Jodi Arias trial: Pictures of grisly crime scene where Travis Alexander was killed | Daily Mail Online
Pictured: The grisly crime scene after ‘obsessed’ girlfriend Jodi Arias ‘stabbed ex-lover 27 times in shower, sliced his throat and shot him in the head
- Jodi Arias ‘was obsessed with Travis Alexander, 30, and stalked him after he broke up with her and started dating someone else’
- He was stabbed 27 times and was shot in the head in June 2008
- Arias initially denied seeing him but now claims self defense
- Defense team said Alexander was violent and possessive and made her wear a shirt reading ‘Travis Alexander’s’
Dozens of grisly images revealing the horrific scene after devout Mormon Travis Alexander was found stabbed to death have been shown to the jury in the murder trial of his ‘obsessed’ ex-girlfriend.
The photos show his blood-splattered bathroom, a bullet shell lodged in dried blood and his blood-soaked clothes after Jodi Arias allegedly stabbed him 27 times, sliced his throat and shot him once in the head.
Her murder trial began last week and will resume on Tuesday after an extended weekend break.
As prosecutor Juan Martinez displayed the pictures to the jury, 32-year-old Arias reportedly broke down in tears and reached for tissues.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Grisly: Images of the crime scene where Travis Alexander was killed have been shown to the jury in the murder trial of his ex-girlfriend. Here a bloody sink near to his body is pictured
Blood-soaked: Another image shows blood stains on the carpet near his bathroom in his bedroom
Martinez suggested that someone had tried to wipe blood from the sink at Alexander’s Mesa, Arizona home. Congealed blood can also be seen on the toilet, floor, carpet and across walls.
Other images show blood-soaked clothes and towels that had been tossed in Alexander’s washing machine, presumably in a failed attempt to remove the stains.
They were found alongside Alexander’s water-logged camera. Investigators found images on the camera showing the pair having sex on the day of the murder and photos of Alexander posing nude in the shower moments before we was murdered.
In a bizarre twist, the camera also contained images of Alexander after the murder and a picture of Arias dragging his body – apparently taken accidentally when the camera was dropped.
Splattered: Blood on the wall by the bathroom where Alexander was found five days later after his murder
Crime scene: Congealed blood on the floor near to where Alexander’s body was found in June 2008
Weapon: A bullet casing is seen lodged in congealed blood in Alexander’s bathroom
Another image shows Arias in a t-shirt reading ‘Travis Alexander’s’. The defense has suggested that Alexander had been controlling and jealous, eventually leading to her killing him out of self defense.
The images and pictures showing Alexander’s wounds – including defensive wounds to his hands – are just the latest pieces of bizarre evidence in the trial that is already being compared to the dramatic 2010 murder trial of Casey Anthony.
Arias, a photographer who dated Alexander for nearly five months in 2007, has pleaded not-guilty to first degree murder. If convicted, she could become the fourth woman on Arizona’s death row.
Alexander was found dead in his home in suburban Mesa on June 9, 2008 by two friends who went to check on him after he had been out of contact for days.
Accused: Jodi Arias, who is accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend to death, listens during her trial on Thursday
‘Obsessed’: The couple only dated for five months before breaking up over jealous issues, she said
Possessive: The jury was shown a picture of Arias in a t-shirt Alexander made reading ‘Travis Alexander’s’
Prosecutors have claimed Arias killed the 30-year-old motivational speaker and insurance salesman after learning he was planning to begin dating someone else.
She originally claimed she had not seen Alexander the day of his murder, before claiming she had seen two men kill him, before eventually saying that she killed him out of self defense.
On a 911 recording made after Alexander’s friends walked in on a horrific scene in his room, they could be heard describing to the dispatcher the gruesome sight of their friend’s slashed body.
‘A friend of ours is dead in his bedroom, we hadn’t heard from him for a while. We think he’s dead,’ the victim’s friend Marie ‘Mimi’ Hall tearfully said on the call obtained by RadarOnline. ‘There’s lots of blood.’
Evidence: A blood-soaked towel found in his washing machine, which had failed to wash off the stains
On show: An expert witness holds up the bloody towel to the jury during the trial last week
Secrets revealed: Alexander’s camera, pictured, was found soaked with water in his washing machine and contained images of the pair before his murder and of Alexander’s dead body
‘Last photo’: Among the images on the camera was this one showing Travis in the shower before his death
She added: ‘His roommate went in and there’s blood in his bedroom, behind the door and all over, then they went in the bathroom and it’s all in the shower.’
When asked where the blood is coming from, the male caller replied: ‘It’s all over the place.’
The dispatcher went on to inquire whether Alexander had been depressed lately or considered committing suicide. In response, Hall said that while she was not sure whether her friend contemplated taking his own life, he had been troubled by problems involving his former girlfriend.
‘He’s been depressed, because he broke up with this girl and he was all upset about that, but I don’t think he would actually kill himself over that,’ she said.
Hall went on to say that Alexander had been threatened by his former lover, who had been ‘bothering him, following him and slashing tires.’
Attack: Images show where Alexander sustained stab wounds, including on the back of his neck
Violent: He also sustained stab wounds to his head and his neck was sliced from ear to ear
Putting up a fight: He also suffered defensive wounds to his hands as he tried to fight back
Mess: Prosecutors said it appeared as if someone had tried to wipe the blood away after the murder
Gruesome: Arias claims she killed her boyfriend in self defense yet initially denied being with him that day
The caller then gave the dispatcher the name of Alexander’s paramour, ‘Jodi,’ adding that the 30-year-old had never reported incidents of alleged stalking involving Jodi to police.
Police said that by the time Hall and Alexander’s roommate discovered his body, he had been dead for about five days.
At the trial, defense attorneys have painted a picture of Alexander as an abusive, manipulative boyfriend who made Arias wear a t-shirt reading: ‘Travis Alexander’s’.
As part of their strategy, Arias’ lawyers told jurors that the ‘sex-crazed and abusive’ Alexander made Arias clean his house while wearing a French maid’s outfit, ABC15 reported.
Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi asked lead detective Esteban Flores whether Alexander referred to his ex-girlfriend in emails as a s*** and a w****, to which he detective answered in the affirmative.
Suspect: Travis Alexander’s friend and roommate who found his body in June 2008 told a 911 dispatcher that Jodi Arias had been stalking and threatening the man
Life changing: Jodi Arias was baptized into the Mormon church shortly after she started dating Alexander
Among their communication, the devout Mormon wrote to Arias: ‘I think I was little more than a dildo with a heartbeat to you.’
Jennifer Willmott, an attorney for Arias, told jurors her client acted in self-defense after Alexander ‘lunged at Jodi in anger’ in his suburban Mesa home after she dropped his new camera.
‘Jodi’s life was in danger. He knocked her to the ground in the bathroom where there was a struggle,’ Willmott said. ‘If she did not have to defend herself, she would not be here.’
Yet prosecutors argue Arias was a jealous woman who brutally attacked Alexander after he tried to end their relationship.
‘This is not a case of whodunit,’ Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Juan Martinez said in his opening statement. ‘The person who committed this killing sits in court today – Jodi Ann Arias.’
Happier times: She met Travis Alexander, a Mormon and motivational speaker, at a Las Vegas conference
Story: Arias offered investigators three different versions of events ranging from her denial of being at the scene of the crime to claims of self-defense
Offensive terms: Prosecutors presented emails in court in which Travis Alexander called Arias a ‘slut’ and a ‘whore’
Alexander had told friends Arias had become too possessive and was acting like a stalker, so he ended their relationship to see other women. But phone and email records indicate the pair continued to carry on a sexual relationship, The Arizona Republic reported.
The couple had met at a work conference in Las Vegas in September 2006 and began speaking on the phone every day. Court records show they exchanged as many as 82,000 emails.
They started dating in February 2007 and, because Alexander was a Mormon, Arias chose to be baptized into the church. But they broke up in June 2007, with Arias telling police jealousy on both sides was to blame.
In jail: Arias claimed she had nothing to do with the murder but later said it was out of self defense
‘There’s nothing about her that I see in marriage material – or wife material,’ Alexander had said, according to his friend, Dave Hall. ‘But it’s hard to say no to a woman that sneaks into your house, crawls in your bed and tries to, you know, seduce you.’
Wounds show that Alexander attempted to fight back, court records show. An autopsy found he sustained 27 puncture wounds and one gunshot wound, with the bullet found in his left cheek.
Investigators also found a bloody left palm print with Arias’ DNA on the bathroom wall. Her DNA was also found in hair recovered from a bloody wall, according to the Arizona Republic.
After initially claiming that she had not been at his home that day, Arias changed her story to admit she had been there – but had not killed her ex-boyfriend.
‘I witnessed Travis being attacked by two other individuals,’ she told Inside Edition. ‘Who were they? I don’t know. I couldn’t pick them up in a police lineup.’
She later changed her story once again, telling the court that she killed Alexander in self defense after he became angry when she dropped his camera.
She claims he had been sexually and physically abusive throughout their relationship.
‘It makes me sick because I know her true side,’ Steven Alexander, Travis Alexander’s brother, told ABC. ‘And I ask people to please not buy into this sweet innocent personality that she puts on.’
Missed: Alexander, a motivational speaker from Arizona, was found several days after the killing
As well as the inconsistencies in her story, Arias’ case has been plagued with difficulties with her legal representation.
She asked to represent herself but when she submitted letters to the court that she claimed Alexander had written – saying he was a pedophile – they were found to be forgeries, and she told a judge she was in ‘over her head’.
Her defense team was reinstated but in December 2011, her attorney, Victoria Washington, was granted a motion to withdraw from the case.
Jennifer Willmott, a death penalty-qualified defense attorney, had now been assigned to represent Arias. In January 2012, a judge denied a motion asking for the death penalty to be rejected.
AUDIO: LISTEN TO 911 CALL MADE BY TRAVIS ALEXANDER’S FRIENDS
