Authorities are releasing new information about the death of Instagram influencer, Alexis Sharkey.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences confirmed to Access Hollywood on Tuesday that the 26-year-old Instagram influencer’s cause of death was strangulation.
The 26-year-old social media star’s nude body was found on the side of a Houston, Texas, highway in November 2020. She had been reported missing days earlier after missing some plans with friends and not posting on social media for more than 12 hours.
Shortly after her body was discovered, Alexis’ mother Stacey Robinault told ABC13 that she believed her daughter’s death was a homicide. “I do believe she was murdered,” she said. “From what I’ve been able to gather as well as a mother’s gut. I learned very young as a mom to trust my gut. It’s not let me down.”
“We’re very broken. We’re very broken-hearted,” Stacey continued. “It’s just painful for someone so bright and having so much to offer … just to be gone, to be snuffed out. I don’t know why. I don’t know why. The horrific nature of her last moments must’ve been … I can’t even. I can’t even go there.”
Stacey told FOX26 that she had to “fight” with Alexis’ husband, 49-year-old Tom Sharkey, to see her daughter’s body to say goodbye.
“As her husband, he would have primary custody of what determined what happened with her, and he had said all along that he was willing to let her come home,” Stacey said. However, Tom cut communication with Stacey and the forensics lab, and Stacey was eventually named as the next of kin.
“I didn’t think I was gonna get her, and I had actually given up hope, when all of the sudden the forensics lab called me,” she said, describing the intimate experience of saying goodbye. “We had just the very closest of family. It was very private.”
Tom told ABC13 that he’s been receiving death threats since his wife’s body was found. “It’s horrible. People are talking tons of crap. I’m getting death threats and stuff. None of that bothers me. 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 said. “Everybody was still looking for her, and I located her Sunday morning in the coroner’s office. They couldn’t ID my wife. They didn’t know who she was. She was just there.”
Tom also elaborated on the last time he saw Alexis, saying he warned her not to drive. “We didn’t fight when she left. I just told her she couldn’t drive under the influence. She left anyhow. This is where we’re at.”
While Tom said that Alexis “wasn’t happy” and “was stressed” before her death, he denied any allegations that their marriage was on the rocks. “I would cuddle her to try to make her strong. She was an amazing woman,” he said. “There’s always other sides to everything. I was the one holding her, cuddling her, and building her back up. 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.”
Lauren Breaux, Ally Cale, and Courtney Ehninger, three friends close to Alexis, said she feared for her life in the weeks before her disappearance. “We don’t know what happened. We obviously have had ideas. We believe she was murdered, absolutely,” said Lauren.
“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,” she continued. “We were sitting down at dinner and she lost it. We walked back to our hotel room and she confided in me that night in things. I looked at her [and thought], ‘She’s petrified. This girl is scared for her life.'”
ABC13 reports that the three women did not disclose who Alexis was fearful of, so as to not compromise the homicide investigation.
No arrests or charges have been made in the case.