Travis Alexander

Travis Victor Alexander (July 28, 1977 – June 4, 2008) was an American salesman who was murdered by his ex-girlfriend, Jodi Ann Arias (born July 9, 1980), in his house in Mesa, Arizona while in the shower.

Travis was born on July 28, 1977 in Riverside, California to Gary David Alexander and Pamela Elizabeth Morgan Alexander.

At the age of 8, Travis moved in with his paternal grandparents.

Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California, to William and Sandra (née Allen) Arias.

After his father's death in July 1997, his seven siblings were also taken in by their paternal grandmother.

Alexander told a friend that, prior to joining a church, he would frequently engage in fights.

He performed stand-up comedy under the alter ego "Eddie Snell".

Alexander was a salesman and motivational speaker for Pre-Paid Legal Services (PPL).

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

Arias converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Alexander was a member, and was baptized by him on November 26, 2006 in a ceremony in Southern California.

Alexander and Arias began dating in February 2007, and Arias moved to Mesa to live closer to Alexander, but in April 2008, she moved to Yreka, California and lived there with her grandparents.

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

Even when Alexander was in a different relationship, he and Arias would sext each other.

Alexander's friends who knew Arias and observed them together reportedly had a negative opinion of her, stating that the relationship was unusually tumultuous and that Arias's behavior was worrying.

Alexander was murdered at his house in Mesa, Arizona on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 while he was taking a shower.

He sustained 27 stab wounds, a slit throat, and a gunshot wound to the head.

Medical examiner Kevin Horn would later testify that Alexander's jugular vein, common carotid artery, and trachea had been slashed and that he had defensive wounds on his hands.

Horn further testified that Alexander May have been dead at the time the gunshot was inflicted and that the back wounds were shallow.

Alexander's death was ruled a homicide.

He was buried at Riverside's Olivewood Memorial Park cemetery.

Alexander missed an important conference call on the evening of June 4.

The following day, Arias met Ryan Burns in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan and attended business meetings for the conference.

Burns later said that he noticed that Arias's formerly blonde hair was now dark brown and that she had cuts on her hands.

On June 6, she left Salt Lake City and drove west toward California.

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

She also accessed his cell-phone voicemail system.

When Arias returned the car on June 7, it had been driven about 2800 mi. The rental clerk testified that the car was missing its floor mats and had red stains on its front and rear seats.

However, it could not be verified that the car had floor mats when Arias had picked it up, and the red stains could not be analyzed as the car had been cleaned before police could examine it.

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

His roommates had not seen him for several days, but they believed that he was out of town and thus did not suspect that anything was amiss.

After finding a key to Alexander's bedroom, the group entered and found large pools of blood in the hallway to the master bathroom and Alexander's body in the shower.

In the 9-1-1 call (not heard by the jury), the dispatcher asked whether Alexander had been suicidal or if anyone was angry enough to hurt him.

Alexander's friends mentioned Arias by name as a possible suspect, stating that Alexander had told them that she had been stalking him, accessing his Facebook account, and slashing his car's tires.

She attended school until 11th grade, at which point she dropped out of Yreka Union High School.

She was an aspiring photographer and worked odd jobs until she got a sales position with PPL.

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.

At the time of the murder, Alexander sustained 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and a single gunshot wound to the forehead.

Arias testified that she killed him in self-defense, but she was convicted by the jury of first-degree murder.

During the sentencing phase, the jury deadlocked on the death penalty option, and Arias was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Alexander's death and the subsequent investigation and trial received widespread media attention in the United States.