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‘Yoga Teacher Killer’ tells the true story of a woman who murdered her boyfriend’s lover before going on the run. Here’s what happened to Kaitlin Armstrong.
“Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story” is based on a murder that happened in May 2022 in Austin, Texas.
The true crime drama tells of how yoga teacher Armstrong (Caity Lotz) discovered that her boyfriend, Colin Strickland (Kyle Schmid), was having an affair with pro-cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson (Larissa Dias).
On May 11 2022, Wilson went to dinner with Strickland in Austin, Texas, before dropping her back to a friend’s apartment where she was staying.
After Stickland left, Armstrong arrived at the property and shot Wilson twice in the head and once in the heart in revenge for the affair, assistant district attorney Rick Jones told the court during Armstrong’s trial, The Independent reported in 2023.
Police questioned Armstrong three days after Wilson was shot, but she wasn’t arrested at the time. She evaded the authorities by flying to Costa Rica using her sister’s passport.
There, she had plastic surgery in San Jose to change her appearance and spent 43 days on the run. The task force that traveled to Costa Rica to search for Armstrong spoke to CBS in 2024 about finding her, and Deputy Marshal Damien Fernandez recalled being told by locals it would be difficult.
“I think from the get-go we were told … you’re gonna be in for a surprise ’cause a lot of the women in Santa Teresa look just like Kaitlin — a lot of them,” he said, referring to the tourists that the town attracts.
According to a 2022 press release from the US Marshals Service, Armstrong was eventually arrested on June 29, 2022at a Santa Teresa Beach hostel in Provincia de Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Deputy Marshals told CBS that they caught Armstrong by putting out an advert for a yoga teacher near the hostel. She responded and was apprehended before being extradited to Texas.
Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years in prison
On November 17, 2022, Amstrong was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 90 years in prison for killing Wilson. She did not testify during the proceedings, ABC News reported. Armstrong will be eligible for parole after 30 years in 2052.
Following the verdict, Karen Wilson, the victim’s mother, addressed Armstrong in court, The Independent reported.
“Kaitlin Armstrong. I’m not sure that my words can penetrate your heart but I’m gonna try. I hate what you did to my beautiful daughter it was very selfish and cowardly.
Referring to Wilson’s brother and father, she said: “When you shot Moriah in the heart, you shot me in my heart. You shot Eric and Matt in the heart… You shot cousins and aunts and uncles and all the people who loved her, there in their hearts.”
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Armstrong is currently serving her sentence at the Dr. Lane Murray Unit in Gainesville, Texas.