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Gorgeous World Class Cyclist Shot Dead: Love Triangle Motive? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous twenty five year
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Speaker 1: old world class cyclists is murdered, found shot dead multiple
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Speaker 1: times in the gentrified East Austin neighborhood full of beautiful
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Speaker 1: apartments at homes. When I say world class, I mean
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Speaker 1: world class. She reportedly the number one female gravel cyclist
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Speaker 1: in the world. Who we want to kill this beautiful
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Speaker 1: twenty five year old girl, I me, Nancy Grace. This
0:52
Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here
0:55
Speaker 1: at Fox Nation and series M one eleven. Let's kick
0:58
Speaker 1: it off, take it listen to our friends at seven.
1:00
Speaker 1: Police are investigating a suspicious death in East Auston. This
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Speaker 1: happened on Maple Avenue near East seventeenth Street overnight. A
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Speaker 1: woman called police saying she found her friend inside her
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Speaker 1: house unresponsive and there was blood near her. When officers arrived,
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Speaker 1: they found the victim had gunshot wounds. A US provided
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Speaker 1: life saving measures, but the woman later died from her injuries.
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Speaker 1: Police do not know how long she was inside the home,
1:23
Speaker 1: but did call her death suspicious. It is unclear if
1:26
Speaker 1: a gun was found on scene. Suspicious man. They're staying
1:30
Speaker 1: pretty calm. Multiple gunshot wounds, I would say, Yeah, that's suspicious.
1:36
Speaker 1: I can go ahead and answer that for the cops.
1:39
Speaker 1: Take a listen now to our friend John krn Jack
1:42
Speaker 1: Fox seven tonight, we're learning the victim of a deadly
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Speaker 1: shooting in East Austin earlier this week was a well
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Speaker 1: known cyclist who is supposed to take part in a
1:50
Speaker 1: mountain bike race in the Hill Country today. Anna Wilson,
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Speaker 1: better known by her middle name Mariah, was pronounced dead
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Speaker 1: on Wednesday night at home on Maple Avenue near Eighteenth Street.
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Speaker 1: Austin Police were called there after a friend of Wilson's
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Speaker 1: returned home to find the twenty five year old unconscious
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Speaker 1: with gunshot wounds. APD has not believed the shooting was random.
2:09
Speaker 1: They're urging anyone with information or video of what happened
2:12
Speaker 1: to give them a call now. According to the cycling
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Speaker 1: magazine Vello, Wilson was in Texas ahead of today's gravel
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Speaker 1: locost Race and Hiko, where she was a favorite to win.
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Speaker 1: Vellow published a statement from her family saying she was
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Speaker 1: quote always pushing tirelessly to reach her goals. We knew
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Speaker 1: she was pursuing that which she loved, the family adding
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Speaker 1: we know Mariah would want the event to carry on.
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Speaker 1: You know, when I hear the address Maple Avenue, that
2:43
Speaker 1: sounds straight out of a storybook. And from what I've learned,
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Speaker 1: there's a pretty ritzy area there in Austin joining me
2:50
Speaker 1: an all star panel. But let me first go straight
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Speaker 1: out to Tony Plahetski, longtime friend, colleague, investigative reporter with
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Speaker 1: The Austin American Statesman and KVUE Twitter at t Plaatski. Tony,
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Speaker 1: tell me about East Austin. I got the word gentrified
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Speaker 1: from you. What do you mean by that? I mean
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Speaker 1: Maple Avenue. It sounds like it's out of a fable
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Speaker 1: of book. It sounds so peaceful and idyllic. To have
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Speaker 1: somebody the number one female gravel cyclist in the world
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Speaker 1: gunned down dead an apartment doesn't fit with Maple Avenue well,
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Speaker 1: so over the years, this area of East Austin has
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Speaker 1: truly been transformed. Wait a minute, Tony Plahatsky, just stop
3:37
Speaker 1: right there. Let me just call it like it is.
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Speaker 1: It reminds me of when I moved to Atlanta and
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Speaker 1: started prosecuting an inner city Atlanta's Fulton District Attorney's office.
3:46
Speaker 1: I lived in midtown, and at that time, every morning
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Speaker 1: when I would come out of my apartment, I'd go
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Speaker 1: to my car and there'd be gin bottles and pantyhose, syringes, rubbers,
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Speaker 1: empty bottles of liquor, and panty hose because hookers and
4:04
Speaker 1: addicts would come up and down my alley where I
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Speaker 1: live to shoot up and conduct business. Let me just
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Speaker 1: say then it went gentrified. People that wanted to live
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Speaker 1: close to all the high rise skyscrapers and businesses downtown
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Speaker 1: wanted to move there. They pump their money into it,
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Speaker 1: fixed it all up. Everybody had laws and fancy apartments
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Speaker 1: and fancy cars. I had to move. I couldn't afford
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Speaker 1: it anymore. Is that what you're saying. That's exactly what
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Speaker 1: I'm saying. It is a carbon copy of what you
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Speaker 1: just described. And so this area where Mariah Wilson was
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Speaker 1: murdered is now home to high rise apartments town home
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Speaker 1: that are very trendy. A lot of young people in
4:46
Speaker 1: our city live in this area who have moved to
4:49
Speaker 1: Austin from all over the country to work in tech,
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Speaker 1: for example, and so it's really an area dominated increasingly
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Speaker 1: by that population. I know what you mean. Gin bottles
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Speaker 1: and pantyhose in the alley one day, then valet parking
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Speaker 1: and high rises the next day. I get it. What
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Speaker 1: I'm getting at is there's a very low crime rate
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Speaker 1: on Maple Avenue. Take a listen to our friends Carissa
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Speaker 1: lemoucol on Fox seven Surprise Everybody. East Austin resident Michael
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Speaker 1: Harris is talking about what happened the night of May eleventh.
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Speaker 1: Shocked to hear that a young prominent cyclist was shot
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Speaker 1: and killed while staying in the house across the street.
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Speaker 1: I live here almost two years, and I've never maybe
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Speaker 1: seen two police cars passed by. This is why this
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Speaker 1: neighborhood is. Twenty five year old Mariah Wilson was in
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Speaker 1: Texas to compete in an upcoming race. Coming off a
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Speaker 1: win at the Belgian Waffle Ride in California. We all
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Speaker 1: just marveled at, you know, just what a wonderful personality
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Speaker 1: and a great athlete and an ambassador for our sport.
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Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden, how could this happen?
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Speaker 1: And everyone's just sort of reeling from it. In addition
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Speaker 1: to reporter Carissa, you're also hearing from the director of
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Speaker 1: the Belgian Waffle Ride in California, Michael Marks. Everyone knew
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Speaker 1: her and loved her. Now, when I hear gravel cycling,
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Speaker 1: it's hard enough to race in sand to get your
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Speaker 1: bike to go through. So why are you looking at
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Speaker 1: me like that, Jackie? Are you imagining trying to ride
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Speaker 1: a bike through sand much less gravel? Tell me about this.
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Speaker 1: What is is, Tony Plahatski. It's an endurance sport. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it is where the yeah, I mean really really a
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Speaker 1: very competitive sport across the country, really across the world.
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Speaker 1: And Mariah Wilson, as you mentioned, was a star in
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Speaker 1: that world. She had already amassed a certain amount of acclaim,
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Speaker 1: but she was really on her way. Even her competitors,
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Speaker 1: her most fierce competitors, admired her and her stamina, her
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Speaker 1: just natural born athleticism, but also Nancy her personality. I mean,
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Speaker 1: when they talk about her, they actually don't lead with
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Speaker 1: the fact that she was this amazing athlete. They lead
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Speaker 1: with talking about her kindness and her spirit and the
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Speaker 1: happiness that she really had in her life. Time stories
7:51
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace just right off the bat too, Jessica Morgan,
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Speaker 1: Professor Forensics, Jackson will statement of her. See he's an
8:00
Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and he's
8:05
Speaker 1: the host of a hit new series Body Bags with
8:08
Speaker 1: Joseph Scott more gun on. iHeart Joe Scott right off
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Speaker 1: the bat. This woman, I can tell you she's in
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Speaker 1: a single dwelling apartment, she's unarmed, and she shot multiple times.
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Speaker 1: I don't like it. We don't have any evidence of
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Speaker 1: rape or burglary. So why is somebody coming into this
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Speaker 1: apartment if there was in fact to break in and
8:35
Speaker 1: gunning her down multiple times? Yeah. And one of the
8:38
Speaker 1: things that kind of interests me is that when she
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Speaker 1: was found, she was not found in like the foyer.
8:44
Speaker 1: She wasn't found at the entrance. She was actually found
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Speaker 1: in the bathroom, which gives me an indication that unless
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Speaker 1: there is an obvious sign that someone kicked in the
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Speaker 1: door or pried open a window, or maybe entered through
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Speaker 1: a backdoor, even if there was a backdoor, that this
9:00
Speaker 1: may have been a location of retreat, you know, when
9:03
Speaker 1: people are being attacked. We why didn't can I just
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Speaker 1: ask you out of curiosity? Everything you said, I'm down
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Speaker 1: with that, but why don't you just say she was
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Speaker 1: in the bathroom? Makes me think she ran ran from
9:14
Speaker 1: her attacker and hid in the bathroom. Well, because I mean,
9:16
Speaker 1: does it ever dawn and you just talk like the
9:18
Speaker 1: rest of us. No, okay, go ahead, it I respect
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Speaker 1: that ahead. No, it just it just grasped me. You know,
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Speaker 1: the moment that I read this and heard it. You know,
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Speaker 1: the fact that she was in the bathroom. You know,
9:32
Speaker 1: who feels comfortable with entering the bathroom with someone else.
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Speaker 1: Maybe she's retreated to that point. Maybe she was forced
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Speaker 1: in there. You know, when you know one of the
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Speaker 1: things like if you have bad weather, people tell you
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Speaker 1: to retreat to the bathroom. It's generally the most secure
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Speaker 1: area in the house if you don't have a basement
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Speaker 1: or something, and it could be an area where sound
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Speaker 1: is muffled. For instance, because Nancy, when they found her,
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Speaker 1: her body is blood soaked and there are and this
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Speaker 1: is very key, there are multiple spent shell casings laying
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Speaker 1: about her body in this approximate area as well. Kay,
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Speaker 1: stop right there, she's in the bathroom. You think it
10:09
Speaker 1: was a very good chance she ran to the bathroom.
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Speaker 1: I agree on multiple spent shell casings around her. That
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Speaker 1: tells me this is not a pro because you would
10:20
Speaker 1: take the time to pick them up. Shell Nutt with
10:23
Speaker 1: me also James shell Nutt twenty seven years a Metro
10:28
Speaker 1: major case. Also swap now lawyer with the shell mut
10:32
Speaker 1: firm on Twitter at shell Nutt law Firm. Right there,
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Speaker 1: we know it's someone that's not a pro because the
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Speaker 1: pro after the killing would pick up the shell casings
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Speaker 1: because they, just like a bullet, can be matched back
10:50
Speaker 1: like a fingerprint to the weapon. Because once you get,
10:54
Speaker 1: if you ever get the murder weapon, when the shell
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Speaker 1: comes out, there is an ejector mark the shell, although
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Speaker 1: it may not hurl down, the barrel is ejected, think
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Speaker 1: of an ejection seat in a plane. The shell is
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Speaker 1: ejected out and the force of leaving the weapon leaves
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Speaker 1: a mark on the shell unlike any other marking from
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Speaker 1: any other gun on a shell. Agree, disagree, shell not.
11:33
Speaker 1: And what that allows you to do is to go
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Speaker 1: back and do further investigation to see if a person
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Speaker 1: that you suspect being involved in a crime had access
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Speaker 1: to a weapon that would leave that type of strike
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Speaker 1: mark on the shell. Case guys, take a listen to
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Speaker 1: our cut fifteen, Our cut fifteen from crime Online. Why
11:55
Speaker 1: is Mariah also known as Moe in Texas Terrace? Listen.
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Speaker 1: Annam Wilson was in Texas to race the Gravel Locos.
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Speaker 1: Competition was a one hundred fifty mile race in a
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Speaker 1: discipline that blends mountain biking and road cycling. It's a
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Speaker 1: profession new to Wilson. She had recently quit her job
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Speaker 1: with the mic company Specialized to focus on cycling full time.
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Speaker 1: Wilson had won ten off road races this year, including
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Speaker 1: an eighty kilometer race at the Sea Outter Classic, a
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Speaker 1: cycling festival in Monterey, California. So she was there strictly
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Speaker 1: for business. Back to you, Tony Palahatski, where was she staying?
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Speaker 1: Whose apartment was this? A friend, a longtime friend who
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Speaker 1: does live in Austin, And that friend had actually picked
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Speaker 1: her up at the airport and given her a special code,
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Speaker 1: an access code to her apartment so that she could
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Speaker 1: go and come as she pleased. And so that's what
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Speaker 1: Mariah Wilson had done. I mean, there are other things
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Speaker 1: that she had been doing out on the town while
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Speaker 1: she had been here, just a couple of days actually,
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Speaker 1: by the time that she had been been founded, just
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Speaker 1: a couple of days in Austin. And now she's dead.
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Speaker 1: With me, Tony Plotski is joining as Tony with the
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Speaker 1: Austin American Statesman. I'm glad you mentioned that code, that
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Speaker 1: special access code. Take a listen to hourcut seventeen our
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Speaker 1: friends at crime online dot com. At first, suspecting a robbery,
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Speaker 1: police in Cash check the home. The only thing missing
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Speaker 1: was Anna Wilson's specialized s Works bicycle. As officers checked
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Speaker 1: the area, Wilson's bicycle was found around sixty eight feet
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Speaker 1: south of Cash's home, hidden in thick bamboo. The investigation
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Speaker 1: quickly turned from interrupted robbery to homicide as Cash explained
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Speaker 1: that she has specialized electronic locks on her door that
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Speaker 1: unlocked by using a unique code. Cash had provided Wilson
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Speaker 1: with a new code, with Cash getting a phone notification
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Speaker 1: when the door is either locked or unlocked. At eight
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Speaker 1: thirty six pm, Wilson came home. You know that's very
14:03
Speaker 1: very interesting. Let me go to another special guest joining us.
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Speaker 1: It is run You Mancarious, CEO Crime Stoppers of Houston,
14:13
Speaker 1: author of the online world What you think you know
14:17
Speaker 1: and what you don't you can find Umcarius dot com. Runya,
14:23
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us so very much and
14:26
Speaker 1: for all of your hard work with crime Stoppers of
14:28
Speaker 1: Houston run you. When I was writing Don't Be a Victim,
14:35
Speaker 1: I researched about how you, of course should always change
14:39
Speaker 1: your code on everything. You've got, your iPad, your cell phone,
14:44
Speaker 1: you're recording your home answering machine, if you have one,
14:48
Speaker 1: your code in and out of your home, your gate coat, everything.
14:52
Speaker 1: Don't leave it on factory set because you can look
14:58
Speaker 1: that up online, and predators do look it up online
15:01
Speaker 1: to find out what the factory setting is. And most
15:04
Speaker 1: of the world, believe it or not, that has a code.
15:06
Speaker 1: If any type puts in one two three four or
15:09
Speaker 1: one one one one or two two two two, it's
15:12
Speaker 1: very very simple to crack that code. That's when I
15:15
Speaker 1: learned researching for Don't Be a Victim, that you can
15:18
Speaker 1: have your code to get into your apartment like this
15:21
Speaker 1: friend had, and then you can give visitors their own
15:25
Speaker 1: code so you don't have to x out your code
15:29
Speaker 1: every time you have a visitor and they leave and
15:31
Speaker 1: come up with a new one, which I think is
15:34
Speaker 1: really really smart. When you have visitors, you assign them
15:39
Speaker 1: a different code that works with your system. That sounds
15:43
Speaker 1: like what happened here, Ronya, Yeah, and agreed and that
15:46
Speaker 1: sounds like what Caitlyn Cash did. She assigned Mariah her
15:50
Speaker 1: own unique code and has since said that she's erased
15:53
Speaker 1: that code and has changed her code. But she was
15:57
Speaker 1: doing everything she could to keep herself safe, to keep
16:00
Speaker 1: her guestsy. But that move, that very smart move. Really
16:05
Speaker 1: it's helping law enforcement in this case. And it's something
16:09
Speaker 1: we advise all people to do. Is we embrace technology
16:13
Speaker 1: and we look to have smart homes and smart technology
16:15
Speaker 1: in our homes. We want people to utilize this in
16:19
Speaker 1: a way that keeps them safe. So let's get right
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Speaker 1: down to it to doctor Sherry Schwartz joining me. A
16:23
Speaker 1: forensic psychologists specializing and capital mitigation. She's the author of
16:30
Speaker 1: Criminal Behavior and we're a law in psychology intersect. Doctor
16:34
Speaker 1: Sherry Schwartz, thank you for joining us from Miami Beach today,
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Speaker 1: Doctor Sherry. That's when you feel at home. You feel
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Speaker 1: at home when you go into a secure apartment that
16:44
Speaker 1: you can only get in with a special code devised
16:47
Speaker 1: for you. Why am I saying this? Who would have
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Speaker 1: had that code? Who could have figured out that code?
16:54
Speaker 1: Or could the purp have somehow gotten in behind her?
16:59
Speaker 1: Did she locked the door when she went in? I'm
17:02
Speaker 1: following up on what Joe Scott Morgan said that it
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Speaker 1: seems as if the victim becaus world class gorgeous twenty
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Speaker 1: five year old cyclist had retreated to the bathroom, or
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Speaker 1: maybe she was just in the bathroom, but I know
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Speaker 1: where defenses were down, Doctor Sherry. She thought she was
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Speaker 1: saying correct. She walked through the door. I mean, maybe
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Speaker 1: she did forget to lock it or didn't maybe thought
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Speaker 1: it was locked. It's a new environment for her. She's
17:26
Speaker 1: a guest at this location, so maybe she didn't think
17:30
Speaker 1: about how to lock the door, maybe thought it locked
17:33
Speaker 1: automatically behind her. But you're right, she probably felt very
17:36
Speaker 1: safe and secure and headed to use the restroom like
17:42
Speaker 1: many of us do when we first get home. So
17:44
Speaker 1: this is nothing unusual. And if I feel safe and
17:48
Speaker 1: secure in a location, I'm not necessarily going to be
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Speaker 1: hyper vigilant looking for someone, especially if I'm at home
17:55
Speaker 1: looking for someone who's going to be coming in behind me.
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Speaker 1: And it was interesting. Tony Plohevski joining me from the
18:00
Speaker 1: Austin American Statesman. Tony, it doesn't sound like there was
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Speaker 1: a struggle. I wonder if the person had secreted themselves
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Speaker 1: in the home, if they followed in behind her, if
18:10
Speaker 1: she didn't lock the door, if she didn't use the code.
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Speaker 1: But I don't hear anything about a struggle ensuing, any
18:18
Speaker 1: evidence of a struggle. It sounds like Mariah, it was
18:21
Speaker 1: just shot stone cold. Did That's exactly right, in a
18:26
Speaker 1: pool of blood on the floor. And so that is
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Speaker 1: how her friend Caitlin found her, and that is how
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Speaker 1: the police found her when they arrived. Guys, take a
18:37
Speaker 1: listen to our cut sixteen, because I'm trying to figure
18:41
Speaker 1: out what happened. Where was this friend whose apartment she
18:46
Speaker 1: was using, staying there with the friend who was it?
18:49
Speaker 1: And what happened in the hours leading up to this
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Speaker 1: world class cyclist murder. Friend Katelyn Cash picked up Wilson
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Speaker 1: at the airport. Wilson was to stay at ashes home
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Speaker 1: until the race. The next day, Cash received a text
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Speaker 1: from Wilson saying that she was meeting a friend named
19:06
Speaker 1: Colin to go swimming that afternoon. Around five thirty, as
19:10
Speaker 1: Cash left to go meet friends for dinner, she noticed
19:13
Speaker 1: Wilson's large bicycle travel bag outside the front door on
19:17
Speaker 1: the elevated porch. Cash says she told Wilson to move
19:20
Speaker 1: the bag inside so it wouldn't be stolen. But when
19:23
Speaker 1: Cash came home from dinner, the large bicycle travel bag
19:26
Speaker 1: was at the bottom of the stairs, partially blocking the cardboard.
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Speaker 1: As she went inside, the front door was unlocked, and
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Speaker 1: Wilson was lying on the bathroom floor covered in blood. Okay,
19:38
Speaker 1: Tony Plahatski joining me, Austin American Statesman, I just learned
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Speaker 1: a lot. So this is a friend, Caitlin Cash, that
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Speaker 1: picks her up at the airport, offers her apartment up
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Speaker 1: for her to stay, and she was going to stay
19:52
Speaker 1: there until the race. The next day. She was meeting
19:56
Speaker 1: somebody to go swimming. But listen to this part. She
20:01
Speaker 1: noticed the travel bag outside in the front door, on
20:04
Speaker 1: the front door on an elevated porch. She told, now,
20:08
Speaker 1: first of all, to me, that rules out the friend
20:10
Speaker 1: who would be your first suspect, because she's already had
20:13
Speaker 1: a chance to kill her when she speak up from
20:14
Speaker 1: the airport. Also, it's usually not the killer that calls
20:18
Speaker 1: nine one one. Okay, just let's start with that. But
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Speaker 1: she comes back, she tells her, move your big bag
20:25
Speaker 1: with all your gear inside, so nobody steals it. So
20:28
Speaker 1: that tells me while you're telling me this is a
20:30
Speaker 1: gentrified neighborhood, there still could be somebody that would come
20:33
Speaker 1: along in burgle or steal. I learned that. I also
20:38
Speaker 1: learned that the door was unlocked. The front door was unlocked.
20:47
Speaker 1: No jimmying the door, no prior marks, no forced entry,
20:51
Speaker 1: the door was unlocked, which leads me to think the victim,
20:55
Speaker 1: Mariah Wilson, walked in suspecting nothing and didn't lock the door. Yeah,
21:01
Speaker 1: I mean, I definitely think that that is possible. The
21:03
Speaker 1: other possibility that we really haven't talked about here, though, Nancy,
21:07
Speaker 1: is whether or not Mariah Wilson may have known the person,
21:12
Speaker 1: maybe saw someone outside that was known to her. Let's
21:16
Speaker 1: go in and talk. Could that have happened here? Could
21:20
Speaker 1: someone have come to the door right behind her that
21:23
Speaker 1: she knew? I think that is an interesting possibility as well.
21:27
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right, guys. Take a listen. Now we finally
21:31
Speaker 1: get a tiny break in the case. Our cut eighteen
21:35
Speaker 1: from Crime Online. Detectives turned to video as they discover
21:38
Speaker 1: a surveillance camera mounted on the exterior of a home nearby.
21:43
Speaker 1: The camera face the driveway next to Cash's home. The
21:46
Speaker 1: footage showed a dark colored suv drive past at eight
21:50
Speaker 1: thirty seven pm, that's one minute after Wilson entered Cash's home.
21:55
Speaker 1: The suv slowed down, appearing to come to a stop
21:58
Speaker 1: directly next to Ash's residence. The suv had a large
22:02
Speaker 1: bicycle rack mounted on the trailer hitch of the vehicle,
22:05
Speaker 1: a luggage rack mounted on the roof, and chrome around
22:08
Speaker 1: the windows. No other vehicles were seen on video surveillance
22:12
Speaker 1: until emergency vehicles arrived. Okay, what did we ever do?
22:17
Speaker 1: James shell nutt before video surveillance, ring doorbells, the works.
22:24
Speaker 1: So tell me the significance, because in my mind it's
22:28
Speaker 1: going to be tough to explain that this black suv
22:32
Speaker 1: was on the scene one minute before. Yeah, I mean
22:36
Speaker 1: it's pretty significant information. I mean, now you've got a
22:39
Speaker 1: potential suspect, vehicle identified, and if you can tie that
22:44
Speaker 1: to someone who may have a reason to have hurt mode,
22:48
Speaker 1: then at that point you've got something. You know you're
22:51
Speaker 1: going to want to go back and look and say, Okay,
22:53
Speaker 1: what are the usual suspects? You know, the usual suspects
22:55
Speaker 1: from motives in murder cases. When you don't know who
22:58
Speaker 1: did it, you're always going to run the look at money,
23:00
Speaker 1: sex and revenge, and can you tie that vehicle to
23:04
Speaker 1: someone who would have had one of those motives? You know,
23:06
Speaker 1: I'm curious too, Ronya Man Carrie is joining me with
23:09
Speaker 1: Crime Stoppers of Houston and author. The art of identifying
23:15
Speaker 1: a vehicle is very, very sophisticated. Every year to two years,
23:22
Speaker 1: car manufacturers change subtle, subtle portions of the making model.
23:30
Speaker 1: For instance, they may change the tail light. They may
23:34
Speaker 1: turn it from two tilllight pains to three, or they
23:41
Speaker 1: may slant it, or they may change something about the
23:45
Speaker 1: bumper or the wheels. I mean it changes every couple
23:51
Speaker 1: of years. They don't keep the same exact model for
23:57
Speaker 1: a reason. So there are people and car car theft,
24:03
Speaker 1: stolen cars. Just like there's a homicide squad, there's a
24:07
Speaker 1: car theft squad, there's a burglary squad, there is a
24:10
Speaker 1: crimes on children, a crime on women's squad, there's a
24:14
Speaker 1: white collar crime squad. So these guys and women in
24:20
Speaker 1: car theft they know all of this. And if they
24:24
Speaker 1: can get a look at the make and model, they
24:28
Speaker 1: can tell you the year. If they can even get
24:32
Speaker 1: a partial tag, they can find out who that belongs
24:36
Speaker 1: to fairly quickly, would you agree, Runya? Absolutely, I agree,
24:42
Speaker 1: and then let's just see we kind of brushed over
24:44
Speaker 1: the fact that a local camera on an exterior of
24:47
Speaker 1: a neighbors building really cut the video. That's critical because
24:52
Speaker 1: to your point, cars are changing constantly. People, you have
24:55
Speaker 1: eyewitnesses to the scene that will be able to say,
24:57
Speaker 1: I think it was a black vehicle. I think it
24:59
Speaker 1: was a jeep, but I'm not sure. But that video surveillance,
25:02
Speaker 1: even if it's just the tail light, gives law enforcements
25:05
Speaker 1: so much information, including potentially the tag, and that's what
25:09
Speaker 1: we had in this case, and that was what was
25:11
Speaker 1: absolutely critical and identifying the suspect moving forward. Take a
25:16
Speaker 1: listen to our cut eleven our friends at CBS. Although
25:21
Speaker 1: she wasn't from Austin, those right here or Central Texas
25:24
Speaker 1: have been shocked at her death. I think it's a
25:27
Speaker 1: bad tragedy. Michael Harris lives just across the street from
25:31
Speaker 1: where Annama Riya Wilson lost her life. Those who knew
25:34
Speaker 1: her best called her mob. According to an Affi David,
25:37
Speaker 1: Wilson was staying with a friend while preparing for a
25:39
Speaker 1: bicycling race. She was lasting alive on surveillance video being
25:43
Speaker 1: dropped off at the home by a local professional cyclist,
25:46
Speaker 1: Colin Strickland, who never went inside. She's rear required over here.
25:50
Speaker 1: We never had this happened before, APD says during the investigation,
25:54
Speaker 1: or Vealan's video showed a black, deep grand Cherokee drove
25:57
Speaker 1: past the house just one minute after Wilson went inside. Okay,
26:01
Speaker 1: right there, we're getting somebody else ruled out. We know
26:04
Speaker 1: that she had gone swimming that day earlier in the
26:08
Speaker 1: day was somebody named Colins Strickland. But did I hear
26:11
Speaker 1: this correctly, Tony Plahatski that the surveillance video shows Strickland
26:16
Speaker 1: bringing her home, never going in and leaving. Correct, That
26:21
Speaker 1: is exactly right. And Strickland was not driving a black suv.
26:25
Speaker 1: He was not. He was, as a matter of fact,
26:27
Speaker 1: on his motorcycle. Oh okay, well that clears that up.
26:31
Speaker 1: So who is in the black suv? Take a listen
26:36
Speaker 1: to our cut nine our friends at Fox seven. Armstrong's
26:39
Speaker 1: car was seen on surveillance video at Wilson's friend's home.
26:43
Speaker 1: Wilson's friend later came home to find Wilson with multiple
26:46
Speaker 1: gunshot wounds. We went to the home where the crime
26:49
Speaker 1: happened and the address listed for Armstrong in Strickland no response.
26:55
Speaker 1: We tried calling Strickland as well. Sorry, the person we
26:59
Speaker 1: were trying to reach her a blue sail box that
27:00
Speaker 1: had not been set up yet. All this leaving the
27:03
Speaker 1: cycling community in mourning. It's so incredibly painful for such
27:08
Speaker 1: a tight knit community and people you've raced with, celebrated with,
27:13
Speaker 1: no like fretting Sony miles with to be faced with
27:18
Speaker 1: this horrific tragedy, and really my reaction is just pain
27:24
Speaker 1: and heart breaking. Okay, so we've ruled out Colins Strickland
27:28
Speaker 1: who dropped off on a motorcycle. Who Tony Plahatski is Armstrong.
27:33
Speaker 1: Armstrong is Colin Strickland girlfriend of three years and they
27:38
Speaker 1: lived together here in Austin and actually operate a business
27:42
Speaker 1: together in the Austin area. Caitlin Marie Armstrong, age thirty four,
27:50
Speaker 1: is the living girlfriend of Colins Strickland. Collins Strickland is
27:55
Speaker 1: who Mariah went swimming with. That's exactly right. Mariah and
27:59
Speaker 1: Colin Strickland and had gone to a well known pool
28:04
Speaker 1: community pool here in Austin called Deep Betty and went
28:09
Speaker 1: swimming together and then picked up a couple of burgers
28:12
Speaker 1: at a nearby popular spot, and then as we know,
28:15
Speaker 1: he dropped her off back at the apartment on her
28:18
Speaker 1: motor Fighter. Okay, I'm trying to take in everything that
28:21
Speaker 1: you just said. Take a listen to our cut ten
28:26
Speaker 1: Angela Shan Fox seven. The search is on for Caitlin Armstrong.
28:30
Speaker 1: Officials are asking for the public's help and finding her.
28:33
Speaker 1: According to the core of paperwork, an anonymous caller had
28:36
Speaker 1: called police saying Armstrong set she wanted to kill Wilson
28:40
Speaker 1: after finding out she was involved with her boyfriend. Now.
28:43
Speaker 1: The affidavit says the knight of the murder, Wilson went
28:46
Speaker 1: for a swim with Colin Strickland, another cyclist. After that
28:49
Speaker 1: he dropped her off at her friend's house. Wilson was
28:52
Speaker 1: visiting from California and was an Austin ahead of a
28:55
Speaker 1: race in Hiko. The paperwork says Strickland and Caitlin Armstrong
28:59
Speaker 1: were in a relationship before briefly ending it for a
29:02
Speaker 1: couple of weeks last year. At that time he was
29:04
Speaker 1: involved with Wilson. Armstrong's car was seen on surveillance video
29:08
Speaker 1: at Wilson's friend's home. A race director we spoke with
29:11
Speaker 1: earlier this week, says this is how he remembers Wilson.
29:15
Speaker 1: We all just marveled at, you know, just what an
29:19
Speaker 1: wonderful personality and a great athlete and an ambassador for
29:23
Speaker 1: our support. And then all of a sudden, how could
29:27
Speaker 1: this happen? And please say, at this point Armstrong has
29:30
Speaker 1: not been found. They are asking for the public's help
29:32
Speaker 1: and finding her. Time stories with Nancy Grace to you,
29:54
Speaker 1: Tony Platski. I'm trying to make sense of what we
29:58
Speaker 1: are learning. So I understand Mariah was not in a
30:04
Speaker 1: love relationship a sex relationship with Colin Strickland. Explain this
30:11
Speaker 1: love triangle. So Mariah Uh and Colin Strickland did have
30:17
Speaker 1: a relationship months ago while he was apparently broken up
30:23
Speaker 1: with Kristin Armstrong. That is what he tells the police
30:26
Speaker 1: that they that they had. Can you slow down and
30:29
Speaker 1: tell me the dates and everything else, you know? Yeah,
30:31
Speaker 1: it was last fall in October when Colin reports. So
30:36
Speaker 1: must a year ago when when Colin reports that he
30:39
Speaker 1: and Armstrong were broken up and that he did have
30:45
Speaker 1: a brief relationship with Mariah Wilson. However, since that time,
30:51
Speaker 1: according to him, Uh and what he told police is
30:56
Speaker 1: that they had been friends. Can you say relationship? Are
30:59
Speaker 1: you talking about a love relationship a sex relationship? It wasn't,
31:04
Speaker 1: based on my understanding, a romantic relationship. I mean that
31:08
Speaker 1: that is the way that it has been described. Okay,
31:11
Speaker 1: so let me understand this. About a year ago, when
31:14
Speaker 1: Colin Strickland was broken up with Caitlin Armstrong, he had
31:20
Speaker 1: a love relationship with Mariah Wilson, the cycling star. Right,
31:26
Speaker 1: that's right, and then they called it off and he
31:29
Speaker 1: got bat with Caitlin Armstrong. Is that right? That is correct? Okay,
31:35
Speaker 1: go from there. And so over time, over the past
31:38
Speaker 1: several months, Mariah and Strickland did maintain contact and apparently
31:46
Speaker 1: their relationship transitioned more into platonic, more into friendship. But
31:53
Speaker 1: at the same time, Kitlyn Armstrong discovered this relationship and
32:01
Speaker 1: was able to learn more both from Holla Strickland himself
32:07
Speaker 1: and also apparently looking at a cell phone, learned more
32:13
Speaker 1: about his ongoing friendship with Mariah Wilson and did not
32:18
Speaker 1: like it. And so that is what he told police
32:23
Speaker 1: as part of a very lengthy interview. Okay, wait, even
32:26
Speaker 1: though they were platonic, she still didn't like it. That's exactly.
32:30
Speaker 1: That exact is the understanding. Yeah, oh my goodness. You
32:35
Speaker 1: know the first thing I would do, runya man, carry us,
32:40
Speaker 1: joining us from crime staffers Houston. I would get all
32:45
Speaker 1: Caitlin Armstrong, age thirty four, cell phone records and if
32:49
Speaker 1: she's got a landline, and I would find out how
32:52
Speaker 1: many times she had been checking her boyfriend's messages and
32:58
Speaker 1: cell phone messages. I would want to find out how
33:02
Speaker 1: she hacked into his email. Everything I could prove digitally
33:08
Speaker 1: to see how long she had been doing a slow
33:11
Speaker 1: burn over her boyfriend, Colin Strickland's relationship now platonic with
33:17
Speaker 1: Maria the Cyclist Star. Well, it looks like that's what
33:20
Speaker 1: they've been doing. And they've uncovered that Colin and Maria
33:24
Speaker 1: had been exchanging texts and phone calls, although he changed
33:28
Speaker 1: Maria's name on his phone to not infuriate his girlfriend,
33:34
Speaker 1: but she discovered it and she started calling Mariah incessantly.
33:38
Speaker 1: Mariah blocked the number, started following her on Instagram and
33:44
Speaker 1: following her on what we understand to be Strava, a
33:47
Speaker 1: fitness app, to determine her whereabouts so we can see
33:51
Speaker 1: Caitlin's actions. That's good, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
33:55
Speaker 1: what did you say about an app? It's called Strava
33:58
Speaker 1: or Strava, and it basedically allows a cyclist to check
34:01
Speaker 1: in and show his or her followers, you know, the
34:05
Speaker 1: point of departure for a bike ride, and then the
34:08
Speaker 1: point of return. And apparently, you know, Wilson had had
34:13
Speaker 1: pinged her location to the home of Caitlin Cash as
34:17
Speaker 1: a as a start of the bike ride and as
34:20
Speaker 1: a point of where she returned. And that's where we
34:22
Speaker 1: believe our un learned of Wilson's whereabouts, so she would
34:28
Speaker 1: like chart her her bike courses online so her followers
34:33
Speaker 1: can note where she was riding. And it's very common,
34:37
Speaker 1: you know, given technology today, a lot of us live
34:40
Speaker 1: our daily lives, sharing our exact whereabouts in real time
34:45
Speaker 1: with this community and network of people who follow us.
34:48
Speaker 1: That's a big thing that I talk about in terms
34:50
Speaker 1: of how dangerous that that really is and really can
34:53
Speaker 1: be so dangerous, so dangerous, this is reminding me. Anybody
34:58
Speaker 1: on the panel jump in. Remember this is no tea
35:01
Speaker 1: party at High Grove. Of two cases number one, Diane Zamora.
35:07
Speaker 1: This was commonly called the Cadet murders. She was dating
35:11
Speaker 1: a guy David Graham. One catch this was in the
35:15
Speaker 1: Naval Academy, now hard that is to get into the
35:17
Speaker 1: other one was in West Point, as I recall, and
35:21
Speaker 1: the guy David Graham, they're all like eighteen nineteen twenty
35:25
Speaker 1: had a one time fleeing with a sixteen year old
35:29
Speaker 1: girl he met like how a Wendy's drive through Adrian Jones,
35:33
Speaker 1: And when Zamora found out, she demanded revenge. Here you
35:38
Speaker 1: go Naval Academy, West Point. She demanded revenge. So the
35:44
Speaker 1: two of them go and murder the sixteen year old
35:48
Speaker 1: little girl. I mean brutal over what a one ninth
35:53
Speaker 1: stand that lasted five minutes, seriously and completely completely uncontrolled impulses.
36:05
Speaker 1: Then it reminds me of another case if anybody remembers it,
36:08
Speaker 1: in the case of this gorgeous pediatrician out of Texas.
36:12
Speaker 1: You'll remember this Tony Polhetsky Kendra Hatcher, and she got
36:17
Speaker 1: engaged or was getting engaged to doctor McDreamy. She ended
36:22
Speaker 1: up getting gunned down in the parking lot, the parking
36:25
Speaker 1: garage of her luck's high rise because his ex girlfriend
36:30
Speaker 1: had been following her on an app and wanted revenge
36:34
Speaker 1: because her boyfriend dumped her and had her gunned down
36:38
Speaker 1: dead over a love triangle. Do you remember Kendra Hatcher,
36:44
Speaker 1: the pediatric dentist. That's what she was, being gunned down
36:49
Speaker 1: and outside of her high rise you got the same
36:53
Speaker 1: thing playing out here, Tony Polhatsky. A ridiculous love triangle. Absolutely,
36:59
Speaker 1: and that is one of the things that so many
37:02
Speaker 1: people have commented upon. I mean, when you look at Armstrong,
37:07
Speaker 1: it is her public image and even her image among
37:12
Speaker 1: people who knew her stands in stark contrast to what
37:17
Speaker 1: she is now accused of doing. She is described as successful,
37:23
Speaker 1: accomplished in her own right in the world of business.
37:26
Speaker 1: She was a yoga instructor for several years in Bali,
37:30
Speaker 1: and so people you mean Caitlin Armstrong, and so people
37:34
Speaker 1: are so she was a yogee she was, and balis
37:39
Speaker 1: no less, and so people are trying to reconcile that
37:44
Speaker 1: image of her based on what police are saying she did.
37:47
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the video and there's no doubt about it.
37:51
Speaker 1: You see Armstrong's black suv going back and forth. It's
37:56
Speaker 1: it's it's a jeep Cherokee driving around outside the home.
38:01
Speaker 1: She's just circling it. Like a vulture. The cars again
38:06
Speaker 1: spotted that night after I guess they love object. Collins
38:11
Speaker 1: Strickland drops off the victim, twenty five year old Marine
38:16
Speaker 1: Wilson and his yogi girlfriend just couldn't stand it. Yoga
38:22
Speaker 1: teacher Caitlin Armstrong could not stand it, and now she
38:26
Speaker 1: is on the run. Tony Platsky, there's no question, I
38:29
Speaker 1: guarantee you she's made from Mexico. I mean, I think
38:32
Speaker 1: that is a true open question. And what law enforcement
38:35
Speaker 1: officials tell me is that they really don't have a
38:39
Speaker 1: good sense of where she is. I mean, for starters,
38:41
Speaker 1: they're looking Nancy right now or the black Cheep Cheep Cherokee,
38:46
Speaker 1: and they have not been able to find it anywhere
38:48
Speaker 1: in the city of Austin or beyond, so obviously they
38:52
Speaker 1: want to start there and whether or not it may
38:56
Speaker 1: lead them to Caitlin Armstrong ultimately. But priority one, of
39:00
Speaker 1: course is finding her. But anything they can do to
39:04
Speaker 1: help that in the course of that, including finding the jeeps,
39:07
Speaker 1: would be big. Can't check the border crossing. What's the
39:12
Speaker 1: closest border crossing, Tony Blahatskin to Mexico from there, and
39:15
Speaker 1: it's about three hours south of here. And she's gone. Yeah,
39:19
Speaker 1: she probably drove all night long and I would be
39:23
Speaker 1: watching the love object Colin Strickland's cell phone. It's gonna
39:30
Speaker 1: be very hard for me to believe that she just
39:32
Speaker 1: cuts it off cold turkey after she killed for him.
39:34
Speaker 1: Doctor Sherry Schwartz helped me a love triangle. I mean,
39:37
Speaker 1: if you got a guy is cheating on you who
39:40
Speaker 1: wants him anyway, I would send him straight to her
39:43
Speaker 1: house CD cash on delivery and don't send him back
39:47
Speaker 1: no returns. Absolutely, I agree one hundred percent, Nancy. But
39:53
Speaker 1: clearly it seems that Caitlin suffers from this obsessive, pathological,
39:59
Speaker 1: toxic jealousy that led to violence, possibly against Mariah. Mm.
40:06
Speaker 1: Now I'm wondering where she did go across to Mexico
40:11
Speaker 1: and she got away and nobody can find this SUV
40:14
Speaker 1: who's helping her. Is one of the things that I'm wondering,
40:17
Speaker 1: Jess Goot Morgan, how are they processing the scene? How
40:20
Speaker 1: are we going to prove that it is in fact
40:22
Speaker 1: the yoga loving girlfriend Caitlin Armstrong. Well, I'm glad you
40:26
Speaker 1: ask that question because at Austin PD actually served a warrant.
40:31
Speaker 1: Let's go back to where she was domiciled with Strickland.
40:34
Speaker 1: And this is what they found out. They actually recovered
40:38
Speaker 1: two pistols at that scene, one in which was a
40:42
Speaker 1: six hour nine millimeter. Guests who had access to it
40:46
Speaker 1: only armstrong. That's it. And guess what else they did.
40:49
Speaker 1: They took this weapon and they test fired it. And
40:52
Speaker 1: when they test fired it, it came back. There's a
40:54
Speaker 1: high probability that those ejected shells that they found at
40:57
Speaker 1: the scene match this particular weapon. What kind of strikes
41:01
Speaker 1: me is baffling to me is that they actually this
41:04
Speaker 1: individual left this weapon at the scene where it could
41:08
Speaker 1: be recovered. I don't know what that actually says about
41:11
Speaker 1: this individual, but it tells me she didn't make any
41:14
Speaker 1: effort to try to take it and throw it in
41:16
Speaker 1: a river. Tells me she was highly emotional at the
41:19
Speaker 1: time and not thinking correctly. That is not insanity under
41:24
Speaker 1: the law. The stoking, the leaving, the hiding out, the
41:29
Speaker 1: going on the run shows she knew what she did
41:32
Speaker 1: was wrong and for what. And I can tell you
41:34
Speaker 1: another thing, SA nobody asked if you're a boyfriend or
41:38
Speaker 1: a husband is hiding somebody's name and their cell phone out,
41:44
Speaker 1: there's a reason he's hiding it. There is a reason
41:47
Speaker 1: I've checked my husband's cell phone so many times my
41:49
Speaker 1: eyes bled. It was so boring. I quit. Also, he lied,
41:56
Speaker 1: didn't he lie? Tony Platski about where he was going
41:58
Speaker 1: that day? He's going to a big municipal pool. Anybody
42:01
Speaker 1: can see them the deep Eddy. It's not like a
42:05
Speaker 1: watering hole. It's a big municipal pool. Anybody could see
42:08
Speaker 1: him there. Why did he have to lie about it, Tony?
42:10
Speaker 1: Or did he? Well? He lied? According to his text
42:14
Speaker 1: messages to Armstrong, he lied to her about where he was.
42:18
Speaker 1: He described his battery dying, that he had he had
42:22
Speaker 1: delivered flowers for someone and then its boone battery died.
42:25
Speaker 1: I just hate it when that happens. All those batteries
42:28
Speaker 1: are always going dead. Well, I've got the application for
42:31
Speaker 1: a restaurant right here. It's very very detailed, decommedit a
42:34
Speaker 1: clime online dot com. She's on the run. You may run,
42:39
Speaker 1: but you can't hire girl. We wait as justice unfolds
42:45
Speaker 1: Nancy Gray's crimes story, signing off goodbye friend,