The husband of a woman who was found dead alongside a Texas road last month allegedly stopped his late wife’s mother from seeing her body.
Alexis Sharkey’s mother, Stacey Robinault, told KRIV and KTHX that she could not plan a funeral for two weeks because her son-in-law, Tom Sharkey, 49, would not give her access to her daughter’s body. Robinault said Tom Sharkey initially seemed cooperative about having Alexis Sharkey’s body transported from Texas to her native Pennsylvania, but he stopped communicating with her.
“It just was a very strange … I’d almost call it fight, to get her,” Robinault said.
Tom Sharkey was listed as next of kin and had sole control over his late wife’s body. KRIV and KTHX reported that after two weeks of inaction, the medical examiner changed Alexis Sharkey’s next of kin from her husband to her mother.
“We did get to see her body. It just — it didn’t look like her,” friend Ally Cale told the news outlets.
Alexis Sharkey, 26, was found dead on November 28 off Interstate 10 in Houston, four miles from her home. Sharkey last contacted her friends a day earlier, and she reportedly spent Thanksgiving with a friend.
Alexis Sharkey’s cause of death remains unclear as officials await the results of a toxicology report. Her body was reportedly nude, and she had no visible injuries. Authorities believe her body had been there overnight, according to reports.
Several people close to the couple have since alleged Alexis Sharkey was in an abusive marriage.
Alexis Sharkey allegedly told friends during a trip last month that her husband was abusing her and she feared for her safety. She reportedly also claimed she was divorcing him.
“Throughout the trip, he was sending really awful, nasty messages to her,” a friend told The Daily Beast.
“But one night when she and I were talking alone she said, ‘He strangles me and chokes me out and I black out and wake up on the bathroom floor every single time.’”
Two friends also claimed Tom Sharkey told them that the day his wife disappeared, he had gotten into an argument with her before she “hopped over their patio fence and into a car.” Local reports indicated that Alexis Sharkey did not leave in her car.
No arrests have been made in connection with Alexis Sharkey’s death. Authorities have not named any persons of interest in this case.
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[Featured image: Alexis Sharkey, Tom Sharkey/Facebook]
