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Kaitlin Armstrong latest – Clues reveal how fugitive murder suspect could be in disguise & have burner phone, PI says
A FUGITIVE yoga instructor wanted for the murder of a cycling star has likely drastically changed her appearance and may be using a burner phone to talk with family and friends, a private investigator says.
Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, has now been on the lam for more than five weeks having vanished days after being questioned by police in the death of Moriah "Mo" Wilson.
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Wilson, 25, was shot dead in Austin, , on May 11 just hours after she went swimming with Armstrong's boyfriend, fellow cyclist Colin Strickland, whom she briefly dated last fall.
Armstrong was questioned by police on May 12 but later released on a technicality. She was last seen on May 14 leaving LaGuardia Airport in - three days before a warrant was issued for her arrest.
As the search for Armstrong continues, private investigator Jason Jensen believes the fugitive may have drastically altered her appearance to avoid detection and is likely hiding in a rural or remote area.
"She's a she's a pretty woman, but she's average; there's nothing really defining about her," Jensen told The US Sun.
"She would easily be able to alter her hairstyle, put on a smokey eye, dye her hair black or whatever, and really drastically change her look."
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Any members of the public who believe they may have come into contact with Armstrong should be watching out for a series of unusual behaviors, Jensen says.
"She'll be shopping for or using a burner phone rather than a high-end phone - if she has any phone at all," the PI said. "And she'll only be making purchases with cash.
"Fugitives on the run are more successful if they're avoiding digital devices, debit and credit card transactions, and any online usage.
"So she may ask to borrow a phone, she may ask where a library is to use a computer terminal at a public venue," he theorized.
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Additionally, Jensen believes Armstrong will be likely wearing a mask to conceal part of her face as well as sunglasses.
"[She] most likely has changed her hair color or cut it shorter," Jensen added.
"She could have straightened it or even be wearing a wig."
FUGITIVE MAY HAVE BOGUS ID
As to why Armstrong has been able to evade police for so long, Jensen believes it's because she's hiding in a remote area and only venturing out into the public very sparingly.
Noting the fitness enthusiast is far from a career criminal, he called her alleged murder of Wilson a "crime of passion" and believes Armstrong is simply either waiting for police to find her or "until she decides to take her own life."
"She's the kind of person that's not actually planning out her next heist or her next murder or something like that," Jensen says.
"But instead she knows her days are numbered and she's enjoying whatever sunrise she can, while she still can."
Additionally, Armstrong may be using an alias to travel around undetected.
As The US Sun previously revealed, Armstrong may be going by the name "Christine Armstrong," which is her younger sister's name, who has a registered address in Austin.
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According to documents obtained by Jensen, which have been viewed by The US Sun, three days after Kaitlin Armstrong was last sighted, a person identifying themselves as "Christine Armstrong" registered for a driver's license in New York.
The address listed on that license appears to be the location of a Haven For Humanity wellness center in Livingston Manor, New York.
Christine is listed as a communications representative on Haven for Humanity's website.
A request for comment left with Christine went unanswered. However, a spokesperson for Haven for Humanity confirmed to The US Sun that Christine is a volunteer for the company and is currently staying at its Camp Haven compound in New York.
The spokesperson declined to confirm when Christine arrived at the wellness center.
It's also unclear whether Christine has relocated from Austin to New York permanently, and whether she has had any contact with her sister since she vanished.
But an unnamed camper claimed to on Wednesday that he had seen Kaitlin Armstrong at Camp Haven around a month ago, and has previously seen Christine at the campsite too.
"She was [here] a while back," the man said of Kaitlin. "Right before the whole thing blew up."
PI: 'NOT A COINCIDENCE'
For Jensen, he believes the timing of the driver's license application - just three days after Kaitlin Armstrong arrived in New York and was last seen - is more than just a coincidence, telling The US Sun: "I mean, are you kidding me?"
"The last place Kaitlin was cited was at New York LaGuardia Airport on May 14th and just three days after that, an address pops up in New York state in Christine's name.
"What are the odds that you see Kaitlyn in New York, and three days later, Kaitlin's sister has a new license and address listed in New York?" Jensen asked.
"Kaitlin is either traveling under the name of Christine and using it to get a temporary address somewhere, or her sister could be helping her out by establishing that temporary address up there.
"It makes you wonder if Kaitlin borrowed or stole a passport or some form of ID from Christine before she left Austin and has now used it to get a New York state license with her photo on it."
"She would easily be able to alter her hairstyle, put on a smokey eye, dye her hair black or whatever, and really drastically change her look.
Jason Jensen
Should that prove to be the case, Jensen says Kaitlin would be permitted to "travel around as Christine and go undetected."
The PI has alerted the US Marshal Service and the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office to the potential lead but has not yet heard anything back.
The US Sun has reached out to both departments for comment and is still awaiting a response.
WHEREABOUTS: UNKNOWN
Where Armstrong may be hiding now remains "the big mystery," Jensen says.
According to the investigator, typically in such cases, fugitives deploy one of two strategies in their efforts to evade cops.
One of the tactics used is to return to areas where they once lived because they're familiar with the area and feel they can easily "blend into the terrain," according to Jensen.
"They're accustomed to traveling around their chosen place and they know where they can go off and hide," he said.
"The other thing that they can do is they will turn to friends or trusted confidants or family members that can help them out and get them money, give them shelter, but once a warrant has been issued for their arrest, whoever helps them is at risk of facing charges of harboring a fugitive.
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"However, when she first left town and was released by law enforcement she could have received all the help she wanted, whether that be someone giving her an ID or buying her a plane ticket because at that time it was legal," Jensen explained.
"She wasn't under arrest, she wasn't charged with anything.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the day she went to the airport that she had her sister's passport with her or something."
'A BRIAN LAUNDRIE SITUATION'
On the night Wilson was killed, Strickland, 35, later told police he had gone swimming with the rising cycling star and they then had dinner together.
He says he then dropped her off at the home, where she was later found dead with multiple gunshot wounds.
Investigators say just one minute after Wilson arrived home, security footage shows an SUV similar to Armstrong’s appearing to pull up outside the property.
Detectives analyzed shell casings found at the scene of the murder against a gun belonging to Armstrong, writing in an affidavit, “The potential that the same firearm was involved is significant.”
During an interrogation on May 12, officers confronted Armstrong with the video evidence but the fitness enthusiast reportedly offered no reaction and remained "still and guarded", police documents show.
Investigators used an outstanding but unrelated class-B warrant for her arrest to bring her in for question about the death of Wilson.
However, Armstrong's date of birth was incorrectly listed on the document and police were unable to arrest her for the class-B offense and forced them to let her go.
She fled to New York two days later and remains on the lam for almost five weeks.
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Jensen said even though officers were unable to detain Armstrong they should've never let the 34-year-old out of their sight.
Instead, officers should've placed a surveillance team outside of Armstrong's home to tail her until they had probable cause to arrest her for the murder of Wilson.
Jensen likened the perceived slip-up to the case involving Brian Laundrie, who fled his home in Florida last summer amid an investigation into the murder of his fiancé Gabby Petito.
While Laundrie was under surveillance, police mistook the 21-year-old for his mother, permitting him a several-day head start before they realized he was missing.
A several-week search for Laundrie ensued before his remains were found in a nearby nature park having claimed his own life with a bullet to the head.
"Police in Austin should have detained [Armstrong] long enough to amend those documents, but they didn't," Jensen said.
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"They've basically created this Brian Laundrie scenario for themselves; they could've put a couple of officers on her to watch her closely but they haven't and now they got to invest all these resources, manpower and other assets trying to track her down all the way across the country - just like they did with Laundrie."
Anyone with details on where Armstrong could be is asked to call the U.S. Marshals Service Communications Center at (800) 336-0102 or submit a tip using the USMS Tips app.
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