A Texas yoga teacher accused of shooting a professional cyclist in a love triangle was deported to the United States on Saturday, days after she was caught hiding in Costa Rica.
Fugitive Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, 34, had altered her appearance – and may even have undergone cosmetic surgery – after fleeing the country last month following the murder of Anna Moriah Wilson, 25.
In ABC video 13, a masked Armstrong is seen in handcuffs as she is escorted by U.S. Marshals into a waiting vehicle at George Bush International Airport. She does not answer a reporter’s questions and hides her face from the news camera, as seen in the video.
She was taken to Harris County Jail and will be transferred to Austin, where she will face murder charges in Wilson’s death, according to KXAN-TV.
Armstrong is charged with killing Wilson at an Austin home on May 11 after the cyclist spent the day with Armstrong’s boyfriend, Colin Strickland, also a professional cyclist. Strickland and Wilson had a romantic affair and met when Wilson came to town from San Francisco to prepare for a bicycle race, cops said.
After Austin cops questioned her about the homicide, Armstrong sold her Jeep Grand Cherokee which was spotted in surveillance footage outside the crime scene. She took the $12,200 from the sale and flew to New York, then a few days later used someone else’s passport to fly from Newark, NJ to Costa Rica.
She was arrested at a Santa Teresa beach hostel on Wednesday with her hair dyed darker and cropped to the shoulder, US Marshals Service officials said. She also had a bandage on her nose and bruises under her eyes. A witness told Inside Edition that he found a receipt for $6,350 for cosmetic surgery that had been left behind when she was taken away in handcuffs.
Armstrong’s bond will be set at $3.5 million and will be subject to GPS monitoring, KXAN reported.
The Wilson family shared a statement with The Post that thanked Austin cops, US Marshals and others for their “diligence” in the search for Armstrong.
“We are relieved to know that this phase of uncertainty is now behind us, and we hope justice will prevail,” the statement read. “We would like to ask the media to respect our privacy at this time, as they have for the past six weeks.”