(Reuters) – A woman accused of murdering her Arizona lover testified on Monday that she loved him right up until the day she killed him in the shower of his upscale suburban home, even though they had not been a couple for nearly a year by then.
Jodi Arias, 32, described her love for Travis Alexander after the separation as non-romantic despite a continued physical relationship and exchange of affectionate emails, text and telephone messages.
“I still loved him, but I realized I didn’t want to be with him anymore,” she said.
Arias could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering Alexander, who was found in his Phoenix valley home in June 2008 shot in the face, stabbed 27 times and with his throat slashed.
She has admitted to killing him but has said it was in self-defense after he attacked her when she dropped his camera while taking pictures of him in the shower. The prosecution has said she killed him in a jealous rage.
When the two were a couple, until June 2007, Alexander made the soft-spoken Arias feel special by verbally praising her, writing her love notes and doing favors, such as paying for a moving truck and storing some of her belongings at his house, she told the jury on Monday.