Friends of the man brutally murdered by his ex-girlfriend Jodi Arias say they warned him she was obsessed with him and feared they would find him ‘chopped up in her freezer’.
Arias, now 37, has been in prison for 12 years serving a life sentence after she was convicted of murdering 29-year-old Travis Alexander in his Arizona home back in 2008 following a toxic relationship.
Alexander, who was a motivational speaker and devout Mormon, was found dead by his friends with a gunshot wound to the face, a slit throat and almost 30 stab wounds across his body.
Salacious and violent details about Arias and Alexander’s five-month relationship later emerged during her murder trial, including how she was possessive and that they had been having premarital sex, which is forbidden in the Mormon faith.
Jodi Arias, now 37, has been in prison for 12 years serving a life sentence after she was convicted of murdering 29-year-old Travis Alexander in his Arizona home back in 2008 following a toxic relationship. She is pictured in 2015 in court
Salacious and violent details about Arias and Alexander’s five-month relationship later emerged during her murder trial, including how she was possessive and that they had been having premarital sex
His friends have since spoken out in interviews with ABC’s 20/20 about Arias and Alexander’s potent relationship and how they warned him that his ex-girlfriend was dangerous.
They described their initial connection as instant but say they quickly started noticing red flags in regards to Arias, who was a blonde, aspiring photographer at the time, including how she was infatuated and possessive of him.
Alexander’s friends say they grew concerned for his safety when his five-month relationship with Arias grew increasingly toxic and volatile.
‘I started seeing things that were just disturbing,’ Sky Lovingier Hughes said.
‘I said, ‘Travis, I’m afraid we’re gonna find you chopped up in her freezer’. From very early on, she was completely obsessed with him.’
They noticed that Arias would stand outside the bathroom door while Alexander was inside, she would eavesdrop on his conversations and go through his cellphone, emails and social media.
Arias would also forward herself emails that Alexander had exchanged with other women, according his friends.
Sky Lovingier Hughes (above) is one of his friends who have since spoken out in interviews with ABC’s 20/20 about Arias and Alexander’s potent relationship and how they warned him that his ex-girlfriend was dangerous
Alexander’s friends say they grew concerned for his safety when his five-month relationship with Arias grew increasingly toxic and volatile. They eventually sat Alexander down and warned him they thought Arias was dangerous
Lovingier Hughes and her then-husband, Chris Hughes, said they eventually sat Alexander down and warned him they thought Arias was dangerous.
‘All of a sudden I got this cold feeling over me and I knew she was outside our door… I mouthed to them and pointed at the door and I said, ‘She’s out there,” Lovingier Hughes said.
Alexander, who had rebuffed their concerns, opened the door suddenly and was confronted by Arias.
His friends said the look in her eyes was ‘evil’.
‘There was a rage in her eyes… Sky and I are very frightened at this point. She might burn down our house, you know, with all of us in it,’ Hughes said.
Alexander ended his relationship with Arias after five months but friends say she then moved to Arizona and would show up at his home announced.
He was pursuing relationships with other women but his friends didn’t know that he was still texting Arias and having phone sex with her.
In 2008, he was meant to go to Mexico with the Hughes and a Mormon woman that he was seeing at the time.
After his friends hadn’t heard from him in five days, they went to his home and discovered his body.
The trial turned into a media circus as salacious and violent details about Arias and Alexander’s relationship, as well as images of the violent crime scene, were broadcast live around the world
Alexander, who was a motivational speaker and devout Mormon, was found dead by his friends with a gunshot wound to the face, a slit throat and almost 30 stab wounds across his body
Arias was accused of violently attacking Alexander in a jealous rage after he planned the Mexico trip with the other woman.
After the murder, Arias fled and drove to Utah to meet up with another romantic interest before being arrested weeks later.
She initially denied any involvement in the brutal murder but later claimed she killed him in self defense after he attacked her.
In a police interrogation interview, Arias denied killing Alexander and said she was on a road trip in Utah at the time.
Arias had actively courted the spotlight since her 2008 arrest
‘There’s no reason for it,’ she said. ‘There’s no reason why. There’s no reason I would ever want to hurt him.’
In that same interrogation, Arias was captured on camera doing yoga and handstands when she was left alone in the room.
Police then presented her with evidence that showed she had been inside Alexander’s home the day he was murdered.
A camera found in Alexander’s washing machine contained deleted photos of her naked in his bed. Police also uncovered photos that were accidentally taken showing Alexander’s naked body in the shower after he was attacked.
When Arias realized police were going to show her the photos, she said: ‘I am not a murderer, but if I was, I would wear gloves or try to wash him off or something.’
Arias had actively courted the spotlight since her 2008 arrest with multiple television interviews.
During the TV interviews she told a bizarre story of masked intruders breaking into the home and killing Alexander while she cowered in fear.
She was also on the witness stand for several weeks during her 2013 trial.
The trial turned into a media circus as salacious and violent details about Arias and Alexander’s relationship, as well as images of the violent crime scene, were broadcast live around the world.
She did TV interviews after her arrest and was on the witness stand for several weeks during her 2013 trial
Footage from a police interview emerged that showed Arias initially claiming she wasn’t not behind the brutal murder. She was later spotted in the interview room bizarrely doing backbends, singing and handstands
The guilt phase of Arias’ trial ended in 2013 with jurors convicting her but deadlocking on punishment. A second sentencing trial ended in early 2015 with another jury deadlock, leading a judge to sentence Arias to prison for life.
The friends have spoken out as Arias is trying to appeal her murder conviction, arguing she wasn’t given the right to a fair trial because of a prosecutor’s misconduct and a judge’s failure to control news coverage during the salacious case.
Arias’ lawyers said prosecutor Juan Martinez improperly questioned witnesses, courted journalists and disregarded court rulings by repeating questions after the judge had overruled them.
They also said Judge Sherry Stephens let news organizations turn the trial into a ‘circus-like atmosphere’ and was slow to restrict journalists even when they broke the court’s media-coverage rules.
Terry Crist, an attorney for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, has said in court records that the publicity didn’t cause any prejudice against Arias but acknowledged instances in which Martinez was argumentative with Arias and a psychotherapist who testified on her behalf.
Crist has said when issues of publicity popped up during the trial, jurors repeatedly said they hadn’t seen news coverage of the case and could remain fair and impartial.
Crist has said Arias generated publicity by giving TV interviews before the trial and spoke on camera to a reporter on the day of her guilty verdict, even though her attorneys didn’t want her to do so.
A lawyer defending the conviction on behalf of the state said overwhelming evidence of Arias’ guilt should outweigh mistakes that were made by the prosecutor who won the case.