‘The Truth & Tragedy of Moriah Wilson’: Netflix Doc Revisits a Chilling Crime

Six years after the premiere of her Lance Armstrong documentary, director Marina Zenovich is back with a far more sordid story from the world of professional cycling. It’s a story familiar to fans of Lifetime’s ripped-from-the-headlines TV movies, as it was the basis for 2024’s Yoga Teacher Killer: The Kaitlin Armstrong Story. But Zenovich is putting the focus on the victim with The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson, which debuts on Friday, April 3, on Netflix.

In a synopsis, Netflix calls the documentary film an “intimate, arresting portrait of cyclist Moriah Wilson — raised by a fierce, loving family — whose singular drive becomes her superpower, carrying her to athletic brilliance and, devastatingly, toward a life cut short by murder.”

Moriah Wilson was a young superstar in gravel and mountain bike racing.

Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson made a name for herself through cycling, but she grew up in Vermont with aspirations to become an Olympic skier, as her family says on the Moriah Wilson Foundation website. But during Wilson’s sophomore year at the prep school Burke Mountain Academy in Burke, Vermont — when she ranked third for her age in giant slalom — she tore her ACL. Then, three years later, she suffered another ACL tear while skiing with the alpine team at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

So Wilson switched gears, so to speak, and pursued professional cycling, in both gravel and mountain bike racing. And less than three years later, she was the winningest off-road cyclist in America, her family touts.

“When you love something so much to the point where you’re fully committed, you make the choice, and the risk sort of becomes irrelevant,” Wilson once told a mentor, her family adds. “Because even if you fail, it will have been worth it. The process and all that comes along with that is more important and valuable, in the end.”

Kaitlin Armstrong, a yoga teacher who dated the same man as Wilson, was convicted in her murder.

Wilson was just 25 on May 11, 2022, when she was shot to death in Austin, Texas, where she was preparing to compete in a bike race. A year and a half later, yoga instructor Kaitlin Armstrong was convicted of her murder.

Both Wilson and Armstrong had been in romantic relationships with professional cyclist Colin Strickland, and messages and interviews with tipsters suggested jealousy was a motive for Armstrong’s crime, according to CNN.

Prosecutors eventually obtained footage of Armstrong’s Jeep Cherokee circling the scene of the crime that night, and they found evidence linking her firearm to the shooting, according to ABC News.

Police interviewed Armstrong, and a day later, she sold her Jeep and fled to Costa Rica. She was arrested the following month at a hostel in Costa Rica following a 43-day manhunt. According to one prosecutor, Armstrong had spent $6,425 on plastic surgery, allegedly to change her appearance. In a 2024 episode of 48 Hours, deputy U.S. marshals said they located Armstrong after posting a Facebook ad under the pretense of looking for a yoga instructor.

Weeks before Armstrong’s trial, she attempted another escape, this time leading cops on a 10-minute chase through an Austin neighborhood after slipping away from them while leaving a medical office building, according to KXAN.

At Armstrong’s trial, prosecutors showed video, cellphone, ballistic, and DNA evidence they believed pointed to Armstrong as the killer, per ABC News. Armstrong had access to Strickland’s email and text communications with Wilson, and she was able to track Wilson’s location through a fitness app.

In November 2023, the jury found Armstrong guilty of first-degree murder, and Armstrong was sentenced to 90 years in prison.

Then, in June 2024, a judge ordered Armstrong pay Wilson’s family $15 million as part of a wrongful death suit Wilson’s parents had filed. The Wilson family sued Armstrong the following month, alleging that her family members and Strickland engaged in “fraudulent transfers” to avoid paying the sum, KXAN reported.

And this January, a Texas appeals court denied Armstrong’s bid for a new trial, according to CBS Austin. She’ll be eligible for parole in 2052, Texas Department of Criminal Information inmate information shows.

The new documentary shows the “love, strength, and vulnerability” of Wilson’s loved ones, director Marina Zenovich says.

Now the saga is getting another close-up in The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson, directed by Zenovich and produced by Oscar-winning Free Solo producer Evan Hayes.

“This film goes beyond the headlines to explore the impact of this devastating crime on those who knew and loved Mo: her family, friends, and colleagues. What emerges is a powerful, deeply human story about loss, love, and the ways that grief can reshape lives, while also revealing moments of resilience and transformation — even in the darkest of times,” Netflix adds in a synopsis.

“Every so often when making a documentary you become inspired beyond words, and this experience was that for me,” Zenovich said, per Netflix’s Tudum blog. “I’m so honored to be able to show the love, strength, and vulnerability that Moriah Wilson’s family and friends shared with us in telling this tragic story. They took their unimaginable grief and turned it into something deeply moving and inspiring.”

The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson, Friday, April 3, Netflix