The hunt for the Texas woman wanted for shooting a professional cyclist who had an affair with her boyfriend drove to an upstate New York campsite while fleeing cops, according to a new report.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, was spotted last month at the Camp Haven compound in Livingston Manor by a man camping at the remote Sullivan County location, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
“She was [here] some time ago,” the unidentified man told the outlet. “Just before it all exploded.”
The tipster said the fugitive stayed with her sister Christine Armstrong, who had been camping at the site for a long time, according to the outlet. US Marshals reportedly interviewed Christine.
“We don’t know if she was actually at that exact location,” U.S. Deputy Marshal Brandon Filla told the station. “There are a lot of possibilities, but we have to have facts.”
Armstrong, a yoga instructor, is accused of killing elite cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson, 25, in a jealous rage in Austin on May 11. The suspect is said to have shot the romantic rival after finding her living boyfriend, professional cyclist Colin Strickland.
Wilson was visiting Austin from San Francisco for a bike race when Strickland snuck out to see her. Armstrong followed her boyfriend and eventually staked out the house Wilson was staying in. His Jeep was spotted in security footage outside.
A friend found Wilson’s body later that night. It was riddled with bullets, allegedly from a gun Strickland had given to Armstrong.
Strickland, 35, told authorities he was romantically involved with Wilson when he and Armstrong took a break from their three-year relationship last fall. When Armstrong learned of the antics in January, she “became furious and trembling with anger” – and wanted to kill Wilson, according to an affidavit.
Armstrong was questioned and released by police, who said she was “immovable and guarded” when questioned on the surveillance video. On May 14, she boarded a flight from Austin to New York, authorities said.
Armstrong was last seen at Newark Liberty International Airport on May 18 after flying to LaGuardia a few days earlier, authorities said. Camp Haven is approximately 185 km from both airports. No tee reservations have been made under his name in Newark, officials said.
A private investigator handling the case told News Nation that the suspect may be using her sister’s name as a pseudonym and may have traveled to Canada.
“Three days after Kaitlin was seen in the New York area, an address appeared in New York State, Livingston Manor, where she was in Christine’s name,” private investigator Jason Jensen reportedly said, according to KXAN-TV.
An FBI official told the network that the suspect is likely to receive help while on the loose.
“Actually, I think it had a bit of premeditation. How many, I’m not sure,” former FBI Special Agent Tracy Walder told the network.
“I’m really starting to think, especially because now we’re seeing two different airports, that she has some help.”
Texas Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla previously told the Post that Armstrong had made a lot of money knocking down houses and “might have the funds to keep hiding.”
“[Armstrong’s escape] was not something abrupt, it was something methodical, timed. She kind of had a plan,” he said.
The US Marshalls consider Armstrong “armed and dangerous” and offer a $5,000 reward in connection with information leading to his capture.
“Kaitlin Armstrong is charged with a very serious crime for which she must answer,” U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas, Susan Pamerleau, said last week.
“The best thing she can do at this point, wherever she is, is to turn herself in to authorities, so she can safely return to Austin and face the charges against her. She needs to know that the Marshals won’t stop looking for her.
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