Second day of interrogation, July 16, 2008. From Jodi Arias Unedited Police Interrogation Videos posted to YouTube by David Lohr. Jodi wears orange jail scrubs.
Disclaimer: I transcribed these as notes; they are not verbatim. Please do not get hung up on wording as it may not be accurate. Not everything was transcribed; not all questions or discussions are shown here. Please watch videos for accuracy. (G&AMom)
Video 6
Jodi is sitting alone in Interrogation Room, wearing orange jail scrubs, waist chain and handcuffs. She sits motionless for several minutes, staring at a picture on wall. Sighs. Sings. Checks fingernails. Stares at picture again. Scratches side of head on edge of table (because she cant reach with handcuffs).
4 min 11 sec; Female Detective and Detective Flores enter. The detective removes the handcuffs and waist chain. She says Jodi does not seem to be the type to give us any trouble when handcuffs are removed. (Flores leaves.)
The detective sits, turns on voice recorder. She says todays date is July 16; identifies herself as Detective Rachel Blaney. Blaney says the voice recorder is a formality, mostly for Jodis protection. She reads Jodi her Miranda rights and asks if Jodi understands. Jodi says yes.
Blaney: I have been privy to the interrogation and all the evidence. It is obvious to me that you are not the typical suspect. You come from a good home, a good family; your parents obviously care about you. You are a bright girl, probably more intelligent than you were letting on yesterday. There is no question that you were the person who took Travis life, but what I would like to know is to determine whether you are a cold-blooded, cold-hearted murder or are you somebody that got caught up in circumstances and things got out of control. Given the right circumstances, I believe anybody could be capable of hurting another person. What I dont see very often are people like you that are intelligent, spiritual and caring, so I tend to believe that it was an incident of circumstance. It looks to me like Travis befriended you, you got in this relationship and he took advantage of you, of your generosity and kindness. I think Travis was a player and most women have met men like him.
Blaney: Because you are a smart person from a good family, I hope you will make some smart choices for yourself. When this hits the media, do you want to be portrayed as a cold-blooded, cold-hearted murderer or do you want it to be portrayed that things just got out of hand and you are remorseful.
Blaney: You are a businesswoman, right? You have a couple of businesses, right? So you are a smart girl. You are obviously well organized and well read.
Jodi: Im well read but Im not well organized. I procrastinates and let papers pile up. I try to be organized.
Jodi (crying softly): I saw Travis sisters at the memorial service for him. He talked about how proud he was of them because they came from a rough background. The sisters had done really well.
Blaney: I imagine keeping this all inside is tearing you apart. You have portrayed yourself as being very strong but I can see it in your eyes.
Jodi: Flores told my dad I was very cold yesterday but Im not, I am resolute. It is not that I havent cried. I have to be happy and cheerful at work so I have to suppress everything and put on an act. If I am going to get more clients I have to be an attractive person, have an attractive personality, so it is not like I havent been grieving.
Blaney: You have an image to portray, this is understandable.
Jodi: I fall apart when you are not looking. At night when I fall asleep, thats the time I used to talk to Travis (when he was alive). It is hard.
Blaney: You need to decide how you want to be portrayed. You didnt mean to hurt him?
Jodi: I hurt him emotionally but I never meant to hurt him.
Blaney: How are you going to come clean with God if you cant even look his family in the face and show remorse? I dont think that you are a bad person who meant for this to happen. You will be sitting in a cell and this will eat you up. Just because I am a cop doesnt mean I dont care. I am not judging you. I am trying to help you out. When you continue to deny, deny, deny you appear to be a cold-blooded killer. The media will feed off that. The media will be at the trial. Do you want to be like OJ Simpson? Because nobody felt sorry for him or respected him afterwards.
Blaney: Things will start moving really fast now. This is kind of a pause. This is your opportunity before things start getting heavy. We dont need you to tell us anything because we have so much concrete evidence. I am doing this for you. The case will go on no matter what. What you say can help you.
Jodi: How can what I say help me? How can I affect the media?
Blaney: You take control of the situation and paint whatever picture you want to paint for yourself. The media doesnt like warm and fuzzy pictures, they like to paint the vicious, cold-blooded killer because that sells.
Jodi: I dont feel like I have any control over the media.
Blaney: You have the opportunity to tell your side of the story. Were you hoping that your relationship with Travis would lead to marriage? I know it is a cornerstone of your faith. Was he leading you down that path? Did he take advantage of you? Were promises made that were broken? Did he betray your trust? If that was the situation, the media will look at you in a letter light than if you just killed the guy because you are a cold-hearted person. This is your one shot to tell us.
Jodi: Where will my stuff that LE took go?
Blaney: It will be taken to Arizona. There was a list of everything that was taken. A copy was left at each location.
Jodi: It was a carbon copy so my parents couldnt read it well. It included my camera. I feel bad because of my clients whose wedding pictures are on the camera (crying).
Blaney: I dont know when the pictures will be returned. They wont destroy them.
Jodi: I take pride in my work and I wont get the chance to edit them. Also, my sister, I dont know what her problem is, I guess she is far less messed up than me. She is in a program in Klamath Falls till the end of August, some kind of rehabbing for something. My mom was going to send her pictures I took from my sisters prom night and pictures I took of my brother, they were family treasures. My mom wants to mail those pictures to Angela.
Blaney: See, this shows the person you are, that paints the picture of you as a good person caring for your family.
Jodi: Do you know what happened to my journals? I know they took one but did they take the others that were in my fireproof safe? If you want my journals, it documents the entire time starting from when I moved to Arizona up until a few days ago. I dont know if you think it is relevant but I am sure Travis got a lot of ink in my journals.
Blaney: Our job as detectives is to determine what happened. We are neutral. It is not a matter of our opinion. You are not grasping the reality of the situation. Your concern should be for yourself. This is not going away. You are just starting your life. You should be fighting for your life.
Jodi: There is nothing to fight for. If I give you a false confession it wont help me.
Blaney: I dont want a false confession. Nobody ever wants that. I want to give you the opportunity to show the world, to show the jury, to show Travis family that you do have a heart, that you do care, that you are a good person. I dont know the emotions that lead to what happened, obviously there was a lot of emotion. I am laying out scenarios because I wasnt there. But it is like pulling teeth. I asked to talk to you today to give you the opportunity to tell us what happened. You have the opportunity to define yourself. Do you want the murder of Travis to define who you are? This is the time to take control of your life.
