Killing of Alexis Sharkey

Alexis Leigh Sharkey, née Robinault, was a 26-year-old American social media influencer originally from Warren, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Youngsville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in 2016 with a major in biology and minors in nutrition and psychology. She worked for the multi-level marketing company Monat, promoting haircare, skincare, and wellness products, and was active on Instagram and TikTok. She married Thomas Sharkey on December 20, 2019.

In October 2020, friends who traveled with Sharkey to Marfa, Texas, later said she appeared afraid of someone and worried for her safety. Her last Instagram post, on November 22, 2020, documented a trip to Tulum, Mexico. She spoke with her mother on November 25, and shared a Thanksgiving meal with her husband on the morning of November 26. She was last seen alive around 6 p.m. on November 27, 2020; Tom Sharkey later described their parting as amicable aside from a disagreement about her driving. Friends said Sharkey was usually inseparable from her phone, but she stopped responding to messages afterward.

On November 28, Tom reported her missing to family and posted publicly on Instagram, thanking followers for assistance while criticizing others for negative comments about her disappearance. He later said he was receiving death threats. That same morning, around 8 a.m., Sharkey's nude body was found in bushes on the 1000 block of Red Haw Lane in the Energy Corridor area of Harris County. Investigators believed the body had been left overnight and found no evidence she had walked to the location or that anyone had attempted to conceal it. Tom identified her body at the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office the following morning. In a televised interview, he said his marriage had been happy but that his wife had not been as content as her social media presence suggested.

About two weeks later, Tom left Texas and did not arrange her funeral; the medical examiner subsequently listed her mother as next of kin. A private funeral, kept secret from Tom, was held on December 19, 2020. On January 19, 2021, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science ruled her death a homicide by strangulation. Police made repeated attempts to obtain a DNA sample from Tom; he agreed to a meeting in early August 2021 but did not appear. On September 29, 2021, police secured an arrest warrant for him, later stating he was the only person with the means, motive, and opportunity to have killed her. On October 5, 2021, authorities located him in Fort Myers, Florida, staying with his daughter and her partner. As police prepared to arrest him early on October 6, he ran upstairs and shot himself. Officials said he had been evasive with investigators and that there was a history of domestic violence between him and Alexis.