Justice Served: Moriah Wilson Pt. 1

Vanessa Richardson (0:11)

She was 25 years old and on the verge of becoming the most dominant cyclist in America. Then she traveled to Austin, Texas for a race and never made it to the start line. Mo Wilson was found shot three times inside a friend's apartment on May 11, 2022

The investigation that followed would expose a web of jealousy, obsession and a fugitive who vanished across three countries. Welcome to Crime House 24.7. I'm Vanessa Richardson. Twice a day, every day, we bring you the best, most timely and gripping cases from across the entire Crime House network, all in one place right here. Every Friday is Justice Served, where we follow a case all the way to the evidence, the arrests and the verdict that finally delivered justice. Today, we're opening the file on the murder of Mo Wilson. In this case, still has a long shadow. Kaitlyn Armstrong's conviction sent shockwaves through the true crime world, but her legal fight isn't over. Appeals are ongoing and the cycling community that lost Mo is still reckoning with what happened in its ranks. This community exists because of listeners like you. Want even more? Join Crime House Plus for every episode of Crime House 24-7 ad free. Not only that, but you'll get complete access to an exclusive limited series every month and early ad free access to all Crime House shows and bonus episodes. Go to crimehouseplus.com or on Apple podcasts, tap Try Free at the top of the Crime House 24-7 page. Now, Carter Roy takes you back to the beginning inside Mo's life, her sport and the dangerous triangle that put her in a killer's sights.

Carter Roy (2:03)

Anna Moriah Wilson, who everyone knew as Mo, was born on May 18, 1996, in Littleton, New Hampshire. She grew up just across the state line in Kirby, Vermont, a tiny town where the hills roll into forest and winter sticks around for about half the year. Mo was curious and energetic from the jump. She was the kind of kid who wanted to understand how things worked. She loved math and science, loved pulling things apart and figuring out what made them tick. But she wasn't just smart, she was deeply social too. Friends remember her as the person who always made sure everyone felt included, always wanted everyone around her to have a good time. She just had this way of making people feel seen. She also had a competitive streak a mile wide. And in the Wilson household, there was no shortage of outlets for that. Her father, Eric Wilson, was a champion skier and a coach. Her aunt competed in the Olympics twice as a skier. Athletics ran deep in the family. And it wasn't just about talent, it was about discipline, about showing up every day, and pushing past the point where most people would quit. Mo absorbed all of that growing up. If there was snow on the ground, she was skiing. If there wasn't, she was on her bike, riding the back roads and gravel trails around Kirby with her brother Matt. They'd head out into the Vermont hills after breakfast and ride until dinner. That rhythm, always moving, always outside, always pushing, shaped everything about who Mo became.

At first, Mo followed in her dad and aunt's footsteps and focused on skiing. By her early teens, she'd earned a spot at Burke Mountain Academy, a boarding school in Vermont built specifically to train elite ski racers. And Mo fit right in. Her junior year, she ranked third nationally for her age group. The Olympics weren't some far-off fantasy anymore. They were starting to look like a real plan. Then she tore her ACL. An ACL tear is brutal for any athlete. For a competitive downhill skier whose career depends on split-second balance and trusting your body at high speed, it can be career-ending. Recovery takes months. The mental part, the fear of it happening again, can take even longer. But Mo ground through it. She rehabbed with the same intensity she brought to everything else. And it wasn't long before she was back on the mountain. She had another big milestone around this time, too. She had been accepted to Dartmouth College. Naturally, she joined the Alpine ski team there.

When it came to her academics, Mo chose to major in engineering, which fit her perfectly. That same analytical mind that loved tearing apart problems in a classroom carried right over to how she trained and raced. She studied her routes, tracked her data, and broke down every variable she could find. She was always looking for a better way to do something. Always trying to understand not just what worked, but why it worked. The Olympic dream was alive again. For a while, everything was right on track. And then she tore the same ACL a second time. Two tears in the same knee. That was it. The path she'd been building toward her whole life shut down in front of her. Most people in her position would grieve their dream and then find something else. But Mo wasn't wired that way. She always believed setbacks weren't endings. They were redirections. And during both rounds of rehab, she'd been riding bikes to stay active while her knee healed. At first, it was just practical. Cycling was low impact, kept her fit, and didn't put pressure on the knee. But it also gave her that same feeling skiing did. The endurance, the solitude, the sense of covering huge distances under her own power. She'd loved bikes since she was a kid bombing around Kirby with her brother. Now, it becomes something bigger than a recovery tool. It became the new dream.