Former DC detective on Alexis Sharkey's death: 'It's only a matter of time before an arrest is made'
Former Washington D.C. police detective Ted Williams joins 'America's News HQ' to discuss the investigation into the death of the social media star.
A former federal prosecutor, speaking on the death of Houston social media influencer Alexis Sharkey, said electronic forensics is “paramount” in solving her case.
Asked if he thought the investigation will proceed, Bill Johnston, who co-hosts the true-crime podcast “Justice Facts,” said investigators will likely “look first at the electronic forensics.”
“Forensics is likely to be extremely important. Probably paramount because science doesn’t lie in these sorts of things. Good science doesn’t mislead,” Johnston told Fox News.
Alexis Lee Sharkey was 26 when she was found dead in Houston. Friends have said her marriage was troubled, but Sharkey'smother said she was not told about any problems. (Stacey Clark Robinault)
Johnston said investigators will likely try to obtain the electronic devices of possible suspects or people Sharkey “dealt with the most.”
“Forensic electronics would be in the early part of it because it often leads to good evidence and it also is somewhat time-sensitive. Sometimes it’s harder to get that history from electronics and from service providers with time, so you kind of need to move pretty quickly on that,” Johnston said.
FORMER DC DETECTIVE: 'ONLY A MATTER OF TIME' UNTIL POLICE MAKE ARREST IN SHARKEY DEATH
It’s been nearly three weeks since a sanitation worker found Sharkey’s naked body alongside a Houston road. She had been missing for 24 hours after leaving her home following an alleged disagreement with her 49-year-old husband, Tom Sharkey, according to media reports.
Alexis Sharkey’s mother, Stacey Robinault, previously told Fox News that she wasn’t aware of any problems in her daughter’s marriage, but believes she was murdered.
Johnston told Fox News that in “any murder case, the odds are in favor the perpetrator being someone who knew the victim.
“Unfortunately, in any relationship where there was turmoil and one of the parties ends up dead, it is a natural and reasonable focus to look at people in those relationships,” Johnston said.
Houston Police have not officially ruled her death a homicide or named any suspects. A spokesperson for the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, the agency that was performing an autopsy of Sharkey’s body, previously told Fox News the possibility of foul play “has not been ruled out.”
Friends of Alexis Sharkey have said the Sharkeys' marriage was troubled, and that she was scared for her life weeks before her death. Tom Sharkey has vehemently denied marital problems, but admitted his wife was “stressed.”
“My wife was an amazing woman. She really was,” Sharkey told local ABC 13. “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.”
Sharkey said he’s cooperating with investigators and he is confident the Houston Police Department will “find everyone that was involved.”
Fox News made multiple attempts to reach out to Sharkey for comment.
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Mark Geragos, a lawyer famed for having representing Scott Peterson, among others, told Fox News that given the circumstances of the case, “it’s way too early to jump to any conclusions” until an autopsy is performed.”
Geragos acknowledged that Sharkey’s husband is in a “catch-22 situation.”
“If you lawyer up, then people are going to say, ‘you’re guilty.’ If you cooperate, the police are going to assume that the husband had something to do with it. So it’s a lose-lose situation,” Geragos said. “What are you supposed to do if you’ve lost a loved one, even if you’ve had an argument? I mean I don’t know any marriage that has never had an argument. God forbid you have an argument and then something happens, and then you’re the suspect. There’s no playbook for that.”
Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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