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The final moments of Travis Alexander’s life were nothing short of horrific. He was stabbed multiple times and almost decapitated before being shot and left for dead

in his shower.

Travis’s flat was covered in blood where his body had been dragged and his killer had washed their bloodied hands.

Crime scene photos were shocking, but they were nothing compared to the chilling images found on a digital camera at the scene. Investigators retrieved deleted photos that showed Travis alive in the shower, posing for the camera as water cascaded over him. Then, in a final photo, the water turned red with blood as his killer accidentally took a snapshot of his murder.

Handsome Travis Alexander, 30, was a marketing salesman who lived in Mesa, Arizona. He was a practising Mormon and a charismatic motivational speaker.

In September 2006, Travis met Jodi Arias, 27, at a conference in Las Vegas. She was a saleswoman living in California and had a passion for photography.

(Image: CBS News)

The pair began an intense long-distance relationship, exchanging over 80,000 emails and speaking on the phone for hours. Jodi was so smitten she joined the Mormon faith, but after just five months, their relationship hit the rocks. Travis told Jodi it was just physical and ended it.

Jodi was devastated and moved to Travis’s hometown of Mesa to work as a waitress. Travis told his family that she was stalking him – even claiming she’d crawled through a dog flap, so she could sleep on his sofa. But he continued to secretly have sex with her.

While Jodi thought they were back on track, Travis still refused to commit and, after two years, she moved back to California to live with her grandparents. But it wasn’t over.

A deadly obsession

Two months later, Jodi hired a car and drove to Mesa to see Travis. She filled

up petrol cans for the journey so she wouldn’t have to stop, and turned off her phone. On 4 June 2008, the estranged couple had sex one last time and took explicit photos of each other.

A few days later, Travis’s worried work colleagues couldn’t contact him. Friends went to his flat and discovered the bloody scene. Travis was slumped dead in the bottom of his shower with his throat deeply sliced from ear to ear and a gunshot wound to the head. There were over 27 stab wounds on his body.

Travis had been shot with a 25-calibre gun – the same type of gun that had been stolen from Jodi’s grandparents in a mysterious burglary a few months earlier.

The most disturbing discovery was a damaged digital camera in the washing machine, along with bloodied clothes that had been put through a wash. Police recovered deleted sexual images of Jodi and Travis.

Graphic shots

There was a picture of Travis alive and wet in the shower – then another photo that showed the back of Travis’s head, with his arm raised and blood tricking down his neck. Police believed it had been taken accidently as Travis was being killed.

Jodi was interrogated. At first she denied even being at Travis’s home, but when confronted with evidence she changed her story. She claimed two intruders had broken in, murdered Travis and attacked her. It was unlikely.

Finally Jodi broke down, saying she was a victim of domestic violence and that night Travis had violently attacked her. "It was self defence," she sobbed. When police pressed for details, Jodi’s story was inconsistent and when left alone, she giggled and even did a headstand. She was charged with murder.

(Image: Rex)

In prison, Jodi seemed to embrace her notoriety by giving media interviews and became a household name. By the time the trial started in January 2012, at the Maricopa County Superior Court, America was hooked. The once smiling blonde was now a brunette with sensible glasses and modest outfits. Crowds gathered outside the court and every talk show was dissecting the case.

Jodi pleaded not guilty and made history by testifying for a lengthy 18 days. Her defence team claimed Jodi had post-traumatic stress disorder from her abusive relationship with Travis, while the prosecution said she had a borderline personality disorder.

The couple’s sex life dominated proceedings. The court heard an explicit recording of a phone call between Jodi and Travis, where they were openly talking about their erotic fantasies. Jodi insisted she’d been under pressure from Travis to be "kinky".

Jodi testified that Travis had a violent temper. "Whenever he got mad it was like an earthquake," she said. "I was afraid."

The prosecution said Jodi was obsessed with Travis, and was never going to let him end things. In text messages to Jodi, Travis had written, "You’re stressing me out on a daily basis", and, "I’m sick of your soap opera and your ways".

Jodi testified that Travis had attacked her in a rage after she’d dropped the camera. She’d run to his wardrobe and found his gun. After shooting him, she had no memory of getting a kitchen knife and brutally stabbing him. Jodi said she threw away the gun in the desert, and left answerphone messages on Travis’s mobile over the coming days, making it clear she hadn’t seen him.

But the evidence showed she’d attacked Travis. Experts argued he’d been shot after being stabbed because there were defence wounds on his hands.

If Jodi had been so scared of Travis, why did she constantly seek him out? The force used to kill him suggested extreme anger, not fear.

Finally, in May 2013, Jodi Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder. The jury agreed it was a planned murder that was "especially cruel".

Outside, there were cheers from the crowds, but Jodi wasn’t finished and gave more media interviews. "To this day, I can hardly believe I was capable of such violence," she admitted in one. Jodi sold art work from prison to her ‘fans’ and a charity auctioned off her ‘frumpy’ glasses.

Life in prison

During sentencing, the death penalty was considered. At first Jodi said she’d rather die than face life in prison, then she changed her story, begging the jury to keep her alive so she could "do good".

In March this year, a court decided Jodi wouldn’t face the death penalty, and a month later she was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. Travis’s family members screamed "burn in hell" at the hearing. The case had spanned seven years and the costs exceeded $3 million.

Even behind bars, Jodi continues to find the spotlight while Travis’s family is left with their memories of him, tarnished by the harrowing images of his death.