Picture Perfect: The Jodi Arias Story: A Beautiful Photographer, Her Mormon Lover, and a Brutal Murder

by Hogan, Shanna

  The trial would be like none other—a rare concoction of sex, religion, and death. Testimony would be filled with salacious phone sex and graphic text messages, juxtaposed with gruesome crime scene photos capturing the viciousness of the murder.

  * * *

  At 11 A.M. on January 2, Juan Martinez began his opening statement.

  “This is not a case of whodunit,” he said, standing before the jury. “The person who done it, the person who committed this killing, sits in court today. It’s the defendant Jodi Ann Arias.”

  Martinez spoke in a measured tone as he painted a portrait of the victim—a good man and devout Mormon who had the misfortune of meeting Jodi.

  “She slit his throat as a reward for being a good man,” he said. “She knocked the blessings out of him by putting a bullet in his head.”

  At the defense table Jodi sobbed, although no tears appeared to run down her cheeks.

  Martinez walked the jury through Travis and Jodi’s relationship, beginning with their meeting in Las Vegas in September 2006. Five months later, after she converted to Mormonism, the two became a couple.

  “They both did what can be expected by young people,” he said. “They engaged in sexual relations.”

  After their breakup, Jodi moved to Mesa, where their sexual relationship continued. Ten moths later, Jodi returned to Yreka.

  Then, on June 9, after not hearing from Travis for five days, his friends discovered his decomposing body. Using a poster board with a diagram of Travis’s bedroom, Martinez pointed out the layout of the crime scene.

  “Whoever had done this killing had taken the time to wash the body,” Martinez said. “Someone had taken the time to stage that kind of scene.”

  The murderer also tried to dispose of evidence by throwing the camera in the washing machine, he said. During the subsequent investigation, the camera and memory card were discovered in the washer. “The camera was destroyed. It was messed up. It could never take pictures again.”

  Ultimately, the deleted images were recovered, however. For the jury, Martinez described the explicit pictures from earlier that afternoon: Jodi, sprawled on the bed; Travis lying beside a bottle of K-Y Jelly. “These are salacious photos. What they are doing is what people do behind closed doors.”

  A second batch of photos showed Travis showering, with the last image taken at 5:31 P.M. Just forty-four seconds later, a photo was accidentally taken of the shower ceiling as Travis was being attacked.

  Then, for the first time, Martinez publicly announced his theory of the crime.

  As Travis showered, he was first stabbed in the heart. The wound had not been fatal. As Travis staggered to the bathroom sink, he was repeatedly knifed.

  “He was more likely than not dead at that point,” Martinez said.

  Throughout the attack, Travis had attempted to defend himself, as evident from the wounds to his hands.

  “Mr. Alexander did not die calmly,” Martinez said. “He fought. He was conscious at the time of the crime.”

  While he lay dying, Jodi shot him in the face, likely after he was already dead, Martinez said. “She wasn’t through with him. She took a shot and stuck it in the temple.”

  The scenario was a calculated move on Martinez’s part. If he could show that Jodi fired a bullet into Travis’s dead body, it would prove the murder was cold and calculated—not a sudden passion that could lead to a second-degree murder conviction.

  Martinez then explained Jodi’s actions following the murder, including her trip to Utah to see Ryan Burns.

  The day of her arrest, on July 15, 2008, Jodi repeatedly denied she had been inside the house, even when presented with the evidence. The next day, she told Detective Flores the twisted tale about the mysterious intruders. Now, in court, she was claiming self-defense.

  At the conclusion of his opening statement, Martinez played a clip from Jodi’s 2008 appearance on Inside Edition. In the video, Jodi told the reporter that she was innocent.

  “No jury is going to convict me,” Jodi said on Inside Edition, “because I am innocent, and you can mark my words on that. No jury is going to convict me.”

  Martinez paused. Then, he implored the jury to “mark her words.”

  “Remember that while you’re marking a premeditated murder verdict.”

  * * *

  “Jodi Arias killed Travis Alexander—there’s no question about it,” defense attorney Jennifer Willmott said in her opening statement. “The million-dollar question is what forced her to do it.”

  As Willmott spoke, Jodi seemed momentarily agitated, but quickly seemed to compose herself. Willmott began by explaining Jodi’s background, including her relationship with her ex-boyfriends. During her presentation, photos of Jodi flashed on the TV monitors around the courtroom.

  “Throughout the trial you will learn much more about Jodi Arias,” Willmott said. “Jodi was a talented photographer, artist. She was a bright, articulate young woman.”

  In March 2006, Jodi signed up for Prepaid Legal. Six months later she met Travis. During their first weekend together in Las Vegas, Travis spoke about his Mormon values.

  “Jodi was captivated,” Willmott said. “He was someone to be admired by Jodi. He was a good Mormon man.”

  Four days later, Jodi broke up with Darryl. After converting to Mormonism, Jodi’s relationship with Travis blossomed, especially during their frequent out-of-town trips.

  “Certainly on the outside it appears they were involved in a healthy relationship.” Willmott paused. “Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality Jodi was Travis’s dirty little secret.”

  From their first meeting, Willmott claimed, Travis was using Jodi to fulfill his sexual desires. In the beginning their encounters never reached the point of vaginal intercourse.

  “As Travis would explain to Jodi, ‘Oral sex wasn’t as much of a sin as vaginal sex,’ so he convinced her to have oral sex,” Willmott told the jury. “And later in their relationship, Travis would tell her that ‘Anal sex wasn’t as much of a sin as vaginal sex,’ as a way to convince her to engage in that as well.”

  As Willmott described, Travis and Jodi’s relationship was wrought with psychological and sexual abuse. Travis was a sexual deviant, living a secret second life, she said.

  “Being an executive, outward appearances would have been very important to Travis,” she said. “On the outside he could pursue the appropriate Mormon woman.”

  Blinded by her love for Travis, Jodi was naive. Travis would often tell her to date other men, but if she did, he became irate.

  “Jodi was easily manipulated and controlled,” she said. “Anytime she started talking to another man he would degrade and humiliate her. She became humble, compliant, and agreeable.”

  Following the breakup, Jodi didn’t move to Mesa because of an obsession with Travis, she did so because he was sending mixed signals. But while he was sleeping with Jodi, Travis told many friends she was stalking him, Willmott said. “You’ll hear how Travis degraded Jodi to his friends, how he referred to her as a ‘stalker’ or ‘crazy,’ called her a ‘slut’ or ‘whore.’”

  On the monitors an image of Jodi appeared, wearing a gray T-shirt with the lettering TRAVIS ALEXANDER’S. “That T-shirt is the perfect example of how Travis treated her.”

  By April 2008, Jodi had had enough and returned to Yreka. But Travis’s hold on her didn’t diminish.

  “Even though she moved, he wouldn’t let her go. He continued e-mailing, texting, and calling,” Willmott said. “The more Travis distanced himself the more he could control her.”

  The sexual manipulation escalated until the last day of Travis’s life. “On June 4, it reached a point of no return. On that day he told her he was going to kill her.”

  After being persuaded by Travis to come see him in Mesa, Jodi arrived at his house at around 4 A.M. on June 4. That afternoon, they had sex. In preparation of their tryst, Travis had purchased rope to fulfill his fantasy of tying Jodi up during sex, Willmott
said.

  “He used softer rope, like the kind to hold curtains with,” she said. “He used a knife to cut the rope when at the appropriate length.”

  After sex that afternoon it was Travis who asked to take pictures of Jodi. “The kind of pictures that Travis wanted to take of Jodi would make most people cringe with embarrassment.”

  On the monitors a nude photo of Jodi appeared, her hair braided in pigtails. The next two close-up pictures were of Jodi’s anus and vagina.

  Following the photo session, Travis and Jodi went to his downstairs den and he tried to download photos from a CD on his computer. Because of a computer virus, the software wouldn’t download. In anger, Travis threw the CD. Jodi tried to calm him down.

  “She knew that the one thing that calms his temper the quickest is sex. So as she’s telling him, ‘It’s ok, I’ll fix it, don’t worry,’ Travis grabbed her and spun her around,” Willmott said. “Afraid that he was going to hurt her, Jodi was actually relieved when all he did was bend her over the desk.”

  They had sex in the den, after which Jodi washed herself in the downstairs bathroom. Hours later, it was Travis who urged Jodi to photograph him in the shower, according to Willmott.

  On the monitors one of the last images taken of Travis alive appeared. The next photo was the blurry image of the ceiling above the shower—time-stamped 5:31 P.M. At that moment, Willmott said, Jodi dropped the camera.

  “He lunged at Jodi in anger,” she said. “Jodi’s life was in danger. He knocked her to the ground in the bathroom, where there was a struggle.”

  Jodi was forced to defend herself. The next picture showed the back of Travis’s head lying on the shower floor, with Jodi’s foot in the foreground.

  “In under two minutes she had to make a choice. She was going to live or she was going to die,” Willmott said. “Had Jodi not been forced to defend herself, none of us would be here. In that one minute, had Jodi not chosen to defend herself she would not be here.”

  * * *

  Over the next nine days of the trial, Martinez would present his case to the jury as it unfolded through the investigation—beginning with the discovery of the body.

  Following opening arguments, Martinez called his first witness: Mimi Hall. For court Mimi, then thirty-three, wore her hair curly and wore thick-framed glasses and a loose-fitting gray sweater.

  On the stand, she explained her relationship with Travis, their planned trip to Cancún, and the discovery of his body on June 9, 2008. With the help of Travis’s roommate they had unlocked the master bedroom door.

  “I looked through the crack in the door,” she said. “When they said they saw blood, I stopped looking.”

  On cross examination, Kirk Nurmi attempted to paint Travis as a sinner. He questioned Mimi about what constitutes sin in the Mormon religion. Murder and denying the Holy Ghost were at the top of the list, Mimi said. Ranked below that was sexual immorality.

  “It’s a very serious sin and something you could lose your good standing in the church or even be excommunicated over,” Mimi explained.

  On redirect, Martinez asked Mimi about the process of repentance in the church. Through his questioning, Martinez tried to show that while Travis had sinned, he was also in the process of making amends.

  “Was he or was he not temple worthy?” Martinez asked.

  “I actually remember him telling me a story that he was no longer able to go to temple,” Mimi said. “I don’t think he was temple worthy.”

  * * *

  Over the next few days Martinez called officers and detectives who worked the investigation to the stand. In court, he frequently used photos of Travis’s corpse to shock the jury.

  During the testimony of one of the patrol officers who had responded to the 911 call, Martinez entered into evidence one of the more gruesome photos: a close-up of Travis’s decomposing face.

  “This was the body that was found in the shower?” Martinez asked.

  “Yes,” the officer said. “His face was very dark purple, almost black. The rest was very pale.”

  As the images were shown, Travis’s sisters averted their eyes, silently sobbing in agony.

  Later, two latent print examiners from the Mesa crime lab testified about taking fingerprints, palm prints, and buccal swab samples from Jodi, which matched the palm print and DNA found in the house.

  A Mesa fingerprint examiner also led the jury through a photographic tour of Travis’s house. Displayed for the jury were images of the inside of the washing machine showing the digital camera lying on top of a bleach-stained towel and clothes. During the testimony, evidence was presented, including a section of bloodstained carpet, Travis’s laundry, sheets, the camera, and the camera’s memory card.

  Forensic scientist Lisa Perry also detailed bloodstains and spatter found at the scene, as well as the .25 caliber bullet casing, which was discovered lying in a pool of congealed blood. It was shown as proof Travis was stabbed and sliced prior to being shot.

  “In relation to the blood—when was that casing placed there in relation to the blood?” Martinez asked.

  “After the blood was deposited there,” Perry said.

  “So the blood source was already bleeding?” Martinez asked.

  “Yes,” Perry said.

  Later, a firearms examiner testified that the bullet casing on the shower floor would have been automatically ejected from a .25 caliber pistol.

  * * *

  On the third day of trial, the medical examiner, Dr. Kevin Horn, inventoried Travis’s twenty-seven stab wounds, using autopsy photos. As images of Travis’s bruised and bloated body flashed on the monitors, Jodi readjusted her seat to shield her gaze. In the front row, Tanisha and Samantha sat doubled over to hide their faces from the horror. About twenty minutes into the explicit testimony, Travis’s family members stood up and bolted from the courtroom.

  The most contentious part of Horn’s testimony came when discussing the bullet wound to the skull. Because of the location of the wound, Horn determined the brain had been perforated.

  “He would be incapacitated … rapidly,” he said.

  Both the neck wound and the gunshot would have caused unconsciousness within a few seconds. The stab to the chest “would definitely cause death without medical attention.”

  “How did Mr. Alexander die?” Martinez asked.

  “Primarily from rapid blood loss,” said Horn.

  In heated cross-examination, Willmott questioned Horn’s perception of the sequence of the murder. In pretrial hearings, Detective Flores had testified that he believed the gunshot wound had come first. Yet Horn maintained this was not possible.

  “For the most part if you have a bullet pass through the brain you won’t be standing,” Horn said. “You won’t be functional.”

  Repeatedly, Willmott tried to raise doubt that the bullet had actually passed through the brain. Horn, however, remained resolute in his assessment.

  “It had to have passed through the brain,” he said. “The skull is perforated where the brain is. It would have passed through the right hemisphere.”

  “Are you sure of that?” Willmott asked.

  “Yes,” Horn said.

  * * *

  Throughout the prosecution’s case, the defense tried to dispute the prosecution’s theory on the sequencing of the murder.

  On January 10, Nurmi grilled Detective Flores about testimony he gave in 2009 during a probable cause hearing, in which he said he believed Travis had been shot first.

  “That was my understanding at the time,” Flores said. “I’m not a doctor.”

  In interviews and sworn statements, Flores had repeated this theory of the crime. Over vigorous objections from Martinez, Nurmi pushed Flores about the discrepancy.

  “It was not inaccurate, it was mistaken,” Flores said.

  “That’s a pretty big misunderstanding, isn’t it?” Nurmi asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Flores replied.

  After the jury was dism
issed for the day, Nurmi requested a mistrial, claiming Flores had committed perjury in his testimony. The motion was denied.

  Throughout the month of January, Detective Esteban Flores took the stand multiple times, testifying primarily about interactions he had with Jodi throughout the investigation.

  Each recorded phone call, voice message, and both interrogation videos were played for the jury. On cross-examination, Kirk Nurmi asked about instant message conversations discovered on computers seized from the house, in which Travis referred to Jodi in crude sexual terms.

  “Do you recall her saying he had said several mean things to her?” Nurmi asked.

  “Yes,” Flores answered.

  Nurmi asked if Travis had ever referred to her as a “three-hole wonder.”

  “Yes,” the detective said.

  “As a slut?” Nurmi asked.

  “Yes.”

  “As a whore?”

  “Yes.”

  On redirect Martinez clarified why Travis had been using degrading terms toward Jodi in his e-mails to her.

  “You read that e-mail, didn’t you?” Martinez asked. “What did that e-mail say? Why was he upset?”

  Flores explained that during the conversation Travis was actually accusing Jodi of using him sexually. “I think I was little more than a dildo with a heartbeat for you,” Travis had written.

  * * *

  On the fifth day of the trial, Ryan Burns testified about his relationship with Jodi and her trip to Salt Lake City, seventeen hours after the murder.

  Nearly five years after meeting Jodi, Ryan was now married and a father. He had put on some weight and looked different than he had in 2008. In court, he wore a black suit and green tie.

  For the jury, Ryan described how during her stay, he and Jodi became intimate.

  “When we woke up we were kissing and she eventually kind of grabbed me and adjusted me a little bit,” Ryan said. “And that’s when she got on top of me and we were kissing.”