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Fame Burst

Teal Akerson: Who Is She? Kaitlin Armstrong pretended to be “Ari” in order to date him

Author

Abigail Rogers

Updated on March 29, 2026

Teal Akerson: Who Is She? Kaitlin Armstrong pretended to be “Ari” in order to date him

Before leaving the United States on May 14, Kaitlin Armstrong used the $12,200 from the sale of her SUV to fund her new life in Costa Rica.

In order to win over a man she met at a tattoo parlor in Costa Rica, Kaitlin Armstrong, 34, pretended to be a lady named Ari while running from the police there because she was wanted for her love rival’s death. After they met in Costa Rica in June, Armstrong revealed to Teal Akerson, the man she secretly dated, that she had gone through a “traumatizing break up.” According to Akerson, she informed him that she hadn’t “healed” from a recent relationship and “wasn’t ready” to get close to him.

Additionally, Akerson disclosed that the two had gone on multiple occasions before Armstrong was apprehended on June 29. After Armstrong was arrested and it was discovered that she had supposedly undergone plastic surgery to change the way she looked, he was shocked to see old photographs of her, according to DailyMail. Armstrong’s $6,350 receipt for cosmetic surgery was found by Zachary Paulsen, a witness to the arrest, but under a different name. Akerson stated that he now understood why Armstrong was “insistence” on spending time in isolated settings. ”

On June 29, Armstrong was detained at the Don Jon’s Surf and Yoga Lodge in the sleepy Costa Rican town of Santa Teresa. On July 2, he was released and sent back to the US. Last month, on May 11, in Austin, Texas, Armstrong was charged with the first-degree murder of professional cyclist Moriah Wilson in a jealous rage over an alleged affair between Wilson and Armstrong’s cyclist lover Colin Strickland.

Despite being aware of the situation, Akerson told the Austin American Statesman that he “didn’t put any of it together” because of the woman’s change in look. Before they used marijuana and spent time together, talking up to three days before she was arrested, he initially spoke to her outside of a tattoo parlor, saving her as “Ari Tattoo.” Ari was a peculiar person, Akerson remarked. She was sitting on a bench outside the tattoo parlor while her pals got ink, and I met her when I was drinking a beer in the lounge.”

I started conversing with her more and more since I could tell that she was eager to get to know me and we eventually exchanged phone numbers “said he. We went on a lot of dates, but she told me she had just gone through a really traumatic breakup and wasn’t ready to get close at all, so we were just friends, Akerson continued.

He continued, “We visited a variety of locations since we wanted to go somewhere new, although she preferred quiet locations most of the time. You wouldn’t believe it if I said that I didn’t put any of it together. It made sense to me why she didn’t want to be seen after everything that had transpired and I had learned what she was actually doing while fleeing.” “Why she wanted to travel to remote locations and it all kind of made more sense,” said the speaker.

He added that he did not recognize the images that the police had issued and that Armstrong had a bandage on her nose, which she claimed was the result of a surfing accident. Akerson admitted that it was only after seeing Armstrong’s post-surgery pictures that he realized who “Ari” really was. Armstrong was deported to Houston after she acknowledged to using the alias “Ari” following her arrest. She was brought to the Travis County Jail on July 5 and is still there while her $3.5 million bond is being processed. Other Costa Ricans claimed that Armstrong had “seemed normal” and had spent the majority of her time teaching yoga and working part-time at the hostel where she had stayed.

Armstrong reportedly used the $12,200 she received from selling her SUV before leaving the United States on May 14 to fund her new life in Costa Rica. According to Inside Edition, she was residing in a pricey hostel-style setting. At a news conference, Deputy US Marshal Brandon Filla stated that Armstrong had been trying to start a yoga business in Costa Rica and that the authorities had been able to find her through her attendance at yoga classes under a false name.

Wilson had sustained numerous bullet wounds. Investigators came to the conclusion that she had been shot multiple times with 9mm rounds, the same caliber that Strickland allegedly bought for himself and Armstrong. According to an affidavit, Armstrong was charged with first-degree murder on May 19.