Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias (27 page)

PHOTOGRAPH SECTION

From a young age, Jodi was fixated on art, and it was an outlet to which she would turn for the rest of her life.

Jodi’s childhood best friend, Patti, explained that Jodi was a good kid when they were friends. She never expected Jodi would become a killer.

Jodi was happiest with her friends in Santa Maria.

From an early age, Jodi was always preoccupied with her appearance, trying to keep herself as perfect as possible.

Jodi’s financial troubles began before she and Travis met. Jodi reportedly could not afford to buy her own bridesmaid’s dress for her friend’s wedding, so the bride’s dad bought it for Jodi. But about a year later, Jodi got a mortgage on a house with her then boyfriend Darryl.

Travis with one of his first loves, Linda Ballard, whom he met years before Jodi. He was head over heels in love with Linda and wanted to marry her—even going so far as to buy her a ring. But while she cared for him, she decided he was not the one. (
Courtesy of Linda Ballard Boss
)

Travis with his longtime friend and ex-girlfriend Deanna Reid. When Travis and Jodi met, he and Deanna had been broken up for about a year, but the two still shared an incredibly close connection. Despite Travis and Deanna’s mutual Mormon faith, both admitted to having a sexual relationship together. Friends later felt that Travis was still emotionally in love with Deanna when he was dating Jodi. (
Courtesy of Sky Hughes
)

When Deanna and Travis were dating, her job led her to move near Phoenix, and Travis decided it was a good opportunity for him to move as well. He eventually bought a five-bedroom home in Mesa, Arizona. (
Courtesy of Joe Conrad
)

Travis outside his house in Mesa, Arizona. He rented out some of the other bedrooms to men he met through either the Mormon church or his job at Pre-Paid Legal. It was in this house that he was found dead in the bathroom shower. (
Courtesy of David Hall
)

Though Sky Hughes (left, with Deanna Reid) initially supported Travis and Jodi’s relationship, she and her husband, Chris, quickly became uncomfortable with Jodi. Sky was one of the first of Travis’s friends to voice concerns about Jodi to Travis. (
Courtesy of Beth Karas
)

Chris
(right)
and Sky Hughes initially welcomed Jodi into their home at the start of her relationship with Travis. But they soon revoked their support and banned Jodi from their home, warning Travis there was something very wrong with her. (
Courtesy of Sky Hughes
)