Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias by Jane Velez-Mitchell Page B
Authors: Jane Velez-Mitchell
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her, but others saw Jodi’s mysterious delivery as a creepy move. Creepy or generous, she would complain that Bobby wasn’t nice to her, but she was soon making the long drive up to Medford on the weekends to hang out with him anyway.
Jodi was getting a little disheartened with Bobby, however. When she observed how chivalrous and kind Bobby’s roommate Matt was with his girlfriend, she realized she was not being treated well. In her journal entries, she wrote of her growing friendship with Matt and his ability to “spiritually help others.”
In January 2000, Jodi confided her dissatisfaction with Bobby to friends who suggested she make a list of pros and cons to see if the relationship was worth saving. She came up with three pros right off the bat: “made me feel beautiful, “could make me laugh,” “would scrape the ice off my car in the winter while I stayed inside and warmed up.” Next, she moved to the cons column. The list stretched for more than three pages: “unsympathetic when I need a shoulder to cry on,” “tells me to ‘fuck off’ on a weekly basis,” “trashes my name to anybody who will listen,” “tells me he loves me but takes it back minutes later,” “trashes my family and my friends.” The list went on and on. She accused Bobby of flirting with other girls on “the party line, the Internet, and at parties and bars,” and claimed he had called her “the worst, filthiest, most unimaginable names in the dictionary.
“The list doesn’t even begin to mention the fact that he likely cheated on me . . . including all aspects of an alternate love affair,” she wrote. “But if he wanted me to go away so badly, why didn’t he just tell me?” Given Jodi’s intense neediness, maybe Bobby had already told her to leave him alone, but she hadn’t listened. After all, he was the one who had moved to another state and she was the one who pursued him again.
Jodi’s next move would be her strangest to that point, and it would also foreshadow odd behavior in her future. Even though things weren’t going well with Bobby, Jodi moved to Medford, Oregon. She said she liked it and wanted to relocate there. Her unhealthy pattern had begun: she would complain about an ex-boyfriend, but then would move very close to him in spite of the turmoil that he’d supposedly brought into her life. Perhaps it was her fear of abandonment. Or maybe she wanted to be near Bobby to whip up drama, such a staple of her relationships. She could distract herself from the self-loathing that often plagues those suffering from mood disorders. Or perhaps she already had her eye on Bobby’s roommate Matt, whom she was lavishing with compliments in her journal. Regardless of her underlying reasons, her behavior had characteristics of stalking.
Jodi was still in touch with her parents, at least sporadically. She wrote in her journal that her parents were exasperated at her life choices and begging her to focus on achieving something. Jodi wrote about a day spent in Yreka with her father. “Patterns of thought. I hope I don’t fall into any and I hope I can uproot those which I’ve embraced since childhood,” she began. “Went to Yreka today. I was sitting with my dad in the little Jodan Karate Dojo and we were watching the kids warm up for class when somehow he and I got on the subject of my life for the past two years. He just kept shaking his head disbelievingly, stating that he couldn’t believe I had just wasted my life and thrown away two years. I responded by telling him that it wasn’t a waste, and that I’ve taken a lot from that experience . . . But he couldn’t believe it and kept repeating and objecting, stating that two years is such a long time, such a waste, and that I was just being rebellious by not listening to anyone.”
The Ariases later confided that they sometimes debated whether their beautiful, promising, but clearly troubled daughter was suffering from bipolar disorder, which is
Jodi was getting a little disheartened with Bobby, however. When she observed how chivalrous and kind Bobby’s roommate Matt was with his girlfriend, she realized she was not being treated well. In her journal entries, she wrote of her growing friendship with Matt and his ability to “spiritually help others.”
In January 2000, Jodi confided her dissatisfaction with Bobby to friends who suggested she make a list of pros and cons to see if the relationship was worth saving. She came up with three pros right off the bat: “made me feel beautiful, “could make me laugh,” “would scrape the ice off my car in the winter while I stayed inside and warmed up.” Next, she moved to the cons column. The list stretched for more than three pages: “unsympathetic when I need a shoulder to cry on,” “tells me to ‘fuck off’ on a weekly basis,” “trashes my name to anybody who will listen,” “tells me he loves me but takes it back minutes later,” “trashes my family and my friends.” The list went on and on. She accused Bobby of flirting with other girls on “the party line, the Internet, and at parties and bars,” and claimed he had called her “the worst, filthiest, most unimaginable names in the dictionary.
“The list doesn’t even begin to mention the fact that he likely cheated on me . . . including all aspects of an alternate love affair,” she wrote. “But if he wanted me to go away so badly, why didn’t he just tell me?” Given Jodi’s intense neediness, maybe Bobby had already told her to leave him alone, but she hadn’t listened. After all, he was the one who had moved to another state and she was the one who pursued him again.
Jodi’s next move would be her strangest to that point, and it would also foreshadow odd behavior in her future. Even though things weren’t going well with Bobby, Jodi moved to Medford, Oregon. She said she liked it and wanted to relocate there. Her unhealthy pattern had begun: she would complain about an ex-boyfriend, but then would move very close to him in spite of the turmoil that he’d supposedly brought into her life. Perhaps it was her fear of abandonment. Or maybe she wanted to be near Bobby to whip up drama, such a staple of her relationships. She could distract herself from the self-loathing that often plagues those suffering from mood disorders. Or perhaps she already had her eye on Bobby’s roommate Matt, whom she was lavishing with compliments in her journal. Regardless of her underlying reasons, her behavior had characteristics of stalking.
Jodi was still in touch with her parents, at least sporadically. She wrote in her journal that her parents were exasperated at her life choices and begging her to focus on achieving something. Jodi wrote about a day spent in Yreka with her father. “Patterns of thought. I hope I don’t fall into any and I hope I can uproot those which I’ve embraced since childhood,” she began. “Went to Yreka today. I was sitting with my dad in the little Jodan Karate Dojo and we were watching the kids warm up for class when somehow he and I got on the subject of my life for the past two years. He just kept shaking his head disbelievingly, stating that he couldn’t believe I had just wasted my life and thrown away two years. I responded by telling him that it wasn’t a waste, and that I’ve taken a lot from that experience . . . But he couldn’t believe it and kept repeating and objecting, stating that two years is such a long time, such a waste, and that I was just being rebellious by not listening to anyone.”
The Ariases later confided that they sometimes debated whether their beautiful, promising, but clearly troubled daughter was suffering from bipolar disorder, which is
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