True Crime with Kendall Rae - Travis Alexander: Murdered by Stalker Ex-Girlfriend, Jodi Arias

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

On June 4th, 2008, Jodi Arias killed her on again, off again ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, stabbing him close to 30 times, slitting his throat, and shooting him in the head. She would then go on to proclaim her innocence, and even switch up the story and try to place the blame on Alexander. This episode is sponsored by: Apostrophe - promo code: KENDALLRAE Flip - promo code: kendallrae Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. Today we're going to be covering a case that is very famous, very highly requested. It is one that I am personally fascinated in and have been since way before I started doing crime on this channel. And that is the case of Jody Areos and Travis Alexander. I have covered this case on my podcast, so some of my mile hire homies may have already heard me talk about this.

I still want to cover it on this channel because I still get requests for it all the time. Plus, there is so much public domain video footage in this case that the video format honestly works requests for it all the time. Plus there is so much public domain video footage. In this case, that the video format honestly works best for it. So let's go ahead and jump into it because it's going to be a long one. All right. So first, let's talk a little bit about Jody's background. So Jody Ann Areas was born on July 9, 1980 in Salinas, California to William and Sandra Ares. Jody grew up in a pretty normal, I guess you could say, household, her parents were Christian,

however they weren't super forceful with that under their children. And Jody grew up not super religious herself. And when she was growing up, one of her favorite hobbies was to play the flute and she was pretty good at it. So on the outside, Jody's childhood looked pretty normal and two most people that

knew them seemed like a nice family with not many issues going on behind the scenes. However, Jody, over time, as you hear, tells a very different story about what growing up in her house was like. We're not able to confirm what really happened in Jody's childhood because her parents completely disagree with her recollection of things. And there's been a lot of criticism of her that maybe she over-dramatized how things were back at home to help her own case, which I'll explain more later. But basically, Jody said she started

experiencing abuse from her dad in their house as young as seven. She claimed that she was spanked very hard and hit with wooden spoons, or was pushed into their family piano for example. One thing that they can all agree on now is that Jody was doing really well in school and was a really great student up until on the eighth grade when she was caught growing some marijuana and they ended up calling the Sheriff's Department on themselves essentially since it was in their home. This was the point when things started to

change their relationship and they definitely became a little more strict on her just how strict and if it ever became abusive is kind of debated by the family. But anyway, Jody was definitely considered to be a very smart girl. She's very well-read and she often talked to her mom about how she should read more and educate herself more about the world Kind of open her horizons. She attended your Rika union high school, but she ended up dropping out in the 11th grade though However, she did end up earning her GED. She just said high school wasn't for her basically now growing up Jody seem to Always have a boyfriend and there was no breaks in between

the guys. And one thing that she looked to do with these guys is take photos of them because Jody was really into photography and she actually got into photography pretty young age 10 so she had lots of practice and she really wanted to turn it into a career one day. Now that she was out of high school and into the real world, Jody started working and she did a lot of part-time jobs in the photography world, but she also worked as a server. Specifically, she was working at the Ventana Inn in Spa and Carmel, and this was in the late fall of 2001. And while she was working there, she ended up meeting this guy named Darryl Brewer and he became her newest boyfriend.

It started officially dating in 2003 and their relationship moved very quickly like all of Jody's relationships. And not long into their relationship moved very quickly, like all Jewish relationships. And not long into their relationship, they ended up buying a house together in an upon desert California. Now let's quickly switch gears and talk about Travis Alexander for a little bit. We'll come back to Jody and his second. So this is Travis Victor Alexander. He was born on July 28th, 1977 in Riverside, California.

Growing up, Travis had a terrible childhood, really, really scarring. Travis started to take care of himself pretty young because his parents were drug addicts, and they simply were not able to take care of him the way that they should have. Sometimes they leave him in the siblings alone for days without food. Travis experienced true poverty in his childhood. At one point, they were even living in a tent. And his parents were also just terrible to him. His mother, especially, she physically abused him almost every day. But thankfully, when he was about 10 years old,

his grandparents decided to step in and save them from their parents. They took them into their home and gave them the most stable living environment that any of them had ever had, and they were so grateful for it. However, it was a completely new situation for them because his grandparents were serious Mormons and they ended up taking them to their church and involving them in the whole Mormon world. And this was probably one of the best things for Travis Honestly because he had never

experienced a true community and sense of family like he would experience at a church. Travis became really into his Mormon faith and he met so many friends through the church and just was overall very involved. When he was older he went on a two-year mission trip to Denver actually with his church and he really enjoyed that experience and became even more invested in the church at that point. And then after this he decided to relocate to California to work for this company called Pre-Paid Legal Services. And this is actually an MLM or a multi-level marketing business. So Travis really had to put in the work

to actually make any money in there. But he was really good at it. He was a great salesman and a great recruiter. Because that's what the MLM business is all about. Recruiting people to be underneath you, to do their work and make a percentage. And at this point in his life, he seemed to be really thriving. He was loving his job. He had tons of friends, and he was also public speaking occasionally, and just seemed to be, you know, one of those people who's really outgoing and happy in life. He was quite

the character. As many people described him as he was funny, he was sociable. People just really like Travis. In 2004, Travis moved to Mesa, Arizona, and one of the reasons that he did this was because they had a much larger Mormon community than back in California. And while he was living there, Travis really developed a great group of friends who all had similar beliefs as him and wanted the same thing of life. So Travis was really happy at this point. That is until he met Joey Areas. was really happy at this point. That is until he met Joey Ares. Mornings are coming on strong with dark and bold from community coffee. Get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it, of wealth. Our Bank of Texas Wealth Management team is here to help make yours a reality.

Bank of Texas is a trademark of the OKF and a NA. Number FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. So in 2006, Jody was still living with Darrell in California, except for their relationship, have really started to go downhill. They were fighting a lot, and the spark was just kind of gone. And they were also having all these financial issues, which was really putting a strain on their relationship. So, Jody decided to pick up some extra work, working for an MLM, and that's when she began working

for pre-paid legal services. Also around this time, Jody was meeting a lot of new friends, and a lot of people within the Mormon community. By September of that year, the two of them were just on totally different pages, and Jody was actually going to be going to a convention that month. One of those fancy MLM convention banquets in Vegas where the higher ups get to bring a guest. And Travis Alexander was one of those higher ups, and he was able to bring Jody as his guest. He was actually set up with her as a blind date while he was invagous.

His friends had set it up because Travis was quite the ladies man and Jody was very pretty and they thought the two of them would have a good time together and boy did they. They really, really hit it off and the sexual attraction with them was strong right away. Which none of his friends really knew about this because on the outside Travis told everyone that he was a virgin actually and he was really trying to be the model Mormon. But in reality he and Jody

they hooked up and they had a really good time. So much so that it decided to keep the relationship going long distance even though he was in Arizona, she was living in California at the time. There were tons of text messages and calls shared between them after the biggest trip. There was just this sexual tension and I think the distance made it even stronger. Now I think for Travis, the attraction to her physically was a lot stronger than how he was actually feeling

as far as getting into a relationship with her long term. And Jody was feeling the complete opposite way. She became obsessed with Travis from the moment she met him. She thought he was so attractive, so perfect. So pretty soon after they had met, she got really, really into the morning faith and ended up getting converted to Mormonism for Travis. She said that this was specifically for Travis to make the two of them closer. She was baptized at a Mormon church in southern California and this was on November 26, 2006. At this point they weren't officially in a relationship because she was technically still a derrel. So she broke things off of him

around this time. This was a little bit confusing but some sources said that Darryl and her broke up before she was baptized. Some said that happened like right after. Doesn't really matter. I don't know the holidays, Jody and Travis were talking all the time, flirting a lot. They would even get together sometimes

in various locations, kind of low couples, getaways, that's how they would spend their time together. And then in February of 2007, they officially started dating. Now of course, since they're both Mormons, they're not supposed to have sex before marriage. Just not supposed to do that. But they did not follow this rule at all. And their relationship was heavily based on their sexual encounters. Jody would take lots of pictures while they were together and post them all over social media. She was very proud to be with Travis. However, he was not as into the relationship she was at all.

And he was texting other women on the side. Joey found out about this and became really, really pissed off. And she actually was the one to end their relationship in June of 2007, which I think she thought would kind of play out differently for her that maybe her breaking it off with him would make him want her more. But even though they broke up, things definitely didn't end. They continued to see each other, they continued to get together, they continued to have sex. And it really wasn't Travis continuing the relationship, it was Jody who would want to have sex with Travis. She would literally show up at his house, break into his house, sneak into his bed, naked, and wait for him there.

And so Travis kind of saw it as a friends of benefit situation. He wasn't ready to commit to her long term, but he didn't want to necessarily stop hooking up with Jody. So in his mind, this was something that was just gonna continue on while he was seeing other women. But Jody could not handle this type of setup. She was way way too jealous. She started to could not handle this type of setup. She was way way to tell this. She started to really regret breaking it off with him. She wanted to be back together with him

and be the only girl in his life. So she soon started to stalk him. Which Jody herself, to this day, did not always ever stalking Travis. But let me know what you think. I mean, obviously breaking into someone's house and crawling into the bed and making is a little stalkery But she was also doing some other crazy bitch things such as Sleshing his tires and she actually sneak into the house while he had other women there And you might be wondering how was she breaking in the house? Well through the dog door and she was also snooping around all his stuff She was reading his journals and this was really bothering him and he told told his friends about this. He was really upset, especially about the tires

being slashed, about his privacy being invaded, her breaking into his place. She had fully become the crazy jealous sex girlfriend. When he would date other women, she would find out who they were probably by hiding in a bush and watching them on a date. And then she would go ahead and contact these women and send them threats to break it off with Travis. And she would threaten him too. And this was driving him insane and he told several of his friends about this. But even with all this crazy shit that Joey was doing, Travis could not keep himself away. He was so attracted to Jody and he would always reel him back in with sex. And throughout that next year, and into March 2008,

the two of them continued their sexual relationship, not as an official boyfriend girlfriend, but they were still seeing each other hooking up and sometimes even traveling together. In April of 2008, Jody ended up relocating to Eureka, California and started living with her grandparents. And only about a month or so after she had been living there

on May 28, 2008, her grandparents called the police to report that a handgun and some electronics and cash had been stolen from their house. This is important. And then only a few days after that, on June 2nd, Jody ended up renting the car in Reading, California, and drove all the way to Mesa, Arizona, where Travis lived. On her way there on June 3rd, she made a stop at Darrell Brewer's house, her ex-boyfriend, who she's still friendly with,

and she ended up borrowing two gas cans from him. And during this time, Travis was getting ready to go on a little work trip to Cancun with another friend that he worked with, named Mimi Hall, and they were supposed to leave on June 10th for that, but she didn't hear from him for up to five days before the trip. And she started getting nervous

because normally, you know, you're coordinating trip details, chatting. She just wasn't even responding to anything. It was very weird. So on June 9th, which is the night before they were supposed to go on their trip, she went over to his house and was knocking on the door, but no one would answer. So she makes a call to another one of their friends that she's friends with, and then that friend calls her boyfriend

and then they go over to the house and meet her there to see what's going on. When they get there, they aren't able to get any response from Travis inside the house, but they can see that his dog is inside the house, so they become very concerned. They call another friend who has the garage code, so they ended up using that and they enter the house that become very concerned. They call another friend who has the garage code so they ended up using that and they enter the house through the laundry room. Now as soon as they got into the laundry room they smelled something awful and at first they thought maybe it was a dog, maybe it was trash rotting, something like that but it was much worse. They go over to Travis' bedroom and when they try to open the door they realize that it's locked and they become really really concerned.

Now, it's so crazy is he had another roommate there named Zach Billings and he was there that day. He just wasn't answering the door. He was like in his room. He was just chilling in there watching a movie so he didn't hear the doorbell ring and he also hadn't noticed the strange smell that they were all smelling. He calls their other roommate Enrique and then they both realized that neither of them have talked to Travis in almost a week, you know, they lived together.

In fact, Zach was under the oppression that he had already left for King Coon. So Zach looks around the house and finds a key to Travis' room, they unlock the door, and they all go in to a horrific site. I was actually watching a movie with my girlfriend at the time or my wife now. I remember getting the knock on my door

and Travis's friends came to the door and they said, have you seen Travis? And I said, well, no, I haven't seen Travis. He's supposed to be in Cancun or out on vacation right now. And they said, yes, he is, but he's supposed to be here with me, with Mimi. And so I said, well, have you checked his bedroom? And that was my first thought. And as soon as the door was opened,

my heart just sank immediately on the right hand side. I did end up seeing a pool of blood and look down the hallway and saw a just bloodstudent throughout the hallway. Now, this crime scene is pretty graphic. I must warn you, but there was a lot of blood. and saw the just blood strewn throughout the whole way. Now this crime scene is pretty graphic. I must warn you, but there was a lot of blood in this crime scene.

And even hearing about happened to him, it's just scary, obviously. There was blood all over his room, leading into the bathroom and leading into the shower, where they found trebis on the ground. So they immediately called 911 and here is that call. Yes he has, he has an ex-girlfriend that's been bothering him and, and, um, always having and splashing tires and things like that. Her name is Jodi.

So as you heard in the call, the friends are already starting to think that this could have been Jodi areas. She immediately came up in their minds. Just before midnight, the makes a police arrived at their house and they attempted to look at Travis, but they couldn't tell much because there was so much blood. It was really hard to figure out what had even happened, but it turns out that he was stabbed 29 times. And now wasn't it? He was also shot right above his right eyebrow, and then his throat was cut from side to side to the point where he was almost decapitated. And at that point, Travis had already been there while,

so his body was already decomposing and starting to mummify. Of course, they removed Travis's body from the crime scene for analysis. They took hair samples, fingerprints, collected any other possible DNA that they could. There was a bullet casing on the ground that was found and taken in as evidence as well.

And what was really strange is it looked as if the crime scene had already been partially cleaned or someone had attempted to clean it. Someone had taken all the bedding off of the bed and had it in the washing machine and they had also used the shower head to try and clean off Travis's body. They also could not find any forced entry to the home. So they figured right away that there's had to be someone that Travis knew. Of course, investigators looked at his roommates first because it was kind of weird that they didn't smell anything or notice that this had happened in their house for a while, but they were eventually cleared. All the

bedding had been moved to the washing machine and when he looked for the bedding in the laundry machine, they actually found a camera in it. And whoever had washed this camera clearly thought that that would destroy it and destroy any evidence that could possibly have been on it. And the camera wouldn't turn on, obviously, but the SD card was completely intact and they were able to get several photos off of it. And we will be returning to that as well. And before they even contacted her, she made it easy and contacted them to ask if she could help it anyway. She was devastated to hear about the death of her good friend Travis Alexander and wanted

to help in any way that she could. So police asked her what she already knew and she said that she just knew that he had passed away and that there was a lot of blood. She explained that Travis and her had a really casual relationship on and off for about six months, but she said they were broken up and they decided to just stay friends. She also explains where she has been. She said she was on a road trip and that she had actually talked to Travis and he was upset that she wasn't going to be stopping in Arizona to visit him.

While she was on her trip, she actually had called Travis and left in this voicemail. Now this actually was about six hours after he was murdered. When you download the Croger app, you have easy access to savings every day. Shop weekly sales and get personalized coupons to get the most value out of every trip every time, whether you shop in-store or online. Download the Croger app now to Save Big. Croger, fresh for everyone, must have a digital account to redeem offers. Restrictions may apply, see site for details. Save big on your favorites with the Buy, Five, or more, save a dollar each sale.

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Progressive casualty insurance company affiliates in third party insurers. Comparison rates not available in all states or situations. Price is very based on how you buy. So detectives went ahead and asked for fingerprints from Jody and a bunch of other friends and people in Travis's life as well. And everyone complied. They'd also interviewed a lot of Travis's friends and people who were very close to him in his current life. And most of them thought that it was Jody. But Jody was sticking to her story.

She was on a road trip. She wasn't even in Arizona. And Jody ended up telling several versions of what happened. So here is version one. She said that she left Northern California on June 2nd, and she drove to Southern California to meet with her friends. And then she arrived. She saw Lake City on June 5th.

And police believe that this was the day after Travis was murdered. They now know that he was murdered on June 4th. Sometime around 5.30 pm. And when they interviewed her in person, one thing that they realized is that she had changed her hair color. It was brown. Before this, it had always been blind. And not only that, they also noticed some cuts on her fingers. And she told them that it was from bar-tidding

that she was super clumsy. So this would be Jodie's route if her story were true. However, this is actually Jodie's route. Jodie actually traveled south through California to Mesa. She did something in Arizona then she went up to Salt Lake City and went back home to Northern California. And the reason that J Joey got those two gas cans from Darryl was because she wanted to

go right through Arizona, that making any gas station stops so that they couldn't pinpoint her location there on the day the Travis was murdered. But police were able to quickly debunk this whole story because that SD card came back from the lab with all of the pictures that were on it. And Jody was in several of the pictures that were taken on the day that Travis was murdered. And that is one of the things that makes this case so fascinating, I think, to the masses. Is that there are photos of this whole thing playing out. Travis and Jody were not nanotutaking sexual pictures to doing little private photo shoots together. This was something that they did. So they're having one of their normal hook

obsessions and you can see in the photos that Jody's taking several pictures, you know, of his back, of his face. All looks pretty normal. He looks pretty normal. But then there's this last picture and this is the last picture that they believe was taken before Travis was murdered. So they know that she was there. They just need to get her to admit that she is lying about this first story so they bring her in and here's some of the interview footage, it's pretty interesting. I can show you proof you were there. Hey, what's up in there?

I'm gonna be honest with you Joey. I was not at Travis's wasn't there. You'd be honest with me, Joey. I was not at Travis's house. It was not. You were at Travis's house. You guys had a sexual encounter, which there's pictures. Why are you sure this picture's not from another time? Positive.

Travis will be positive. Is it absolutely over? You need to tell me the truth. Pops in it. Trap's completely positive. It's absolutely over. You need to tell me the truth. Listen, that's your fifths. I did not hurt Trap's. And at first you can hear that she is trying to deny that she's even there. But then he brings out the evidence.

They have proof that she was there. They have a bloody pompant, her hair and her blood at the scene, and they have a photo of her, which I can't show, naked on Travis's bed that day. And not only that, there's even a picture of what appears to be her foot or her leg next to his dead body. So this is pretty strong, and it's jody starts to freak out. So based upon these pictures, it seems like they were having one of their normal hookup sessions when things started to take a turn. It's believed that there was some type of physical struggle between them and that it continued on into his bedroom.

Jody followed him into the bedroom and that is where she would have cut his neck and killed him. And there's a lot of photos that have been debated back and forth a lot about whether or not they were taken on purpose. And Jody said that some of the photos were taken on accident that she like dropped the camera. And there's one photo that seems to be her dragging his body through the hallway. They believe that she then brought him back into the bathroom, washed him off there, and left him there. And Jody continued to deny that she was there. She tried to say that that was not her leg in the photo.

She would not say whether or not it was her in the picture or in the bed. And she also started arguing about how time stamps can be altered on cameras. But she had pretty much nothing to say about that pompant. I mean, that is pretty strong evidence. So the detective tells her, you know, there's no doubt in my mind that this was you.

This is strong evidence here, but she continued to hold her ground. But at this point, they have plenty of evidence so they go ahead and place her under arrest. And her behavior in the interrogation room after this is really bizarre and kind of famous. I mean, people have talked about these clips over and over again, if it's normal behavior.

I mean, it is odd. You can see her doing a handstand and singing all holy night to herself at one point and at one point she says to herself still hate me night. This time, surprisingly shining, this is the way about you're saving the picture. And when she's taken in for her mug shot, she takes this. She was all worried about how her hair looked. She fixed it and smiled through the picture Which doesn't surprise me at all because Jody is a true narcissist through and through so the next day of For interrogations they decided to bring a female in to see if they can get Jody to crack a little bit more and open up

However, she doesn't like this and she actually requests to have detective florist back and at this point It's clear that Jody has spent the night thinking about how there is no way to say that she didn't go to Travis's house. So she starts to change her story a little. She admits that she did go visit Travis and that she ran to his house around 3 a.m. But then she drops a huge bombshell and tells them that not only was she there on the day that he was murdered, she was there when he was murdered and she was not the one who murdered him. Instead, she tells them that she witnessed someone else murder Travis, that the two of them were doing their thing, looking up, taking those pictures when two people

broke into the house and attacked them. It's just so much. They just argued about what? About whether or not to kill me. For what reason? Because I know what it is. The witness of what? He had a trap. The Travis was murdered. I saw two other individuals in the bathroom, and they were both coming toward us.

They recovered their hands, their gloves. They had long sleeve shirt on. They were in all black. He was wearing jeans, but they all, they had ski masks on. I saw Travis was on the floor in his bathroom on all fours. And as soon as this guy left, I just got up and I charged her. She had a knife in her hand and he had some blood all over the floor and there was some just coming down on his arms. And as come on, and he kept saying, I can't. And then, finally, he said, I can't fill my light.

And the guy came back in and got really angry at me. Eventually, he was holding the gun at my forehead. And they just kept arguing back and forth whether or not to kill me. And he pulled the trigger. And nothing happened with the gun. And so I just grabbed my purse, which was on the floor at that point.

And I ran downstairs and out of there and I left him there. So yeah, she actually tried to pull that off. Try to say that two people broke into the house, murdered Travis and that she just witnessed it and that she's keeping it quiet. So she wouldn't get in trouble or get murdered by these people Since she had witnessed a murder. So obviously this is bullshit and the story is not very believable

So detective florist wasn't having any of it But Jody decided to stick to the story She said that she was completely innocent and that she would fight to prove that to the jury But on July 8th 2008 Jody Aries was indicted for first degree murder. So while she was waiting for her trial, Jody ended up doing an interview with Inside Edition. And she says all kinds of crazy shit in this interview and tries to convince the public that she is innocent to go into this trial. Travis's friends and family were sure that Jody did this and they were just absolutely determined to make sure that she was found guilty.

So of course it takes a while to get a trial like this together and this was a big one. So it didn't start until January 2nd of 2013. And by this time this was a big case. There had been so much media coverage and public interest. People were just completely wrapped up in this. Something about the way that Jody talks is just very captivating. And she's just such an evil person.

And it's a really beautiful shell that I think that's kind of intriguing to people. So the case already had so much publicity before the trial even begun. That when it actually did start, people were lined outside the day of. The courtroom was completely filled. People had made signs,

people even flew in from other states to see this trial. Juan Martinez was the Maricopa County prosecutor at the time, and he of course was arguing that Jody killed Alexander in cold blood or possibly even premeditated murder. And they went into this seeking the death penalty because that's what Travis' family wanted, and that definitely makes things a little harder. So the first thing that they've looked at in the trial was the state of Travis' body. They were having a hard time determining when he died or if he died before or after he was shot. It was hard to determine the order of his injuries and this was because there's just so many but also because the advanced state of decomposition at this point. So they ended up

saying that the cause of death was just due to massive amounts of blood loss. Travis also had several self-defense wounds on his hands, so it was clear that he put up a fight before he died. And the prosecution argued that the reason that Jody did this was because of that cancun sharp with mini haul. They said that this just crossed the line for her that she was insane with jealousy at this point, and that that was when she decided that she would murder Travis. And this was a hard trial, especially for their family,

because they showed a lot of photos of Travis after he was murdered, and it was just a terrible scene for his grandparents and his siblings to sit through. They also brought up the gun that was stolen from Jody's grandparents house where she was living at this time. The fact that they had made that police report was huge. And when the defense came forward with their argument, it was pretty shocking because Jody's story had changed yet again.

At this point, she starts admitting that she did, in fact, kill Travis. But that it was in self-defense. Also, in the trial, they argued that Jody herself had said that a jury would never convict her of this crime. Jury is going to convict me. Why not? Because I'm innocent, and you can mark my words on that one. And Jody tried to walk this back and said that the reason she said this was because she was planning to take her own life at this time,

and she didn't even think she'd make it to try off, which I highly doubt that's what she actually meant, but Jody's constantly changing her stories. And here's how she said that this whole thing went down. She goes to visit Travis and Arizona. She goes to his house, they hook up like normal, and they're taking these photos. This is on Travis's new camera. And at some point, Jody says she drops the camera and that Travis reacts to her in a fit of rage. Travis flipped out again, stepped out of the shower, and he picked me up as he was screaming

that I was a stupid idiot. And he body slammed me again on the tile. He told me that five-year-old can hold the camera better than I can. When I hit the tile, I rolled over on the side and started running down the hallway. So I ran into the closet and I slammed the door. And I grabbed again. I ran out of the closet.

He was chasing me. I turned around and we were in the middle of the bathroom. I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him. So I remember pointing again at me, I would stop. But he just kept running. He got like a linebacker. He got kind of low and grabbed my waist.

But before he did that, as if his lunge and at me again went off. That's right. She tried to say he was so mad about the camera that he was so mad about the camera that he was violently attacking her to the point where she had to stab him 29 times, slit his throat, and shoot him in the head. It was Travis' continual abuse.

And on June 4th of 2008, it had reached a point of no return. He lunged at Jody and Anger, knocking her to the ground in the bathroom where there was a struggle. And sadly, Travis left Jody no other option, but to defend herself. On that horrible day, Jody believed that Travis was going to kill her.

And one thing that defense tried to argue is that Jody was not new to abuse, that this was normal to her, that she was triggered in this moment because she'd been dealing with abuse her whole life. Now, here's where the whole narrative about Jody's childhood comes into play. They start trying to say that she was abused by her father, that she had a series of abusive boyfriends that she was used to abusive men. And so I became a teenager. My dad wouldn't get rough or in rough. He would just shove me into furniture, sometimes into the piano or things like that, into tables, chairs, desks, whatever was around.

He would just push me really hard and then go flying into that. My mom began to carry a wooden spoon in her purse. If we were misbehaving, she would use it on us. What do you mean by use it on you? She would hit us with it. She hit you hard. I feel pretty hard, yes. And like I said, her parents deny all of this. They said it is made up by her and the prosecution also pointed out that there Are no entries in any of her diaries, which they have record of that talks about her being abused in her past and Jody says the reason for this is because she believes in manifestation and doesn't want to write anything negative down. So it's debated on to this day Some people think that Jody really was abused her whole life. You'll have to let me know what you think. Is this a defense strategy or is this the truth? The next thing that they did was try to completely ruin Travis's reputation,

which is terribly sad because he was never able to speak up and defend himself on any of this. Jody talked about how she was Travis's dirty little secret that he was going around acting like this virgin Mormon role model when in reality they were having this extremely sexually charged intense relationship behind the scenes that no one knew about which that part is definitely true. They also tried to spin the narrative that he was a violent person that he only cared about sex with Jody. In fact, she even talked about when she was baptized. They came home from her being baptized, and he spun her around through her on the bed and raped her. She also made accusations of him being a pedophile,

which I can't really get into on here. If you want to know more about that, you can look it up. I had something on the bed, and I realized they were papers. And as he was grabbing the papers, one kind of went sailing off the bed and I realized they were papers and as he was grabbing the papers one kind of went sailing off the bed and it was a picture of a little boy. However, I will say that it is not true and Travis is not here to speak for himself. So it really doesn't matter in this case anyway. The defense also brought up one of Travis's exes to the stand and her name was Lisa

Andrews and she talked about how bad Travis was to her. Did you talk to her about that sometimes you felt that he wanted you just for your body? I did say that in the email. And that your kisses didn't mean anything to him? I did say that in the email. That you felt that it was a way for him to let out some sexual attention.

I did say that in the email. That he had so much of. Again, I said that. Did that make you feel used and dirty? I did say that in the email. And that if you truly, if he truly cared for you, did you tell him that it wouldn't have been about passion and lust.

Do you remember telling him that you had previously told him to not grab your butt? Yes. And especially not in public. Yes. and previously told him to not grab your butt. Yes. And especially not in public. Yes. But that he persisted in doing it. Yes.

Did it make you feel like he wasn't really listening to you? At the time, yes. But when she was cross-examined by the prosecution, she ended up saying that she felt like she had over-racked in a little bit to the way that Travis was speaking in some of his emails and that it was really just because she was in experience actually and he was very experienced. So she kind of walked that back. They also called the Jody's ex-boyfriend Darrell Brewer to the stand and he defended her saying that they had a great relationship and that she had a great

relationship with his son as well. But bringing him to the stand actually really backfired because the prosecution was able to ask him about those two gas cans that she took from him, which essentially proved premeditation for the murder. So during this trial, Jody ended up taking the stand herself, which is rare. It's not always done this way, but she ended up being in the stand for 18 days.

There is hours of this footage available to watch. I have no memory of standing. I was in the bathroom. I remember dropping the knife and it claimed to the tile. It made a big noise. And I just remember screaming. Are you saying that you're having the hard time

remembering things that have happened even now that you've shot him? Yes. So it appears that your memory becomes halty immediately that you shot him. Yes. It appears that your memory becomes halting immediately upon you shooting him. Yeah, things get very foggy from there. And one thing that was really unique about this case is they allowed the jury to ask Jody questions.

This one's never happened, so this was very intriguing to hear. But the jury did not hold back other questions. Why did you decide to tell the truth two years after the killing? Why did you wait for so long to tell the truth? Would you decide to tell the truth if you never got arrested? I honestly don't know the answer to that question. How is it that you were so calm on the television interviews? They ended up submitting over 200 questions for Jody, so plenty of opportunities for her to talk herself into a bad situation. And at one point in her cross-examination, Juan Martínez actually pulled out this magazine that Jody had smuggled to a friend outside of jail and had a secret message written in it. And this is what it said. You fucked up.

What you told my attorney next day. Directly contradicts what I've been saying for over a year. Get down here ASAP and see me before you talk to them again and before you test advice so we can fix this. Interview was excellent. Must talk ASAP. Jody also tried to show her wounds that she got from Travis and why she needed to attack him so violently in self-defense and that was her finger. Her finger was a little crooked and jammed and she said that was from Travis repeatedly punching and kicking her. So the two sides went back and forth for a while, but finally it was time for the jury

to deliberate in May of 2013 and they took four days and that was because they really hung up about premeditation. They could not decide if Jodie had planned this out in advance or she just spurred the moment murder. But on May 8th 2013, they finally announced Averdick. We, the jury, duly and panelled and sworn and the boventide action upon our oaths do find the defendant as to count one first degree murder guilty. Five jurors find premeditated, zero fine felony murder, seven fine both premeditated and felony. And people were so happy to hear the news and hear that there was gonna be justice for Travis Alexander. Especially Travis's family of course. I mean they were just over the moon when they got this verdict back. But of course, this was a death penalty case,

so they still had to decide what Judy's final fate would be. And Judy ended up going on the local television station in Phoenix and said that she wanted to get the death penalty. Well, the worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die as sooner I'm later. Long Jevity runs in my family and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. You know, I'm pretty healthy and I don't smoke. And I would probably live a long time.

So that's not something I'm looking forward to. I said years ago that I'd rather get death in life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom soon if as soon as I can get it. So you're saying you actually prefer getting the death penalty to have being imprisoned for life? Yes. After this clip came out, people went wild. There were so many opinions, people were so mad at her for even just talking like this and almost setting herself up for if she does get the death penalty, then she will have one or maybe she's trying to play some reverse psychology

here so they try to do what she doesn't want, who knows. However, after spending some time thinking about this, Judy comes forward and says that she actually does not want the death penalty because she does not want to put her can candy through any more pain that is all really for them. Every time I've had the thought or desire to commit suicide, there's one element that is almost, almost always caused me to waver. They're sitting right over there, they're my family. And I didn't think it was fair to expect my family to have to support me for the rest of my life. I didn't know then that if I got life instead of death,

I could become employed and self-reliant. I didn't know that if I got life, there are many things I can do to affect positive change. In prison, there are programs I can start, and people I can help. My hair was past my waist, and I donated it to Luxe of Love, a nonprofit, which creates wigs for cancer patients who've lost their hair.

If I'm allowed to live in prison, I will continue to donate to that organization for the rest of my life. I can help other women become literate so that they too can add that dimension to their lives. My mom came to visit me after court that dark day. She had spoken to my dad on the way over, and she told me that in the 34 years that they've been together, she's never written cry the way he did that day. I've caused that pain. I've caused that pain. I've caused him to hurt that way. It's my hope that with the verdict you

rendered thus far, that they will finally gain a sense of closure. Until very recently, I could not have imagined standing before you all and asking you to give me life. If it shortened, the people who will hurt the most are my family. I'm asking you, please, please, don't do that to them. And during this time, she starts wearing this t-shirt,

with the word survivor on it, really trying to play the victim card, even though she is clearly not the victim here. And it turns out she's actually trying to sell these shirts from jail to raise money for domestic abuse victims. Why didn't you apologize to them? I did apologize to them. You never said I'm sorry.

I said that I'm sorry, that I'll never be able to make up for what I did. And that I can never replace their loss. But you didn't use the word I'm sorry. Well, then I'm sorry I didn't say that because certainly I am sorry. I think in a sense the words I'm sorry just seem meaningless, especially since nobody believes

what I'm saying anyway. You said it right there, no one believes a word out of your mouth. Why do you keep talking? Well, because I know that I'm not just, I've lied before, that doesn't mean that I'm a liar by definition by character. What do you think of this jury?

It's pretty clear they don't think too much of you. I wonder what you think of them. I feel a little betrayed by them. I don't dislike them. I just was really hoping that they would see things for what they are. To a lot of people, they think this switch from I want to die, to now I want to live,

is just another lie from Jody Areas. I don't know what that means. Was I lying when I said I want to die, or was I lying when I say, please spare my life, you know? Whatever happens, I'm just going to take it and deal with it. You said today you want to give Travis' family closure.

You know they want you dead. So why don't you give them that closure? What do you mean by that? Why don't I kill myself? Is that what you're asking? No, why don't you accept the fate of the death penalty? If you know that's what they want. If you truly care about their closure.

Well, I've caused them a lot of pain. I've caused my family a lot of pain. And I think that by asking for death, I'm only going to cause more pain. So you really are never going to tell the truth about what went down in that bathroom? I don't know what you mean by that, because I've told the truth.

Okay. I didn't know that you were a hater when you came to interview me. And that was about as angry as Arias Scott. So at first, when the jury came back, they were unable to come to a conclusion. So the judge basically told them that it's not gonna work. Go back in there and try again. So they continue to deliberate and then they come forward

and they are still undecided. Eight of them want her to get the death penalty and four of them just want her to get life in prison. So because of this, a mistrial was declared. So then fast forward to February of 2014, they have to do the whole thing over again. It comes to an end for a second time on February 25th 2014 and six days later there was still a hung jury. This time 11 for death, one for life in prison. So at this point another miss trial is

declared, which seems like a huge headache, but luckily at this point Arizona State law says that the judge will just do the sentencing at this point, so they don't have to do another trial. But Jody's defense team was really pissed about this and felt like she got an unfair trial, but she still argues to this day, and they ended up filing a motion to dismiss all charges against Jody. They also tried to argue that thousands of images were deleted off of Travis' computer that proved that he was up to no good and that the Mesa police were the ones to delete everything. So they basically were arguing misconduct in the court. So as kind of an alternative for completely redoing the trial, they decide to take death penalty off the table for Jody. And before she was finally sentenced, she got to make kind of a final statement and a plea to the court where she apologized to Travis' family. But I had to fight

for my life just like I did on June 4th, 2008, because I realized how selfish it would be for me to escape accountability for this mess that I've created. The most important thing I want to say is that I am very sorry for the enormous pain that I've caused the people that love Travis. I'm horrified because of what I did and I wish there was some way I could take it back. So, Jody was finally sentenced on April 13, 2015. The court finds the mitigation presented is not sufficiently substantial to call for leniency and that a natural life sentence is appropriate.

It is ordered. The defendant shall be incarcerated in the Department of Corrections with the rest of her natural life with no possibility of parole. Jody will spend the rest of her life in prison and right now she's in the Perriville prison for women in Arizona. She has to live the rest of her life in an 86 square foot cell and think about the life that she stole from Travis. The first two years she was in Max Custby so she wasn't able to really see any other inmates or having social interaction but now she has a cellmate and she's also able to

go out in the common area and eat meals with people and stuff. But the victim mentality does not stop for Jodie Areas not one bit. She said that she is still victimized in jail. She says that people harass her all the time for her conviction. But she's been clearly enjoying her stay in jail at one point she even did a singing competition where she's saying, oh, holy night to the whole group. A new and glorious morning, fall on your knees, oh, no. And then a few years later, in 2017, Jodie actually turned on her own defense team. She filed a civil suit against them, saying that they disclosed private information for financial gain, an intel all book that was published on the case. She also said that Juan Martinez was really inappropriate to her several times.

This has been argued in court every time that she is a peel. And just this year, in 2020, he was actually terminated from the Maricopa County attorney's office. And this was because of inappropriate behavior towards female clerks. So if possible, that some of the stuff that Jody accuses him of is true, but it really doesn't change or affect

the outcome of the trial. And they tried to argue this when they did her appeal. She recently had an appeal, I think it's about eight months ago. And I actually listened to quite a bit of it because I was really curious what a defense lawyer would say to try to defend Chotey. They brought up all this stuff that she felt was unfair in the trial, everything with Juan Martinez, and trying to argue that it could have affected the overall outcome. But the judge just said that it really wouldn't have affected the overall outcome at all. It really has nothing to do with the death of Travis Alexander and the murder committed by Jody. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode.

And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. you you you you Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it. Download the

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