Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 26-year-old Instagram Star naked, dead on roadside. WHAT HAPPENED TO ALEXIS SHARKEY?

Episode Date: December 4, 2020

Social media star Alexis Sharkey spends Thanksgiving with friends and makes plans for the next day. She didn't show up for their planned movie day, but she did text with friends that night. What didn't do was make any posts on social media for over 12 hours. That was cause for concern. Friends go to her home. No one is there. Sharkey's nude body is found on Saturday morning. What happened to Alexis Sharkey?Joining Nancy Grace today: Ashley Willcott - Judge and Trial Attorney    Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, www.drbethanymarshall.com   Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet," featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network   Levi Page Crime Online Reporter   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. An influencer. What is that? Think of Kim Kardashian, Khloe, Kourtney Kardashian, the mom Kris Jenner. If they so much as hold up a can of soda or a jar of face cream, it sells out. If they wear a certain shirt or jacket or perfume or makeup, it's guaranteed to be a success because they influence people that are looking at them on social media. So how does a beautiful young influencer,

just 26 years old, end up dead on the side of the road, completely unclothed, with no sign of visible injury. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Houston police are investigating the death of a woman whose nude body was found on the side of the road. Police say a Public Works employee discovered the body off Red Hall Lane near I-10 at about 8 o'clock this morning. They say she had no visible injuries. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death and ID. The victim is described as a white woman in her early 20s. If you know anything about this, you're asked to please call HPD Homicide or Crime Stoppers. How did Alexis Sharkey, this gorgeous young influencer, end up butt naked dead on the side of the road,

her feet sticking out in from the bushes. Let me introduce you to our all-star panel. Joining us to make sense of it all, first of all, judge and trial lawyer, Court TV anchor, Ashley Wilcott. Psychoanalyst to the stars, joining me out of Beverly Hills, Dr. Bethany Marshall at drbethanymarshall.com. Justice Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, star of a brand new program

on the True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons. But first, to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, Levi Page. What can you tell me about who is Alexis Shurka? I'm looking at her photo. She's stunning.

So she's 26 years old, Nancy. She's originally from Pennsylvania, but she had a dream ever since she was a child of living in the South. So she moved in January of 2020 to Texas. She loved the long summers, the mild winters, the warmer weather, and she loved to boat. And with the weather, you can boat more down in the South. So she's 26 years old, and she's an Instagram influencer. And that's someone that's paid to endorse products. And she was very health conscious, and she loved selling organic healthcare products, makeup, hair styling.

And she graduated from college with a major in biology. So she would be able to determine whether the ingredients of the products that she's selling were good for you or not. So she put her skills to use. And that's who she is. Alexis Sharkey's naked body was found on the side of a Houston road. And we have just unearthed a photo believed to be the last known image of Alexis. And it shows her with a big smile on her face with friends. So how does she go from that photo to being dead on the side of the road, no visible sign of injury and naked? You know, I want to go through the timeline. Let's start

at the beginning. So I know that on Thanksgiving Day, Levi, she was speaking or texting back and forth with her mother a lot. They were talking about their plans for Christmas. I also know that according to her husband, 49-year-old Tom Sharkey, her maiden name is Alexis Robineau. Tom Sharkey said he had a morning meal with her on Thanksgiving Day. Now now just stop just a moment right there. Hold on. You know, Ashley Wilcott, you and I have just celebrated Thanksgiving with our families. I never thought of Thanksgiving breakfast. I'm the same. I noticed that little fact as well, because we don't do Thanksgiving breakfast simply because I guess we're cooking everything

for our huge meal. So it's kind of an interesting thing, isn't it? And those are the little details. I love you just mentioned that because in a case like this, you have to look at all of the details. Now let's think about this. What does that mean? She didn't have Thanksgiving lunch or dinner with anybody because as an influencer, right, you would think she would have like this beautiful Martha Stewart moment. I mean, think this through. You know, Joe Scott Morgan, I remember prosecuting a Jane Doe murder. And I went over and over and over the scene of her, what I believe to be at least a tertiary crime scene. And there was one earring in a certain location. And based on that one earring and its location, I could deduce so many things about what happened. So Joe Scott, just bear with me on this.

An influencer that doesn't load up her social media with, you know, the beautiful turkey. And you just heard Levi say she studied biology, majored in it, and she was very concerned about what would be good for the people that followed her. She had thousands of followers. I would think she would have like organic dressing and like a vegetarian meal or turkey cooked some special way. And then we'd see this table with her standing there being all beautiful, which doesn't take much because she's beautiful naturally.

But that tells me something, Joe Scott. Yeah, and we have to look at it through her lens too, Nancy. You know, she's, I don't know, in her mid-20s. And those things might not hold the same importance to her as they do to us. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Yeah, I agree with you. But at least if she's not going to have the Thanksgiving turkey and all that, I would at least imagine her.

She makes her living on social media, at least having her and her friends or her and her husband out, you know, toasting a mimosa. I don't know what influencers do, but I do know this. They post about it all the time. I mean, and they, you know what? You're a death investigator. Why am I talking to you? Excuse me, Your Honor. I've called the wrong witness. Dr. Bethany, no offense, Joe Scott. Dr. Bethany Marshall, is this making any sense of what I'm trying to say? Absolutely, Nancy. Did you hear that, Joe Scott? She gets it. I understand you, Nancy. I'm not saying it very well. I know that. You explain what I'm trying to say. I march to Dr. Bethany.

You explain what I'm trying to say, Bethany. There's a lot of little details that are standing out to me. The biggest one, of course, is that she's an influencer. And as you said, she hasn't taken the opportunity to have this Martha Stewart moment to be beautiful, have her husband, her family gathered around her, her friends. Even if she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, and who doesn't? Everybody in the 20s knows about Thanksgiving. You know, to at least have her home beautiful or the table beautiful. The fact that her husband's 23 years older than her, I don't know. I can't get that one out of my mind. She's an influencer.

They've only been married for a year. She's taken his last name about a year they got married December 2019 ah okay quite a year such a big okay so and she's an influencer but she took his name so when you're an influence an influencer you keep your maiden name because that's how she built up her followers. And then the idea of the morning meal. Sometimes on Thanksgiving, my family will have a special little breakfast because, you know, nephews and nieces and relatives have come into town and you want to tide everybody over until the afternoon meal. But we don't call it a morning meal.

It's like we had a quick time together. You know what, Dr. Bethany, I hear you, but on Thanksgiving, when I'm in there with, we had dueling turkeys this year. My husband did a green egg and I did it in the oven. I basically told the twins, don't eat one bite because I want you to eat this turkey and dressing that I'm making. Okay, you can have one bite because I'm always trying to get them to eat. But on Thanksgiving, they got to wait. Of course, they didn't, by the way, for Thanksgiving. But it just struck me oddly that we didn't see the influencing going on on Thanksgiving Day. crime stories with nancy grace

guys we're talking about this gorgeous young social influencer she had thousands and thousands of followers and she's ended up dead on the side of the road, completely naked and no sign of visible injury, but she is dead nonetheless. Another thing about why I want to know where she was at lunch and dinner is to help me set a timeline. Levi Page, what can you tell me about the timeline? Wasn't she supposed to meet up with some of her friend girls for a movie day? Didn't they go out to movies on a certain day? You're correct, Nancy. So Thanksgiving, she spent Thanksgiving with friends. Well, how do you know that? That's what her friends are saying. So she was alive and well on Thanksgiving?

Yeah, they said they last saw her at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving day. Okay, and then on Black Friday? Black Friday, they got nervous and were a little suspicious because that's when influencers also, they have Black Friday sales

and they promote products on Instagram. I didn't even think of that. She had gone, she went completely silent on Instagram and they filed a police report. Okay, hold on. Let me get my mind around this. Because Ashley Wilcott, it's your family tradition that you hit the malls or the boutiques with your daughter on Black Friday.

Shopping is not anything that I enjoy at all. I'm bored out of my brain just tromping endlessly round and round a mall or a store looking for what? What do I, I mean, I don't even know. You and your daughter love it. I hopefully have brainwashed my daughter not to love it, but apparently I'm in the minority. Black Friday is huge and you turn it into a fun day with your daughter. It's kind of like a scavenger hunt, I think. So he's right, Ashley. I didn't think of that. For an influencer, Black Friday would be one of the biggest days of your year. Absolutely. So first of all, let me just suggest the reason. It is, it is one of my favorite days and I love it because the deals are so good. Honestly, we can wait and get clothes that she are trending, that are popular, that are the name brands and on a good prices. So it is our,

it may be the only time of the year I buy her clothes. No, kidding. But my point is I would think a 26-year-old influencer who dresses beautifully, if you look – I'm not – beautifully is the right word. She is immaculate in her appearance, right? And so the clothes she wears, what I wear at my age, no. But she always looks beautiful. And she wears the things that kids are going to want to wear and are going to look at and say, I want to look like that. So to me, Black Friday, posting all of the good deals, showing everyone what the trends are, would be a prime opportunity for a beautiful, well-dressed influencer. See, I was all hung up that I didn't see her posting on Thanksgiving.

And then in my mind, the timeline went from Thanksgiving morning meal with husband to Black Friday when she didn't meet up with her friends for the movie. Now, Levi Page, you're helping me to narrow down that timeline. She was alive and well at six. And I believe that was when she was talking to her mom about what their Christmas plans were going to be. Now, what time was the movie Meet Up, Levi Page, that she missed? I'm not positive about the exact time, Nancy, but her friends have said that she stopped responding to their text messages around 6 p.m. on Friday. And her husband also says that Friday is the last time that he saw her alive as well. Now, tell me what the 49-year-old husband, Tom Sharkey, says about the last time he saw his wife. So he said that he last saw his wife. He doesn't give an exact time frame, what time of day it was.

And he says that they had a disagreement and she left, and she left without her vehicle. What? She left? What, was she going to walk? That is what he's claiming. He said that she'd been drinking and he told her not to drive because she's been drinking.

This is according to him. We don't know that 100% for a fact, but that's what he says. Okay. Levi Page, how could she go anywhere in that area? It's Houston, right? Without her car. Yes, you're correct, Nancy. You need a car to get around there. And she apparently did not leave in her car. Did not leave within her car. All right, guys, take a listen to this. We know homicide detectives, they're looking at surveillance video of cars going up and down this road near I-10. They're trying to figure out how a body ended up in this brush. Now, it was Saturday morning when a garbage truck driver, he noticed feet coming up from the bushes. He called this into 911.

You know, clearly the way she was disposed of tells us a lot. Her body then is spotted on Saturday morning. So, Joe Scott, weigh in. You're the death investigator. What does this tell you? Well, listen to what this guy just said, Nancy, in the report. He's very specific. He says that the garbage truck employee looked over and saw feet sticking up. So he's in an observable position that has a clear point of view. Remember, these trucks are up high.

He can see. But the one thing I can tell you about this case and about this body is it would appear that no one, and I mean no one, made any effort to conceal her. You know, you're on a thoroughfare here, Nancy. So essentially, all you have to do is you don't even have to come to a complete stop. You can have somebody in the front seat with you and you can just push them off and they're going to be in that exact position potentially. Or you can feign having a car malfunction or something and just kind of quietly take a body out, throw the body on the side of the road and then just drive away. They're on the I-10 corridor, Nancy.

It's one of the busiest corridors in the United States. It's on the interstate system. Nobody's going to, I mean, how many times do you actually pay attention to anybody when you're driving 75 miles per hour down the interstate? Do you actually watch and see what they're doing on the side of the road? No, you're about your business. So in one way, the body's kind of hiding in plain sight. Well put. Here she is completely naked, no visible sign of injury, yet she's dead on the side of the road.

Now, I'm still working on the timeline. You were just hearing Steve Campion at KTRK-TV earlier, KHOU-TV 11 Houston. But now take a listen to the Houston, Texas police spokesperson. Okay, so officers were dispatched to a found deceased female at the 1000 block of Red Hawk. This was at around 8 o'clock this morning. So it's a nude female, and that's all we have. We don't have any information on her yet. So if anybody knows her, give us a call. At this point, all we know is a white female, early 20s.

And right now, the medical examiner is working on getting an ID on her. I'm also understanding that it was a side road, that it was actually off the interstate, a side road off the interstate, because it's very doubtful that a garbage collector is collecting garbage off the interstate. So this is a side road near that I-10 corridor. Then you've got the whole problem with the rain, which changes the scene. Take a listen again to the Houston spokesperson. It was a city of Houston public service. They were driving by, and they saw the feet of a female in the bushes. Was the body like bound by anything? No, no, she was naked on the road. Well, not on the road, but on the side of the road.

Not tied up or anything? No, sir, no, sir. No visible injuries at this point, so medical examiners is going to be doing a follow-up on that crime stories with nancy grace Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. No, no, she was naked on the road. Well, not on the road, but on the side of the road. No, sir. No, sir. No visible injuries at this point.

So medical examiners is going to be doing a follow-up on that. Not tied up, no visible injuries. So question, what happened to Alexis Sharkey? You know, you can hear the rain distortion in that sound. To Justice Scott Morgan, how will nearly torrential rain affect the scene? Well, let's think about the central theme of the scene, and that is the remains. So if you have any kind of trace evidence that is on the surface of the body, keep in mind, Nancy, according to what they're saying, we're absent any kind of clothing. This is a nude body. So we don't have the opportunity to even have the shelter or

protection of clothing. We're not going to have any kind of trace evidence on clothing. So therefore the body, the bare body, is going to be exposed to all of the elements, any fibers that are there, potentially any blood. Hey, Nancy, we've got a nude female. There might be semen that was left behind. That is at risk of leaving the body as well. Now, the one upside with this that I can say is that since we have rain, there is a high probability that maybe the soil was dry prior to the rain. We might be able to collect, say, for instance, impressions left by tires and also by feet that are at the scene, whereas before, if it had been dry, that might not have been accomplished. So there's good and bad with this, but we have to keep in mind that evidence has the potential to be lost. It's very fragile. It's washed away. Unless, under your original scenario, Joseph Scott Morgan, she was pushed from the car because her

feet were closest, because the feet were sticking out of the bushes, and I'm guessing that they were closest to the road. Her head was further away, as if she had just been shoved out of the bushes, and I'm guessing that they were closest to the road. Her head was further away, as if she had just been shoved out of a car, which would preclude tire or shoe marks. But we'll see. Now, we're hearing about video cameras. Listen. How about the nearby businesses that have, where they have a couple of surveillance rings? We are working on surveillance.

At this moment, there's one business that does have some. We haven't looked at it yet. We're still gathering information, gathering video. It hasn't been too long, so we're thinking overnight. You know, I want to talk about potential video surveillance. Levi Page, what is he talking about? So there's a cosmetic store that's located on Memorial West Road, and it faces the roadway where the body was discovered. And police have seized surveillance footage and are reviewing that footage to see if they can get any clues from it.

Is it close enough to see where her body was? I am not positive. I know that it's yards away. I think it would probably be depending on the camera and that it was facing the road. You know, to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining us from L.A., and you can find her at DrBethanyMarshall.com. Bethany, the fact that she was, it sounds like, pushed out of a car unceremoniously and naked tells me a lot. As a psychoanalyst, what does it tell you? With any evidence on the clothing, why the person would need to take off her clothing?

I was also wondering about a sex attack. Nancy, I know it's terrible to go backwards in a story, but something is sticking in my mind. I cannot get it out of my mind. That is that her husband, the husband who's 23 years older than her, says that he wouldn't let her drive the car because she had been drinking. If she was drinking, that would, of course, make her very vulnerable. On the other hand, you know the saying, don't speak ill of the dead? When a spouse whose partner has gone missing already starts to devalue that spouse. Oh, she was drunk. I wouldn't let her get in the car.

You know, she took off on foot. Why devalue or make devaluing inflammatory statements about a partner who's gone missing? That behavioral evidence is so important to me. I would want to know more about the state of mind of the husband and the state of the marriage. Back to you. I want to go back to the timeline. Levi Page, so Thanksgiving came and passed, and she spent that with her friends, not her husband. Is that correct?

You are correct. And then the day after Thanksgiving, her husband said that she was at the apartment and she left. But there is a text message that one of her friend's boyfriends got from her husband. And this is Chelsea Turnbow, her friend. She told Fox 26 in Houston, Tom, which is her husband, texted my boyfriend at 11 p.m. Friday night and told him, me and Lex got into an argument and she left. I don't know where she went. Can you please just let me know if you know anything? Leave a page. I want to circle back to what you said about the timeline. That's what I was asking you about. When does the husband say he saw her last?

Friday night. And he doesn't give a specific time friday night when he last saw her when does that weird jump in nancy i'm so sorry that's weird i'm sorry you don't know a specific time that you lost last saw your spouse typically in my appearance you can find you can figure that out whether it's because something was on your phone they messaged you they tweeted whatever it is it's because something was on your phone, they messaged you, they tweeted, whatever it is, it's your spouse. You live with them. You live in the same home. I automatically, as a judge, would think, wait a minute, why can't they say what time they last saw their spouse? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the mysterious death of Alexis Sharkey, and I'm trying to nail down this timeline. So, on Saturday, what, if any, communication, Levi, was had with Alexis Sharkey? None. She had stopped responding to text messages Friday around 6 p.m. Okay. When the husband contacts the girlfriend's husband or boyfriend,

what time is that on Friday night? 11 p.m. So at 11 p.m., he says she left. Okay. He says, I don't know where she is. Can you just please let me know if you know anything? Guys, take a listen to our friends at KTRK. She was literally a ray of sunshine from the beginning. At 26 years young, Alexis Sharkey lost her life. Her mother, Stacey Robinault, who lives out of state in Pennsylvania,

said her daughter went missing Friday night. Today, Houston police identified the woman found dead and naked on Saturday morning on Red Hoss Street as Alexis Sharkey. Over the weekend, they said there weren't obvious injuries. No obvious injuries? How can you be dead on the side of the road and naked and have no obvious injuries? You were just hearing our friend Steve Campion, who's been on the case from the very, very beginning, to Joe Scott Morgan. That may puzzle many, many people. The reality is there are many modes of death that do not leave visible injuries. Yeah, yeah, there certainly are. Let's say you've got somebody that has been drugged,

for instance, someone that's been injected with something, somebody that has been drugged, for instance, someone that's been injected with something, somebody that has been given a drink that's laced with something, you're not going to see obvious signs of trauma. I think for our timeline though, Nancy, one of the really critical things here, one of the things that we really have to look to is the science.

At what level or what degree were the changes of death taking place in this body? You know, because that can help us with the PMI, which is the postmortem interval, level of rigor mortis, the level of algor mortis, okay, which is the body temperature changes, and postmortem lividity, which is the settling of blood. But there's one more thing here, Nancy, that's a real nugget that we have to explore. I'm very curious, particularly since they have not released the cause of death yet. I'm really curious as to know what were her stomach contents.

I'd like to know what she had on board. This can also give us an indication of time because it takes, dependent upon the type of meal the individual eats and their level of health. It generally takes about two to four hours for the stomach to actually empty into the small intestine. So we know that if she, in fact, had food on board that was in her tummy, okay, in her stomach, and it's still there when they conduct this, we know that she will have died within two to four hours of having last ingested a meal. So that's going to be a real big piece of this. You know, I'm very curious about the contents of her stomach as well. And you're telling me it would take two to four hours for the food to be digested? Well, for the food to literally pass from the stomach into the small intestine. So that kind of freezes that in time. Now,

for it to pass all the way from the small intestine to the large intestine, you're looking at about maybe a six-hour window. And of course, depending upon the person's health, the type of food that they eat, that sort of thing, these things are kind of variable. So there are no hard static markers, but there are things that we look for at the morgue. You know, all that is incredibly interesting, Joe Scott Morgan. Can I just break it down to a more common and fundamentally easy to understand aspect? I guarantee you when she stopped responding to texts, she's a social media influencer. She's constantly online. That's what you do as a social media influencer. When she stopped responding to text, she was dead or unconscious

or on her way to being dead. I think that's fair to say. What do you make of that, Ashley Wilcott? Absolutely. I think that's a fair thing to say. And, you know, keep this in mind, Nancy. Here's the thing I have to say. You always start with the people that that know someone when they're found dead. Right. But as a as an influencer, think about how many people know her or think they know her because of everything she posts, that she doesn't know and has no idea who they are. So all of a sudden, you've got a body with no marks, no bruises, no visible injuries by all reports, and you've got an never-ending group of people

who are watching everything she does because she is posting all the time. That phone is her right arm. And there is such a thing as routine evidence. And by that, I don't mean standard evidence. I mean, evidence of your routine. For instance, this morning, I saw my daughter, Lucy, had left her cell phone in the kitchen on the kitchen island. That never happens. Never would she leave that behind. They're not allowed to have it on at school. If they catch you using it at school, it's taken away and put in a box at the principal's office like it's being buried in a casket.

So they don't even use it at school. But I guess she just wants to know it's in her backpack. So that was very unusual. It's not her routine. I guarantee you it's not Alexis Sharkey's routine not to respond to social media. I want you to take another listen to Steve Campion at KTRK. And let me remind everyone, the husband in this case, 49-year-old Tom Sharkey, has declared his innocence. He stated he's getting death threats because of this and that he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance or death.

Listen to this. There's two tales emerging this afternoon about Alexis and Tom Sharkey's marriage. Friends who said it was on the rocks, her husband who called it strong, telling me Alexis was his life partner and they were not filing for divorce. We've learned the nature of that marriage is now part of HPD's investigation. Detectives working to learn the truth. You know, I want to go back to movie night. I'm hung up on these minor details. Levi Page, it was the friends that I think reported her missing.

When she didn't show up for movies, they went to her apartment, banged on the door, and nobody came. Who exactly called 911? Her friends. We don't know which friends, but we know that it was friends that reported her missing, not her husband. Do we have an idea of the time of that 911 call? We know that they became suspicious after 6 p.m. when she quit answering her text messages. So it was in the evening or at night. According to Steve Campion, KTRK TV 13, there were two very different images of their marriage. You know, a bad marriage does not a murderer make. Let's focus on the hard forensics.

I'm talking about that video. Take a listen to Ivory Hecker with Fox 26. That surveillance video that police had obtained from the one business that was on that road, well, her body was dumped right off the interstate. It was actually a pretty secluded area off the interstate, this small, narrow road with only one business on it, mostly fields there. But the business was a beauty salon. They had a camera facing the roadway. I'm told by people close to this case that there was a car spotted on that surveillance video. So now it's going to be the question of who was in that car that was just right nearby

the ditch where Alexis Sharkey's body was found Saturday morning. Straight back to Dr. Bethany Marshall, You would think it would be as easy as determining who was driving that car. But how many times have we seen surveillance video not pan out? Again, the husband is insisting her friends had the wrong image of their marriage. What do you make of it? And he is insisting he's innocent. Well, I always think it's suspicious when one member of a marriage insists that things are going perfectly fine. And the other person is confessing to their friends that they're unhappy. It's one thing if a couple presents in marital therapy, and the marriage is meeting one partner's needs, but the other one has grown unhappy. That's not unusual.

But the fact that this influencer was beginning to tell her friends that she was unhappy, that speaks to a growing divide in the marriage. And that really speaks to perhaps a personality disorder on the husband's part, because with personality disorders, people engage in know, engage in fixed, rigid, maladaptive behaviors that are stable over time. Even when their spouses are complaining, they refuse to change. Again, the husband in this case, Tom Sharkey, says he's been getting death threats and that he is innocent, has nothing to do with his wife's death and disappearance. We wait for that cause of death. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. And that he is innocent has nothing to do with his wife's death and disappearance.

We wait for that cause of death. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.