What did Jodi Arias do?
Jodi Arias was accused of murdering her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in his house in Mesa, Arizona, on June 4th, 2008. Alexander sustained 27 stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the head in a brutal attack.
Arias originally met Travis Alexander at a conference for the sales company they both worked for, and they began dating in early 2007. Alexander was a devout Mormon and was under strict instructions from the church about not casually dating women. Many in his circle were unconvinced of Arias and her suitability as a life partner, and the relationship was over after a year and a half. It remains a mystery why this short-lived relationship ended in murder.
What happened during the trial of Jodi Arias?
The media swarmed the trial of Jodi Arias, and it became the biggest case of the year. This was helped by the fact that it was televised. It took over 4 years for the case to come to trial, but in January 2013, the proceedings got underway. Jodi’s defence team claimed that she acted in self-defence, but the evidence suggested otherwise. The prosecution was seeking the death penalty, and despite the jury convicting her of first-degree murder, they couldn’t make a decision on whether she should face death as a punishment. This led to the case being declared a mistrial.
A second jury in 2014 also struggled to reach a decision on whether Arias should face the death penalty, and due to state law, she couldn’t be tried again and instead was sentenced to life in prison.
Where is Jodi Arias now?
Jodi Arias is currently serving a life sentence for murder in Perryville State Women’s Prison in Goodyear, Arizona. She is not eligible for parole.
She has reportedly been working as an aide in the prison library since 2018 and resides in a medium-low security wing of the prison.
Jodi Arias: An American Murder Mystery is a 3-part documentary series on Discovery + that tells the story of this baffling murder case and features footage from the trial as well as interviews with key players in the case. The documentary series is well worth a watch, as it covers the case in great depth.
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