Great post, Puzzler! Such good points. I've heard a lot of people say that she killed him because if she couldn't have him, nobody else would. But I don't necessarily think it's that simple. I don't think it's just a scorned love thing, I think it goes deeper. And let's face it, Jodi is not capable of any type of love.
Did you notice how when Detective Flores tells her during the initial interrogation that her motive was jealousy, she genuinely (I use that word loosely) seems to deny that and almost catches herself up in wanting to explain more of a motive for just a quick second but doesn't really say more. But she's pretty direct that it wasn't jealousy. I just found that moment to be interesting.
I agree that this was much more about control and her ticket to opportunity. Yes no doubt she definitely was jealous of those other girls, but not so much because she was head over heels in love with him. Rather more so because she couldn't control him and those girls were getting something she wanted.
She so desperately wanted him and his life - the whole package. He held the ticket to her getting out of Yreka and staying out of Yreka once and for all. All those trips they took, the big house, the business opportunities, the potential of marriage... was all a taste of the good life for her. And he could take it all away from her at any moment, and was fighting hard to do that. It was his life and his circle, not hers. I do think she desperately tried to blackmail him and he wasn't having it.
I think she wanted him gone because her opportunity had clearly passed, she was furious about that and had run out of options. She couldn't let him stand in her way. All of those horrific wounds are clearly from somebody who has intense rage and hatred, which I have to imagine is born out of more than simple jealousy.
Of course, this is all just speculation. Just my take on all I have absorbed.
