Jodi Arias: Prosecution’s Evidence

Jodi Arias: Prosecution’s Evidence

CRJ336 Criminal Investigation

Colorado State University Global

PIECES OF EVIDENCE

Bloody Handprint

At the scene of the crime, Alexander’s bathroom, investigators had found Arias’ handprint on the bathroom wall. The handprint was in blood. Two DNA profiles were taken from the handprint. Those profiles turned out to be Alexander’s and Arias’ (Biography.com, 2019). This evidence would prove that Arias was with Alexander on the day of his death and placed her in the bathroom at or near the time of his death.

.25 Caliber Gun

A .25-caliber gun, similar to the one that Arias had reported stolen, was used to shoot Alexander in the head after he had already expired (Breuer & Breuer, 2013). Investigators reported that there was an obvious disturbance in the blood pooling, which they believed was caused when Arias decided to drag Alexander’s body back to the shower. The knife and gun used to kill Alexander were never recovered and at one point during interviews Arias claimed that she left them somewhere in the desert (Breuer & Breuer, 2013).

The Body of Travis Alexander

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner found that Alexander sustained many injuries. Alexander was stabbed roughly 30 times and presented other defensive wounds on his hands (Druckerman & Newcomb, 2013). The blood spatter found in and around the sink told investigators that he had made his way to the sink as he bled out (Druckerman & Newcomb, 2013).

The Camera

Investigators had found a camera in the laundry room. It looked like it had been thrown in with Alexander’s sheets and clothes in an attempt to destroy the camera (Walsh, 2008). The camera had gone through the wash; investigators speculated this was an attempt to destroy the photos (Walsh, 2008). Luckily, specialists were able to recover the images on the camera (Walsh, 2008). The images found were all time stamped with the date of June 4th, 2008, and had been taken at approximately 1:40 to 5:30pm (Walsh, 2008).

Phone Records

In late June, detectives received the phone records between Arias and Alexander. The phone records proved to be valuable evidence as detectives were able to determine which cell towers the phone signals bounced off of. From this they were able to approximate Arias’ and Alexander’s whereabouts for the week of his murder (Hogan, 2014). On the afternoon of June 2nd, detectives learned that calls began bouncing off towers near San Francisco and heading south towards Monterey. On June 3rd, late in the evening at 8:16pm, Arias made her first call to Alexander (Hogan, 2014). It was a short call. At 8:34pm she again called Alexander (Hogan, 2014). Shortly after this, all calls stopped and for the next 27 hours Arias’ phone was off.

All of the evidence found was very damning for Arias. Even though some items such as the knife and the gun were never recovered, investigators had more than enough to prove that Arias had committed the murder.

References

Breuer, H., & Breuer, H. (2013, January 18). Jodi Arias Trial: Prosecution Rests as Evidence Mounts. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://people.com/crime/jodi-arias-murder-trial-new-evidence/

Blanco, J. I. (n.d.) Jodi Ann Arias. Murderpedia. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from http://murderpedia.org/female.A/a/arias-jodi.htm

Biography.com. (2019, October 17). Jodi Arias. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/jodi-arias

Druckerman, S., & Newcomb, A. (2013, January 3). Jodi Arias Trial: Jurors Shown Photos of Victim’s Dead Body in Shower. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from https://abcnews.go.com/US/jodi-arias-trial-defense-claims-victim-sexual-deviant/story?id=18119972

Hogan, S. (2014). Picture perfect: the Jodi Arias story: a beautiful photographer, her Mormon lover, and a brutal murder. New York, NY: St. Martins Press.

Walsh, J. (2008, September 11). Police recover nude photos of murdered man, suspect Read more: http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/11/20080911alexander0911.html#ixzz6CrJP5K9V. Retrieved February 2, 2020, from http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/11/20080911alexander0911.html