Sword and Scale - Episode 226

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

It took nearly a year to solve the murder of Alexis Robinault. After her nude body was found a few miles from home on the side of the road her status as a newly successful social media influencer slowed the progress of detectives with the Houston PD. Only after an early person of interest began acting suspiciously did they zero in on a suspect.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. Whoever did this is, I mean, we're gonna find them. We're gonna do everything it takes. No one gets away with something like this. No one. Hi. Welcome to season 9 episode 226 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst

monsters are real. Everyone's time runs out at some point, but yours is running out right now. I'm not talking about death, of course. I'm talking about our Plus perk, which is available right now. You've ever thought about joining Plus right now is the time. Sign up at the $10 level or higher and you will get a nice little something in the mail coming up. Go to our website, sirtonskill.com slash plus, log in, and then go to the Perks tab for details on how to qualify. You can always upgrade, downgrade, cancel, it's all freely available to you online. You don't have to even email us or call us or deal with customer support.

It's all very easy to do. No commitment. So if you like the show, sign up today. The last day you will qualify for the perk is Halloween. Sometimes what you can't see is more real than what you can't see. It's an idea that I came across while researching this episode, and it's kind of stuck with me. It was dangling in the back of my mind. I wasn't sure I fully understood it. In modern times, they say we are closer than ever. We're more connected, thanks

to technology. Information flows freely. Well, at least in some places. You can share your thoughts or even your whole life with anyone and everyone online. It's truly remarkable. But these people we come to know, these pseudo-celebrities that come and go on social media, much like myself, don't just live in our phones. They live in the real world with real problems and real hardships. They are living their real lives. And there's the point, the people we come to know, the ones we follow, like, and subscribe to aren't real people. The person doing the uploading is, some people have trouble differentiating the person they see online from real life. What you can't see is more real than what you can. And when you deal in fantasy,

sometimes you can't see the danger right in front of you until it's too late. Sunday, November 29th, 2020 was like any other for the Assistant Medical Examiner at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. It just meant another body to autopsy. But the body she received on that Sunday would be different. This is the postmortem examination of the body of Alexis Lee Robynald. History. This initially unidentified female subsequently identified as 26-year-old Alexis Lee Robynald by fingerprint comparison was found by the side of a road with no clothing or

personal effects. The scene was simple. A naked body laying on the side of the road. A sight John Richardson would never forget. It plays back in my head. You know, it been playing back in my head every day. Hi, Stu. Like all we could go, Princess Polly reshared to me

and they asked if I ever tried to bring her before. I haven't. They said, do you want to ice? Yes. And I'm going to show them with you. Clothing. When first viewed, the body is nude, damped to slightly wet, and coated with a fine patchy layer of mud and vegetation. Insects resembling long millipedes are on the body and in the body bag. Closer inspection of the body reveals scattered strands of dried vegetable matter, with isolated rare dark short straight hairs and two distinct black fibers, possibly clothing fibers.

Sanitation worker spotted something unusual in the bushes near his route. In fear of what it could be, he called a supervisor. It certainly wasn't the typical sight to behold on a Saturday morning trash pickup. He thought he'd seen a body or a mannequin, so he wanted for sure. He wanted to stop because he was kind of, you know, you know, he was scared or whatever case may be. So he asked me to come out there and check it out. As a supervisor, he had to check it out even if it was something as unsettling as a dead body. But if we were driving, we could see the feet.

So we got out and looked, and there it was. She was laying there, deceased. She was at no clothes on. And I just got on the phone and I called 911. Evidence of medical intervention, none. External appearance. The body is that of a well-nurished, normally developed female who measures approximately 66 inches in height and weighs 112 pounds.

The face has faint purple lividity, more prominent above the level of the ears to the hairline. An officer was dispatched to the scene and confirmed what they feared. It wasn't a mannequin. It was indeed a body. And welcome to today's science lesson brought to you by me. So today we're going to talk about damage caused by the sun's UV rays. Not to just your skin because we all know that it causes cancer, even though we still like to lay out in it.

But it damages your hair too. So, so what are you going to do? You're anything like me. You're not going to stop going out in the sun. The scalp air is straight, brown with highlights, and long-worn well below the shoulders. A clear contact is removed from the right eye. The irides are green, the pupils are round and equally dilated. The nose is central and atraumatic. The fregnula are intact,

no lesions of the lips and buckle membranes are identified. By 3.30pm a separate report of a missing person came in. When the Bolo police code for Beyond the Lookout hit the radio airwaves it was confirmed Alexis Robinalt was the missing person known by her married name Alexis Sharkey. Identifying marks or scars. No distinct scars are apparent. Well defined, detailed professional quality tattoos depicting a stingray and a shark are on the dorsal aspect of the right forearm and a similar tattoo on the ventral aspect of the right forearm of a jellyfish.

A stem with branching leaves is tattooed around the dorsal aspect of the right fifth finger extending to the right wrist and wrapping around the right forearm. A depiction of a map of the world inscribed with a floral pattern is tattooed on the lateral aspect of the right thigh. The phrase, what you can't see is more real than what you can see is tattooed on the anterior aspect of the right thigh. When word of her death reached her family and friends, a flood of emotion washed over them.

She's grown to be such a good friend to me, and I just can't believe she's gone. For living in Houston, Texas, for less than a year, she had already cultivated a large friend group. She was just like a light of the room. She was just so smart and just so funny. She was definitely the spirit that we needed in our friend group. She brought so much joy. She kept us all together.

They all took the loss pretty hard, but none harder than her family in Pennsylvania. We are completely wrecked. The family is just so devastated. Her cousin's, her sisters, her 13 year old sister. Dealing with the loss is difficult enough when you expect it, but dealing with the loss of a loved one, plucked from the prime of her life, is devastating. She was a beautiful, fun, brave light to be around, and I can't understand it. It was hard to understand, and of course, it looked like foul play.

I think it's safe to say that the likelihood that 26-year-old Alexis died of natural causes miles from home, nude by the side of the road was very low. You can only assume that something more sinister was going on and safely so. I mean, she was found naked. I mean, there was foul play, just in discovering everything. It's just, I don't know what happened, and all I really want right now are answers. By all accounts, Alexis was more than a wonderful person.

She was a true beacon of light. The question of how such a person came to be discarded on the side of the road, and why this happened, would consume her family back home. Why would you do something so horrific to her? What was the ultimate gain? What was gained from that? Because all I know is tremendous loss. Reeling from the shock of it all, they couldn't come to terms with how Alexis could be a victim of foul play. She was found naked alone on the side of the road,

and with her being so many unknown facts leading to her death, the unknown, I feel, is the scariest part of all of it, and everybody just wants answers. The family could only speculate until the medical examiner declared a cause of death. But how could it be anything other than murder? Alexis had no enemies, didn't run in unsavory circles, and maintained a pretty strict lifestyle. I think this way it's so surreal for the family, because we cannot grasp why harm would be done to her.

Without a doubt my mind felt play was involved and this was a murder. In the days that followed, her family pressed on in her honor, and while not fully coming to terms with her death, they were determined to find out why Alexis was harmed, and to do anything, and everything in their power, to prevent this from happening to anyone else. I don't know what happened, but I do know it was not an accident. So I don't know what precipitated this. I don't know any, but I feel like I will in this all pans out, and I will be an advocate for it not to happen to anybody else.

A sentiment they felt everyone could relate to. What if that was my sister, what if that was my daughter, what if that was my wife? With Alexis' body found tossed on the side of the road and still no answer as to what happened or why the family could only wait. The police however were already hard at work sifting through her work life, her daily routine and her home life. But when solving a murder usually begins with the victims' inner most circle of friends

and family, the police would soon discover their work was going to be a lot harder than normal. You see, Alexis's inner circle was massive. The body of Alexis Charkey was discovered on the side of the road, nude, with no obvious signs of a cause of death. Those that knew her were convinced that she was the victim of foul play. While the family and friends of Alexis reeled over the death, they could only wait on word from the medical examiner on the cause of death, and from the Houston PD on how their loved one ended up tossed out like yesterday's garbage. She had a way of letting up the room when she smiled at me, she laughed,

she had a way to make everyone feel included. Like you might not know her and you could be in the room and she'd see you feeling awkward and she'd come over and like pull you over to her group of friends and introduce you to people. And she was just sorry, she was just such a light. She was very smart, very driven. She graduated Syraculamlotti with the biology degree and she just she was a smart cookier. Oh my gosh, she was so smart. You could ask her a question about anyone little my new thing that you might have a slight interest in. And she would dive into doing research on

this topic. She knew it would make you happy. She actually said this one time after she graduated college, that if she could get paid to just do research all of the time, she would be living her dream life because she just loved learning and just she was so curious and fascinated about everything. Just her drive for knowledge. It's just really, it's just really spectacular. She was so fantastic.

The grieving was immense for her mother and sister. It's a lot. But also with her friends. No, everyone loved her. That's the crazy. Everyone loved her. Everyone. She was just such like a bright light. Her giggles all the time and that's it. Like she's never, she's like a bright light. Her giggles all the time. And that's it. Like she's never, she's never a down person. She's very open, very sweet and caring. She was always happy, always had a smile on her face.

A lot of people looked up to her. She was just very, very positive, always positive. Alexis had only recently moved to Houston, Texas. Before that, she lived in Odessa. And if you've never been there, don't worry. You're not missing much. We lived on West Texas in Odessa, Midland, before we lived here.

And I'm just so happy to be away from you guys. There is nothing out there but work in the oil field. We were out west where it's just desert and the only reason to be out there is just literally for oil field and it's just not like a nice place to be. I feel like it was really life-sucking and draining and we just did not really enjoy it at all. When she first moved to Odessa after college, she got a job at a local restaurant. That's where she would meet a new friend. If you've never heard of twin peaks, it's basically like a hooters, except lumberjack

themed. So all the waitresses wear plaid instead of orange and white skin-tight uniforms. Regardless, Alexis and her new friend would really hit it off. We kind of clicked and it turned out to us hanging out all the time. Days off, we were laying out tanning, then we get ready, go out, have some fun. I've never met anyone with the pure soul until I met her. And Odessa Alexis was in a state of flux. She was just at a school, but still not sure what she wanted to do next.

She wasn't even sure about her fiance. At the time her and her ex fiance were not doing so good. So I kind of stepped in, helped her get out of that. That's when she met Tom. He was in like the oil field out there and she worked at one of the local bars for a little bit. So I think they just crossed past that way. He was one of our regulars. He would come in, talk to us, make us laugh. They clicked and just watching them click and they're laughing. They're smiling. I was like, all right.

Not long after the new couple would get married, move away from Modessa, and just watching them click and they're laughing, they're smiling, and I was like, all right. Not long after the new couple would get married, move away from Odessa and eventually settle in Houston. She moved here in January and we met, I mean, within weeks of her moving here. We actually met on Bumble BFF. I was kind of looking for a new group of friends and I brought this group of friends together

and she showed up to this dinner. And since that day, I mean, she's just been part of our circle. She was looking for friends and she definitely found people that really, really loved her truly. Alexis quickly built a friend group she could trust. That's why it was all the weirder when no one had heard from her.

Family and friends searched their memories for the last time they spoke with her. I think the last conversation that we had was when I got snowed for the first time in New Hampshire and I said her a photo and I'm pretty sure it's just a little lawns of lines of, I know you hate this snow but but look how pretty this is. And she sent me a back of photo of her at the pool that day. We just kind of talked about how we love the different temperature so

much. I last spoke with her by text on Thanksgiving. We're just texting back and forth. Happy Thanksgiving. Love you. Miss you. You know, we were planning on

when she was coming for Christmas with her family so far away. She spent Thanksgiving with her friend and her friends family. She was actually at my house on Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving together with my family. The last conversation I had with her, she was asking me what I was doing Friday night. And I said, well, my mom's in town from Mexico, so I'm going to stay home with her. And then we said, okay, love you, whatever.

And then we had made plans Friday to get together Saturday because it was rainy. We were going to watch movies all day. And the last time I spoke to her was Friday around 6 o'clock was when my last text message was sent to her. Her last communication with Alexis was a typical exchange between friends. Everything was normal. Yeah, I thought everything was fine and then the next morning I woke up really early. I sent a text to the group of girls we have a shared chat. And said who's coming over you know movie day or whatever

Alexis would have been the first person to respond. I mean if if I'm going to jail Alexis is the first person I'm calling or texting because I know she's going to answer within seconds So I started getting a little concerned and I said, this isn't normal, this isn't normal. And so all the girls kind of got together and we were like, okay, well what was the last of you talk to her? You know, when was the last of you talk to her? And they all said around 6 p.m. Friday.

By the next morning, messages were going unread and her friends started to become worried. Not having her phone glued to her palm was out of character for Alexis. And like I said, it's very unlikely to not follow through with plans. It's very unlikely to not reach out when someone texts or when we say something we're doing something she does it. She doesn't go back on her word at all. The more they thought about it, the more worried they became. Alexis was reliable. She didn't just go radio silent. No, she has attached to her phone. She is a social

media queen. She's an influencer. She works from her phone. Like I said, if I was in trouble, she would be the first person I would call. And we called and called and called and called and her phone was on and her messages were being sent but not being read because she had her read receipts on. And then until yesterday is when her phone was shut off by whoever has it or you know maybe it was thrown somewhere and it finally died. But when we realized that her social media was not active for over 12 hours, you're like, okay, this is not right. Not returning phone calls and text messages could maybe be explained, but when they realized that Alexis' social media had gone dark, they knew. They just knew that something was wrong. I gave it a little bit of time.

I called her mom because I was the one that I went to her apartment knocked on her door. You know, I did all that because I lived the closest. And so after a while I was contemplating should I call her mom? Like, I don't know what to do. I don't want to worry her because she's far, far away. Right. And finally, after a while just sitting in my car outside of her apartment, I said, I have to call.

I have to call her because I'm a mom. I would want to know. She called Alexis's mother in Pennsylvania and relayed her fears. By mid afternoon, they would have a missing person's report filed. We have it heard from her since 6 o'clock and last night and the one friend said that ran over to our apartment and she's not there and we were supposed to meet up.

You know, when you start to hear these stories that you just know that's not right, something's wrong. The only indication of what happened was a phone call placed by Alexis's husband, Tom, to a friend in her inner circle. He just said, you know, like, like, let's, she left the house. We got into an argument. I don't know what's going on. Can you have the girls reach out to me? If she needed something, if she needed someone to come pick her up or take her somewhere, or if she was going to get in the car and go somewhere, it would have been to my house or the seven other girls that she was close with. She would have called us or taken an Uber or something. I mean she wouldn't have walked anywhere. She could not just have gone

somewhere, missing. She would have told one of us that we weren't her family here. Her family lived, you know, out of town, so we always protected her. Alexis was not one to forget her phone, even if she was storming off after a fight. Also, she wouldn't just wander off. She built a friend group for support for just these types of situations. In the minds of those that knew her, they were convinced someone had to have done this to Alexis. Whoever did this is, I mean, we're gonna find them. We're gonna do everything it takes so everyone can put her to rest in peace and where we can get answers and just move forward. But no one gets away with something like this.

No one. Just through her on the side of the road, naked, like garbage. I just, I don't get it. So ugly. Since then, none of us have been able to like really crave or think about grieving her death because we've all, we all went justice for her and that's like what we're focused on right now. It would take longer than you'd expect to get results

from her autopsy. Of course, it would confirm that her death was a product of foul play. Evidence of injury, strangulation. Fine, but discrete red petechial hemorrhages are scattered throughout the skin of the upper face, particularly on the upper and lower eyelids and on the cheeks. The surfaces of both eyes have distinct red betecule hemorrhages.

Other injuries, a dry red abrasion is present in the right varietal region of the scalp. A purple contusion is present on the right temple. A red and purple contusion is on the right cheek. on the right temple. A red and purple contusion is on the right cheek. No significant internal head injuries, skull fractures or intracranial hemorrhages are identified. No injuries to the axial skeleton or internal organs are noted. When you know it was done on purpose, it just takes it a whole degree deeper in your pain and in any even resolution. It's a lot because definitely just taking everything an hour at a time, a day at a time. It's a lot of different things between going between like I'm still kind of going through the denial of like I know she's gone But it hasn't fully sat in yet And then just a lot of anger that somebody took us from her so soon

It hurts me so much because she was just such a fun happy person like who Had so much anger in them, but they could do this to her Alexis was a bright light snuffed out too soon her body discarded. Knowing how your loved one died doesn't always make the grief any easier. Then her family knew that the life had been wrong from her neck. But how, you might be wondering, does one strangle a woman to death and leave almost no indication? Alexis' injuries were only visible to the trained eye. Well, there was one more thing that the autopsy uncovered. Gamma hydroxibutoric acid,

otherwise known as GHB, a date rape drug that has similar effects to alcohol just times a thousand. You know, the drug Stephen Port from plus 23 used to rape and kill all those young men in London and Paul DeWise from plus 112 drugged and raped his wife with GHB, but I guess you'd have to be a plus subscriber to hear those. Anywho, Alexis was drugged and strangled to death and then dumped on the side of the road. In any investigation, you started the center and worked your way out, but at the center of Alexis' life were her and thousands of people that orbited around her. She was an up and coming social media influencer,

although she hated that word. I know it's the main way she's being spoken about, is that she was an influencer, but honestly, I feel like she would have honestly hated that title so much. She wasn't trying to influence anything. She was a smart, savvy, successful business woman. And that's how I want everyone to remember. Think of me as your toxic free anti-aging beauty lover, science obsessed, educating fairy-installed mother. Who's gonna hate you things? With the rise of the information age and the dawn of social media came the

influencer here to guide us through consumerism. But seriously, she lived her life and broadcast most of it. So I'm playing a lot because yesterday, some I replied with all the stuff, I had a makeup on and we were moving it with the makeup on and it was a good time. Well my camera died halfway through. So that's all gone. She found a way to do what she loved for a living. I know she absolutely loved it and just traveling and being with her friends and exploring with her favorite things in the entire world. And since she and Tom got together, they traveled a lot. We both love traveling and we're going to be able to start doing that more often,

We both love traveling and we're going to be able to start doing that more often, like globally with his job. And it's just like knowing that I can take my job anywhere and that I don't need to be like stressing out about finding a job at all these different locations. Like, I'm just so grateful. I was proud of her. She went out there and she did something where she could still travel and see the world all while influencing other people's lives. This wasn't a passing attempt for Alexis. She put everything she had into it. She worked her butt off to get where she was. She wanted everybody to be happy and be like, hey, you can be happy too. And like, here's how we can be happy. And I don't, and a lot of people, I know have been like, it's a scam. But for her, she was living her best full life doing this.

She combined her degree in biology with her affinity for research and her love of all things self-care, makeup and fashion to educate and entertain her followers. Love being an influencer. As you can see and sharing, you know, tips and tricks about makeup Love being an influencer. As you can see, and sharing tips and tricks about makeup, and hair, and fashion. If we needed her for anything to do with that, she was the girl to go to for sure. Hi, it's been like a week since I've exploited my face,

so I'm past due. So today, I thought I would show you guys my gene collection. I guess I'm gonna call this a haul, but it's not really a haul because I didn't just buy these out, what? Hey guys, so I got my extensions, the So Unvergence put in yesterday. It was this dream job as a nearly transparent

public figure that made the investigation into her murder so difficult. Not just the media, but the social media elements, you know, because of her online social media attention and fame. Again, you know, like I said, there's a lot of good information can come from that, but a lot of noise can come in from that factor as well. Because of the high profile nature of the case, there were various tips that come in. There's also, you know,

family members that are trying to help and they provide information from things that they saw on a chat board or, you know, on Instagram, Mr. Shorkey himself, and his explanation of what happened provided a suspect description of somebody that he claimed to have seen the shark he leaving with. The police couldn't track down all the leads in what most of us might consider a timely

manner. They were just too many of them, too many outside influences, and too many tips that led nowhere. I sure hope I'm not giving some crazy SNS follower out there any ideas. I talk to the detectives every day and they assure me that they are you know working along and that they are viewing and talking to people and so I know that I know that they're working along we're just trapped in the waiting. I feel like the police are working very hard and I appreciate their efforts.

The family and friends of Alexis were waiting for a resolution to the murder of their loved one. And they would wait for quite some time. But wait, isn't it always the spouse? Whatever happened to her husband, Tom, anyway. Where was he during all of this? Alright, so split ends. We all get them.

I don't know. This isn't the only time Tom shows up on Alexis's social media. He interrupts her filming at the beginning of a video about Split Ends. She calls him into the shot. Are you gonna come over here? I've come here! This is a perfect example of a split-end free head. The size difference between the two is evident when he flops down next to her,

and she cradles his bald head. That's the joke by the way. He doesn't have any split ends because he doesn't have any hair. I'm gonna show him that picture for you. She strokes his beard and dots on him and avoids that borders on baby talk, which makes all the more awkward, the huge age gap between them. Tom is almost twice her age, and the picture of him when he was 16, his mullet was not that great looking. Then she says this, which in retrospect is weird. I got a jail for you. Or is it just me?

Tell him that I weren't really close beforehand. We were in a group chat with the whole family and we did the usual happy birthdays, happy Thanksgiving, and all of that family stuff. But no, I went down last spring and I spent a long weekend with them and everything. They seemed happy. They've been together for a couple of years, and we've talked several times during this process. After he called Alexis' friend looking for her

and explained that she stormed off after a fight, he was a little hard to get a hold of. Alexis Sharkey was married, but KHOU has not been able to reach her husband for comment. We reached out to Sharky's husband tonight, but did not hear back. We also reached out to Tom Sharky, Alexis's husband about this investigation, but have not heard back from him as of news time tonight. The only word from Tom before he blew out of town was that he was getting death threats

ever since Alexis was murdered. He talked to a local news reporter saying she understood me, I understood her, we didn't fight when she left, I just told her she couldn't drive under the influence. She left anyhow. This is where we're at. He also seemingly revealed a sadness behind the face Alexis showed the world when he said she wasn't happy. She was stressed.

I would cuddle her and try to make her strong. She was an amazing woman. My wife was an amazing woman. She really was. There's always other sides to everything. I was the one holding her, cuddling her, and building her back up. I don't need to set the record straight. I'll let it play out the way it is. I know what my life was with my wife. Well, he left the state not long after the homicide. And whatever the reason for leaving town, the timing seemed a bit suspicious.

Then Tom started giving Alexis's mother the runaround about her things left behind. Nothing. It's all gone. It's been all it was all taken from me apartment. It was we asked Tom for it many times and he would tell us that I'll get it to you. I'm going through it and and then he ghosted us and we we have no idea where any of it's happened. We begged him for her cats because they were like

her children and we just wanted to have something. Sorry, we just wanted to have something at first. What kind of sick fuck with holds cats from a grieving mother? Well, exactly the kind of sick fuck you would expect. Not long after he skipped town, stories began to surface from within Alexis's friend group, stories of abuse. Correct. We don't have any official police reports that Alexis made or that anyone made on her behalf.

We are going off of statements that she made to other people and other documentation that we have that I can't get into. A friend told a news out that Alexis confided in her that Tom was abusive, and the level of abuse was alarming, to say the least. She claimed that Alexis said Tom often strangled and choked her until she blacked out, and that every single time she would wake up on the bathroom floor This is second-hand knowledge, but if true, I mean fuck And obviously we've interviewed a lot of people including family and friends

We've obtained a lot of evidence and digital formats and there's There's several sources that confirm that that's true. Why she put up with that once? Well, never now. But she had had enough, and she was ready to leave him. The doors had not been filed. We have a lot of evidence that there was a separation, and that he was interested in reconciling

the relationship and she did not appear to be. No official divorce filings were made, but there's every indication that that was the direction it was going. So Tom left town right after his wife was murdered, and right after she was preparing to divorce him. Of course, he was a person of interest and police needed to talk to him, but he was a little

elusive. Detectives made efforts to meet with him in order to collect a DNA sample from him. He agreed to do that. He was living in Georgia at the time. We had been making efforts to get him to meet with us, to provide that sample for some time. That was just finally the time that he agreed that it could meet him in Georgia to obtain his sample. And the judges went to

Georgia to try and obtain his DNA sample and suddenly he no-show dropped out of contact, came up with a very bizarre story later on about why he had essentially disappeared and Then a short time after that incident he relocated to Florida Alexis was gone Strangled the death after being druged Tom was gone too moved to Florida The homicide investigation would seemingly stall

The homicide investigation would seemingly stall. Weeks turned into months and the family and friends of Alexis waited and wondered when or even if her killer would be caught. Oh and they wondered also where the hell Tom was. When he skipped town presumably with all of Alexis' stuff, he also completely abandoned her body at the morgue. Well, I will admit that we have felt that Tom was guilty of this from pretty much the beginning. I don't have to cite a Department of Corrections report for you to believe that nearly a quarter of all murders

are family murders. And out of that percentage, nearly a quarter of all murders are family murders. And out of that percentage, nearly one out of ten are murders of a spouse. And of course, most victims are female. Even with statistics and his questionable behavior stacked against him, months would slowly go by, while the family and friends of The sun was still low in the morning sky. When the solid waste worker found the body of Alexis Sharkey, nude in the bushes by the side of the road. It took a while for the Emmy to come to the conclusion we already knew. She was a victim of homicide, but her stature as a newly successful social media influencer

clouded the investigation. Eventually, however, the suspicious behavior of her new husband, Tom, was too much to ignore. Even still, almost a year would go by before there was any word on the investigation released to the public. On October 6, 2021, the Houston PD would hold a press conference. This was a lengthy investigation. Our evidence determined that this shark he was killed the night of November 27, 2020, her body was found following morning. A year is a long time to wait, but while the investigation seemingly stalled, they were still hard at work. Finally, they might get some justice. to eliminate other suspects that came up, some of which were brought up by Mr. Sharky.

With all the leads that they had to contend with, they also had Tom Sharky sending them on a wild goose chase. But once they started to suspect him, they started digging into his past. We had said that there was a history of domestic violence between the two of them and that their relationship was ending. There was a pending divorce. This was their theory for a motive. She was leaving him, so he killed her. We've seen it time and time again. The whole, if I can't have you, no one will routine. The investigation determined that Thomas was the only one there, he had the means,

they were married, they lived together and she trusted him to a degree. He could have easily slipped GHB into her drink. He had the motive. She was going to leave him because he would choke her out and leave her on the bathroom floor. He had the opportunity. He got home not long after six, the same time her contact with friends and social media accounts went silent. We know the Miss Sharky was home throughout the day and at their apartment and that Thomas came home that evening

and around 6.40pm and things began from there. What happened behind the scenes in that home, we can easily assume. But the police had to put together enough small pieces to make a big picture. There was no one bombshell piece of evidence that suddenly shifted everything in our favor. Like I said, the investigation was very lengthy. There's a lot of different pieces of circumstantial evidence, a lot of things that we had to comb through. Mr. Sharky's behavior and our conversations with him over time and evolving stories and the ability to disprove stories that that took time and eventually the

the mouth and other evidence essentially just became high enough. It took a long time to build a case against Tom. They suspected him from the very beginning, but little by little, they were able to substantiate their suspicion, which wasn't hard, since similar to Pinocchio. Every time Tom lied, he stood out a little bit more. There was also clear evidence that Tom was sh Sharkey had not been truthful about several key issues and statements that he made to police. Over time we were able to develop enough evidence to have probable cause to get an arrest warrant and to charge him with her murder.

Our arrest warrant was obtained for Thomas Sharkey on September 29, 2021. They had the evidence and they had the warrant. Now they just had to find him. He had ghosted pretty much everybody. We contacted the Gulf Coast Bollinger Binder's task force to assist us in locating Mr. Sharkey. They developed leads that he was located in Fort Myers, Florida. And they contacted the Mart's Fugitive Task Force

in that area. They were gearing up to take him down or at least calmly walk him to a squad car. That Task Force, US Marshall's located Mr. Shorkey, staying with the relative in Fort Myers at approximately 10 pm last night. That's when a quiet suburban street in Fort Myers erupted with a police presence.

That scared the hell out of me. I did 27 months in Vietnam. A nearby resident awoke to the sudden clatter. I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I heard a bunch of car doors slammed, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. I looked out here and there's a bunch of police cars, so I came back to bed. I caught Doors slam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. I looked out here and there's a much police car, that's true. Okay, back to bed.

The seasoned veteran didn't hesitate to go back to bed after he saw what was going on, but moments later. They were able to make contact and establish that he was inside the residence. Mr. Sharky avoided them, ran upstairs when he learned that law enforcement was there for him, and he took his own life using a fire. I guess you got what he got coming.

They didn't raid the house and bust through all the doors and windows. They just knocked and asked him to come out. My understanding, and I wasn't there, but my understanding from secondhand information, is that there was no confrontation that he simply went upstairs. The marshals were aware from talking to the family member, that there were firearms in the house, and that he had access to them. So they waited, tried to talk him out, and eventually determined that he had taken his own life. And with that final act of selfish cowardice, it was all over.

All that grief and worrying and waiting and investigating all for nothing, there was no suspect to interrogate. There would be no defendant charged with murder, there would be no trial, no absolution. Only the horrified daughter of Tom watching as they carried away his body. I'm super sorry for Tom's family. It's just such senseless loss that has happened with my daughter.

And then him, I'm just sorry for all of that. It's just beyond. It's going to horrific year. After becoming a custom to the grief, she could only feel sympathy for Tom's family because they lost someone also. Are you surprised that he ended his life? Yes, I am. I just really thought that it would end with a trial, and that he would come in and make his case.

And he chose to not go that way. Without a trial, and all that comes with it, is it really justice? Lots of life is never good, but I do feel like, in a way, he did serve himself justice. Maybe his death made them feel a little better. Maybe even a little more than sending him to prison for the rest of his life.

But there was still one lingering question maybe even a little more than sending him to prison for the rest of his life. But there was still one lingering question that they never got the answer to. Then did you wait too late? No. You don't make you wait too late? No. The goal would have been to get a line obviously. Of course.

But we don't really have any control over his actions in that scenario. It took almost a year. Yes. Like I said, it was a detailed lengthy investigation. There was a lot of various theories and conspiracy theories that came up that we had to look into and disprove. There was alternative suspects presented, including people that were presented by Mr. Sharky that we had to investigate. So no, you

know, we weren't able to move on the rest until we were able to get to a point that we had eliminated sufficiently those other possibilities and and built enough evidence to have a case that could not only arrest and charge but convict. Yes, she had a dream job, got to travel the world, peddled the product that she believed in, had a hunky husband and was young, vibrant, beautiful, full of life, in love, and happy.

But that's only what she showed the world. What we couldn't see is that Tom was choking her unconscious behind the scenes. Why? We don't know. Maybe we'll never know. Tom made sure of that. Now, two people were dead, and there wasn't anyone to hold responsible, but Tom didn't get away with it. Whatever the reason, he must have been pretty ashamed to take his own life, and perhaps he truly regretted what he did.

There is a lot on the surface of this story, but when you feel your eyes with fantasy, you can't see the danger right in front of you. What we could see was a beautiful woman with a picturesque life, but the real story, the true story was what we couldn't see. Hey, that's gonna do it for this one. Hope you enjoyed it. You know, a lot of people enjoy the show, yet they go out of their way to tell me how much they hate me personally.

It hurts. It hurts my feelings, it's kind of weird, you know. You know, we tell a lot of stories about shitty people, but sometimes the listeners, you really take the kick. They take it home, they shove it in their fat face, gluttonous style, while browsing Reddit and looking for minors on Twitter. They're not so you were real nice, but not this guy. Check out this guy, you're gonna love it. Hi Mike, I'm calling you the former listener. I just wanted to bring up when you responded to me on Twitter

and acted like a little bitch, and then deleted your tweet right after when you've got absolutely ratioed your Podcast is mediocre. It's crazy that you've been quote around for longer than anybody else and you have nowhere near the followers You should probably quit now that you're gone from social media. I know that your viewership is nothing have a good one. Imagine how much your feelings have to be hurt too. Go out of your way to go find a phone number that we rarely give out, first of all.

And then to call in with your butt hurt and leave a message like that, which is factually absolutely incorrect. I'm so sorry, dude. I did not mean to hurt your feelings that badly. I didn't know. I meant so much to you. Hey, buddy. Have a good day. And stay safe. ... The Thank you. 1.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5% 2.5%

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