The Murder of Influencer Alexis Sharkey: Marriage, Control, and a Fugitive Husband

KRIS CALVERT
6 hours ago
9 min read

Alexis Sharkey’s death was one of those cases that instantly lit up every corner of the internet—because it collided at the intersection of influencer culture, a beautiful young victim, and the ugly, familiar pattern of intimate partner homicide. And for months it looked like it might stall, the way cases sometimes do when the truth is inconvenient. But Houston detectives kept working it, built the timeline, established motive and opportunity, and in the end they did what they said they would do: they identified the killer and moved to arrest him. He just pulled the trigger on himself first.

Who Was Alexis Sharkey?

Alexis Leigh Robinault Sharkey was 26, originally from Pennsylvania, college-educated, and in 2020 she was living in Houston, Texas. Online, she was the picture of wellness—travel posts, Tulum photos, skincare, and the kind of bright, aspirational aesthetic that performs on Instagram. She worked with the MLM brand MONAT and had a steady audience following her life. Her mother would later say Alexis was health-conscious and driven, the kind of daughter who kept moving forward.

She’d married Thomas “Tom” Sharkey in December 2019—he was more than 20 years older than she was. To Instagram, they looked like a fit, adventurous couple. To her friends, especially in the weeks before she died, she was scared. On a trip to Marfa in October 2020, friends said Alexis voiced fear and talked about problems at home. Houston police would later confirm there was a pattern of domestic violence in the marriage and that Alexis was talking about divorce. That becomes critical later.

The Disappearance

Thanksgiving 2020 came and went. Alexis spoke to her mom on November 25. On November 27, 2020, she was last seen alive around 6 p.m. After that, she went dark—no calls, no texts, no social posting. Anyone who studies victimology will tell you: when a young influencer suddenly stops posting with no explanation, it’s a red flag. Her husband started telling family she was missing. Friends started sounding the alarm.

The Body on the Roadside

The next morning, November 28, 2020, a city public works employee found the nude body of a young woman off Red Haw Lane in Houston’s Energy Corridor. There was no attempt to hide her—no defensive wounds obvious, no blood spatter at the scene. Detectives believed she’d been dumped there overnight. It was later identified as Alexis. At first, her cause of death wasn’t public because there were no obvious injuries. That only added to the online speculation.

On January 19, 2021, the Harris County medical examiner made it clear: this was a homicide. Alexis had been strangled. Strangulation is personal. It’s hands-on, it takes time, and statistically it points inward—toward someone in the victim’s intimate circle. That lined up with what investigators were already doing behind the scenes.

The Husband Starts Talking—And Then Stops

In the days right after the body was found, Tom Sharkey did what some spouses do: he spoke to the media. He told ABC13 that the marriage was good, that people were being cruel online, that he was “destroyed.” But detectives would later tell the public that as the investigation progressed, Tom became “untruthful and evasive.” He left Texas within weeks and didn’t even make funeral arrangements—those fell to Alexis’s mother, after the medical examiner changed next of kin. That is not the behavior of a devastated, cooperative widower. It is the behavior of a man pulling away from a homicide investigation.

What Investigators Built

Houston police don’t charge based on vibes; they charge on elements. By late 2021 they said, flat out, that Thomas Sharkey was the only person who had means, motive, and opportunity to kill Alexis. Here’s what that likely looked like, based on what they released:

Means – He had physical access to her and a history of violence. Strangulation is consistent with hands-on domestic abuse. Friends had said Alexis told them he choked her. That’s pattern evidence.
Motive – Alexis was leaving him. Police said she’d spoken of divorce, and her friends backed that up. Domestic homicide often happens at the point of separation, when the abuser realizes control is slipping.
Opportunity – He was the person closest to her when she vanished on Nov. 27. Investigators said they ruled out the other suspects—including ones Tom himself suggested. That narrows the field to him.

When he later failed to appear to give a DNA sample in August 2021, that gave investigators even more confidence they were looking in the right direction. Noncooperation matters. It tells police where to keep digging.

The Warrant and the Move to Arrest

By September 29, 2021, Houston detectives had what they needed: probable cause for Tom Sharkey for the murder of his wife, Alexis. A warrant was issued. That is the moment in a case like this where the narrative shifts—from “we’re looking into everyone” to “we know who did this.” Detectives said plainly that he was the only one who checked all the boxes.

They tracked him to Fort Myers, Florida, where he was staying with his daughter and her partner. On October 5–6, 2021, U.S. Marshals and local authorities moved in to arrest him. This is the “finally caught” phase—law enforcement had the warrant, had the location, and had the suspect. But the moment he realized they were there, Tom ran upstairs and shot himself in the head. He died before they could put cuffs on him. The case didn’t go to trial because the suspect removed himself from prosecution.

So no, he didn’t stand in a courtroom and hear “guilty.” But yes—police got to him. They named him. They cornered him. And his suicide is effectively a consciousness of guilt, arriving at the exact second accountability showed up at the door. That’s as close to “caught” as you get when the suspect chooses death.

Why This Case Resonated

Three reasons this case caught fire online:

Influencer vs. Reality – Alexis projected joy and success. At the same time, she was telling friends she was being abused and choked. That gap between what women show online and what they survive at home is something audiences recognize.
Domestic Violence Pattern – Leaving is the most dangerous time. Alexis was allegedly talking separation and divorce—exactly the trigger point for many intimate partner homicides.
Delay in the Arrest – It took months, which fueled speculation. People started theorizing about cartels, secret affairs, MLM enemies—when in reality, police were doing the slow, disciplined work of eliminating every other suspect so the DA could support the warrant. When they moved, they moved decisively.

What We Can Say With Confidence

Based on Houston PD’s statements and the timeline:

Alexis was strangled on or about Nov. 27, 2020.
Her marriage was deteriorating; she’d discussed leaving.
There was a history of domestic violence.
Investigators ruled out other suspects.
On Sept. 29, 2021, they got a murder warrant for her husband.
On Oct. 6, 2021, as Marshals tried to arrest him in Florida, he killed himself.

That is a clean line from victim to offender.

The Unfinished Part

What Alexis’s family didn’t get is the courtroom chapter—no arraignment, no plea, no trial, no victim impact statement. Her mother said from the beginning she believed Tom was responsible, and Houston police ultimately agreed with her. His death closed the case without resolving the grief. That’s why you still see people call it “unsatisfying”—because formal justice never spoke the words.

Closing It Out

If you strip away the Instagram filters and the viral speculation, this is a tragically familiar story: a young woman trying to leave, a controlling partner, a final lethal escalation, and a suspect who won’t face the music. The only reason we can tell it this clearly now is because Houston detectives stayed on it for ten months and put the case together well enough that when they finally went to get him, there was no doubt about who they were there for.

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Listener discretion is advised due to the graphic nature of some content, including descriptions of violence and criminal behavior.

Copyright & Ownership: This podcast episode, including all audio, video, and written content, is the property of Hitched 2 Homicide and its creators, © 2025 Kris Calvert & Rob Pottorf of RP Music, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do not copy, reproduce, or distribute any part of this content without express written permission.

For licensing, press inquiries, or collaboration requests, contact: kris@hitched2homicide.com

For more true crime episodes, visit: www.Hitched2Homicide.com

Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

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