11428 E Queensborough Ave., Mesa, AZ 85212
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Author: Jewls Krueger
On June 4, 2008, 30 year old salesman Travis Alexander was brutally murdered in his Mesa, Arizona home by his ex-girlfriend Jodi Ann Arias. His body was found by friends and a roommate five days later in the shower of his master bathroom. The case, and the lengthy trial that followed, became one of the most widely covered true crime stories of the 2010s.
Travis Alexander - Fair Use
Travis Victor Alexander was born on July 28, 1977 in Riverside, California, one of eight children of Gary and Pamela Alexander. He had a difficult childhood as a result of his parents' drug addictions, and at age 11 he and his siblings went to live with his paternal grandmother, Norma Sarvey, who introduced him to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Travis' faith would become central to his identity, and he rose quickly through the ranks at Pre-Paid Legal Services (now known as LegalShield), traveling the country as a motivational speaker who often shared his own story of overcoming a difficult childhood.
Jodi Ann Arias was born on July 9, 1980 in Salinas, California. The two met in September 2006 at a Pre-Paid Legal Services conference in Las Vegas. Jodi was baptized into the LDS Church on November 26, 2006 with Travis performing the baptism, and they officially started dating shortly after. By the time Travis broke off the relationship in June 2007, Jodi had already moved from California to Mesa, Arizona in an effort to be closer to him. In the months and weeks leading up to the murder, Travis had reportedly told friends that he considered Jodi to be stalking him and that he was frightened of her. Just a week before the murder, a .25 caliber pistol was stolen during a burglary at Jodi's grandparents' home in Yreka, California. The gun was never recovered, but a .25 caliber shell casing would later be found at the crime scene.
When Travis Alexander was killed on June 4, 2008, it was the definition of overkill. While he was in the shower, he was stabbed 27 times, his throat was slit, and he was shot in the head. Two years earlier, he had met Jodi Arias at a convention for the MLM that they were both involved in. They started dating in early 2007, and eventually Jodi decided to convert to Mormonism, Travis' religion, to be with him. They broke up in June of 2007, but continued to meet up for sex.
On June 4, 2008, Jodi drove from Yreka, California to Travis' home in Mesa, Arizona for an impromptu visit. She had rented her car in Redding, California, dyed her hair from blonde to dark brown, and had filled multiple gas cans in advance to reduce her paper trail. She would later be seen at business meetings in West Jordan, Utah on June 5 with visible cuts on her hands. After the murder, she continued on her road trip to Salt Lake City.
Five days later, on June 9, 2008, a group of concerned friends and one of Travis' roommates entered the home to look for him. Travis had missed an important Pre-Paid Legal Services conference call the evening of the murder and had been planning a trip to Cancun the next day with another woman named Mimi Hall, and his roommates had assumed he had already left. The group found a key to his locked bedroom and entered the master bedroom, where they found pools of blood and Travis' bloody body in the shower.
The Mesa Police Department recovered a digital camera from Travis' washing machine that would prove central to the case. Investigators were able to recover roughly 60 photographs from the camera's memory card, including photos of Travis alive in the shower minutes before the attack, and two accidental images taken during and just after the killing, including one that appeared to show Jodi standing over Travis' body. Investigators also lifted a bloody palm print from the wall of the bathroom hallway that contained a mixture of Travis' and Jodi's DNA.
Jodi was arrested at her grandparents' home in Yreka, California on July 15, 2008.
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Jodi Arias' Mugshot - Public Domain
The trial for Travis' murder began on January 2, 2013 in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. Prosecutor Juan Martinez argued the killing was premeditated first degree murder driven by Jodi's rage over Travis' plans to travel to Cancun with another woman. Defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott argued that Jodi had killed Travis in self defense after he flew into a rage when she dropped his camera. Jodi took the stand for an unprecedented 18 days beginning February 4, 2013.
On May 8, 2013, after roughly 15 hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously found Jodi guilty of first degree premeditated murder. Medical examiner Dr. Kevin Horn testified during the trial that Travis had been stabbed roughly 27 times, that his throat had been cut all the way to his cervical spine, severing his jugular vein, carotid artery, and trachea, and that the gunshot wound to his forehead had likely been inflicted after his death. He said that during the attack, which lasted around two minutes, Travis had tried to flee the bathroom and had defensive wounds on his hands from trying to protect himself.
Further Reading
Judge Sherry Stephens presided over both the trial and the two subsequent penalty phases. Jodi's original jury deadlocked on the death penalty on May 23, 2013 with 8 jurors in favor of death. A newly seated penalty phase jury deadlocked a second time on March 5, 2015 with 11 jurors in favor of death and one holdout. Under Arizona law, if a jury cannot unanimously agree on the death penalty, the trial judge determines the sentence. On April 13, 2015, Judge Stephens sentenced Jodi Arias to natural life in prison without the possibility of parole. She is currently incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Perryville in Goodyear, Arizona.
The house is located in Mesa, Arizona, about 15 minutes east of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the Mountain Ranch neighborhood. All of the homes in the neighborhood look similar, so keep an eye out for the two story home that has the "11428" address marker near the front door. The home is located on the north side of E Queensborough Ave.
This location is a private residence so please be respectful of the current occupants and do not attempt to interact with them or any neighbors. Make sure to stay on public streets and walkways and never go on private property.
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