Yoga Teacher Killer: A Look Into Kaitlin Armstrong's Path to Murder

I remember this story very well, mainly because of the insanity involved at the tail end. Honestly, it sounds like something from a movie, yet despite figuring that Lifetime would do a movie about this, I expected a long wait. After all, there are still some "women who kill" stories that still need to be played out on Lifetime. Yet the wait wasn't that long (I guess watching all of that sports helped). Before I talk about Lifetime's movie, here's a look at the true crime story about Kaitlin Armstrong.

Born on November 21, 1987 in Livonia, Michigan (a city every hockey fan knows; it's also the birthplace of NHL legend and Stanley Cup Champion Mike Modano), Kaitlin Armstrong worked as a yoga instructor and a realtor in the state of Texas, where she was involved in an on-and-off relationship with Colin Strickland, a pro cyclist. By the fall of 2021, Colin and Kaitlin ended things, and right after that, Colin engaged in a relationship with Moriah Wilson.

Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson was also a pro cyclist like Colin, and was a much more positive influence in Colin's life. At some point, however, Kaitlin found out about Colin's new romance, and decided to basically slither her way back into Colin's life, making things quite complicated. Kaitlin, after being back with Colin, sent messages to Moriah telling her to "stay away" from Colin, though Colin and Moriah continued to contact each other, but the romance element was obviously gone. Naturally, Kaitlin found out about the convos, and she went into an immense rage; a witness did hear Kaitlin scream that she wanted to kill Moriah.

On May 11, 2022, Kaitlin actually went through with her maniacal vow and shot Moriah to death as the victim was at the home of a friend of hers. Moriah was shot three times--twice in the head and once in the chest, and hours prior to her death, Moriah went for a swim with Colin and had dinner with him, though Colin was never at her house. As a result of the latter, Colin was ruled out as a suspect, leaving Kaitlin as a person of interest after video of her jeep was shown arriving at Moriah's Austin residence. An interrogation saw Kaitlin released due to discrepancies in her date of birth. However, after Moriah and Colin's relationship was discovered, police learned from Colin that he had bought a pair of handguns for protection, and one of them matched the gun at the scene.

A warrant for Kaitlin's arrest was issued on May 17, 2022, but by that time, the villainess was out of the state and in the East Coast. She had visited her sister, Christine Armstrong and obtained her passport, which she used to head to Costa Rica. I recall it was at that point that I started hearing about this on the news, and I remember hearing about this becoming a federal case, as the U.S. Marshals were after her. The tale became even more wild after it was reported that Kaitlin was undergoing plastic surgery in an attempt to hide from the law. Oh wow! So yeah, it was an insane "women who kill" story taking all sorts of twists and turns, while this hockey fan was watching the Colorado Avalanche's run to the Stanley Cup.

On June 29, 2022 (three days after the Avs won the Cup), Kaitlin Armstrong was captured at a hostel in Costa Rica, with Kaitlin answering an ad for a yoga instructor making it quite easy for the capture to commence. She was arraigned less than a month later, but the trial wouldn't start until October 30, 2023--18 days after Kaitlin made a brief and failed attempt to escape custody once more. On November 16, 2023, Kaitlin was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 90 years in prison, with eligibility for parole after 30 years.

I remember when I read that this true crime story would be retold on Lifetime; I was over the moon with excitement! Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story aired on Lifetime on June 15, 2024, and the film starred Caity Lotz as yoga teacher turned maniacal villainess Kaitlin Armstrong. This added to the excitement. To me, Caity Lotz will always be Sara Lance, a character who originated on Arrow and was introduced as the sister of Laurel Lance, and went on to become the leader of the Legends of Tomorrow. Lotz hasn't played a lot of villainesses; in fact, the only evil roles I've seen her play were alternate versions of Sara Lance, so for her to play such a deliciously insane real-life villainess is just epic. Lotz was amazing as Kaitlin, she truly dove into Kaitlin's insanity and her eventual heel turn with a lot of passion. The film also starred Lotz's real-life husband, Kyle Schmid, as Colin Strickland, and Larissa Dias appeared as Moriah Wilson.

I entered this film knowing a few things about this story, but I had no idea that this was a Lifetime movie in the making. It was a real-life Lifetime movie for sure! You have the psychotic and narcissistic madwoman (Kaitlin), the dumb lover who can't see that he should have kept the bandaid off (Colin), and the innocent victim caught in the madwoman's web (Moriah). And honestly, seeing Lotz act out Kaitlin's undergoing plastic surgery gave me Stepfather III vibes; that's another element I want to see in Lifetime movie villainesses--hiding out via plastic surgery.

So yeah, this was quite a thrilling true crime story. Kaitlin Armstrong is basically this generation's Stephanie Lazarus, who is another crime of passion murderess who killed her "romantic rival" out of insane jealousy. She was insane, manipulative, sociopathic, and narcissistic; she truly believed that she was the perceived "hero" in her own story when she wasn't anything close. It baffles me that she actually has a chance (albeit a snowball's chance in Hell) of getting paroled in 30 years; she'd be in her mid-60s if she got it. She won't, though--nor should she. Kaitlin Armstrong is depraved, maniacal, and self-absorbed. She thought she could control Colin, she thought she could kill her way to keeping him under her thumb, and she thought she could get away with it. She was, of course, dead wrong.