Almost a year after Instagram influencer Alexis Sharkey was found fatally strangled in bushes near a Houston highway, her husband was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head in Florida as authorities went to arrest him in connection with his wife’s murder.
U.S. Marshals have confirmed that Tom Sharkey, the husband of the 26-year-old Texas influencer, was found fatally shot inside his daughter’s Fort Myers home just before midnight on Tuesday. He was found by Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force members who were executing an arrest warrant in connection with his wife’s murder last November.
The Houston Police Department announced a Wednesday afternoon press conference related to Sharkey’s homicide investigation.
Authorities say Alexis Sharkey, who had over 87,200 Instagram followers, went missing on November 27, 2020, after spending Thanksgiving with some friends. The next morning, she was discovered by a city worker who had reportedly noticed feet coming out of some bushes just off a highway.
‘Incredible Loss’: Instagram Influencer Found Dead Along Houston Road
After a frantic two-day search for the 26-year-old—who friends say had recently expressed her desire to divorce her husband of less than a year—the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences confirmed her identity via fingerprints. In January, an autopsy report concluded that she died from strangulation and ruled it a homicide.
The confirmation that Sharkey was killed only confirmed her friend’s and family’s worst fears.
“The way in which she was found—my child would never do that to herself,” Stacey Robinault, her mother, previously told KPRC. “That doesn’t even make sense. That is absolutely foul play. There is nothing to me that suggests that this was an accident. And there’s nothing to me that suggests anything else, other than that this was done to her.”
As previously reported by The Daily Beast, multiple friends said that Sharkey had a troubled relationship with her new husband, whom she married in December 2019.
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“Her and her husband were going through a divorce,” one friend, who wished to remain anonymous, previously told The Daily Beast. Three other friends also said that Sharkey had complained about physical abuse and said Tom Sharkey could be “controlling and manipulative” in group settings.
It is not clear if Sharkey had filed any paperwork to legally dissolve her marriage.
Texas Instagram Influencer Found Along Road Was Strangled to Death: Medical Examiner
But despite her rocky relationship, the self-described “mentor,” made a name for herself on social media, posting about her trips and interest in health and wellness. In her last post on Nov. 22, Sharkey told her followers about her wish to move to Tulum, saying she’d fallen in love with “the sinks and overall aesthetic” of the popular Mexican vacation destination. Sharkey also had about 57,900 followers on TikTok, where she spent time creating videos about hair care and fashion.
In a December interview with ABC13, however, Tom Sharkey insisted that their marriage was not in jeopardy—and tried to dispel rumors that he had anything thing to do with his wife’s disappearance. He claimed that on Nov. 27 he shared a Thanksgiving meal with his wife and that she left later that evening.
“I just told her she couldn’t drive under the influence. She left anyhow. This is where we’re at,” he told ABC13, adding that he was confident authorities are “going to find everyone that was involved.” “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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