This New Netflix Doc Humanizes A True Crime Story
(Photo: Courtesy Netflix)
In May 2022, rising cycling star Anna Moriah Wilson went out for a swim and a meal with Colin Strickland, another professional cyclist in Austin, Texas. The two had briefly dated during what Wilson believed was a break in Strickland’s troubled long-term relationship, and they were reconnecting as friends while Wilson was in town for a race.
Later, after the 25-year-old, who was known as “Mo,” returned to the home of a friend she was staying with, she was shot and killed by Strickland’s girlfriend, Kaitlin Armstrong.
The details of the crime and Wilson’s death would play out for months in news and tabloid stories as Armstrong fled the country for Costa Rica and underwent extensive plastic surgery. She was eventually captured and jailed, but the yoga teacher would attempt one more desperate escape before she was eventually convicted of first-degree murder.
Many will likely be familiar with the contours of the crime story, but a new Netflix documentary, The Truth and Tragedy of Moriah Wilson, attempts to tell Moriah’s story as her family and friends know it. Through interviews and video recordings of the trial, viewers get a sense of how they experienced the violence of her death and some understanding of their complex feelings toward Strickland and Armstrong and the trial that followed.
The documentary from Emmy Award-winning director Marina Zenovich and Academy Award-winning producer Evan Hayes attempts to put Wilson back at the centre of her own life story, taking us back to her childhood and even sharing passages from her diary before getting into the events that would lead to her death. It does that work with the participation of her family—her mother Karen, father Eric and brother Matt, who feature heavily in the story.
The documentary also includes a brief but meaningful appearance from Strickland, who appears visibly altered by the events.
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Armstrong was found guilty in November 2023 and sentenced to 90 years in prison for killing Wilson. But the documentary leaves final judgment on the story to Wilson’s parents—her father’s statement after the verdict is read is worth watching alone—and it grants its last words on her life to Wilson herself.
Some viewers may find fault with the doc’s inability to make sense of the murder—to establish an explanation for why Armstrong did what she did—but I was more moved by the documentary’s interest in making the cast of characters feel like human beings.
The story doesn't make sense of senseless violence, but by the closing credits it does fulfill the promise of its title: it re-establishes Wilson’s story as a tragedy and not simply a true crime story.
Flannery Dean is a journalist based in Hamilton, Ont. She has written features on a range of health topics for Chatelaine—from the healthiest time to eat dinner to new cancer screening protocols. Her work also appears in The Narwhal, the Globe and Mail and The Guardian.
