When cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson was murdered in Texas, U.S. Marshals assigned to the case used a unique tactic to track down her suspected killer in Costa Rica and bring the fugitive to justice.

Kaitlin Armstrong is serving 90 years in prison for murdering professional up-and-coming gravel cyclist Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson. It’s a story that drew international headlines because after being suspected of killing Wilson in Texas, Armstrong vanished – seemingly into thin air. The search for the suspected killer sparked what would become an international manhunt – first leading authorities across the United States, and then eventually to the beaches of Costa Rica.

In June 2022, one month after Armstrong disappeared, Deputy U.S. Marshals Damien Fernandez and Emir Perez traveled to Costa Rica. A source told them Armstrong could be hiding out in Santa Teresa. They knew finding Armstrong in the small, tourist-filled village was going to be a challenge – along the way, Armstrong used multiple identities and changed her appearance – even getting plastic surgery.

They hit dead end after dead end. After many intense days of searching for Armstrong with no luck, the U.S. Marshals decided to try one last tactic, hoping that her love of yoga would pay off for them.

“We decided we were gonna put an ad out … or multiple ads for a yoga instructor and see – what would happen,” Perez told “48 Hours” contributor Jonathan Vigliotti.

But after almost a week of hunting, even that didn’t seem to be working. Perez and Fernandez were about to head back to the States, when suddenly they got a break.

  • Hubi@feddit.de
    0·
    1 year ago

    Det. Jonathan Riley: … on the night of the murder, Kaitlin Armstrong’s phone was not connected to a cell network.

    Jonathan Vigliotti: Not connected?

    Det. Jonathan Riley: Correct. So, whether she powered it off, whether she put in an airplane mode, uh, there’s some something happened that her phone was not communicating with any cellphone towers.

    Jonathan Vigliotti: Do you think this was on purpose?

    Det. Jonathan Riley: Absolutely … in this day and age, if your phone is off and not connected to a network, you’re either the victim of a crime or you’re probably committing one.

    That’s kind of …disturbing?

    • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 year ago

      … Yeah. I agree it’s disturbing that they can draw suggestions from that.

      E: changed conclusions to suggestions, wasn’t fully awake.

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
      0·
      1 year ago

      Me who’s been playing a video game all weekend and hasn’t bothered to look at my dead phone for 16 hours: … what…?

      • Copernican@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 year ago

        That’s why it’s not evidence and not used in court. This is the rationale a detective uses to identify a suspect and begin looking for evidence. And he’s outlining that to a reporter that a phone disconnected from a network at the time of a known crime is suspicious.

      • Hubi@feddit.de
        0·
        1 year ago

        Well yeah, they have plenty of other evidence in this case. But it does show the mindset of the police in the US.

  • birthday_attack@lemm.ee
    0·
    1 year ago

    It’s funny, the US Marshalls interviewed for this are extremely forthright in explaining their methods, but clam up and say they “can’t explain these methods” as soon as they have any leads relating to cell phones. Probably because they’re using the US’s vast warrantless surveillance system to pull any possible info they can on her.

    For example, they “track[ed] down the phone number for an American businessman they believed had connected with Armstrong at some point,” and are cagey about how they got that number. I’d bet that they pulled her phone records and started cold calling everyone she’s ever contacted through her cell phone until they got someone who could give them a lead.

    Later, they set up the fake yoga instructor ad, and mention that they’re tracking the phone location of the person who answered the ad to make sure they’re at the sting location.

    It’s crazy that even with all those “methods the Marshalls won’t go into,” they almost gave up on finding her.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      0·
      1 year ago

      On the plus side, none of those mystery methods can be used to provide evidence in actual court. The defense would be able to dig into them if they did.

    • S_204@lemm.ee
      0·
      1 year ago

      They’re using Pegasus. Everyone is using a version of it, even private enterprise now.

      The digital spying capabilities of some of America’s allies and enemies dictates more policy than we’ll ever know.