The Kaitlin Armstrong Case: boyfriend's statement reveals a lot
Selfish statement of Moriah Wilson's ex
As I write this, Kaitlin Armstrong is being hunted by US Marshalls in connection with the murder of cyclist Moriah Wilson. Armstrong’s partner Colin Strickland had a relationship with Wilson last year.
Shortly after the killing, Strickland issued a statement.
It doesn’t take a lot to conclude this is a confused set of words. What do they tell us?
Let’s break it down
I am reeling from grieving Mo Wilson's death and from the facts that have emerged during the investigation. I cannot begin to imagine the pain felt by Mo's family and her close friends.
The statement starts selfishly. Strickland begins by telling us how he feels and how events have affected him before he even acknowledges Wilson’s death and the people closely affected by it.
I have never heard of someone “reeling from grieving” before. “Reeling” suggests a shock, something that sends your head spinning. Grieving isn’t shocking, it’s a slow and sad process. Why is he “reeling” from it? Or is he not grieving and that is why his words around grieving are so off?
Strickland says, “the facts that have emerged”. This is worth noting. He accepts them as “facts” and, as he says they have “emerged”, he also accepts that they were facts before they came out or “emerged”.
Torture
There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime. I am sorry, and I simply cannot make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.
Strickland continues to talk about himself, mentioning his “regret” and his “torture”.
“Proximity” is a formal word, liked by law enforcement. It’s not clear whether he is talking about his physical or spiritual proximity to the murder.
He states he is “sorry” and talks about “regret”. He doesn’t say what he is sorry for, he does say he regrets his proximity. There is more selfishness indicated by these words. They suggest he blames himself for something (to be clear I don’t believe he murdered Wilson but feels he is to blame for the events that lead to the killing).
Cooperated
Although it will be a matter of small consolation to anyone else who cared for Mo, I want you to know that I have cooperated fully with investigators ever since I learned the terrible news, and I will continue to do so until some form of justice is served.
“Cooperated” with the investigators doesn’t sound like the most helpful position. It’s a word normally used about people who are grudgingly aiding the police and therefore doing what is asked of them rather than volunteering anything that could be useful.
And it’s “cooperated fully”. Why has the “fully” been added? It suggests that the idea of not “fully” cooperating is in his mind. Why is that?
Strickland states he wants “some form of justice”. Why is this not stronger? Why does he not want the killer apprehended or behind bars? Some form of justice could be a $20 fine for littering. It’s a weak way of stating this.
How brief?
As a point of clarification to facts previously reported, Moriah Wilson and I had a brief romantic relationship from late October-early November 2021 that spanned a week or so while Wilson was visiting Austin. At the time, she and I had both recently ended relationships. She returned to her home in California and about a month later, Kaitlin Armstrong and I reconciled and resumed our relationship.
I ask here why would “facts” need clarified? Stories, rumour, gossip and half-truths need clarified. Facts do not.
This paragraph works hard to persuade us that the “romantic relationship” didn’t last long. He says it was “brief” but from some of the words it could have lasted nearly a month, from others it could have lasted only a week. We have to ask why he can’t state exactly how short it was.
He also works hard to convince us that it was above board, involving two single people. Why does he feel that need?
There’s more hazy timings when he says he reconciled with Kaitlin “about a month later”.
Colin Strickland is in story mode here. He’s selling us a version of what happened, not telling us the facts.
Public
Since then I often saw Mo at cycling events, and always in public settings. We both competed in Bentonville, AR, Stillwater, and Monterrey CA. We also met for a 4 hour training ride in Santa Cruz after the Sea Otter Classic in Monterrey.
We have more words trying to persuade us that everything that he has done has been above board. He wants us to believe they only met in a professional environment and always in public. Only… he doesn’t say that. He doesn’t specifically say the occasions he mentions are the only times he met with her during this period.
No intention
After our brief relationship in October of 2021, we were not in a romantic relationship, only a platonic and professional one. It was not my intention to pursue along an auxiliary romantic relationship that would mislead anyone. Moriah and I were both leaders in this lonely, niche sport of Cycling, and I admired her greatly and considered her a close friend. I am deeply grieving her loss.
Here, Strickland introduces yet another time frame for his relationship with Wilson. It now was in “October of 2021”.
The phrase “not my intention to pursue” worries me. The suggestion from those words are, although he had no intention of pursuing, he did pursue. If you don’t do something, you say you didn’t do it, not that you had no intention of doing it.
If someone tells you “I didn’t go out last night”, you think they didn’t go out last night. If they tell you “I had no intention of going out last night”, what comes into your head?
There’s more vagueness from Strickland in the ways he defines his relationship with Wilson. At one time it was romantic, here it is now “platonic and professional” and also she was a “close friend” or at least he “considered her a close friend” which is a weak way of stating it.
He does tell her that he admired her, but doesn’t state why or what it was about Moriah that he admired. The only thing he hints at is the qualities he sees in himself as well as her, “leaders in this lonely, niche sport”.
Conclusion
This statement is self-serving from someone who is mostly concerned with himself rather than his on-the-run girlfriend or dead “close friend”.
It was an opportunity for him to pay tribute to someone he claims to have admired, or to ask someone with troubles to turn herself in. Instead, Strickland talks about how the murder has affected him and spends time trying to persuade us that he has been above board in his relationships.
There is enough vagueness and enough indicators of deception to conclude that, at the very least, he continued to pursue Wilson romantically after he was reconciled with his parter.
Man. Trying to sound compassionate, but that doesn't work if somebody lacks empathy. Moriah and I were both leaders in this lonely, niche sport of Cycling. He forgot to say that he never took any performance enhancing drugs, and he never heard of Lance Armstrong.
It seems to have been a love triangle, and he went out with the victim on the night she was killed. He is trying to distance himself from the likely fact that she was killed because of him.