Photos of Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson.
(CNN) --
Fresh off a string of spring racing victories, elite cyclist Anna Moriah "Mo" Wilson was set to compete in a 155-mile race in Texas on May 14.
But days before the competition, the 25-year-old cyclist received she was shot to death at a friend's house in Austin.
Authorities are now looking for a 34-year-old woman suspected of his murder.
And police investigators are looking into Wilson's past relationship with the suspect's boyfriend.
Wilson's family is mourning the loss of their "beautiful daughter and sister," who excelled as a cyclist and skier.
"Moriah was a talented, kind and caring young woman. She had her life taken from her before she had a chance to achieve everything she dreamed of," the family said.
Here's what we know so far about Wilson, why police believe she may have been targeted, and her brief success in the burgeoning sport of gravel racing.
Moriah Wilson, from skier to elite cyclist
Mo Wilson switched from skiing to cycling after his college years.
Wilson was a star skier in her younger years, but has recently become a top cyclist.
She particularly excelled in "gravel racing," a relatively new category of cycling that sits on a hybrid middle ground between road cycling and mountain biking.
A profile in VeloNews published on the day of her death referred to her as "the winningest woman on the American off-road scene."
Wilson had won nearly 10 races this year, including the Shasta Gravel Hugger and Rock Cobbler at California, according to the article.
Last month, she won the 220-kilometre Belgian Waffle Ride by 25 minutes over second place.
Wilson wrote about his racing experiences on his Instagram and in a Substack newsletter.
In March, he reflected on his second-place finish in The Mid South race and briefly reflected on his rise to the top of the field.
"This competition was the first time in my career (I can call it a career at this point) that I really felt like I had a target on my back," Wilson wrote.
"Was I nervous? Hell yeah! But more than anything I was excited."
At the time of his death, Wilson was just days away from participating in the Gravel Locos bike race.
The day after the race, an event organizer remembered her on Facebook as a "role model, a shy and compassionate person, an energetic tactical runner, and a competitor who really cared about those who were racing against you."
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Mo Wilson spent his childhood in Vermont skiing in the winter and biking in the summer.
Wilson had recently moved to his home state of Vermont.
Growing up, she was an accomplished athlete, she skied in the winter and mountain biked in the summer.
Her father, Eric Wilson, skied for the US national ski team, and her aunt Laura was a Nordic skier who competed in the Olympics, she told VeloNews.
She also learned to compete in the sport.
"In alpine skiing, Moriah reached the level of a nationally ranked junior skier, placing third in the US Junior National Championship Downhill event in 2013," her obituary reads.
While attending Dartmouth College, she was a member of the alpine ski team, "fulfilling a lifelong dream," the obituary says.
Wilson was also the captain of her high school football team, according to her Dartmouth athletic profile.
After college, he gave up skiing and opted for competitive cycling.
"Growing up in northeastern Vermont Kingdom, he spent many hours on Kingdom Trails developing his skills and strength as a cyclist," the obituary reads.
"After graduating from Dartmouth, Moriah switched gears and continued to pursue his athletic dreams as an elite cyclist."
Outside of sports, he enjoyed "cooking, writing, and traveling," he says, adding, "he especially loved Italy, Taco Tuesdays, maple creemees, and playing Catan with his friends."
This is how the shooting of Moriah Wilson unfolded
On May 11, Wilson was shot multiple times while staying at a friend's house in Austin before the Gravel Locos race in Hico, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Travis County District Court.
Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, a 34-year-old Austin resident, is wanted for manslaughter in the slaying and is now a fugitive, federal sheriffs said.
Both women had recently been romantically involved with the same man, professional cyclist Colin Strickland, and messages and interviews with informants suggest jealousy could be a potential motive, according to the affidavit.
On the day of the murder, Wilson told her friend that she was going for an afternoon swim with Strickland, the affidavit says, a detail Strickland confirmed in an interview with police.
They had dinner together after her and then he dropped her off at her friend's house, Strickland said.
He did not enter the house.
Austin police went to the house later that night, shortly before 10 pm local time, and found Wilson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting did not appear to be "a random act," police said in a May 14 statement.
Police issued a manslaughter warrant May 17 for Armstrong.
Her arrest affidavit points in part to surveillance video obtained by investigators showing a vehicle similar to hers near her home shortly before Wilson's body was found.
In addition, investigators compared ballistics from the scene to those of test bullets fired from a firearm Strickland had recently purchased for Armstrong, and "the possibility that the same firearm was involved is significant," says the investigator. document.
According to the affidavit, Strickland told police he has had no contact with Armstrong since May 13.
Within 24 hours of Wilson's death, Lone Star Fugitive Task Force officers took Armstrong into custody in connection with an unrelated warrant and spoke with her.
However, Austin police said they later learned Armstrong's arrest warrant was invalid and told him he could go.
Armstrong requested to end the interview and left after detectives began confronting her about security camera video that placed her car near the crime scene, the affidavit says.
Wilson had a past relationship with the suspect's boyfriend
In a statement to the Austin American-Statesman, Strickland said he had a "brief romantic relationship" with Wilson from late October to early November 2021, while he was separated from Armstrong.
Strickland and Armstrong reconciled and resumed their relationship about a month later, he told the newspaper.
Her relationship with Wilson later became "platonic and professional" and she considered her a "close friend," she said.
"There is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel at my proximity to this horrible crime," Strickland said, according to the newspaper.
"I'm sorry, and I just can't understand this unfathomable situation."
The affidavit cites an informant who alleged that Armstrong came to believe that Strickland and Wilson's romantic relationship was ongoing as of January 2022. Strickland admitted trying to hide his communications with Wilson from Armstrong by changing Wilson's name to his phone and deleting text messages, the affidavit says.
Armstrong had contacted Moriah Wilson several times and in one instance told her to "stay away" from Strickland, one of Wilson's friends told investigators, according to the affidavit.
Wilson was not in a romantic relationship at the time of his death, his family said in a statement.
"While we will not elaborate on the ongoing investigation, we feel it is important to clarify that at the time of her death, it was clearly understood by those closest to her, directly from Moriah, that she was not in a romantic relationship with anyone."
the family said.
-- CNN's Jennifer Henderson and Caroll Alvarado
Crime
