This Is How Jodi Arias And Travis Alexander Met
Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander were both attractive and charismatic young people, and at first glance, the couple seemed well-matched for each other. Twenty-nine-year-old Alexander was employed as a salesman and motivational speaker for a multi-level marketing firm called Pre-Paid Legal Services. In September of 2006 he was speaking at a Pre-Paid Legal Services conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he met the beautiful, blonde, 26-year-old Arias. She had attended the conference hoping to secure a job with the same firm, per ABC News.
From their first meeting, sources say the chemistry between the couple was obvious. Alexander invited Arias to join him for dinner the same night they met, and by the end of the weekend, he was telling friends that he had met the girl he planned to marry.
After the conference ended, Arias went back to Palm Desert, California, while Alexander returned to his home in Mesa, Arizona, but they stayed in close contact. The pair was infatuated with each other, and quickly entered into a serious, albeit long-distance, relationship. Alexander was a devout Mormon, and Arias soon joined him in his faith.He baptized her into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 26, 2006, only two months after their first meeting, according to Murderpedia.
Arias and Alexander's relationship quickly turned tumultuous
"She was really excited about the relationship. She loved how funny he was, how much fun they would have together. Travis loved to take adventures and do different things," Sky Lovingier Hughes, a friend of Alexander's, told ABC News.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the infatuation to turn toxic, and after five months of dating, Alexander ended the relationship. After the breakup, Arias began acting even more erratically, stalking Alexander, spying on him, and even slashing his car tires, per ABC. Friends began to fear for Alexander's life. "I started seeing things that were just disturbing. I said, 'Travis, I'm afraid we're gonna find you chopped up in her freezer'... From very early on, she was completely obsessed with him," Hughes recalled to ABC News. Tragically, these fears were not unfounded.
On June 4, 2008, just under two years after their initial meeting in Las Vegas, authorities discovered the body of Travis Alexander. He had been shot, stabbed over 20 times, and his throat had been slashed. As the most likely suspect, Arias was soon arrested. She was convicted of first-degree murder in May of 2013 and later sentenced to life in prison, per CNN.