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- [00:03]
A
Hi Crime House Community. It's Vanessa Richardson. Exciting news. Conspiracy theories, cults and crimes is leveling up. Starting the week of January 12th, you'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Every week has a theme. Tech, bioterror, power, paranoia, you name it. Follow conspiracy theories, cults and crimes now on your podcast app because you're about to dive deeper, get weirder, and go darker than ever before.
- [00:47]
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This is crime house. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but when it comes to the justice system, it can be worth even more. Jodi Arias learned that lesson the hard way. After years of instability, she thought she'd finally found her happy ending with Travis Alexander. He was kind, successful, and deeply religious. All of the things Jody wanted in a man. For a while, it seemed like Travis felt the same way about her. But after one too many red flags, he ended things. Most people would let go and move on. Not Jody. Instead of taking the time to reflect and heal, she did the opposite. She became dangerously obsessed with Travis, calling him, stalking him, and documenting his every move. In the end, this obsession led to Jodi's downfall and showed the world who she really was. A killer. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Friday's episodes covering the cases that deserve a deeper look. Thank you for being part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for early ad free access to every episode, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This is the second of two episodes on the murder of 30 year old Travis Alexander in Mesa, Arizona by his ex girlfriend, Jodi Arias. Last time I introduced you to Jodi Arias. After several failed relationships, Jodi felt like she'd finally found her soulmate when she met Travis Alexander in 2006. But Travis didn't feel the same way. And when he broke things off, Jodi spiraled in the worst way possible. Today I'll walk you through the shocking discovery at Travis's home and the investigation that followed. Although detectives had plenty of evidence that plain place Jody at the crime scene, she insisted she was innocent. And as the trial approached, a jury would decide Was Jody Arias capable of murder? All that and more coming up.
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Hey, Sal. Hank, what's going on? We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy. Too easy. Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.
- [04:24]
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Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply.
- [04:29]
D
When you think about meal kit companies, what do you see? Probably long, complicated recipes and subscriptions you can't escape. But with the new Blue Apron, we're doing meal delivery differently. No subscription needed, faster, easier meals, and the same dedication to quality we've always had. Shop 100/Meals@blueapron.com, get 50% off your first two orders with code apron50. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blueapron.com terms for more.
- [05:02]
B
When 26 year old Jodi Arias met 29 year old Travis Alexander in 2006, she thought it was fate. She was in Las Vegas at a conference for her company, Prepaid Legal Services. Jodi was still an independent contractor for them while Travis was a recruiter. As soon as they started chatting, sparks flew. After the conference, they kept in touch. Jodi felt like things were getting serious. So after a few months, she broke up with her boyfriend of three years, Darrell Brewer. Not only that, but she converted to Mormonism because Travis was a member of the LDS Church. For a while, she and Travis were long distance and things were good. But before long, Travis noticed some red flags. Jody was possessive, clingy and incredibly paranoid. After five months, he broke up with her. They both started seeing other people, but Jody just couldn't let Travis go. And in the summer of 2007, she picked up and moved to Mesa, Arizona to be closer to him. Despite everything that had happened, Travis was still attracted to her. So even though they were both dating other people, they kept sleeping together. Things were chaotic, but mostly fine for a while. But then In April of 2008, Jodi got some bad news. She and Travis were planning to go on vacation with friends to Cancun, Mexico. They had their reservations lined up and everything when out of nowhere, Travis told her he was bringing another woman instead. Jodi was so upset that she left Mesa and went back to Yreka, California to live with her grandparents. Even then, they didn't stop talking. And by the spring of 2008, two months since leaving Mesa, Jody was desperate to see Travis in person. So she decided to make a road trip out of it. One that included all of her relationships, past and present. At the beginning of June, the 27 year old left her grandparents home in Yreka. Her first stop was to see ex boyfriend Darrell Brewer in Monterrey, California, on the central coast. After that, she drove to Mesa, Arizona to see 30 year old Travis. Jody got there in the early morning hours of June 4th. It was a brief visit. They spent the day together in bed. Then she hit the road again. The next day, June 5, Jody arrived at her final destination, Utah, to see her current boyfriend, Ryan Burns. Jodi was supposed to have arrived on the fourth. Ryan had no clue she'd made two pit stops to see Travis and Darryl. When he asked her why she was a full day late, she made up an excuse. According to Jodi, she'd gotten lost during the drive and had to pull over to get some sleep. Ryan wanted to believe her, but something about Jodi just seemed off. For one thing, she dyed her blonde hair brown. On its own, that wasn't necessarily alarming, but Jodi hadn't told Ryan about it, which did seem strange. Even weirder. Jodi had cuts all over her fingers that she'd bandaged up. She told Ryan she'd sliced them on a broken glass at her waitressing job, which again, made sense on its own. But when Ryan added it all up, something didn't feel right. In the end, Ryan decided not to press the issue. After all, they rarely got to see each other in person. He didn't want to fight. He just wanted to enjoy the next few days with Jodi. But it turned out Ryan wasn't the only one whose alarm bells were going off. Back in Mesa, Travis Alexander's friends were starting to get worried. They were all supposed to go to Cancun together on June 10th. Today was the 9th, and he wasn't responding to the group messages or answering any of their phone calls. In fact, no one had heard from him since five days earlier, on June 4th. Travis wasn't the kind of person to go MIA. The woman he'd invited to come along instead of Jody, an LDS member named Mimi, was especially worried. So she decided to stop by Travis's house to make sure everything was okay. When she rang the doorbell, she could hear Travis's dog barking inside. Besides that, it was quiet, though there were no footsteps and Travis didn't answer the door. Mimi didn't have a way to get in, so she left and reached out to a few of Travis's Friends to see if they could help. Around 10pm that night, a few of them returned to the house with Mimi. One of them knew the code to Travis's garage. As the door lifted, the group of friends saw his car and bike were still inside. That was strange. Clearly, Travis was home. So why had he been ignoring them? When they stepped into the actual house, they learned the answer. The first thing that hit them was the sickening, unmistakable smell of death. They eventually got to Travis's bedroom, where they found a dark, blood soaked stain on the carpet that led to the bathroom. There, lying motionless on the shower floor and covered in blood, was Travis. The friends called 911 and police were there within minutes. Upon examination, they concluded that he had been dead for several days. He'd been stabbed 27 times, shot in the head, and his throat had been slit, the investigators could tell. The stab wounds seemed frenzied. Some were deep, others were shallow, but they were all over his body in a way that indicated whoever did this had lost control. Not only that, but his bedroom showed signs of a struggle. Based on all that, the responding officers believed this was a personal attack and that his killer knew him. And when the police talked to Travis's friends that night, all of them pointed the finger at one suspect, Jodi Arias. They described her as obsessive, controlling and manipulative. They also claimed that Jody had previously slashed Travis's tires, broken into his home on many occasions, and even stalked him. Mesa Police Homicide Detective Esteban Flores took these claims extremely seriously. He knew he needed to speak with Jodi right away, but it turned out she wasn't difficult to track down. Just a few hours into the investigation, Jodi called him herself. According to Detective Flores, one of Travis's friends had told her he was dead. Jodi claimed that she hadn't been in Mesa since April, but she talked to Travis over the phone on June 4, which was the last time anyone had heard from him. Of course, this was a lie. Jodi had been with Travis that day, but Detective Flores didn't know that. Although Jodi was certainly a person of interest at this point, Flores needed to gather a lot more information before jumping to any conclusions. So he asked Jodi if she knew about any weapons in the home. Jodi laughed and said the only weapons she knew of were his two fists. She meant it as a joke, but it was a strange thing to say right after Travis had been murdered. And if she thought it would throw the authorities off her scent, she was wrong. Because unlike Jodi, evidence doesn't lie. And the more detectives looked around the crime scene, the more certain they became nothing, Jodi Arias said could be trusted.
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F
Shopping is hard.
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I can never find anything in my size.
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I don't even know my size.
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I buy my clothes the same place I buy my groceries.
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There's a better way. Make it easy with Stitch Fix. Just share your size, style, budget and done. Your personal stylist sends pieces picked just for you.
- [15:21]
E
That was easy.
- [15:24]
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Stitch Fix Online personal styling for everyone. Free shipping and returns. No subscription required. Get started today@stitchfix.com.
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On June 9, 2008, Travis Alexander's friends discovered his boss body at his home in Mesa, Arizona. The 30 year old was found lying on the shower floor, killed in a vicious, brutal attack. As the investigation got underway, Detective Esteban Flores spoke to Travis's ex girlfriend, 27 year old Jody Arias. She claimed she hadn't seen Travis since April. But when police scoured the crime scene, the they found evidence that placed her at Travis's home much more recently than she claimed. In the hallway just outside the bathroom where Travis was killed, investigators found a bloody handprint on the wall. It was quickly sampled and sent for forensic testing. They needed to know if it was made by Travis or someone else. Additionally, they found some strands of long brown hair near the body, the same shade Jodi had just dyed hers. But the most damning evidence of all was discovered in a place no one expected. The washing machine. Inside, investigators found a digital camera. It seemed like someone had tried to destroy it by running it through a wash cycle. But when it was pulled out and analyzed, investigators found that the memory card was undamaged. After they downloaded the contents, they found a series of time stamped photos taken on June 4, 2008, the last day anyone ever heard from Travis. The first ones they saw were from 1:40pm and showed explicit photos of Travis naked and in several sexual positions with Jody. The next image was taken a few hours later at 5:29pm this one showed Travis standing in the shower. He was naked, still wet and appeared to be glaring at the person taking the photo who must have been Jody. Then there was a photo taken just three minutes later at 5:32pm this one showed a blurry, bloody body on the floor and in the lower part of the frame was a woman's sock covered foot. From the moment the camera was found, Jodi wasn't just a suspect, she was the only suspect. Over the next nine days, the authorities carefully built their case against her and on June 19th they were finally ready to bring Jodi in for questioning. When she arrived, her demeanor was calm, cooperative, even polite. It's safe to assume she didn't know the police had recovered the photos on her camera because when they started questioning her, Jodi repeated her story. She insisted that she hadn't been in Mesa since April. According to her, she'd been in Utah with her boyfriend Ryan Burns in the days before Travis body was found. To make the trip, she'd rented a car in California. She said she stopped in Monterey for a few days to explore the area, then continued on to Utah. When detectives asked why she'd rented a car instead of using her own, Jodi said she didn't think hers could make the 2,000 mile round trip. As for why she didn't arrive in Utah until June 5, a full 24 hours later than she'd originally planned, she told the police the same thing she told Ryan. She'd gotten lost while driving and was too tired to keep going, so she pulled over and slept. Jodi went on to say that she called Travis several times while she was with Ryan and later once she returned home to California. According to her, she even left Travis several voicemails saying she was concerned that she hadn't heard from him. At this point, the authorities weren't ready to make an arrest, which meant that once they were done questioning Jodi, they had to let her go home to Yreka, California, where she lived with her grandparents. Jodi probably thought she'd gotten away scot free. In reality, Detective Flores and his team were busy building their case against her. They knew she was lying about not being in Mesa and had the photographic evidence to prove it, and soon the forensics confirmed their Suspicions. They On July 3rd, detectives learned that the bloody handprint found near Travis's bathroom was a match to Jodi Arias. Six days later, Jody celebrated her 28th birthday. And another six days after that, on July 15th, she was arrested in Yreka and charged with first degree murder. Jody's mugshot quickly became infamous. Her long brown hair was perfectly styled, her head was tilted slightly, and she had a soft, almost sweet smile on her face. She looked totally unbothered, harmless even. The image only became more haunting as the details of the case continued to emerge. After her arrest, Jodi sat through a lengthy interrogation. The investigators on the case, including Detective Flores, walked her through their theory piece by piece. This is what they believed happened. Jodi had rented a car so her own vehicle wouldn't be spotted. Then she drove to Monterey and borrowed two gas cans from her ex boyfriend, Darrell Brewer. Shortly after that, she purchased a third can, giving her enough fuel to drive to Mesa and beyond without stopping for gas. That way, Jody theoretically wouldn't be seen or recorded. She might have gotten away with it if she hadn't taken those pictures of her and Travis. At that point, the police finally showed Jody the photos they'd recovered from the camera, including the explicit sexual poses, the picture in the shower, and the blurry, blood soaked photo of his body on the floor with Jody's foot visible in the frame. The police told Jodi they knew she'd called Travis's phone several times after the murder and that she had left voicemails to make it look like she thought he was still alive. The officers also claimed Jody had accessed Travis's voicemail system after his death to delete any messages that didn't line up with her story. They also pointed out that by the time Jodi returned her rental car in California, she'd put 2,800 miles on the vehicle. That was way more than there should have been if she'd just gone to Utah and back. And later, an employee at the rental company testified that when Jody returned the car, the floor mats were missing and there were several red stains on the front and back seats. But even with the mountain of evidence laid out in front of her, Jodi didn't budge. In fact, when the detectives kept pressing her, she blurted out, if I was going to ever try to kill somebody, I would use gloves. I have plenty of them. That wasn't even the strangest moment of her interrogation, though. At one point, she was left alone in the room and proceeded to do a handstand against the wall. Later, she began singing the Christmas carol Holy Night. However Jodi was feeling at this point, she stuck to her Original story throughout the first day of her interrogation. But on day two, something changed. That's when Jodi admitted that she had been with Travis at the time of his murder. She claimed that the two of them spent the day together. They had sex and took a nap. After that, Jodi decided to take photos of him in the shower. And then, according to her, all hell broke loose.
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Ah, DSW Earth. Place of the humble brag. Here the shoes are so good, no one would ever know how little you paid. If you didn't go telling everyone, that is. And with never ending options for every style, mood and occasion, all at really great prices, they'll definitely give you something to brag about. So go ahead, stock up on fresh sneakers from your favorite brands or try those boots you always secretly knew you could pull off. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or@dsw.com Let us surprise you.
- [25:11]
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On July 15, 2008, 28 year old Jodi Arias was arrested and charged with the murder of her ex boyfriend, 30 year old Travis Alexander. The evidence against her was overwhelming. Not only could Jodi be placed at the crime scene, but she'd taken a picture of Travis's body, possibly just moments after he was murdered. Despite all of that, Jodi insisted she hadn't killed him. But by then, the authorities knew everything that came out of Jodi's mouth was a lie. After her arrest, Jodi was questioned by Detective Esteban Flores of the Mesa, Arizona pd. At first, she insisted that she hadn't been in Mesa since April. But after the police revealed that they had evidence to the contrary, Jody seemed to rethink her story. On the second day of her interrogation, Jody reversed course. Now, she claimed that she was with Travis on June 4th forth the day he was killed. But in her version of events, she didn't have anything to do with his murder. Jodi claimed that while she was with Travis in the shower, intruders wearing ski masks had burst into the home and attacked them. Jody said she remembered Travis screaming as they jumped on him. In the midst of the chaos, Jody got hit in the head. She thought the blow might have knocked her out, which was apparently why her memory of what happened that day was hazy. She also claimed that one of the intruders held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. But for reasons Jodi couldn't explain, the intruders let her live, allegedly telling her that they were only there for Travis. Before the masked assailants fled the scene, they told Jodi they'd come after her entire family. If she talked about the attack, Jodi said she took their warning seriously, which was why she never told a soul what had happened until this moment. Even though the story was totally outrageous, Jodi was committed to it. While she was recounting it to the police, she started crying. It was the first time during any of their interactions that she showed any emotion. There was just one problem. Detective Flores didn't buy it. After Jodi finished talking, he told her it was one of the most far fetched stories he'd ever heard and that she wasn't doing herself any favors by sticking by it. Jody didn't seem to care. At her arraignment on September 11, 2008, she pleaded not guilty. And days later, she told her intruder story to the entire country during a jailhouse interview for the news program Inside Edition. By then, Travis's murder was national news, and everyone seemed to have an opinion on what happened. It was hard to believe that Jody, who was young, charming and beautiful, could be a killer. And Jody leaned into the image she'd cultivated for herself. In the interview, Jodi was calm and collected, poised even. When asked about Travis, she spoke of him fondly before recounting the same mystery killer story she had told Detective Flores. She stuck to it with complete confidence before she went on to utter the words, no jury will convict me because I am innocent. Despite her bravado, Jodi eventually changed her story. As her trial approached. In August of 2010, she admitted that she did kill Travis, but now she claimed it was self defense. According to Jodi, Travis had been physically, emotionally and sexually abusive. She painted a picture of a relationship defined by fear and manipulation. She claimed it all came to a head on June 4, 2008, after she accidentally dropped Travis camera. Jodi said that Travis got so angry at her that she was scared for her life. That's why she decided to fight back. It was a stunning twist, and it completely changed Jodi's defense strategy. By claiming she was a battered woman, Jody thought she could justify killing Travis and that maybe a jury might show her mercy. Armed with this updated lie, Jodi went on to do multiple interviews from jail before her trial began and even went on air with Inside Edition again. But Jodi could only argue her case in the court of public opinion for so long. In January of 2013, the 32 year old finally went on trial in a court of law. In the four and a half years since Travis's murder, Jodi had drastically changed her appearance. She now wore glasses and had a new hairstyle long, with wispy bangs that skimmed her forehead, giving her a meek, almost childlike appearance. News of her trial and her new look was everywhere, from front page tabloids to morning talk shows. In the nightly news. At this point, Jodi had made it clear she didn't mind the spotlight. In fact, she might have welcomed it, because on February 4, 2013, she did something most people being tried for murder avoid. She testified in her own defense. For 18 days, Jodi talked about abuse she allegedly endured as a child, manipulation she'd experienced in past relationships, and ultimately the trauma that Travis's supposed violence had caused her. Jodi claimed that Travis was able to keep his abuse hidden from the rest of the world. According to Jodi, she was the only one who knew the real Travis, and he was a monster. She went on to explain how Travis controlled her, degraded her, and called her terrible names. She said he'd choked her, and during their final violent encounter, she feared that if she didn't fight back, she wouldn't survive. During Jodi's testimony, she had all sorts of excuses about why she'd repeatedly changed her story. She claimed that she was ashamed about the alleged abuse and that she didn't want to damage Travis reputation. Not only that, but she insisted she had no memory of the killing itself. It seemed like a case of convenient amnesia, but under cross examination, Jodi was confronted with all of her previous lies. And even Jodi had to admit that she couldn't keep them straight. She'd been deluding herself for so long, it wasn't clear if she knew what the truth was anymore. But the prosecution did. On the stand, they pointed to all of the evidence that proved Jodi was a cold and calculated killer. They brought up Jody's erratic behavior in the months before the murder. The rental car, the bloody handprint, and most importantly, the photos. In the end, though, it was up to a jury to decide what really happened. On May 8, 2013, they reached a verdict. After 15 hours of deliberation, they found Jodi Arias guilty of first degree murder. Now the question was, what would her punishment be? Per Arizona law, the jury had to be in unanimous agreement about whether she would get life in prison or be executed. But they couldn't reach a consensus, which meant a new jury had to be brought in to hear the entire case all over again. The second jury also found themselves divided. At that point, the final decision went to the judge who sentenced Jody to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As of this recording, Jodi remains incarcerated at the Perryville Arizona State prison complex in Goodyear, where she works as a library aide. Her sentence is final and can never be appealed. Jodi Arias once told the world that no jury would ever convict her. She'd spent years convincing the world that she was a good person who'd been betrayed by those closest to her. But in the end, there was no denying that the only victim in her story was Travis Alexander. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of another murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media crime house on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back on Friday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertofsky, Markie Lee, Sarah Camp and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. Foreign.
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Looking for your next listen? Hi, it's Vanessa Richardson and I have exciting news. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes is leveling up starting the week of January 12th. You'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult and on Fridays we look at a correspondence Crime Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen.