MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - The Fugitive (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

In September of 2021, a young woman named Anna Moriah Willson – who everybody just called “Mo” – stood in front of a cheering crowd at the end of a long outdoor bike path in Idaho. Mo had just finished a grueling gravel race, which is a cycling race on difficult terrain. And it was clear to everyone in the crowd who was cheering that not only was Mo one of the best women cyclists in the country – she was quickly becoming the face of the sport. Like all the competitors, Mo was a highly-trained athlete and in peak physical condition. But that brute athleticism was offset by a bright smile, her long auburn hair, and a true love for talking to anybody and everybody. It was this combination of her athletic skill, outgoing personality, and her natural comfort in front of cameras and on social media that made her the perfect ambassador for the growing sport of gravel racing. And there was one particular person at the race in Idaho who just couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was already one of the most famous male gravel racers in the world, and as he made his way through the crowd to meet her, Mo’s face lit up, and she could feel her heart racing a little. Before long, the two top riders were introducing themselves to each other and having some nice small talk… not realizing the horrible chain of events this encounter would spark.For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. In September of 2021, a young woman named Anna Mariah Wilson, who everyone knew as just Mo, stood in front of a cheering crowd at the end of a long outdoor bike path in Idaho. Mo had just finished a grueling gravel race, which is a cycling race on very difficult terrain. And it was clear to everyone in the crowd who was cheering that not only was Mo, one of the best women cyclists in the country, she was actually quickly becoming the face of the sport.

Like all the other competitors, Moe was a highly trained athlete and in peak physical condition. But her brute athleticism was upset by a bright smile, her long auburn hair, and a true love for talking to anybody and everybody. And it was this combination of her athletic skill, outgoing personality, and her natural comfort in front of cameras and on social media, that made her the perfect ambassador for the growing sport of gravel racing. And on this particular day, at this race in Idaho, there was one person in particular who just couldn't take his eyes off of her. He was already one of the most famous male gravel racers in the world,

and when he made his way through the crowd over to Mo, and Mo turned and saw him, she knew who he was, and her face lit up, and she could feel her heart racing a little. Before long, the two top riders were introducing themselves officially to each other and having some nice small talk. not realizing the horrible chain of events this encounter would spark. But before we get into that story,

if you're a fan of the Strange, dark, and Mysterious, delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So, if that's of interest to you, please offer the follow button a nice, brand new candy apple. But don't tell them you've replaced the apple with an onion. Okay, let's get into today's story. So you're saying this airline forces the cabin crew to work for free.

Tell me you're at least paid for boarding and deplaning. No. Safety checks. No, not even medical emergencies. No, but we'll always show up. But they're charging flyers more than ever. And we're putting in thousands of unpaid hours. Where is that money going? Canada's airline, hey?

Unpaid work is a true crime. Visit Unfair Canada.com to hear the whole story. A message from the Air Canada component of CUPY. I'm John Robbins, and on my podcast, I sit down with incredible people to ask the very simple question, how do you cope? from confronting grief and mental health struggles to finding strength in failure. Every episode is a raw and honest exploration of what it means to be human. It's not always easy, but it's always real. Whether you're looking for inspiration, comfort, or just a reminder that you're not alone in life's messier moments,

join me on How Do You Cope. Follow now wherever you get your podcasts, or listen to episodes early and ad-free on Wondery Plus. How Do You Cope is brought to you by Audible, who make it easy to embark on a wellness journey that fits your life with thousands of audiobooks, guided meditations, and motivational series. On October 28, 2021, 25-year-old Mo Wilson, climbed up onto her bike, pulled her dark goggles down over her eyes, put her feet on the pedals,

and sped off down a dirt path in the West Texas town of Marfa. Mo leaned down a bit over her handlebars and adjusted her bike perfectly to the changing rocky terrain on the path. Pretty soon, she heard the tires of another bike grinding through the dirt and rocks right behind her. And when she turned and saw who it was, she broke out in a huge smile. It was a 34-year-old man named Colin Strickland, who was another rider, who pulled his bike right up alongside her, and the two of them started winding their way down the path together. So Mo and Colin were not just two bike riders out here enjoying a bike ride. They were actually both world-class professional gravel racers.

This meant they competed against other cyclists from all over in races that took place on all kinds of different tracks. They would race through deserts, in the mountains, and over long distances down steep wooded paths. And the two of them had come here to Marfa, Texas, because it was home to great desert trails with difficult terrain that made it a perfect training ground for top riders. like Mo and Colin.

But after riding for a while, Mo looked out at the bright orange and red sunset stretching out across the huge West Texas sky, and she felt happy she'd come to Marfa, but for a reason that had nothing to do with her training. Because Marfa had gained a reputation as this perfect place for a romantic getaway. The small town had become home to upscale restaurants,

high-end art galleries, and places to stay where visitors could feel like they were secluded from the rest of the world. And Mo was looking forward to being alone there. with Colin. The two of them had met about a month earlier at a major gravel cycling race in Idaho. Colin was already considered one of the top male racers in the world, and he was actually a celebrity in the sport. And Moe was well in her way to becoming his counterpart, but in women's racing. Their shared love and commitment to the sport made it easy for them to get

along right away. And so shortly after that race in Idaho, when Mo went home to Vermont and Colin went home to Austin, Texas, they started texting and speaking all the time on the phone. And just a few weeks later, Mo had headed to Austin to visit Colin, and at that point, they became romantically involved. Now, their relationship was still new, and Moe wasn't exactly sure where they stood, but she figured a few days alone together and Marfa would go a long way to bringing the two of them closer together. Out on the path, Moe and Colin kept on riding, and during this ride, each of them made sure

to take the time and made the effort to hone specific skills that they needed to work on. As fun as this was, they were still very serious competitors, and they both had dreams of being the best in the sport, so they always had to train seriously. And they also both really wanted to serve as ambassadors for gravel racing, so it would continue to grow all over the world. Mo and Colin eventually finished up their training ride, and then hopped off their bikes and began to stretch. They were both sweaty and a bit worn out, but now they could get all cleaned up and just

spent some time together. And later that night, that's exactly what they did. They relaxed and talked in their room, and everything seemed easy between them. But as they were doing that, Colin got a text message, and Mo could see his whole attitude changed. He tensed up and got this annoyed look on his face and quickly responded to the text. Mo didn't want to press him, but she was pretty sure she knew who would just message Colin, because Mo was aware that he had been seeing another woman, Caitlin Armstrong, before the two of them had started talking and texting.

Colin said that he and Caitlin had split up, but it was a lot of her. was clear to Mo that Caitlin had not gotten over him. After spending a few perfect days in Marfa, Mo tried hard not to worry too much about Caitlin. However, Mo wasn't naive. She didn't just have Caitlin to contend with. She also had the reality that, you know, trying to maintain any kind of serious relationship with Colin

was always going to be difficult. She lived in Vermont, and he lived 2,000 miles away in Texas, and in addition to that, they both traveled a ton for gravel racing competitions, and they didn't always compete at the same locations. So this was a big uphill battle from the start. But when it was time to leave Marfa and go their separate ways,

Mo hoped that she and Colin had at least started something special enough that maybe could grow into something bigger in the future, even if they couldn't always be together in the same place. And by the time Mo finally got home to Vermont, she was already looking forward to the next time she could see Colin. At about 4.45 p.m. on May 11th, 2022, so a little more than six months after Mo's trip to Marfa, Mo wrapped her arms around Colin's waist on the back of his motorcycle as they sped down a road in Austin, Texas. The last six months had not gone exactly as Mo had hoped. After leaving Marfa, she and Colin had both been

very busy, traveling and competing, like she knew they would be. But through the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, she felt like she and Colin had barely spoken. They texted occasionally, but their conversations really just seemed to be focused on gravel racing and competing. And so Mo began to think that maybe their romantic getaway together and Marfa had just been a one-time affair. But then, about a month ago in April, Mo had begun to hear from Colin a lot more, and he didn't just want to talk about racing. And when Mo had told Colin that she was headed to Austin and May to compete in a race and to spend some time with one of her best friends who lived there, Colin got excited and made it clear he was looking forward to seeing her. So now, on the back of Colin's motorcycle, Mo held on to him

a bit tighter as he turned off a main road onto a side street. They whipped through a heavily wooded area, past an artificial lake, and into the parking lot of Deep Eddy Pool, a popular public swimming pool in Austin. Mo and Colin hopped off the motorcycle and went inside. Mo took off her shoes and her cover up that was over her bathing suit, and she dove right in. And while Moe didn't want to force anything, she was already starting to feel like she and Colin had reconnected here since she'd arrived. So they would spend hours just swimming and talking in the pool, having a great time,

and then afterwards they climbed out, got dressed, and then went and got dinner together nearby. A little after 8.30 p.m. that same night, Colin dropped Mo off at her friend's place where she was staying. They said they would see each other at the upcoming race, and then Mo climbed off Colin's motorcycle. She smiled and waved as she walked around the building into the alley. Then she headed up the old wooden staircase that led from the alley to her friend's small second-floor garage apartment.

Once inside, Mo checked on her gravel bike that she'd brought with her just to make sure it was ready to go. Once she was satisfied that it was in good shape, she headed to the bathroom to take a shower. But before she could ever turn the water on, she heard the sound of the apartment door opening. About an hour and a half later, so a few minutes before 10 p.m., Mo's friend walked into the apartment and called out for Mo. The friend didn't get a response, and so initially, she thought maybe Moe was still out with Colin. But as she walked further into the apartment, she saw Mo's legs sticking out from the bathroom. And the friend actually smiled, because she knew that sometimes, after a long day of bike riding, Mo liked to stretch out on the cool bathroom floor

to recuperate, especially if it was really hot outside, and it had been over 90 degrees Fahrenheit most of that day. So she called Mo's name again, but Moe still didn't say anything. So her friend walked down the hall, and when she got to the bathroom and actually saw Mo, she began to scream. Because the bathroom wall and floor were spattered with blood. Mo's friend grabbed her phone and dialed 911, and as soon as she heard the operator, she shouted that her friend was covered in blood and unconscious. The operator said he would send first responders right away, but he also began telling Mo's friend how to perform CPR. And so the friend dropped down and started doing chest compressions on Mo, fighting through tears and begging Mo to wake up, but nothing was working. Within minutes,

Mo's friend heard the door open, and a first responder quickly rushed to the bathroom. The friend at this point backed away and the first responder took over CPR. But it was too late. Mo was was pronounced dead at the scene. Hey listeners, big news for true crime lovers. You can now enjoy this podcast ad-free on Amazon music with your prime membership. Listen to all episodes of my podcasts, Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries and Mr. Ballin's Strange, dark and mysterious stories, along with a huge collection of top true crime podcasts, completely ad-free. No more waiting through cliffhangers or dealing with ads.

Because let's be honest, ads shouldn't be the most nerve-wracking part of true crime. To start your ad-free listening journey, download the Amazon music app for free or head to Amazon.com slash balin. That's Amazon.com slash B-A-L-L-E-N. Dive into uninterrupted true crime stories today. What if I told you that the crime of the century is the one being waged on our planet? Introducing Lawless Planet, Wondry's new podcast exploring the dark side of the climate crisis. Uncover shocking tales of crime and corruption threatening our world's future. Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Late that night, Detective Richard Spittler and Detective Katie Connor of the Austin Police Department walked through the alleyway and up the steps to the second floor apartment. On their way, they passed by a uniform police officer who was standing with a young woman who couldn't stop crying. Spittler and Connor passed them, and then put on their gloves, stepped inside the apartment, and walked past a few more officers who'd also arrived before them. Spittler and Connor knew that Anna Mariah Wilson, a woman in her 20s, nicknamed Moe, who'd been visiting from out of state, had been pronounced dead at her friend's apartment. But they really didn't know much more than that.

But as soon as they stepped into the doorway of the bathroom, they had a pretty good idea about what had happened. Mo had three gunshot wounds in her chest, and amidst the blood surrounding her body, they saw 9mm bullet casings. With all the blood on the walls, the floor, and the body, the detectives knew that the forensics team would have plenty of samples to take, and they thought they already had a pretty clear picture of what had happened to Mo. So, they stepped away from the bathroom and just a sweep of the apartment. It didn't look like the place had been ransacked in any way. And as far as they could tell, it didn't look like this had been a robbery gone wrong, because expensive electronic equipment had been left untouched. But they still didn't want to

jump to any conclusions until they talked to the person who actually lived there. So as the forensics team arrived and got to work, Spitler also sent other officers to canvass the apartment complex and the surrounding area. And then once they were dispatched, he and Detective Connor headed downstairs towards the alley. There, they found the woman who was still crying, and it would turn out she was the owner of the apartment and was Mo's friend. Both detectives felt bad for her, and they knew she'd actually performed CPR on her friend to try to revive her. But right now, despite how much trauma this woman had been through, she was still the only direct link they had to the crime scene. She'd found the victim,

and she'd made the 911 call. So as gently as he could, Spittler told Moe's friend that she would have to come with them to the station for questioning. As the night of May 11th turned into the morning of May 12th, Detective Spittler and Connor sat across from Moe's friend inside of an interview room at the station. The woman was still visibly upset, so the detectives did their best to keep her calm and let her know they were just trying to get a clear picture of what had happened that night. And eventually, Mo's friend began to talk. And she told the detectives that she had found Moe in the bathroom after coming home. And she said that when she'd come to her apartment that night, she hadn't heard or seen anything strange

outside when she parked her car or when she was walking up the steps. Everything seemed normal. Spittler asked her if she had noticed if anything inside of her apartment appeared to have been stolen. Mo's friend thought about it and then said nothing of hers had been taken. However, Mo's very expensive specialty gravel racing bicycle was gone, and she said there was no way that Mo would have taken it somewhere and just left it, because Moe not only loved that bike, but literally needed it for an upcoming race. The detectives shared a look. They both realized this could mean that Moe's murder had been the result of a robbery gone wrong.

But since the expensive bike was the only thing taken, Spittler thought that most likely pointed to someone who would have known Mo was in town and that she'd brought her bike with her. So, Spittler asked if anybody else knew that Moe was staying at the apartment and that she might have brought her bike. And Mo's friend said that actually a bunch of people knew, because Moe was a big-time gravel racer. And a large number of cyclists who knew her were in town to compete at an upcoming race. But Mo's friend did quickly add that the only person she knew Mo had seen that day was a cyclist that Mo had an on-again, off-again relationship with, a guy who was famous in gravel racing circles named Colin Strickland.

Several hours later, still on the morning of May 12th, Detective Spittler and several other officers drove towards Colin Strickland's house in Austin. After working through the night, Spittler and Connor had begun to believe that the man Moe had been out with the day before was their only legitimate lead. They'd taken DNA samples from Mo's friend who'd found Mo, and while they weren't willing to write anyone off yet as a suspect, neither detective really believed she was the killer. On top of that, the detective's early theory

that Moe's murder could have been a robbery gone wrong had already taken a significant hit. Because as officers had canvassed the surrounding area, they'd found Moe's missing bike, abandoned in a thick growth of bamboo, less than 70 feet away from the apartment where Mo had been killed. The one other piece of possible evidence they'd found had come from video doorbell footage from an apartment near the crime scene that showed a black Jeep Cherokee with a large bike rack

driving towards Mo's friend's place not long before Mo had most likely been killed. But the police couldn't get a clear read on the license plate number or a clear look at the driver. So while Detective Connor stayed behind at the station and tried to track down the Jeep, Spittler and his team pulled up their cars to Colin Strickland's house. And when Spittler glanced out of his window, he almost wanted to laugh. because he couldn't believe his luck. Parked right out in front of the house was a black Jeep Cherokee with a large bike rack, just like the one in the video footage.

The sight of the Jeep gave Spittler a rush, and he thought this was almost too good to be true. But he didn't want Colin to panic and do something stupid, and as much as this car made it seem like there was a good chance Spittler had just found his killer, he did not want to rush to judgment. So when Colin opened the door calmly and said he was willing to speak to the police, Spittler played everything very close to the vest. And so he started his interview with the most basic questions you could think of. He asked Colin if he knew a woman who was a professional cyclist named Anna.

And Colin said, no, he didn't know anybody by that name. And this actually blew Spittler away. Because it was such a blatant lie that Spittler easily could have refuted, even if he hadn't already heard from her friend that Colin and Mo had a close relationship. In fact, in less than a day, Spittler and his team had found online references to, Colin and Mo being at multiple races across the country at the same time. And it was also clear to Spittler that the world of professional gravel racing was a pretty small one. So there was no logical

way that one of the top racers on the men's side never would have come across one of the top racers on the woman's side. But Spittler didn't show any of that on his face. Instead, he told Colin the woman in question, Anna, had the last name of Wilson and was a gravel rider. And at this, Colin's face suddenly changed, like he was only just now remembering Mo's given name, Hannah. And he said, actually, yeah, I do know her. Then the detective told Colin that, well, Mo had died the night before. And now Colin's expression changed again. He leaned over and just started rubbing his face and neck. Spittler didn't know what to make of this. Colin did look upset. But at the same time, he had just acted like he didn't know who Anna was, you know, as if he literally didn't know

that the woman he had been intimate with, Mo, that her actual first name was Anna. I mean, I guess it was possible, but realistically, if you're being intimate with this person, you probably know their real first name. But, you know, maybe he forgot, but it was just all very suspicious. So, after a moment, Spittler told Colin they would need to take him to the station for further questioning. Spittler knew he didn't have anything to hold Colin on yet, but he didn't want to risk Colin fleeing, and he needed more time because he wanted to get a search warrant for Colin's house. As they walked outside together, Spittler asked Colin if the black cheap Cherokee belonged to him. And Colin said no. It belonged to his girlfriend who lived with him, Caitlin Armstrong. So

Spittler asked if Colin ever drove it. And Colin laughed and said, no, wasn't really his style. He said he liked to drive motorcycles and big diesel trucks. Spittler smiled and nodded like it was no big deal, but deep down he knew that Colin could easily be lying here. I mean, it was just as likely that, you know, he was at Moe's friend's house the night before driving that Jeep Cherokee. But right now, it was Colin's word against his. After a short drive, Detective Spittler arrived at the station. While the suspect, Colin Strickland, was taken to an interview room, Spittler told his partner, Detective Connor, about how he'd found the black Jeep with the bike rack on it. It was Colin's living girlfriend's car, Caitlin

Armstrong. And Detective Conner seemed shocked, not because she was surprised about the Jeep, but because she'd also discovered something huge about Caitlin. While she and the rest of the team were searching for the Jeep and, you know, naturally digging into Colin Strickland's background because he was someone who was seeing Moe, they had discovered his and Caitlin's relationship. And a quick search of a police database showed that police had an outstanding arrest warrant for Caitlin. Because years earlier, Caitlin had gone in to get Botox done at a place in town and she had agreed to pay for it, she got the services done, but then at the end, when she was actually told to cough up the money, $650,

she had run out without paying. Spittler could barely contain his excitement, because this meant they could bring Caitlin in and hold her on that warrant, even if they didn't have enough evidence to hold her in Mo's murder case yet. And that just meant they would have more time to look into her possible connection to the murder. Or, at the very least, they would have leverage on her. And if she maybe knew something about her boyfriend, Colin Strickland's potential involvement in Mo's murder, she might be more willing to give up that information.

As the detectives talked, they found it hard to believe how quickly things were coming together. In the course of just a single day, they'd already moved in on two primary suspects, and it really looked like the doorbell camera footage of the Jeep, along with all the ample circumstantial evidence, pointed to one or both of these people. Shortly after that, officers were able to track down Caitlin at work. They brought her into the station, and at that point, the detectives split up. Spittler continued his conversation with Colin that they had started back at the house, while Caitlin was brought to a separate interview room to sit down with Detective Connor.

By this point, Caitlin knew about Moe's death, so Detective Connor didn't waste any time. She went right after Caitlin about her Jeep. Connor said they had footage that showed Caitlin's car driving right near Moe's friend's apartment soon before the murder took place. But Caitlin proved to be very calm and cooperative. She didn't deny that she'd been driving in the area where Mo had been murdered, but she said she had nothing to do with Mo's death. Still, she couldn't really provide the detective with any real reason why she had just happened to be right by the apartment at that time. And while Caitlin never lost her cool, Connor did notice a change in her voice and body language when the subject of Moe's relationship

with her boyfriend came up. Caitlin started to sound like a jealous girlfriend. She began talking about how she and Colin had broken up for a short period of time, and it was during that time that Colin apparently had begun seeing Mo a little bit, and it just clearly rattled Caitlin. And by the end of the interview, Detective Connor flat out told Caitlin that the evidence did not make things look good for her, and Caitlin just sort of nodded an agreement.

And Detective Connor didn't really know what to make of it. Caitlin didn't confess to anything, but also didn't really make. really defend herself. She just kind of accepted that she was being looked at seriously as a suspect in a murder case and didn't really put up much of a defense. And while the Jeep footage was pretty damning on its own, realistically, it was not clear in the video who was driving. But by this point, Connor believed if she and Spittler could secure even just one more piece of evidence to connect Caitlin to the crime scene, in addition to the Jeep, that that would be more than enough to arrest her for Moe's murder.

Hey listeners, Mr. Ballin here. What if I told you that some of the strangest, darkest, and most mysterious stories happening right now are all connected to what might be the biggest crime of our generation? You know I'm always on the hunt for the most chilling and perplexing tales out there. Well, I've discovered a new podcast that uncovers real-world mysteries unfolding right now, much like how another Ballin Studios podcast, redacted Declassified Mysteries, brings hidden government secrets to light, and it's called Lawless Planet. Host Zach Goldbaum reveals how shocking tales of murder, cover-ups, and mysterious deaths

are all part of something bigger, the systematic destruction of our planet. From activists who vanish in the Amazon to whistleblowers uncovering billion-dollar environmental crimes, these aren't just stories about the environment. They're real-life thrillers about people caught between powerful forces willing to kill to keep their secrets buried. Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of Flawless Planet, early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus. Hey, it's Mr. Ballin. For the first time, my show Medical Mysteries has joined forces with Redacted for a special episode. A redacted medical mystery uncovers how routine surgery

leads to classified government operations. Listen now on the medical mysteries or redacted feeds, or search a redacted medical mystery wherever you get your podcasts. In the days following the interviews with Caitlin and Colin, police did obtain a search warrant for their house. And inside the house, they found two 9-millimeter pistols, which matched the type of bullet casing found at the crime scene. Now, all they had to do was wait a few days for the ballistics report to come in to see if one or even both of those guns

had fired the rounds that killed Moe. On May 14th, so three days after Moe's death, The race that she had actually come to Austin to take part in went ahead as scheduled. But the race quickly turned into a kind of memorial for Mo. For the opening portion of the race, the riders all rode slowly and stayed together in a pack, placing their hands on each other's backs, while others openly sobbed on the course. And when the winner on the men's side of the race crossed the finish line, he didn't celebrate. Instead, he took off his helmet and bowed his head.

He would later post on Instagram, quote, a normal victory salute was inappropriate on a day like this. But as riders from all across the country use that race in Austin as a way to honor and celebrate the life of Mo Wilson, a person most of them considered a friend who they loved and respected, there was one rider whose absence seemed to cast a shadow over everything. Colin Strickland, one of the most popular competitors in the world, and someone who people clearly saw had a relationship with Mo,

even if it was just a friendly one, had not shown up. And three days later, on May 17th, the detectives read over the ballistics report at the station, and as they did, both of their faces lit up, because it was clear in the report that one of the guns found in Colin and Caitlin's house was the murder weapon. Following that ballistics report, Spittler and Connor felt a mix of excitement and relief. They believed that in less than a week, they had basically cracked Mo Wilson's murder case. They still weren't sure if either Colin or his girlfriend, Caitlin, had acted alone, or if maybe they had killed Moe together. But they felt confident they now had

more than enough evidence to charge them both. The murder weapon had been found in their house, and police had footage of Caitlin's black Jeep driving near Moe's friend's apartment soon before the murder took place. And in addition to that concrete evidence, the detectives had also caught Colin in what appeared to be a lie. When he was first approached about who Anna was, he said he didn't know who she was. But then when they mentioned that her nickname was Mo, Colin was like, oh, now I know who it is, but it's like you were in a relationship with her. You had to know what her first name was. So there was that, and then also the fact that Caitlin, in her interview, seemed very much like a jealous girlfriend whenever Moe came up. And then finally, detectives had conducted interviews of people

in the gravel racing community who spoke openly about the potential love triangle between the victim and the two suspects. So as far as Connor or Spitler were concerned, either one or both of their suspects would soon be going away to prison for a very long time. But before Spitler and Connor were able to wrap up everything and hand the case over to the district attorney, their investigation, which had been incredibly straightforward so far, took a bizarre turn that neither of them saw coming. In late June, about a month after Moe's murder, Austin police got word from a small group of United States Marshals who were working in Costa Rica. The marshals told the detectives that they were on the trail of a fugitive named Ari Martin, and they believed that Ari was involved in the murder of

Mo Wilson. On the morning of Wednesday, June 29, 2022, over a month and a half after Mo's death, U.S. Marshal, Amir Perez, walked down the street in a small coastal town called Santa Teresa in Costa Rica, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt like a tourist. Perez and his small band of marshals had been desperately trying to track down the wanted American fugitive named Ari Martin for over a month. They had spent the last week here in this touristy town with bars and shops and yoga studios. Right now, Perez was holding up his cell phone with a picture of Ari pulled up on the screen

and he was checking the face of every woman that passed by him to look for a resemblance. But he was having a bizarre problem. And that was that a lot of the women he passed looked like. Ari Martin. So Ari was an attractive woman, but she was strangely generic looking, with no unique features really at all. And so this made her somewhat forgettable for the people that interacted with her. And it also made it very hard to pick her out of a crowd, because basically in any crowd, there were at least three other women who sort of looked like her. But today, Perez was not just canvassing. He was on his way to a specific location, a cheap hostel he was hoping

Ari might be staying at. And after a half a block walk, he found it. He turned off the sidewalk and walked inside the building. Then, pretending to be a tourist looking to meet someone, he walked through the hostel out onto a back patio where there were several tables and people were sitting and talking and drinking. And sitting at one of these tables, Perez saw a generic looking woman who was speaking English. Perez started to get excited and he looked down at the photo on his phone, but he still couldn't quite tell if this woman was actually a match. He needed to get closer to be sure. So Perez approached the table, he smiled and began speaking in Spanish. And at this point, the generic-looking American looked up and smiled at him. And while the smile was, like the rest

of her, sort of unremarkable, Perez saw one marking that none of the other women he'd looked at had possessed. And what it was was a bandage across this woman's nose. And at this point, Perez knew he had found Ari Martin. With more help from Costa Rican authorities, Perez and his team would soon get Ari back to America. And in Austin, Texas, Detective Spittler and Connor would get to sit down with Ari. And through their conversation,

they would learn exactly what had happened to Mo Wilson, and they would finally be able to close one of the strangest murder cases any of them had ever worked. Based on it, information provided by the fugitive Ari Martin, evidence found in the United States and Costa Rica, and interviews conducted throughout the investigation. The following is what police believe happened to Moe Wilson on the night she was killed, May 11, 2022. That night, around 9.15 p.m., the killer walked through the alley and climbed the steps up to

the second floor apartment. The killer thought being in the alley would keep them mostly out of sight, but they still wore all black just to be safe. Even though the sun had set, it was still very hot outside, and the killer could feel sweat dripping down their face. They used their sleeve to wipe their face, then they drew a 9mm pistol from their waistband and opened the door. As slowly and quietly as they could, the killer walked into the apartment and made their way down the hall. At some point they stopped and looked over at the high-end gravel racing bike leaning up against the wall. Eventually, they kept on moving down the hall, and as they did, they heard something coming from the bathroom. They stopped and looked over at the bathroom door, and they saw light coming out

from underneath. Clearly, somebody was in there. At this point, the killer grabbed their gun tightly and took a few more steps until they were stopped right in front of the bathroom door. There, they took a steadying breath, raised their gun, then reached out with their offhand, and opened up the door. Inside the bathroom, Mo saw their killer and she screamed, but before Mo could do anything, the killer fired off two shots from their pistol. The bullet struck Moe directly in the chest, and she fell to the floor on her back as blood spattered the walls. The killer walked over and just stood over Moe staring down for a few seconds, seeing all this blood run from her wounds onto the ground. Then, the killer raised their gun again, aimed it at Moe's chest, and fired for a third

time. After that, Mo lay motionless on the bathroom floor. For a few moments, the killer just stood there, staring down at Mo, trying to make sure she really was dead. And when she continued to lay there motionless, the killer felt confident she was. So, they turned around and headed back into the hallway. There, they grabbed Mo's expensive bike that was leaning up against the wall, and with it in hand, they moved as quickly as they could back towards the door. The bike was cumbersome to move, but the killer managed to handle the outside stairs quickly and rushed into the alley with the bike. Then they ran through the darkness to a spot they knew was covered with a thick growth of bamboo.

The killer then tossed Mo's bike into the bamboo, hoping it would hide it and convince the police that Mo had been killed for her expensive bike. Once the bike had been ditched, the killer took a deep breath, then ran out of the alley and hopped into the black jeep Cherokee that was parked nearby. Once in the car, they hit the gas and sped away across town. From the beginning, Mo's murder had seemed pretty straightforward to Spittler and Connor. But it was in the days following the interviews with their main suspects, Colin Strickland and his girlfriend Caitlin Armstrong, that had sent their investigation down a path the detectives never could have predicted. Because before any arrest could be made, the detectives discovered that Moe's killer had actually fled Austin. And it was not until a month.

month later, when the U.S. Marshals conducted their search in Costa Rica for the fugitive Ari Martin, that everything would finally come together. Because when U.S. Marshal, Amir Perez, found Ari at the hostel in the small coastal town, he knew he was actually looking at Moes Killer, who was none other than Caitlin Armstrong herself. Here's what happened. During Caitlin's interview with Detective Connor, police had wanted to hold Caitlin on the arrest warrant that had been issued when she ran out on a bill for $650, which had been for that Botox treatment. But it would turn out that arrest warrant apparently had listed Caitlin's date of birth incorrectly. And so it was deemed invalid and Caitlin was released from jail that very day.

And in the time between her release and when the police got the ballistics report back from the guns found in Caitlin and Collins' house, Caitlin moved fast. She immediately sold her Jeep and used some of that money to quickly get out of Texas and head north to Newark, New Jersey. She wiped all of her social media accounts, got rid of her cell phone, and then flew from Newark to Costa Rica. And once she'd made it to Costa Rica, she began going by several different pseudonyms before landing on Ari Martin. Once police discovered Caitlin had made a run for it, they were more convinced than ever that she was the killer. But finding her proved to be very difficult.

And this was because Caitlin had not just changed her name, she also went ahead and changed her face. she'd gotten plastic surgery to intentionally erase her individuality and make her look like lots of other women. But while the surgery did make her look somewhat generic, it also left her with a bandage over her nose. And that's how U.S. Marshal Perez finally identified her. The marshals brought Caitlin back to Austin, and there she eventually confessed to murdering Mo. Colin Strickland was not involved in any way with Mo's murder. Caitlin Armstrong was convicted of murder and sentenced to 90 years in prison. prison with a chance for parole in

253. A quick note about our stories, they are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. The Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories, is hosted and executive produced by me, Mr. Ballen. Our head of writing is Evan Allen. Our head of production is Zach Levitt. Produced by Jeremy Bone.

Research and fact-checking by Shelley Shoe, Samantha Van Hoose, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway, and Camille Callahan. Research and fact-checking supervision by Stephen Ear. Audio editing and post-produced by Whit Lacasio and Cole Lacasio. Additional audio editing by Jordan Stidham. Mixed and mastered by Brendan Cain. Production Coordination by Samantha Collins. Production support by Antonio Manada and Delana Corley.

Artwork by Jessica Klogston Kiner. Theme song called Something Wicked by Ross Bugden. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. If you enjoyed today's story and you're looking for more bone-chilling content, be sure to check out all of our studios' podcasts. There's this one, the Mr. Ballin podcast, as well as Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries, bedtime stories, wartime stories, run-full, redacted, late nights with Nexpo, and a twist of history.

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