'Love triangle' murder suspect stripped off pants, picked cuffs with pin in escape attempt
Former fugitive murder suspect spent months training for escape attempt: court documents
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kaitlin Armstrong has a nose for notoriety.
The Texas woman suspected in the "love triangle" murder of a romantic rival before she led U.S. Marshals on a 43-day, international manhunt is now accused of picking the lock on her handcuffs with a pin for an escape attempt she spent months vigorously preparing for, according to court documents.
Armstrong, 35, is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 30 for the shooting death of professional cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson, 25, who police found shot to death after she went on a date with Armstrong's boyfriend, fellow pro rider Colin Strickland.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, according to authorities, Armstrong made a last-ditch escape attempt Wednesday, slipping her cuffs, stripping off her pants and sprinting nearly a mile before cops tackled her.
TEXAS ‘LOVE TRIANGLE’ MURDER SUSPECT KAITLIN ARMSTRONG'S SHORT-LIVED ESCAPE ATTEMPT CAUGHT ON VIDEO
Kaitlin Armstrong tried to escape from custody last week. She allegedly killed professional cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson, who police found shot after she went on a date with Armstrong's boyfriend, fellow pro rider Colin Strickland. ( )
After the slaying, she flew to New York to obtain her sister's passport, then Costa Rica. She dyed her hair and assumed a new identity.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She began dating and teaching yoga at Santa Teresa Beach, using fake names including Beth, Air and Liz.
When police arrested her, she had a bandage on her face that she allegedly claimed came from a surfing accident. Her lawyer denies that she got a nose job down there, but photos taken before and after appear to show significant differences in her face.
A U.S. Marshal handout photo of Kaitlin Armstrong and her booking photo after her extradition to the U.S. from Costa Rica. Through a lawyer, she has denied reports that she underwent plastic surgery on her nose while on the run from U.S. authorities for 43 days. (U.S. Marshals, Travis County Sheriff's Office)
Last week, while feigning a leg injury, she convinced jail guards to bring her to an orthopedics clinic, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Travis County.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"As she and two corrections officers were exiting the medical building after the appointment, Armstrong ran," a sheriff's spokesman told Fox News Digital. "The officers pursued her on foot for approximately 10 minutes without ever losing sight of her."
WATCH: Texas 'love-triangle' murder suspect tries to run from deputies after doctor appointment
According to court documents, investigators believe she used a metal pin and part of a spool of dental floss to lockpick her handcuffs. She slipped out of the cuffs during a 10-minute escape attempt last week, during which she allegedly injured two guards, and sprinted for about a mile.
While on the run, she stripped out of her black-and-white striped jail pants, according to investigators. She had on long thermal underwear underneath "in an effort to disguise her appearance as an inmate."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kaitlin Armstrong appears in court wearing a jail-issued outfit similar to the one she tried to escape in. According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, she ditched her pants and was wearing long underwear beneath them in an attempt to disguise her status as an inmate. (Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA Today Network)
Jailhouse surveillance video shows her "exercising vigorously" for months, "running, doing squats and yoga" to prepare for the attempt, according to court documents.
Because of her complaints of a leg injury, she was able to convince guards not to place her in leg restraints before she allegedly took off running, according to the affidavit.
Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson smiles after a gravel cycling race. (The Wilson Family)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A bystander recorded a few seconds of the short-lived flight on cellphone video. It shows Armstrong sprinting through the back of a parking lot as a guard tries to keep up, stumbling.
Early in the attempt, Armstrong allegedly started to scale a six-foot-tall fence when a guard tackled her from behind. They both fell, but she got up, hopped over, and kept on running, according to the affidavit.
Read the affidavit (Mobile users go here)
Armstrong is a former yoga teacher and high school athlete who maintained an active lifestyle and, while not a professional rider, was an avid cyclist before her arrest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kaitlin Armstrong in this image from her 2004 yearbook, where she was portrayed as a mult-sport athlete and running star. (Fox News Digital/Stephanie Pagones)
She is accused of killing Wilson on May 11, 2022. Police allege her Jeep Grand Cherokee appeared on surveillance video near the crime scene moments before the shooting – and that shell casings recovered near Wilson's body were a match for Armstrong's pistol.
Wilson and Strickland allegedly had a brief fling in the past. On the night of the murder, they went swimming together at a public pool in Austin and then to dinner across the street.
Colin Strickland seen outside his Austin, Texas, home on June 17, 2022. (MEGA)
Police questioned Armstrong early in the investigation – but they let her go without charges. She sold the Jeep and skipped town, and by the time she was named in an arrest warrant, authorities couldn't find her.
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She was being held on $3.5 million bail in the murder case – a sum that is now increased by $50,000 for the alleged escape attempt.
Before the court issued a gag order on the case, Armstrong's defense disputed prosecutors' claim that she saw Wilson as a "romantic rival" as "misogynistic and fictitious." Strickland, according to court documents, also told detectives he did not believe Armstrong was the jealous or violent type.