Travis has said she stalked him. He said that to his friends, right? That's the source? While I think she did stalk him, I don't think TAs friends really knew his true self. He lied to them first and foremost about his relationship with JA (IMO). Something seems off. He was 30 at the time, IIRC, and being an unmarried man in Mormon society at that age is frowned upon, isn't it?
I think we will see a different story which is not just a simple one-sided pursuit by JA. I suspect he told his friends very little about what he was really doing, which was likely that he was very much engaged in an unhealthy two-way relationship with JA. I bet we will see that he called/texted her often, and saw her fairly frequently. I just think he kept it secret. He publicly broke up with her, but actually just changed the terms to: "I am not going to publically acknowledge your existence and you are now my 'paramour'-type person. You're illicit and no one can know." (I don't think he said those words exactly.) And they "broke up" in the eyes of his friends on that June 29th. Notice she recalled the exact date?
And for whatever reason, she agreed to these sick terms to be his "not good enough to be included in my public life" sex partner. Remember she told the detective that they spoke several times a week, usually between midnight and 2am and they might talk for 'hours'? He did not do that involuntarily! (Yes, she could be lying, but I bet not.). And I bet I know what they were "talking about" when he called her late at night. Maybe they did share info about their lives, or maybe he just talked about himself and his torment or his money or his success. Or maybe it was just phone sex when he got home from non-sexual dates with his respectable Mormon girl dates.
If this is how it was, then I bet this marginalization really did a number on JA's already compromised mental state and she was alternately happy ("he wants me so he must care about me") and rageful ("how dare he treat me like a
!") with him. I mean, to be his frequent and intense sex partner, but he won't acknowledge her relationship with him (and she participates by covering for him!?!) is very degrading. And I bet her defense is 'suppressed rage and she snapped" or something like that, over having been emotionally abused. I do think she thought he would give in and take her to Mexico, and after the afternoon sex, when her status remained "you're still nothing but a 3-**** wonder to me," she attacked him in a rage. I'm not a lawyer, but it's all I can come up with as to what the defense strategy might be based on the little that has been presented so far.
Anyway,
this is all speculation and we'll see what evidence the defense has. And
of course it doesn't justify murder. But if this is their strategy, it might mitigate the DP. I am in no way implying he deserved what happened! No way, no how! She made a choice, they both did, to be in a dysfunctional relationship. And if in fact it was emotionally abusive, it's really too bad that she didn't have the capacity to walk away. As far as him saying, "I'm nothing more than a dildo with a heartbeat...", he could have truly felt that way, but another way to perceive it is he could have been manipulating her by turning things around on her, to make her feel that everything is her fault.
This is my
theory at the moment, based on MOO, and speculation only. My opinion is subject to change when we hear the evidence!
