Jodi Arias and the Violent Murder of Alexander Travis

Jodi Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California to William and Sandra Arias.
She dropped out of school when she was 17.
While she was waitressing, a old man told her that the world was going to end.
This prompted her to hook up with an old boyfriend and move in with him.
She was an aspiring photographer.

She and Alexander met in September 2006 at a conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Arias converted to the Mormon faith and, on November 26, 2006,  was baptized into the LDS Church.

Alexander and Arias began dating in February 2007.

Arias moved to Mesa to live closer to Alexander.

In March 2007, she moved to Yreka, California, and lived there with her grandparents.

Travis Alexander was born on July 28, 1977, in Riverside, California to Gary David Alexander and Pamela Elizabeth Morgan Alexander.His parents were drug addicts, so Travis moved in with his paternal grandparents, at age 11.

His grandparents Norma Jean Preston Alexander Sarvey and her husband James Sarvey, introduced him to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He was a motivational speaker and a salesman.

Alexander and Arias dated  for a year and a half, often in a long-distance relationship taking turns traveling between their respective Arizona and California homes.

In 2008, Alexander was going to join him for a work-related trip to Cancún, Mexico, scheduled for June 15.

Alexander changed his travel companion to another female friend.

May 28, 2008, a burglary happened at Arias' grandparents.

Among the missing objects was a .25-caliber automatic Colt pistol, which was never recovered.

June 2, between 1:00 am and 3:00 am, Arias called Alexander four times, the longest of the calls was seventeen seconds. 

3:00 am, Alexander called Arias twice, the first time for eighteen minutes, the second time for 41 minutes.

4:03 am, Arias called Alexander back and the call lasted two minutes, 48 seconds.

5:39 am, Arias set out to drive south to rent a car for a long trip to Utah.

8:04 am, Arias rented a car at Budget Rent a Car in Redding.

She visited friends in southern California on her way to Utah for a work conference and to meet with Ryan Burns, a  co-worker. 

On June 3, 2008, Arias apparently set out for Salt Lake City.

Alexander missed an important conference call on June 4. 

Arias met up with Burns on June 4, in the Salt Lake City neighborhood of West Jordan, Utah and attended business meetings for the conference. 

Arias' hair was now dark brown, and she had cuts on her hands.

On June 6, Arias left Salt Lake City and drove west towards California. 

She called Alexander several times and left several voicemail messages for him. 

She also accessed Alexander's cell phone voice mail system. 

When Arias returned the car on June 7, the rental clerk testified that the car was missing its floor mats and had red stains on its front and rear seats.

June 9, having been unable to reach Alexander, a group of friends went to his home. 

His roommates had not seen him for several days.

They believed he was out of town.

His friends entered his bedroom and found large pools of blood in the hallway to the master bathroom.

They discovered his body stuffed in the shower. 

In the 9-1-1 call, the dispatcher asked if Alexander had been suicidal or if anyone was angry enough to hurt him. 

Alexander's friends stated that Alexander had said Arias was stalking him, accessing his Facebook account, and slashing his car's tires.

While searching Alexander's home, police found his digital camera damaged in the washing machine. 

Police were able to recover deleted images showing Arias and Alexander in sexually suggestive poses, taken at approximately 1:40 pm on June 4. 

The final photograph of Alexander alive, showing him in the shower, was taken at 5:29 pm that day. 

Photos taken moments later show an individual believed to be Alexander "profusely bleeding" on the bathroom floor.

A bloody palm print was discovered along the wall in the bathroom hallway  containing DNA from Arias and Alexander.

Alexander sustained 29 stab wounds, his throat had been slit, and he had suffered a gunshot wound to the face.

A .25 caliber round was found near Alexander's body.

It was the same caliber that was stolen from Arias' residence in Yreka the week before.

Alexander's jugular vein, common carotid artery, and trachea had been slashed and Alexander had defensive wounds on his hands.

He may have been dead at the time the gunshot was inflicted, and the back wounds were shallow.

Alexander's death was ruled a homicide.

July 9, 2008, Arias was indicted by a grand jury in for the first-degree murder of Alexander.

She was arrested at her home on July 15 and extradited to Arizona on September 5. 

Arias pled not guilty on September 11.

She gave several different accounts about her involvement in Alexander's death.

She originally told police that she had not been in Mesa on the day of the murder and had last seen Alexander in March 2007.

Later she told police that two intruders had broken into Alexander's home, murdering him and attacking her. 

Her behavior during her interrogation by police was odd.

POLICE INTERROGATION VIDEO

Two years after her arrest, Arias told police that she killed Alexander in self-defense, claiming that she had been a victim of domestic violence.

Was it really self defense?

She purchased three 5 gallon gas cans, so she could travel through the state of Arizona, without having to stop, which would make it harder to prove that she was there.

There was a handgun, knives and condoms found inside her rental car.

In her journal, Arias talked about how obsessed she was with Alexander and how she loved their sexual escapades.

Her defense attorney tried repeatedly to be released from her case.

He stated that she tried to manipulate him and also creeped him out.

Arias was convicted of first-degree murder on May 8, 2013 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on April 13, 2015.

In Alexander last text message to Arias, he had called her a "sociopath" and "the worst thing that ever happened to me", he also stated that he was afraid of her.

Alexander had a online blog.
This is an excerpt from his last blog entry.
"Desperately trying to find out if my date has an axe murderer penned up inside of her and knowing she is wondering the same thing about me. That’s usually when I think myself into a panic and start acting weird in consequence to trying so hard to act normal."