First published 2013
Award-winning journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell dissects one of America's most sensational murder cases. On June 9, 2008, Travis Alexander was discovered dead in his Mesa, Arizona home with twenty-nine stab wounds, his throat slashed, and a bullet in his head. His ex-girlfriend Jodi Arias became the prime suspect. Arias first denied being at the crime scene, then changed her story multiple times before claiming self-defense. Velez-Mitchell examines the couple's Mormon faith and their turbulent relationship marked by explicit sexual encounters and violent arguments. Using insider interviews with friends of both Travis and Jodi, the author traces Arias's romantic history and reveals a pattern of paranoid, erratic behavior. The book exposes the contradictions in Arias's testimony and explores the psychological makeup of a killer. Velez-Mitchell provides her experienced perspective on the trial that captivated the nation with its blend of religion, sex, and deception.
Genres: crime, non-fiction, biography-memoir, true-crime
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: dark, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Mesa, Arizona
Period: 2008
352 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: explicit-sexual-content, murder, violence