Shivangi Sinha
Anna Moriah Wilson was just days away from turning 26 when she was gunned down at her friend’s home in Austin, Texas. The talented and up-and-coming gravel cyclist was there for a race. But alas, Anna was killed because of a love triangle in a way she never saw coming. NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Last Ride,’ ABC’s ’20/20: Three Shots In The Dark,’ and Netflix’s ‘The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson’ delve into how the authorities zeroed in on the perpetrator and how the death affected Anna’s family. So, if you’re curious to find out more about her parents, here’s what we know.
Anna Wilson’s Parents Were Also Athletes
Anna Moriah Wilson was born to Eric and Karen Wilson in New Hampshire. She grew up around Burke, Vermont, spending a lot of time cycling the Kingdom Trails and developing her strengths as a biker. The 25-year-old was born into a family of athletes. Eric and Karen were part of the US ski team in the past, and her aunt was an Olympic-level cross-country ski racer. Anna initially took up skiing and went to Burke Mountain Academy, the school her father attended and was later a coach at; Anna’s brother, Matthew, also went to the same school later on.
In 2019, Anna, who was a nationally ranked junior skier by then, told her mother about wanting to take cycling seriously; by then, she had graduated from college. Karen said, “We’ve been biking with the kids on Kingdom Trails since they were six or seven. As Mo got older, it’s what she would do with friends. A lot of people might have been surprised by her relatively sudden success in cycling, but it’s something she’d been quietly working toward for a long, long time. She was determined. I knew she could do it, and we did our best to help her.”
Anna worked hard, and despite injuries, she always kept pushing herself. Talking about his daughter’s determination, Eric said, “Mo worked out harder coming back from that surgery than I’ve ever seen anyone work. She’d be in the gym for six hours.” The hard work paid off, with several race wins coming her way. Eventually, Anna quit her full-time job to focus on cycling and worked toward getting sponsors.
According to Karen, Anna met Colin Strickland, a fellow cyclist, in 2021 to discuss how she could land sponsors. In May 2022, Anna was with Colin before he dropped her back at her friend’s home. The two had a short affair towards the end of 2021 when they got out of their respective relationships. However, once Colin reconciled with his partner, Kaitlin Armstrong, he claimed to have ended things with Anna. But Kaitlin’s jealousy led to her killing Anna.
Moriah Wilson’s Parents Are Keeping Their Daughter’s Legacy Alive
In 2023, following Kaitlin’s murder conviction as well as appropriate sentencing, Anna Wilson’s family gave their final statements in court, and they directly addressed the perpetrator. Karen said, in part, “I hate what you did to my beautiful daughter. It was very selfish and cowardly… If you allowed yourself to actually know her, you never ever would have wanted to hurt her… You ruined your life, your family’s lives, our lives and crushed the hearts of many more. When you shot Moriah in the heart, you shot me in my heart. You shot Eric and Matt in their hearts.”
On the other hand, Eric’s public statement simply expressed, “There really are no winners here. This is not a time for celebration, but a time for prayer. Time to pray for our family, our friends and the Armstrong family and their friends.” He then added that his family finally has some much-needed closure, so now they simply wish to move on from the past to the best of their abilities while keeping the memories of their lost young girl alive in their hearts.
Eric and Karen thus continue to reside in Kirby, Vermont, where they remain prominent members of the community. He is a financial advisor who began his career in 2001 and got his Certified Financial Planner designation in 2012. He has worked for a financial services company in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, since 2009. Apart from that, as per the last reports, Eric is also on the Board of Directors for Kingdom Trails. On the other hand, it seems like Karen is a cycling instructor for a company that offers mountain biking tours throughout northern Vermont.
Read More: How Did Anna Moriah Wilson Die?
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