Alexis Leigh Robinault, aka Alexis Sharkey
The criminal case against the man suspected of murdering 26-year-old Alexis Sharkey ended as soon as it began. U.S. Marshals said they found her husband Tom Sharkey dead from a gunshot wound to the head, according to Houston-based television station KHOU. Police later said it was a suicide.
BREAKING: U.S. Marshals confirm Tom Sharkey was wanted for the November murder of his wife Alexis Sharkey. Marshals went to a home where he was staying in Florida. After knocking & announcing themselves, they found Tom Sharkey dead with a gunshot wound to the head. @KHOU pic.twitter.com/nz47OYtSwc
— Janelle Bludau (@JanelleKHOU) October 6, 2021
Alexis Sharkey, whose legal name was Alexis Leigh Robinault, was found dead last November, naked on the side of the road in Houston, Texas. Medical examiner records show that she was strangled to death. Internet speculation turned to her husband, though authorities did not immediately press charges. Friends of Alexis – Lauren Breaux, Ally Cale, and Courtney Ehninger—told KJRK-TV last year that Sharkey had been worried for her well-being in the time before her death. They declined to elaborate on the source of this fear, saying they did not want to undermine the investigation.
In the end, that investigation went straight to Tom Sharkey. He denied wrongdoing last year. Sharkey told KTRK that when he last saw his wife, he told her not to drive under the influence. He said their marriage was happy, but that his wife was unhappy and stressed.
“I would cuddle her to try to make her strong,” he said. “She was an amazing woman. Sir, my wife was an amazing woman. She really was. There’s always other sides to everything. I was the one holding her, cuddling her, and building her back up.”
He had occasionally appeared in his wife’s Instagram account.
“I love this man,” Alexis Sharkey wrote in a July 3, 2020 post.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Marshals said they ultimately tracked Tom Sharkey to Fort Myers, Florida, where he was living with his daughter. They knocked on the door and announced themselves, and the daughter and her boyfriend stepped out, according to authorities. Marshals said they searched the home and found Tom Sharkey dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
BREAKING: US Marshalls confirm to me they found Tom Sharkey, husband of Houston influencer Alexis Sharkey dead in Fort Myers apartment. They were moving in to arrest him for her murder when they found him with self inflicted gun shot wound. (1/2) @winknews pic.twitter.com/dG0BqbHgeo
— Dannielle Garcia WINK News (@Dannielle_Garci) October 6, 2021
Houston police Sgt. Michael Burrow told reporters in a press conference that Tom Sharkey ran up the stairs on learning law enforcement was there, and he died by suicide using a gun.
Burrow described the evidence against the husband in general terms, saying he needed to speak to Alexis Sharkey’s family. Nonetheless, he said the couple’s relationship was falling apart. They had separated. Tom wanted to get back together. Alexis did not. This was heading toward a divorce, and Tom had asked about taking his name off the lease, leaving his wife with the apartment, Burrow said. There was a history of domestic violence.
Alexis Sharkey was at their apartment throughout the day on Nov. 27, 2020. Tom arrived at around 6:40 p.m., said Burrow. Alexis was found dead the next morning.
Burrow described Tom Sharkey as being elusive from pretty much the beginning of the case. Sharkey left Texas within the first two weeks of the investigation, the sergeant said.
The investigation took so long because authorities had to look through the evidence and rule out the other potential suspects, some of whom Sharkey suggested, Burrow said. The husband continued to be evasive when police wanted to collect his DNA. Sharkey allegedly said they could come over to pick it up in Georgia, but he no-showed when they arrived, and he dropped out of contact, Burrow said. He later gave a “bizarre” story about why he disappeared, said the sergeant. That was in early August of this year, and investigators had previously been trying to get his DNA for some time, Burrow said.
Police finally obtained an arrest warrant against him, but they kept it quiet because of the high-profile nature of the case, Burrow said. U.S. Marshals found Sharkey on Tuesday, but he fled up the stairs to die by suicide on learning they were there.
Asked what evidence against Sharkey was the tipping point, Burrow said there was no single bombshell. There was a lot of circumstantial evidence and details they had to comb through. He said that eventually, “the mountain of evidence essentially just became high enough.”
Update – 3:53 p.m.: We added information from the Houston police press conference.
[Image via Alexis Sharkey’s Instagram page]
