Alexander Travis Victor - Exposed: the secret life of Jodi Arias

I would like to thank my dear friend of many years, HarperCollins senior vice president Lisa Sharkey, for asking me to undertake this fascinating assignment.

This book would not have come into being without the brilliant work of Lisa Pulitzer, who has a gift for seamlessly weaving facts together to form a tapestry that tells a compelling story. Matt Harper, our editor at HarperCollins, expertly steered this project through the tricky shoals of a very tight deadline and the constant storm of lies that Jodi Arias unleashed with almost every sentence. His assistant, Dani Valladares, was right there with him. Beth Karas offered invaluable assistance in keeping us factual and precise in the sea of minutia that this very long trial generated. Martha Smith was gracious and patient as she helped shape the rougher edges into a smooth narrative.

I would also like to thank those who knew Travis and Jodi and had the courage to offer their observations despite the heated passions surrounding this case. Jodis friend Patti was one such observer. A very special thanks goes out to Sky Hughes, who really provided some of the most essential insights into Jodis character and how she operated in Traviss world. Taylor Searle, Deanna Reid, Dave Hall, Shaun Alexander, Josh Denne, Clancy Talbot, Elisha Schabel, and Linda Ballard Boss also spoke honestly and openly, helping us paint a three-dimensional portrait of the complex yet compassionate man Travis was.

Finally, I would like to thank my amazing colleagues. I so appreciate the support Ive received from HLNs top executives, Scot Safon and Katherine Green, and my fabulous executive producer Philippa Cooper Holland as well as In Session executive producer Scott Tufts and Nancy Grace executive producer Dean Sicoli. My producer in the field and the courtroom, Selin Darkalstanian, offered piercing analysis of the key players in the case. Other coworkers also helped me gather information and conduct interviews in the hot Phoenix sun and deserve my thanks, particularly Jackie Taurianen, Mary Cella, Josey Crews, Bill Hinkle, Grace Wong, and Nancy Leung. Nancy Grace, whom I consider my mentor and friend, gave freely of her time and wisdom as a former prosecutor and astute student of human nature. Dr. Drew, as well, shared the benefit of his professional experience with the deeply troubled. The accomplished photographer Joe Conrad generously shared his portraits, as did journalist Chris Hrubesh. Finally, I thank my girlfriend, Donna Dennison, for her kindness and understanding during this challenging project.

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iWant: My Journey from Addiction and
Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life

Secrets Can Be Murder: The Killer Next Door

Addict Nation: An Intervention for America
(with Sandra Mohr)

EXPOSED . Copyright 2013 by Eastwind Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-230399-8

EPub Edition SEPTEMBER 2013 ISBN 9780062304001

13 14 15 16 17 DIX / RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Travis Alexander and his siblings

T he writing of this book posed an extraordinary challenge because the person at the very center of the horrific events is a habitual liar. Adding to the dilemma, Jodi Arias made her upbringing, her interactions with previous boyfriends, and her relationship with murder victim Travis Alexander a huge part of her defense strategy. Tragically, Travis is not alive to give his side of the story. Additionally, many of the individuals Jodi maligned in her testimony and/or her journals, including ex-boyfriends and members of her own family, never took the stand to offer their version of events. Given these remarkable circumstances, the reader is strongly advised to regard everything that Jodi Arias claims, as recounted in the following pages, with skepticism and suspicion. She has earned her reputation as a pathological liar. While many of her claims have been exposed as outright lies, like all accomplished fabulists, Jodi Arias seamlessly wove actual events into her fabrications, often making it impossible to determine where truth ends and fiction begins. Hopefully these mysteries will add to the adventure of the readers journey through these pages. Because of the passions and social media frenzy surrounding this case, and the unreliability of her testimony and writings, the friends and ex-boyfriends Jodi Arias references are identified only by their first names unless they testified in court or spoke out publicly.

by Nancy Grace

T here are some messes in life you can clean up. Murder is not one of them. The decision to kill is irrevocable. There is no turning back the clock. Not ever. Not even if you lie about it.

This universal truth seemed to escape the enigmatic Jodi Arias, but then again, Arias always has a difficult relationship with the truth. Her decision to commit the premeditated murder of Travis Alexander was not just one bad decisionit was the culmination of a series of bad decisions. Those choices reflect a lifetime of warped logic and twisted beliefs. In the following pages of this book, you will learn the secrets of Ariass long journey to murder. Her life story features self-delusion, self-pity, grandiosity, and above all, a sense that nothing in this world could take her down.

The Jodi Arias story does not begin with the murder of Travis Alexander. She was never your typical woman scorned, victim-turned-killer, victim of circumstance, or whatever lie she may tell next; instead, she was something far more insidious. She was the manipulator, the deceiver, and the deviant hidden behind the guise of placid beauty, who spent years building up her own reality until it all came crashing down.

Jodi Arias is a liar and a murderer, but what is perhaps most terrifying about her is that she still believes she will get away with it. This is a woman who thought she could lie her way to freedom. From the first time that she spoke to police until her final day on the witness stand, she treated the truth with disdain. In the process, she shamelessly and repeatedly denied the proof that was so apparent to everyone else, while dragging her innocent victim through the mud. Through all the photographs, the DNA, and the testimonies, Arias never once thought she could be convicted. She matched each mounting piece of evidence with another outlandish lie, holding on stubbornly to her fabrication. Arias then turned to her next lie with a faint smile and a dry tissue for her tears.