Thomas Sharkey, the husband of the slain social media influencer Alexis Sharkey, committed suicide when law enforcement agents moved in to arrest him.
Houston Police officials state they obtained evidence that confirmed Thomas killed his wife on the night of Nov. 27, amid marital tension and a history of domestic abuse.
“The investigation determined that Thomas Sharkey, her husband, is the only person who had the means, motive, and opportunity to have committed the murder. We were able to eliminate other suspects that came up, some of which were brought up by Mr. Sharkey,” Houston Police Department Homicide Detective Michael Burrow said during a Wednesday news briefing.
“There was also clear evidence that Thomas Sharkey had not been truthful about some key issues, and statements that he made to police.“
And now, 10 months later on Sept. 29, authorities had finally gathered enough evidence to obtain an arrest warrant charging Thomas with Alexis’s murder. Agents with the U.S. Marshal Service located Thomas on Tuesday night at a relative’s Fort Myers, Florida apartment, but he “ran upstairs when he learned law enforcement was there for him.”
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“There was no confrontation,” Burrow revealed. “He simply went upstairs. The marshals were aware by talking to the family that there were firearms in the house and he had access to them. So, they waited and tried to talk him out and eventually, determined that he had taken his own life.”
“I would like to emphasize that this has been a tragic series of events for both families, the Robinaults and the Sharkeys,” Burrow continued. “They’ve been through hell essentially with the attention of the public from this case.”
Burrow went on to reveal how Sharkey left Texas “not long after” Alexis’ death. And over the summer, when detectives asked to meet with him to collect a DNA sample, he was living in Georgia and agreed to do so.Â
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“Suddenly, he no-showed, dropped off contact, came up with a very bizarre story later on about why he essentially disappeared,” Burrow said.
Burrow said there was “no one bombshell piece of evidence that suddenly shifted everything in our favor.”
“The investigation was very lengthy. There’s a lot of different pieces of circumstantial evidence. A lot of things that have had to come through,” Burrow continued. “Mr. Sharkey’s behavior and their conversations with him over time … and the ability to disprove stories. That took time and eventually, the mountain of evidence essentially just became high.“
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