A husband who was accused of murdering his famous wife shot and killed himself when police caught up with him after being on the run.
Tom Sharkey had been wanted for the killing of his influencer wife Alexis Sharkey, whose body was found naked next to a roadside after she had been strangled.
Alexis, 26, who made her name on Instagram, had disappeared less than 24 hours before she was found dead, and officials believed her body had been “carefully placed” at the side of the road.
Bodybuilder Tom, 50, denied claims he had a fallout with his wife and they had argued before her death, but an arrest warrant was issued last month.
Police had tracked him to his daughter’s home and were preparing to arrest him when he died in an apparent suicide.
A relative now claims he ran upstairs and shot himself at about 1am on Wednesday, local media reported.
His body was found after cops knocked on the door and began searching the home in Fort Myers, Florida.
Police said Tom was the only person with the “means, motive and opportunity” to have carried out the murder of Alexis, according to a report in Mirror Online.
Investigators said there was a history of domestic violence and Tom had been “evasive” and lied during the probe.
He was due to be charged with murdering his wife, whose body was found three miles from their home in Houston Texas in November 2020.
After her death, friends said she was planning to divorce her husband and had claimed he was abusive.
Tom had made a number of Facebook posts following the discovery of his wife’s body.
In one, he wrote: “My world! My everything! I’m so lost right now! My one and only!”
Later, he spoke to KTRK-TV, saying: “We didn’t fight when she left. I just told her she couldn’t drive under the influence.
“She left anyhow. This is where we’re at.”
While Tom denied that they had a bust-up before she died, he did say “there’s always other sides to everything.”
He added: “I don’t need to set the record straight.
“I’ll let it play out the way it is. I know what my life was with my wife.”
