Murder of Travis Alexander: Why did Jodi Arias commit such an awful act?

Although it happened way back in the 2000s, true crime stans still can’t stop talking about the murder of Travis Alexander by his girlfriend Jodi Arias. The reason? We still don’t know why she committed this heinous act, although she maintains she killed him in self-defense. 

A new Discovery+ docuseries may shed some light on the subject. If I Can’t Have You: The Jodi Arias Story takes a closer look at the motives for Travis Alexander’s murder. Diving into Arias’s diaries, releasing never-before-heard police interviews & reports, and even interviewing Arias herself, this docuseries dropped in February and promised to take a closer look. 

However, while the docuseries may have new info, Rotten Tomatoes critic Carla Hay said “doesn’t reveal anything new, but it does a very good job of presenting both sides of this tragic story”. So what new sides are we getting – Jodi Arias hacking Travis Alexander twenty-five times seems cut & dry, right? Or wrong? Let’s dive into this horrific true crime. 

Love at first sight? 

Travis Alexander was a motivational speaker, salesman, and active in the Latter-Day Saints church when he met aspiring artist & photographer Jodi Arias in 2006. They met at a convention in Las Vegas, and per an email Travis Alexander wrote to a friend obtained by The Sun, he claimed he hit the jackpot. 

“I went from intrigued by her to interested in her to caring about her deeply to realizing how lucky I would be to have her as part of my life forever. . . . She is amazing. It is not hard to see that whoever scores Jodi (Arias), whether it be me or someone else, is gonna win the wife lotto.” 

However, Travis Alexander’s friends began noticing red flags about his burgeoning relationship with Jodi Arias. Lovinger Hughes told 20/20 he began seeing disturbing signs, elaborating: “I said, ‘Travis, I’m afraid we’re gonna find you chopped up in her freezer.’ . . . From very early on, she was completely obsessed with him.” 

The murder

Travis Alexander was found dead in his Arizona home on June 9th, 2008 with multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to his head. Alexander’s friends stated they believed he and Jodi Arias were long done – Alexander’s friends stated they believed they were done because of alleged possessive behavior and due to Alexander’s staunch religious beliefs. 

However, texts were later discovered detailing Travis Alexander & Jodi Arias were still in touch and were sending explicit messages to each other. Not long after, Arias became a suspect. After claiming she wasn’t in Arizona, she claimed two intruders murdered Alexander. When that story was shot wide open, she claimed she acted in self-defense. 

But, later reports showed Jodi Arias drove all the way from her home in California to Arizona, carrying her grandfather’s pistol and tanks of gas so she wouldn’t stop for gas in AZ. Hmmm . . . She was charged with first-degree murder. 

Expert witness

Defense expert Dr. Robert Geffner told Fox News: “When I first interviewed her, she was friendly and cooperative. But when it came time to discuss the case, she seemed more cold, more aloof, much more distant. She showed little emotion. The only time emotions would surface was when she talked about her mother or Travis.” 

Geffner, founder of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute in San Diego, was asked to testify to counter the prosecution’s claim that Jodi Arias had Boderline Personality Disorder, a cluster B personality disorder associated with trauma, and thanks to tons of movies & TV shows, maligned with antisocial personality disorder. 

Explaining Jodi Arias had no prior history of violence – although other reports alleged she was violent to her siblings as a child – Geffner added she may have been physically abused as a child, even hinting that her future relationships were violent & abusive as well. 

“[She described] bruises, being choked, thrown against the wall, beaten with a wooden spoon and all sorts of things. It was certainly a dysfunctional dynamic. She later started using marijuana to essentially escape her trauma, block out her emotions. She eventually escaped the family and got into a very abusive, dangerous relationship, which was corroborated by friends at the time.” 

On May 7th, 2013, Jodi Arias was found guilty of the murder of Travis Alexander and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

More balance

However, there is some evidence to support Jodi Arias’s claim that her murdering Travis Alexander could have been self-defense, or at least, that Alexander wasn’t so innocent himself. Two of Alexander’s ex-girlfriends described him as being “sexually aggressive”. Arias further claimed Alexander asked her to perform sex acts she wasn’t entirely comfortable performing. 

The Discovery+ docuseries further teases thousands of texts of Travis Alexander verbally & emotionally tearing down Jodi Arias, calling her a “whore” multiple times. Arias herself delves into details about how Alexander allegedly tried to kill her the day of the murder. However, her previous stories – an alibi that didn’t check out and an intruder – make her account suspect to experts and true crime stans alike. 

In the new docuseries, Arias’s defense team further elaborates on how misogyny and the double standard for women’s sexual behavior could’ve played a role in Arias’s case, claiming the prosecution used her sexual history to paint her in a dimmer light. They further claimed that if Travis Alexander had murdered her, they’d have had a “really hard time defending Travis”. 

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Do you think the Jodi Arias case deserves a second look? Let us know in the comments!