SLAIN Instagram influencer Alexis Sharkey’s family offered a message to her husband’s loved ones after he killed himself when cops swept in to arrest him for her murder.
Tom Sharkey was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head last Wednesday by US Marshals serving an arrest warrant at his relative’s home in Florida.
His shocking suicide came almost a year after his wife Alexis was found strangled by the side of the road in Harris County, Texas, in November 2020.
Alexis’ mother Stacey Robinault broke her silence about Tom’s death this week to share her condolences with his relatives.
“I’m super sorry for Tom’s family,” Robinault told ABC13.
“It’s just such senseless loss that has happened with my daughter and then him. I’m just sorry for all of that. It’s been a horrific year.”
Robinault said Harris County authorities notified her about Tom’s arrest warrant shortly before it was served at his daughter’s home in Fort Myers last week.
She said she’d hoped Tom would be extradited to Houston to face justice and was stunned when she heard he took his own life.
“We definitely would give our condolences to Tom’s family because they’re so innocent in all of this,” she said.
“I’m sure they’re very sad, especially for his daughter, for how that went down. I just really thought that it would end with a trial and that he would come in and make his case. He chose not go that way.”
Robinault revealed that the family has long suspected Tom was involved in Alexis’ death.
“I will admit, we have felt that Tom was guilty of this from pretty much the beginning,” she said.
But, she added: “Loss of life is never good. I do feel like in a way he did serve himself justice.”
Homicide investigator Michael Burrow confirmed that Tom was wanted in connection to his wife’s murder at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Burrow said Tom learned of the warrant for his arrest when Marshals knocked on his door.
He said investigators do not believe anyone else was involved in Alexis’ death and Tom acted alone because he was the only person with a motive.
The warrant was granted on September 29 in Harris County, Texas. A fugitive task force was brought in to locate Tom after it was determined he was not in the area.
Asked whether police should have taken Tom into custody sooner, Burrow insisted that the case was handled correctly.
He also said Tom’s family did not appear to be aware of his alleged involvement in Alexis’ death.
Alexis and Tom had moved to Houston the year before her death.
She was last seen the day after Thanksgiving in their apartment.
Friends had last heard from her at around 6pm that day, and after that phone calls began going straight to her voicemail.
Tom called for the public’s help in finding her when she disappeared.
“My world! My everything! I’m so lost right now! My one and only!” he wrote.
Her body was found on November 28 a few miles from her home.
The influencer – who had 21,000 followers on Instagram – had no visible injuries.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a homicide in January.
After her untimely death, several people close to Alexis have told local media outlets that she was in an abusive marriage.
The Daily Beast reported that Alexis had allegedly told friends during a trip in early November that Tom was abusing her.
She apparently also claimed she was divorcing him.
A friend told the publication: “Throughout the trip, he was sending really awful, nasty messages to her.
“But one night when she and I were talking alone she said, ‘He strangles me and chokes me out and I blackout and wake up on the bathroom floor every single time.’”
Another two friends claimed that on the day his wife disappeared, Tom had been arguing with her before she “hopped over their patio fence and into a car.”
Local reports suggest that Alexis did not leave in her vehicle.
Her husband denied any marital problems, saying he was cooperating with detectives and felt confident police are “going to find everyone that was involved.”
Thomas denied having an argument with Alexis before she disappeared and claimed he was receiving death threats as her Instagram clout grew.
While denying the fight, Tom told the outlet: “There are always other sides to everything.
“I don’t need to set the record straight,” he said. “I’ll let it play out the way it is. I know what my life was with my wife.”
He also claimed that his wife had been unhappy.
“She wasn’t happy. She was stressed. I would cuddle her to try to make her strong,” Tom told ABC13 on December 2, 2020.
It is unclear when Thomas moved away from Houston.
He had not been charged.
Alexis’ Instagram account, which has now been memorialized, included pictures of her and Tom alongside her influencer pictures.
One photo posted on July 3 last year is captioned: “I love this man.”
Tom posted a string of photos on social media after his wife, who he married in December 2019, was found dead, calling her “the most amazing woman.”
Alexis’ mom also revealed last year it took two weeks before Tom allowed her to see the body.
Stacey Robinault said she told her son-in-law 49, that she wanted to bring Alexis’ body home to Pennsylvania.
She told local news station KRIV: “As her husband, he would have primary custody of what determined what happened with her, and he had said all along that he was willing to let her come home.”
Robinault said Tom cut off communication and eventually, the medical examiner made her the next of kin.
“I didn’t think I was gonna get her, and I had actually given up hope, when all of the sudden the forensics lab called me,” Robinault said.
“It just was a very strange – I’d almost call it ‘fight’ to get her.”
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