Houston police investigate death of social media influencer Alexis Sharkey
Alexis Sharkey's naked corpse was discovered on Saturday morning on the side of the west Houston roadway; Investigators have not ruled out foul play
Friends of Texas social media influencer Alexis Sharkey say the young woman feared for her safety before her naked body was found in bushes along the side of a west Houston street, according to a recent report.
The 26-year-old Sharkey had moved to the city just months earlier with her new husband, Tom Sharkey, after the couple got married. But as recently as weeks ago, she revealed to her friends that she was worried for her life, local news station ABC13 reported.
"I'm going to be honest, she confided in me about how worried she was for her safety when we went to Marfa, Texas, almost a month ago,” friend Lauren Breaux told the station. “We were sitting down at dinner and she lost it. We walked back to our hotel room and she confided in me that night.”
Alexis Lee Sharkey was 26 when she was found dead in Houston. (Stacey Clark Robinault)
Breaux did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment Thursday.
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Breaux was joined by two of Alexis Sharkey’s friends for the interview. Neither of the three said who or what they believed Sharkey was fearful of.
"We don't know what happened. We obviously have had ideas. We believe she was murdered, absolutely," Breaux noted.
An autopsy is still pending, but a spokesperson for the medical examiner's office told Fox News investigators have not ruled out foul play. Police have not released any new information in the case as of Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, Alexis Sharkey's mother, Stacey Robinault, told Fox News her daughter had "never expressed "any fear of anything to me."
She said there was "no doubt" in her mind that foul play was involved in her daughter's death. She also said she was aware of a recent "rift" between her daughter and her husband but knew nothing of an alleged divorce. There have been reports that the couple fought on the night she went missing and were on the verge of divorce.
Tom Sharkey previously told ABC13 his wife was unhappy and "stressed" before she left their house on Friday. The next day, the 26-year-old’s body was discovered by a city public works employee who reported feet in some bushes along the street, according to the news station.
Sharkey insisted he was the one who was “building her back up.”
“Sir, my wife was an amazing woman. She really was. There's always other sides to everything. I was the one holding her, cuddling her,” he said, according to the report. "I don't need to set the record straight. I'll let it play out the way it is. I know what my life was with my wife."
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Tom Sharkey rejected the notion that he and his wife had a fight on the night she went missing, reportedly saying he and Alexis “didn’t fight when she left” on Friday.
“I just told her she couldn't drive under the influence," he said. "She left anyhow. This is where we're at."
He told Robinault on Saturday that Alexis “took off.”
Tom Sharkey told the station he has been cooperating with the police.
"It's horrible. People are talking tons of crap. I'm getting death threats and stuff. None of that bothers me,” he said. “What bothers me is that world and everybody in it focuses on all of the stuff that doesn't matter ... should have been focused on finding my wife.”
He denied that the pair was in the process of filing for divorce.
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Friends previously spoke anonymously to the Daily Beast, telling the news site Sharkey wanted to file for divorce or was already in the process of doing so. She was allegedly arguing with her husband throughout the trip to Marfa and said he “had been putting hands on her," one friend reportedly recalled.
"Throughout the trip, he was sending really awful, nasty messages to her," the friend, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Daily Beast. "But one night when she and I were talking alone she said, 'He strangles me and chokes me out and I blackout and wake up on the bathroom floor every single time.'"
Fox News's Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
If you've got a tip, send it to Stephanie.Pagones@foxnews.com.
