Jodi Arias was convicted of brutally murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander at his Arizona home in 2008.

Who Is Jodi Arias? Jodi Arias made headlines when she was charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008. After the gruesome, salacious details surrounding the murder were revealed, Arias testified during the 2013 trial that she had killed Alexander in self-defense. She was found guilty of first-degree murder, and later sentenced to life in prison after two juries deadlocked on whether to impose the death penalty.

Meeting Travis Alexander Convicted killer Jodi Ann Arias was born on July 9, 1980, in Salinas, California. In the summer of 2008, Arias made national headlines when she was charged with murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander, a 30-year-old member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who was working as a motivational speaker and insurance salesman. Arias and Alexander had met at a conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2006, while he was living in Arizona and she was a resident of Palm Desert, California. By the following year, they were a committed couple. After only five months as a couple, however, the two went their separate ways in late June 2007 but still maintained a sexual relationship.

Murder Investigation Begins On June 9, 2008, Alexander's body was found in a pool of blood in the shower of his Mesa, Arizona, home by friends who had become increasingly worried about his whereabouts. Almost immediately after entering the residence, the young men began taking in the heinous crime scene. In the bathroom, they found Alexander with a gunshot wound to the head, more than two dozen stab wounds and a deeply and widely slit throat. Investigators later determined that the murder had occurred five days before his body was found, on June 4, 2008. Arias quickly became the focus of investigations. She was indicted on first-degree murder charges on July 9, 2008, and arrested in California soon after. Arias initially denied any involvement in the killing, despite the discovery of her DNA mixed with Alexander's blood at the crime scene, but she later changed her story, claiming that she and her ex had been attacked by two masked intruders. After killing Alexander, the criminals decided to let her live, she told the police, adding that she chose not to alert authorities at the time because she feared the intruders might seek revenge. Jodi Arias Photo: AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Charlie Leight

Sensationalized Case Testimony in Arias's trial began in early January 2013, which was aired live to the public and became a media sensation. The following month, the alleged killer took the witness stand in her defense, from where she would testify for 18 consecutive days. Already infamously known for her different accounts of Alexander's murder, Arias stated that she had killed her ex in an impassioned act of self-defense. She testified that Alexander had frequently abused her and that she killed him after he came at her in a fit of rage when she dropped his camera. She also claimed to have suffered memory loss as the result of emotional trauma experienced during the incident, with a psychological expert corroborating that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. "Lying isn't typically something I just do," Arias stated during the trial in response to a query from the jury. "The lies I've told in this case can be tied directly back to either protecting Travis's reputation or my involvement in his death ... because I was very ashamed." Conviction and Penalty Retrial