A former detective who investigated the Jodi Arias case in 2008 described what he saw, saying the whole incident was “a travesty.”
Arias was convicted of the murder of her boyfriend, 30-year-old Travis Alexander in Arizona, in 2013. She claimed her innocence, saying that two masked men were responsible for his death, but prosecutors said that it was a premeditated act of murder after Alexander wanted to end their relationship.
His body was found stabbed at least 30 times and shot.
A former detective for Siskiyou County, California, who arrested Arias at her grandparents’ house after the incident took place, revealed what he saw.
Nathan Mendes said that he’s still haunted by the death of Alexander.
“I think people should realize the whole thing is a travesty,” he told Fox News. “As sad as it is, everybody focused on Jodi. Books are named Jodi Arias, shows have the name Jodi Arias. Taglines are Jodi Arias. It’s almost like we forgot Travis even existed in all of this. It became such a circus about Jodi.”
“And she shouldn’t be the headliner here. And hopefully, some people will get to see that other side and realize Travis was the victim here. Jodi made that decision, but we shouldn’t have ever highlighted her. Books and shows should be based on Travis Alexander, not Jodi Arias… I think Travis and his family deserve that.”
A three-part series on Investigation Discovery (ID) that’s called “Jodi Arias: An American Murder Mystery” will premiere soon. It includes Mendes’ testimony.
“The crime scene was such a mess,” he added. “… But when I first came across Jodi and we arrested her at her grandparents’ house, my initial impression of her was she didn’t seem concerned at all… The whole case was bizarre. Especially her demeanor… Even when we booked her, she wanted to make sure her hair looked OK… Things like that were not sitting well with a lot of us.
He said of Arias: “She was almost more concerned about her image… She didn’t have a concern for consequence or outcome… Like for me, I wouldn’t care what my hair looked like if I was being arrested or what my picture is going to look like. To me, that was just weird.”
He observed the woman while she was being interrogated by police. She was initially crying through a four-hour police interrogation, but when the prosecutor left the room, she changed her attitude. He said that he saw her laughing, singing, talking to herself, doing a headstand against the wall, and playing with a garbage can.
“At the time, we were watching it from the next room,” said Mendes, Fox reported. “She was trying to burn off stress. That was an indicator of stress. When people are put under a lot of stress that energy has to go somewhere, so you do see a lot of bizarre things in the interrogation room. She was just kind of rambling. But the whole yoga scene was a little strange to me. I’ve seen some strange things, but that’s up on the top.”
In video footage posted by the Daily Mail, Arias can be seen telling an investigator: “There’s no reason for it.”
“There’s no reason why. There’s no reason I would ever want to hurt him,” she said.
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