And... if she really were traveling to Utah from Northern California, you wouldn't detour through Southern California to get there. There are much more direct routes.
Don't forget, though, that Jodi had to take this insane detour because Darryl had a sister in Southern California with a new baby and she wanted Jodi (of all people) to take some baby pictures. Jodi said she and the sister played phone tag but never actually got together, so Jodi's "official" reason for driving from Northern California (almost Oregon) to Utah via Southern California wound up being just a waste of time. Jodi told Det. Flores that she'd just drive all the way down from Yreka (and back) some other time to take pictures of Darryl's sister's baby.
Jodi may have thought that this would give her a plausible excuse for the insane detour, but it really doesn't. It's still an insane detour, especially since she drove all the way down there without having agreed with the sister beforehand on a specific time for the baby photo shoot.
Does Darryl even
have a sister? Who lived in Southern California then? With a new baby? Who she wanted
Jodi to take pictures of? No doubt LE has looked into this. I wish I knew what they found.
eta: Direct route from Yreka to West Jordan: 777 miles, 11 hours, 30 minutes. Yreka to West Jordan via Pasadena: 1312 miles, 18 hours, 30 minutes.
Even without the insane detour, it's still an insane distance for a weekend trip. Only an insane person would think it made any sense whatsoever.
"So, Jodi, why not behave like a normal human being, fly from Medford to SLC and split the cost of the ticket with Ryan?"
"Because the whole reason for the trip was murdering Travis, so I needed a car and an excuse to be somewhere close to Mesa. Ryan was just an alibi."
