen on security cameras
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shortly before her death investigators had spotted a similar looking Jeep in Colin Strickland's driveway when they
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spoke to him they see a black jeep with the bike rack on the back of it so at that point we run the license plate and
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it comes back that it's registered to Caitlin Armstrong Caitlyn Armstrong Colin Strickland's
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Girlfriend Chris T says he knew her very well you know we connected pretty early
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on Caitlyn and I became friends they were both from the Midwest we kind of had a similar uh like upbringing and so
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I think that kind of uh you know helped us become like even better friends she'd
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come over to parties I would have Armstrong had a background in finance and loved yoga she had a really strong
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you know kind of uh you know love for travel love you know she spent time pretty much you know glob hopping around
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the world really you know kind of interesting person Armstrong got certified as a yoga instructor in Bali
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after she met Colin Strickland in 2019 she also started getting into cycling he was very willing to kind of show her you
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know what his passions were and how passionate he was for cycling and and you know get her involved with it and
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she also became you know kind of addicted to cycling along with Colin Armstrong even started racing on an an
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amateur level at the end of the day like I feel like they had a pretty like normal relationship they both ride bikes
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together they would you know do fun stuff and you know then 2020 happened and the pandemic started so everyone was
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kind of you know forced with uh you know Close Quarters with their significant others the couple eventually moved in
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together the moment I I saw the relationship become more serious is you know they talked about uh that they
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purchased a house recently uh together which I thought you know was a pretty big indication that it's a you know a
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serious relationship they also start started a business together restoring classic trailers I think she was helping
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with the finance side of things Colin was doing a lot of the operations their relationship went from you know just a
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normal couple to also owning a business together but things got bumpy in late 2021 the breakup I personally didn't
00:15:48
know like they were split up at the time neither of them mentioned anything to me
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it was during this time that Colin Strickland and Mariah Wilson had briefly dated although Strickland had said they
00:16:00
had broken It Off Mariah seemed confused in the aftermath po Melendez covered the case
00:16:06
for The Daily Beast around this time I think Mo was pretty confused about her the status of her relationship with
00:16:13
Colin and she literally wrote this weekend was strange for me if you just want to be friends that's cool honestly
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my mind has been going in circles it sounds like someone who's in her early 20s who just wants to know the status of
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her relationship with someone that's confusing her and it seems totally reasonable that she might be
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confused Strickland had a lot to say about his relationship with Caitlyn Armstrong he starts to portray her as
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being the jealous type even saying things like I can't keep people in my phone like Mo's not in my phone as Mo
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Strickland told investigators he kept Mariah's phone number under an alias in his contacts and on that evening after
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he'd been out with Mariah at the pool he texted Armstrong that he'd been running
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an errand and that his phone had died that was not true investigators say there were other
00:17:10
Clues pointing toward Caitlyn Armstrong on the night of the murder Caitlyn Armstrong's phone was not
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connected to a cell network not connected correct so whether she powered it off whether she put it in Airplane
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Mode uh there's some something happened that her phone was not communicating with any cell phone towers do you think
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this was on purpose absolutely in this day and age if your phone is off and not connected to a network you're either the
00:17:41
victim of a crime or you're probably committing one a silent phone speaks louder in some cases than actions oh
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absolutely Strickland also shared that he had bought handguns for Armstrong and himself for personal
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security he talks about how they purchase guns and that there are these two guns and that she has a gun um
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they've taken lessons and that th these guns are back at the house and so few things like that start to paint a
00:18:10
picture of like this could it could definitely be her police worked quickly that same day investigators picked
00:18:17
Caitlyn Armstrong up on an old warrant for failing to pay for a Botox treatment she's just kind of sitting there and
00:18:25
she's not showing very much emotion at all what were you doing yesterday I would like to leave I think typically
00:18:31
when we see some interviews going on and if you didn't do it this is your like you're going to be like you know not me
00:18:38
not it I want out of this room what do you want to know so you don't come back looking for me and there was none of
00:18:43
that is there any explanation as far as why the vehicle would be over there I would like to leave she was almost
00:18:50
completely disinterested in in hearing what the detectives had to say so it sounds like this is a big red flag
00:18:57
immediately oh oh absolutely but investigators had to let Armstrong go there was a problem Armstrong's birth
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date did not match the date on the warrant so the warrant wasn't valid and police didn't have enough to charge her
00:19:10
with anything else 2 days after that interview police got an unexpected call it was from a
00:19:19
friend of Caitlyn Armstrong police say the caller told them that Armstrong was so angry about Strickland's relationship
00:19:26
with Mariah that she wanted to kill her it was yet another indication that they were on the right
00:19:32
track a few days later an arrest warrant was issued but when police went looking
00:19:37
for Caitlyn Armstrong she was [Music] gone after Caitlyn Armstrong vanished US Marshall got the job of
00:19:59
tracking her down plain and simply the Marshals are manhunters Chris godik hosts and
00:20:08
produces a podcast with the US Marshall service I'm Chris godik and this is chasing
00:20:15
evil his podcast tells the stories of some of the US Marshals biggest cases including the hunt for Caitlyn
00:20:24
Armstrong nobody thought Caitlyn Armstrong was going to run and she surprised the ball she disappeared
00:20:30
Caitlyn Armstrong ran from a murder charge but the US Marshals Lone Star fugitive task force had a different
00:20:38
plan so take me through this where do you begin when you're looking for somebody that does not want to be found
00:20:45
you know it depends on the case honestly we look for friends sometimes we look for family one of the things that I did
00:20:52
was collect as many photos as I could Damen Fernandez and Amir Perez are Deputy US Marshals
00:20:59
they joined Austin police officers Jonathan Riley and Mark McLoud on the case the team based in Texas is known as
00:21:08
the Lone Star fugitive task force with no sign of Caitlyn Armstrong the task force suspected Armstrong may have left
00:21:16
town headed for her sister christe's place in Upstate New York we were thinking maybe she's
00:21:22
driving cross country we didn't know their instincts were right in Upstate New York another Deputy Marshall managed
00:21:29
to track down Armstrong's sister what did the sister say the sister ultimately said that her sister had come to visit
00:21:37
her had stayed with her a couple of days but that she had dropped her off at the
00:21:41
airport in New York and uh last she heard she was going to board a flight back to Austin but then called her back
00:21:49
later and said that she decided that she was going to drive back and which made absolutely no sense
00:21:57
to any of us that you would just drive back when the task force checked outbound flights at Newark Airport No
00:22:06
Reservations have been made in Caitlyn Armstrong's name we never got a hit on Caitlyn Armstrong's passport but the
00:22:13
team had a hunch unaware because christe told the deputy Marshall in New York that she didn't know where her passport
00:22:20
was so they checked with their contact at Homeland Security and within minutes of reaching out to him he got back to me
00:22:26
and he's like yeah we're showing a Christy Armstrong traveled out of nework New Jersey International Airport on a
00:22:32
one-way flight to Costa Rica you knew it and I said there's no way that the sister left and we're looking for her we
00:22:40
can't find Caitlyn no that's Caitlyn the Marshall suspected that Caitlyn Armstrong had used her sister's
00:22:48
passport to flee Christy Armstrong later emphasized to authorities she did not give her sister the passport she has
00:22:55
never been charged with any crime related to this case [Music] [Music] and this is where Caitlyn Armstrong
00:23:10
landed Costa Rica Gem of Central America home to mountains tropical rainforests and white sand beaches as far as the eye
00:23:20
can see but she didn't spend much time here in San Jose shortly after arriving Caitlyn AR Armstrong disappeared again
00:23:31
and she had a huge lead on the US [Applause] Marshals Marshall's Amir Perez and Damen
00:23:38
Fernandez arrived in Costa Rica a month after Armstrong this is you guys now on the
00:23:46
hunt how intense is it once you touch down in Costa Rica what happens you're on a timeline I hear timeline and I hear
00:23:55
the pressure's on pressure's on I know we were sitting in the plane and we're talking what's the game
00:24:01
plan although they would have help from the Costa Rican authorities and US state
00:24:06
department officers on the ground they knew finding Armstrong was going to be a big challenge we had other intelligence
00:24:14
indicating that she was staying in hostels in Costa Rica and I don't know if you know anything about Costa Rica
00:24:21
but Costa Rica has a lot of hostiles a lot an unbelievable amount of hostiles the marshals wouldn't tell us exactly
00:24:30
how their intelligence gathering worked but their team back in the States had managed to track down the phone number
00:24:36
for an American businessman they believed had connected with Caitlyn Armstrong at some point we didn't know
00:24:43
what city he was in so we decided hey let's just cold call him so we call him and we're on the conference room he
00:24:48
answers and we're like hey it's the US Marshals U my name is Mark and he goes I don't want any click just hangs up like
00:24:54
it's a like a Tark Tark a scam call yeah after three or four call attempts the businessman finally stayed on the line
00:25:03
to answer the Marshall's questions and we actually end up sending a picture of Caitlyn while we're on the phone with
00:25:09
him he looks at it and he goes yes but she doesn't look like that and she not using that name and did he tell you her
00:25:17
new name he did it was B going by B and the businessman said Armstrong no longer looked like this she
00:25:26
had cut her hair and changed it color went Brown instead of red she dyed her hair the businessman told the marshals
00:25:34
he had no idea that the woman who called herself Beth was actually Caitlyn Armstrong but he did tell them where
00:25:41
they might find her he's like well I met her at a yoga studio in hako this is hako a popular tourist
00:25:53
destination known for its nightlife and its beaches and the perfect place to hi hied it was the Marshall's first real
00:26:00
tip so they rushed out here they canvased the area comb through hours of surveillance video but could
00:26:08
not find a single sign of Caitlyn Armstrong anywhere it was a bust but the marshals have one more
00:26:18
solid lead and that takes them to a beautiful touristy Beach Town one street town called Santa Teresa
00:26:42
[Music] one month after Caitlyn Armstrong disappeared the US Marshals were in Hot
00:26:56
Pursuit of her and in another area of Costa Rica a source had suggested she might
00:27:03
have gone to a small village on the Pacific coast the marshals took a fery like this one to reach a remote
00:27:10
Peninsula once there they drove by car through those mountains to the Tiny Town of Santa Teresa but when they finally
00:27:17
arrived they ran into an unexpected problem get to Santa Teresa was it easy to identify her there
00:27:28
from the other people that were there I think from the GetGo we were told you're
00:27:33
going to be in for a surprise cuz a lot of the women in Santa Teresa look just like K A lot of them and it turns out
00:27:41
that advice was right the town was full of foreign tourists Deputy Marshalls Fernandez and
00:27:48
Perez arrived in Santa Teresa after dark so we get there and he starts walking down a main strip that's there uh like
00:27:57
down the street only one road on on that town and he sees Main Road he sees a girl and he says you know that looks
00:28:04
just like her well couple of minutes later we see another one and it's late at night and we're like well oh man
00:28:11
that's too and then there's another one as the marshals tried to find Armstrong they even had one of their
00:28:18
female operatives start going to yoga classes to see if they could spot her she actually did three different
00:28:25
classes for us and they Captain to local contacts oh yeah we made friends with people there that would send us pictures
00:28:34
oh look I I think I saw her at this restaurant yesterday and she's in the back in the background of a photo that I
00:28:40
took stuff like that in fact people had seen Caitlyn Armstrong at local spots in Santa Teresa
00:28:48
but they didn't realize who she was Armstrong was hiding in plain sight using different
00:28:55
names she had like multiple names yeah um she came inth um Beth it wasn't Beth Ari Ari Ari Ari right so she came in as
00:29:06
Ari Greg Haber is an American from the New York area who owns a restaurant called Cook's Smokehouse and bar here in
00:29:12
Santa Teresa Ari what did Ari look like did she stand out to you pretty came in introduced herself as a yoga teacher
00:29:21
which is basically anybody else down here hey I moved here teaching yoga down the street and that was it what was her
00:29:28
General Vibe like she definitely seemed like she was trying to establish Roots here like this was going to be her new
00:29:33
home and Haber says one day he noticed something different about her I saw her on the beach I walk my dog on the beach
00:29:40
every night for Sunset and you're walking through and you see the bandage on her face it's like ah what happened
00:29:45
she like ah surfboard hit me in the face it's like well happens to everybody right at least once so you wouldn't even
00:29:52
question that story here like you see people all the time turns out that bandage with later proved to be an
00:29:59
important part of this story and one of the reasons the Marshalls say Armstrong was so hard to find so you're this close
00:30:07
to giving up yes finally they decided on one last tactic they turned to a local Facebook page we decided we were going
00:30:15
to put an ad out for a yoga instructor and see what would happen so this is the equivalent of Craigslist yes correct
00:30:23
pretty much and a little of a more lively but yes and just saying hey we're this hostel we're looking for a yoga
00:30:30
instructor the soon as the possible please contact us at this number but after almost a week of hunting even that
00:30:38
didn't seem to be working Sunday we decided we haven't gotten any response back from anything we're burned so
00:30:45
Sunday are like okay we're done none of them have panned out so we're going back
00:30:50
to San Jose now back in San Jose the marshals were getting ready to head home when suddenly
00:30:58
we got a bite somebody that identified herself as a yoga instructor and said that wanted to meet with us at a
00:31:05
particular hostel and we said this is this is our chance Deputy Marshals Perez and Fernandez rushed back to Santa
00:31:13
Teresa just ahead of a tropical storm tourism police Lieutenant Juan Carlos solano's team helped the marshals
00:31:25
in their search for Caitlyn Armstrong they did surveillance on a hostel called Don John's where the yoga instructor the
00:31:32
one who answered the online ad was believed to be so there is this massive International Manhunt and of all places
00:31:40
in the world it ends in this very discreet hosle it was now time for the marshals
00:31:51
to make their move so I walked up and I got in they decided that deput Marshall Perez would approach the woman alone
00:32:00
they didn't want to scare her off he would pretend to be a tourist and try to get a really good look at her face and I
00:32:07
saw two individuals sitting there at a table off to the left uh as soon as I walked in he says one was a woman she
00:32:16
looked like Caitlyn but not 100% so I thought well how can I approach her or get close enough where I start asking
00:32:24
questions where she doesn't suspect something so I decided that I was going to speak to her in Spanish so I spoke to
00:32:30
her in nothing but Spanish so you're communicating she goes to use her phone for Google translate and then so I got a
00:32:38
little closer cuz I saw that she was trying to get to Google Translate on her phone and she'd rais it up to me and I
00:32:43
got even closer and I noticed that she had a bandage on her nose and possibly her lips were swollen and I saw her eyes
00:32:52
the eyes are the exact same ones that I saw in the picture and this is her 100% % he gets in the car and he's like
00:33:00
that's her she's in there local police moved in to make the actual arrest and soon the marshals discovered
00:33:09
why Armstrong had been so hard to find she had been getting plastic surgery when they first arrived in Santa Teresa
00:33:17
at the hospital they found a receipt the receipt for surgery plastic surgery plastic surgery in these side
00:33:26
by-side photos you can see that Armstrong changed the shape of her nose the deputy Marshall said their
00:33:32
female operative the woman they sent to yoga classes to try to find Armstrong told them Armstrong's New Look would
00:33:39
have tricked her and she told me I think if I would have run into her at the yoga
00:33:44
studio I don't think I would have recognized her wow it almost worked it almost worked the marshals took Armstrong back
00:33:54
to Texas where she was charged and held in jail but just weeks before she was due to stand trial for the murder of
00:34:02
Mori Wilson Caitlyn Armstrong escaped again what do you make of the investigators undercover operation chat
00:34:13
now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook andex almost 3 weeks before her trial former fugitive Caitlyn Armstrong
00:34:31
somehow managed to escape from custody she was at a doctor's appointment and tried to escape as they were walking out
00:34:38
parar Melendez from The Daily Beast says Armstrong didn't get far before deputies
00:34:43
caught her it was pretty astonishing that she did that given the fact that she had tried to escape prosecution
00:34:50
prior this was just more evidence of her guilt Jose Garza is Travis County's district attorney he says his team of
00:34:58
prosecutors Ricky Jones and guo Gonzalez were more than ready to try the case when we learned that um she had tried to
00:35:06
escape um it just added to our confidence level in the facts of this case that we would be able to secure
00:35:13
Justice for Mariah and her family on November 1st 2023 Armstrong's trial began the Last Thing mo did on this
00:35:26
Earth was SC and Terror in opening statements Jones told the jury about chilling audio from a security camera
00:35:35
that captured the last moments of Mariah's life those scams are followed by two gun shots kayen
00:35:47
Armstrong stood over Mo Wilson and put a third shot right in Wilson's prosecutors said Armstrong had
00:35:56
been tracking Mariah Wilson using a sports app Caitlyn prior to the murder had been following Mo on a straa app
00:36:04
which is basically an app that athletes used to track their miles running biking
00:36:08
and she knew exactly where she was and they said that Armstrong on the night of the murder was most likely
00:36:15
tracking Colin Strickland as well she did have the ability to monitor his Communications she had access to all of
00:36:24
his passwords so she had access to um his Instagram account I believe that when Mo sent Colin a
00:36:33
text letting him know the address of where she was I believe that Kaylin Armstrong was at
00:36:41
home on Colin Strickland's laptop she saw that message after murdering Mariah and before leaving the scene Jones told
00:36:50
the jury that Armstrong took Mariah's bike and discarded it in the bushes just yards away from where her sheep was
00:36:58
parked our belief is that she maybe staged it to look like a robbery or something or another theory is Mo
00:37:06
Wilson's bike is a tool of her trade it might have been like the bullet shot in the
00:37:14
heart I'm going to shoot you in the heart I'm going to throw away your bike but they said Armstrong made one
00:37:23
big mistake she left her DNA behind on the handlebars and seat of Mariah's bike and that's on all the evidence
00:37:31
prosecutors had against Armstrong there was that receipt that showed Armstrong had received plastic surgery while
00:37:37
hiding out in Costa Rica everything she does it's all consistent with trying to evade the
00:37:43
authorities but when it was the defense's turn attorney Jeffrey puer told the jury there was no direct
00:37:50
evidence including security footage that actually showed Armstrong was at the scene of the crime not one witness
00:37:58
saw Caitlyn Armstrong allegedly Commit This murder then why would Armstrong flee and hide from the authorities
00:38:07
defense attorney Rick kofer pointed the finger at Colin Strickland was she scared what do you
00:38:15
think do you think that she may have been concerned a little bit that her boyfriend had killed someone fear
00:38:22
results in fight or flight and it was flight but said there was a big problem with this Theory
00:38:30
because Strickland had nothing to do with the murder of Mariah Wilson in fact at the time of the murder
00:38:37
he was actually on the phone speaking with someone it wasn't Colin Strickland Armstrong's defense team did
00:38:45
not respond to our request for an interview after a two-e trial the defet will please rise it took the jury around
00:38:55
2 hours to decide Armstrong's we the jury find the defendant Caitlyn Armstrong guilty of the offense of
00:39:04
murder as a prosecutor the first row right behind you is the family and you begin to feel their pain and their
00:39:14
desire for a just outcome for their loved ones one day after her conviction Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years
00:39:24
behind bars you may be seated but before the case came to an end judge Brenda Kennedy allowed Caitlyn cash
00:39:34
Mariah's close friend whose apartment she'd been staying at and who had found Mariah's body to take the stand and
00:39:40
speak directly to Armstrong so many people in this room have lost so much I'm angry at
00:39:51
you at the UT utter tragic nature at the senselessness at not being able to hear Mo's voice
00:40:01
again I feel deep sadness for the road ahead then it was Mariah's mother's turn I hate what you did to my beautiful
00:40:13
daughter it was very selfish and cowardly that violent act on May 11 it was cowardly because you never chose to face
00:40:25
her Woman to Woman in a civil conversation she would have listened she was an amazing
00:40:34
listener she would have cared about your feelings but despite the pain Karen Wilson closed with words of love and
00:40:44
optimism because she said that's how Mariah would have wanted it you killed her Earthly body but her spirit is so
00:40:54
very much alive and you can never ch change that today in Kingdom trails in Northern
00:41:03
Vermont a place that was sacred to Mariah a trail was built in her honor it's called Mariah's
00:41:11
Ascent Mariah was a vermonter she was giving she was hardworking she was honest she was caring and she came from
00:41:21
a wonderful family and that family really wants that Legacy and all of her good qualities to inspire
00:41:29
[Music] others a good family man disappears I knew something bad was happening to him
00:41:46
I felt it then a high-speed chase reveals Clues it was like the scene out of a movie and a powerful motive Revenge
00:41:54
I had no idea the type of evil we were dealing at 48 hours Saturday on CBS screaming on Paramount
00:42:03
[Music] [Applause] [Music] plus hello and welcome back to another episode of 48 Hours postmortem I'm CBS
00:42:17
News correspondent and Marie green and today we are talking about the episode capturing Mariah Wilson's killer we're
00:42:25
going to discuss an international law enforcement hunt the killer getting plastic surgery to evade the authorities
00:42:32
and not just one but two Escape attempts all right so let's get into it uh here with me today is CBS News correspondent
00:42:38
Jonathan Vigliotti and Fields producer Hannah ver who reported on this mindboggling case thanks so much for for
00:42:46
joining us today hi thanks for having us thank you for having us Amry I know you
00:42:52
probably have a lot to say about this episode but of course before we jump in what we're going to do is just play some
00:42:56
of it for the listeners a bit of a recap of the case in June 2022 one month after
00:43:03
Caitlyn Armstrong suspected of murdering Mariah Wilson disappeared Deputy US Marshals Damen Fernandez and Amir Perez
00:43:11
traveled to Costa Rica they knew finding Armstrong was going to be a challenge we had intelligence indicating
00:43:19
that she was staying in hosts in Costa Rica and I don't know if you know anything about Costa Rica but Costa Rica
00:43:26
has a lot of hostiles a lot an unbelievable amount of hostiles A source told them Armstrong could be hiding out
00:43:34
in the small village of Santa Teresa but it was challenging because the town was
00:43:39
full of tourists many who look similar to Armstrong the marshals would later learn that Armstrong had also used
00:43:46
different names and had changed her appearance she had cut and colored her hair and even had gotten plastic surgery
00:43:54
they hit dead end after dead end so you're this this close to giving up yes so after many intense days of searching
00:44:01
for Armstrong with no luck the marshals decided to try one last tactic hoping that Armstrong's love of teaching yoga
00:44:09
would pay off for them they turned to a local Facebook page we decided we were going to put an ad out for a yoga
00:44:16
instructor and see what would happen and just saying a we're this hostel we're looking for a yoga instructor the soon
00:44:24
as the possible please contact us at this number but after almost a week of hunting even
00:44:30
that didn't seem to be working we haven't gotten any response back from anything none of them have panned out so
00:44:39
the marshals were about to head back to the United States when suddenly they got
00:44:43
a break we got a bite somebody that identified herself as a yoga instructor and said that wanted a meet with us at a
00:44:53
particular hostel and we said this is this is our chance all right listeners told you this was
00:45:02
going to be a big one um Jonathan how did you first learn about this case I came to learn about this case I think
00:45:09
like most people did back in May 2022 when it first broke and grabbed all of the international headlines and really
00:45:17
came to learn about all of the many layers when we started to dive deep into this for 48 hours and you know just the
00:45:24
Manhunt that unfolded uh from First Interstate to then International uh really was as you said
00:45:31
mindboggling and I and I think it's a really eye-opening exploration into the hard work that investigators in this
00:45:38
case a Joint Task Force um had to engage in just to bring someone like Caitlyn Armstrong eventually to Justice yeah I
00:45:46
want to talk about the motive here investigators believe that Caitlyn murdered Mariah because she was jealous
00:45:53
of the relationship that Mariah had with Colin but they only dated for a really short period of time and then it seems
00:46:01
like you know this was a platonic professional relationship in your experience reporting for 48 hours how
00:46:08
convincing is this as a motive yeah I thought it was a very compelling motive yes Colin Strickland described it as
00:46:17
professional and platonic at one point but he also did acknowledge that he was seeing Mariah he claimed when he was
00:46:23
broken up at the time with his girlfriend Caitlyn Armstrong so as he's trying to establish these clear
00:46:29
boundaries and lines there were overlaps though I mean what sounded like a date that he took the day of the night that
00:46:38
Mariah was murdered they went on a motorcycle to a pool and then out to have a meal and to me and I think to a
00:46:46
lot of people that will listen to this story while Colin Strickland tried to separate himself from having a
00:46:51
relationship with Mariah it certainly felt like it could be more and Colin and Mariah were in this um cycling world so
00:46:59
they knew they were going to be seeing each other at a lot of you know bike race events and stuff um but Colin at
00:47:06
some point felt he had to change what Mariah's name was in his phone and Caitlyn kind of figured that out and you
00:47:14
know he told Caitlin he was running errands but this is when he was actually hanging out with Mariah um the day that
00:47:19
she was killed so he essentially told Caitlyn a story that wasn't true of what he was actually doing that day see sorry
00:47:25
I got to say this guys need to know this it is the cover up that is always worse
00:47:29
than the crime actually kind of to what you're saying when you have to change someone's name in a phone that says
00:47:36
something obviously there was something more going on maybe not with his relationship with Mariah but he
00:47:41
obviously knew that there was this sensitivity with Caitlyn Armstrong and obviously that fueled a bigger fire was
00:47:47
Colin Strickland ever considered a suspect he he was initially and that's because at the time it was believed he
00:47:55
was the last person to have seen Mariah and it appeared that way but then when police looked into his phone records uh
00:48:04
he was on the phone at the time that this murder took place at that point though they still did not know who the
00:48:09
suspect was but it was becoming clear that Colin may not be the focus so you know one of the things I think that made
00:48:16
Caitlyn look perhaps more suspicious to police is that she had her cell phone off um on the night of the murder here's
00:48:23
Task Force officer Jonathan Riley from the show I just want to play some sound on the night of the murder Caitlyn
00:48:30
Armstrong's phone was not connected to a cell network not connected correct so whether she powered it off whether she
00:48:37
put it in Airplane Mode uh there's some something happened that her phone was not communicating with any cell phone
00:48:44
towers do you think this was on purpose absolutely in this day and age if your phone is off and not connected to a
00:48:52
network you're either the victim of a crime or you're probably committing one a silent phone speaks louder in some
00:48:59
cases than actions oh absolutely I mean we live with our cell phones attached to our hip they're
00:49:06
they're an appendage so it it makes sense that if the phone is is not on is not being uh tracked by Towers
00:49:13
something's going on if you're not literally up in the air flying and and we know that Caitlyn Armstrong was was
00:49:18
not flying at that point yeah it's surprising to me people don't realize even now that whatever you do with your
00:49:25
phone it's going going to be discovered and your digital footsteps can tell a very detailed story of what you're doing
00:49:32
right and so it's very telling when that goes silent yes the following day they pick Caitlyn up on an old warrant for
00:49:40
something that happened four years earlier an outstanding payment for Botox of all things I clearly no one was in a
00:49:47
rush to pin her down about this payment uh but it was fortuitous to a certain degree for for police because they were
00:49:52
able to bring her in um but the police almost had her in their grasp but ultimately they had to let her go
00:50:00
because of a clerical error her birthday did not match the one on the warrant that must have been frustrating for
00:50:06
investigators Hannah yeah I definitely think that it was and the female detective was asking Caitlyn you know a
00:50:13
few questions about this case and there was no big reaction from her and um what
00:50:21
Task Force officer McLoud also said is you know somebody innocent is going to be sitting here like you know what like
00:50:28
you've got the wrong person like you know have some kind of something reaction to say and she was just kind of
00:50:35
like she wasn't showing much emotion there which they thought was a red flag yeah and this also could have been a
00:50:41
triggering moment for Kaitlin Armstrong realizing that she was now truly the focus of this investigation and in a way
00:50:49
investigators showed their hand here but because of this cleric clerical error they weren't able to hold on to her her
00:50:57
you know you can't help but think had they been able to hold on to her just a little bit longer this International
00:51:03
Chase may never have happened so then of course as you point out she goes on the
00:51:08
lamb first to New York and then to Costa Rica of all places uh so when we get back we're going to discuss the
00:51:17
incredible police work that was done by the US Marshals a lonar fugitive task force and how Caitlyn Almost Got Away
00:51:24
With Murder stay tuned welcome back about a week after Mariah's murder Caitlyn flies to Costa Rica using
00:51:40
her sister's passport Jonathan you did a a round table interview with the special
00:51:46
task force uh assigned to this case I want to hear a clip from how investigators made that
00:51:52
Discovery when the task force checked outbound flights at Newark Airport No Reservations have been made in
00:51:59
Caitlyn Armstrong's name we never got a hit on Caitlyn Armstrong's passport but the team had a hunch unaware because
00:52:07
Christy told the deputy Marshall in New York that she didn't know where her passport was so they checked with their
00:52:13
contact at Homeland Security and within minutes of reaching out to him he got back to me and he's like yeah we're
00:52:19
showing uh Christy Armstrong traveled out of Newark New Jersey International Airport on a one-way flight to Costa
00:52:26
Rica you knew it and I said there's no way that the sister left and we're looking for her we can't find Caitlyn no
00:52:33
that's Caitlin I think it's important to point out that Caitlyn's sister christe has
00:52:39
never been charged with anything she told authorities when they first talked to her that the passport was missing and
00:52:46
then later emphasized to authorities that she did not give her sister the passport yes my first thought was was
00:52:53
this all part of Caitlyn Armstrong's master plan to go to New York to get this passport to then be able to flee to
00:53:02
a place like Costa Rica I think I'm just trying to get myself into the mindset of
00:53:05
Caitlyn Armstrong at this point yeah do we know why she picked Costa Rica well she has the background in yoga and the
00:53:14
marshals when they were like you know what is the motive for going to Costa Rica it was this yoga connection that it
00:53:20
made at all make sense Costa Rica has become a little bit of a yoga Mecca I know a lot of people go to Costa Rica to
00:53:25
do good yoga on the beach so in Costa Rica Caitlyn attempts to start a whole new life with a whole new identity the
00:53:33
task force first tracked down an American businessman who they believed had connections to her but when they
00:53:40
sent him a photo of Caitlyn he tells them that the woman he saw in Costa Rica had short brown hair which was different
00:53:48
from the hair that Caitlyn had in the photo and he also told them that she was going by a different name the name was
00:53:54
Beth and that he'd met her at a yoga Studio was this a big lead for investigators I think this was a huge
00:54:01
lead for investigators and and from that lead uh they really started looking into
00:54:07
yoga classes even sending in a female operative to take some classes all in an effort to try to spot Armstrong there
00:54:16
amongst the other people yeah and um this this guy that Armstrong had met in hako he's the one that kind of told her
00:54:23
about Santa Teresa and said you know this place is going to be more your style because you're into yoga so he
00:54:30
suggested that to her and that made perfect sense to the marshals and you know when they didn't find her in hako
00:54:36
that was their next destination was Santa Teresa um so 48 Hours doesn't often go to another country to pursue a
00:54:45
story I mean how do you land as a crew from New York in Costa Rica and start pursuing this story I mean do you have
00:54:54
help on the ground how do you do it there was four of us um from 48 Hours Jonathan myself and two other producers
00:55:01
that went down to Costa Rica but we worked with a local crew which was awesome because they know the lay of the
00:55:08
land the best they were all from Costa Rica it offered a very unique perspective so it's one thing to report
00:55:15
from the states on this Manhunt it's another thing for us to be there on the ground really tracing the steps that
00:55:22
Caitlyn Armstrong allegedly took it was from the perspective of that Journey we really got an idea of
00:55:29
just how hard Caitlyn Armstrong tried to evade capture so you know after we landed in San Jose we have to you know
00:55:38
do this long trk to get to Santa Teresa it kind of felt like we're off-roading the way the roads are there and our crew
00:55:46
ended up getting a flat tire in their vehicle and it happened where we were waiting to get onto the ferry and so
00:55:54
we're in this long line of cars and we have to change this tire before we load the car onto the ferry so we're taking
00:56:01
all of our production stuff out of the trunk to get the you know the extra wheel and we're just like rushing to get
00:56:07
this tire changed just like added to the urgency of everything that was going on
00:56:12
it was crazy but they did it successfully and we were fine the rest of the trip that's amazing cuz that's a
00:56:19
nightmare just when you're at home in a place you're familiar with right so 48 hours in the criw you actually find
00:56:28
someone who interacted with Caitlyn it's Greg Haber he's a local restaurant owner
00:56:34
Jonathan you spoke to him and he had some very helpful insight I want to play a clip from the broadcast what was her
00:56:41
General Vibe like she definitely seemed like she was trying to establish Roots here like this was going to be her new
00:56:46
home and Haber says one day he noticed something different about her I saw her on the beach I walk my dog on the beach
00:56:53
every night for Sunset and you're walking through and he you see the bandage on her face it's like ah what
00:56:57
happened she like ah surfboard hit me in the face it's like well happens to everybody right at least once so you
00:57:04
wouldn't even question that story here like you see people all the time you know Greg in that conversation we were
00:57:11
sitting at the bar that he owns there a bar and restaurant drinking a beer and he described Caitlyn Armstrong as like
00:57:19
most expats that move to a place like Santa Teresa uh just very comfortable very at ease he said uh she was very
00:57:28
nice when he met her and you get a really good sense of how she understands the area and how to play that area to
00:57:34
her Advantage is when he talked about the bandage and the story that she told him about a surfboard he's right what
00:57:42
better what better excuse can you make for having a bandage on your nose than you went surfing and got hit by a
00:57:48
surfboard she knew where she was she knew the environment she was in and she used those strengths to cover up what
00:57:56
she was hiding from and I was struck by the fact that he said you know she seemed like she was kind of dug in like
00:58:03
she was ready to make a whole new life which made me think to myself well she really didn't think she was ever going
00:58:08
to be caught right you it makes you wonder like how comfortable is she at this point so as it turns out the
00:58:16
bandage would later prove to be a really important part of the story is Marshall's learned that Caitlyn had
00:58:22
gotten plastic surgery while she was in Costa Rica according to the investigators they believe she
00:58:28
deliberately altered her appearance to avoid being recognized by police I want to play a clip from US Marshall Damen
00:58:37
Fernandez in these side by-side photos you can see that Armstrong changed the shape of her
00:58:43
nose the deputy Marshall said their female operative the woman they sent to yoga classes to try to find Armstrong
00:58:50
told them Armstrong's New Look would have tricked her and she told me I think if I would have run into her at the yoga
00:58:57
studio I don't think I would have recognized that wow it almost worked it almost
00:59:03
[Music] worked and it worked in more ways than one because not only did it change her
00:59:09
appearance but literally as the team was there trying to find her the first time
00:59:14
in Santa Teresa the reason they couldn't find her wasn't because they couldn't recognize her among people there she
00:59:20
literally was not there she was in another town actually getting that surgery at the time yeah those first few
00:59:26
days that they get to Santa Teresa she's back in San Jose that's where she gets the plastic surgery so they like had
00:59:34
just missed each other basically so the task force was uh hitting dead ends right and almost left
00:59:42
this is like they almost were like this is the end of the road but they got a response to that ad that they had put up
00:59:50
on Facebook looking for a yoga instructor and it led them to a hostel where Caitlyn was staying and and then
00:59:56
they finally arrest her I want to know what that moment was like for them I mean it's really an incredible moment if
01:00:02
you think about it because you have these investigators they're about to call it a quits they put out that ad as
01:00:08
a last ditch effort days went by they didn't hear anything they're about to make their way back to the US and then
01:00:13
they get a woman saying that she is an instructor of yoga that she is at this hostel come and meet me here it's like
01:00:20
this huge aha moment for the marshals so they had set up this meeting with the yoga instructor which ended up being
01:00:27
Caitlyn Armstrong at a specific time to meet with her but she contacted them again and said hey I like I can't make
01:00:34
the appointment because I'm left in charge of the front desk at the place where I'm staying and this actually was
01:00:42
good for the marshals because they had a very good idea of what hostile she was likely staying at at this point so they
01:00:48
were able to move in and find her working at that front desk they then move in and you have one of the marshals
01:00:55
that goes in prend to be a tourist so that he could get a closer look and of course as he's trying to get this closer
01:01:00
look because of the plastic surgery and all the other things that Caitlyn Armstrong had done to her
01:01:05
appearance initially he didn't even know if it was her until he locked eyes with
01:01:10
her eyes and it was those eyes that eventually gave her away it was a tremendous moment for them and obviously
01:01:17
the break in this case that they had spent so much time hoping for um they take her back to
01:01:24
Texas then incredibly just 3 weeks before her trial she makes another attempt at
01:01:31
Escape while being escorted by law enforcement to a doctor's appointment prosecutors felt that this was just more
01:01:38
evidence of her guilt because where why are you running this is your opportunity
01:01:42
to prove your innocence um what did the defense claim to explain that behavior um the defense said that the police
01:01:51
named Caitlyn as a suspect too quickly I think at one point they tried to paint Caitlyn as someone who was afraid of
01:01:59
Colin Strickland implying that Colin Strickland was somehow behind the murder of Mariah Wilson though prosecutors were
01:02:07
very quick to counter that saying there was no way Colin Strickland was involved
01:02:12
in this whatsoever because of his Alibi so as we've seen in many 48 Hours cases technology is making it easier to solve
01:02:20
crimes in this case prosecutors claim Caitlyn tracked both Mariah and cins whereabouts did the prosecution bring
01:02:28
this up at all in in making the case that Caitlyn was guilty yeah um we know Caitlyn looked um Mariah up on the straa
01:02:37
app which is something athletes specifically cyclists use to track you know their bike rides it shows you their
01:02:43
route you know kind of exactly where they're going I have it I'm not an athlete it's a very popular thing though
01:02:49
and so she looked Mariah up multiple times the day before Mariah was killed so she would was she was looking at this
01:02:57
more than once and then she also had access at the home where she lived with Colin you know to a laptop where his ey
01:03:06
messages could come up because if you have an iPhone and it's connected to your Mac laptop your iMessages can show
01:03:13
up there as well and so prosecutors believe that Caitlyn saw Mariah text Colin the address of the place that she
01:03:21
was staying in Austin while she was in town for that race um Mariah's family did not speak to you guys uh for the
01:03:28
broadcast but you did include a really touching statement from her mother that her mother made at sentencing I was in
01:03:34
the courtroom for the verdict and sentencing and was listening to Mariah's mother speak and emotions were really
01:03:43
high and you really felt the words that she was speaking it was it was really emotional to listen to I want to play
01:03:49
some of that I hate what you did to my beautiful daughter it was very selfish and
01:03:58
cowardly that violent act on May 11th it was cowardly because you never chose to face
01:04:07
her woman to woman in a civil conversation she would have listened she was an amazing
01:04:16
listener she would have cared about your [Music] feelings for me listening to that
01:04:23
statement I was able to picture an alternate reality where Caitlyn Armstrong shows up and and talks to
01:04:32
Mariah Mariah listens and they part ways with a new understanding and of course tragically that is not what happened
01:04:41
this was a brilliant young woman with a whole future ahead of her she was very smart she studied at Dartmouth she
01:04:47
wanted to be an engineer but she was so driven by her athleticism she was a skier before she got into biking and
01:04:53
then when she got into biking she not only rast the top she wanted to bring other women up with her and get them
01:04:59
into the pr gravel bike racing world and you know the career aside and a great career it was as young as she was she
01:05:07
was described by everyone that knew her as loving and caring and ultimately the unsuspecting victim of what was a very
01:05:17
deadly love triangle it was a really great hour I I kept on thinking I knew how it was going to end and I was wrong
01:05:23
at every turn until the very end um you guys did an excellent job and you did an excellent job at um just bringing
01:05:30
Mariah to life thank you thank you for having us so be sure to join us next Tuesday
01:05:37
for another postmortem and watch 48 hours Saturdays 109 Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and if
01:05:45
you're liking the show please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your
01:05:52
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