Home > News

Kaitlin Armstrong will most likely stay in jail even if she finds the $3.5 million for bail

The suspect in the Moriah Wilson murder has been formally charged with several offenses

Kaitlin Armstrong practised shooting with her sister Photo by: Austin City Police Department

Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman accused of murdering cyclist Moriah Wilson is now the subject of a federal hold request, as she awaits the next step in jail in Austin. She is currently on a $3.5 million bond. Armstrong was also formally charged on Tuesday with first-degree murder, and will also face a misdemeanor theft charge, as well as a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to US Marshals.

According to former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, even if she could find the money for the bond, she’d most likely remain in custody on the detainer. Rahmani spoke to Fox News digital about what will follow in the Armstrong case on Wednesday.

“Federal detainers are formal notices informing a given jurisdiction that an inmate faces pending charges in another,” Rahmani explained.

Wilson was murdered on May 11, apparently after Armstrong learned she had been spending time with her boyfriend, pro gravel racer Colin Strickland. Strickland denies having had a relationship with Wilson, simply saying that he had a brief fling in October when he and Armstrong were on a break. After the murder, Armstrong fled to Costa Rica, and managed to avoid the authorities for 43 days.

Fox News reported that they had tried several times to reach out to Strickland for a comment, however his response was simply, “please fuck off.”

Austin cycling community holds memorial ride for Moriah Wilson

On Saturday, Costa Rican police arrested her and she was extradited to the United States.

Authorites said that she was trying to hide out in a small town in Costa Rica, and aimed to live off the $12,000 she had made in a hasty sale of her jeep. She had cut her hair and possibly had cosmetic surgery to alter her appeaance. At the locker in the hostel where she was staying, a receipt for plastic surgery was found, along with two passports. One of the passports belonged to her sister, Christine.

Authorites confirmed she had a bandage on her face when cops caught up with her at Don Jon’s Lodge in Santa Teresa Beach in Costa Rica. Deputy Marshal Brandon Filla said Armstrong said the bandage was a result of an injury she’d sustained while surfing.