The body of a 26-year-old Instagram influencer has been found on the side of the road in Texas.
Alexis Sharkey was reported missing on Saturday after she failed to show up to a movie date with friends. But her body has now been found “naked with no visible signs of injury” in Houston, reports local news outlet KHOU11.
The Houston Police Department said in a reported statement that Sharkey had no wounds and her cause of death has yet to be determined.
But her family and friends are now looking for answers.
“She was actually at my house at Thanksgiving … We had made plans Friday to get together Saturday. The last time I spoke to her was Friday around 6 o’clock,” friend Tanya Ricardo told KHOU11.
When Ricardo didn’t hear from her the next morning — and saw that she was unusually inactive on social media — she suspected the worst. She went to Sharkey’s apartment and knocked on her door, and when no one answered, she contacted the police.
Ricardo later found out that Sharkey had been found dead.
“Just threw her on the side of the road, naked, like garbage. I just, I don’t get it,” said Ricardo. “Whoever did this, we’re going to find them … No one gets away with something like this. No one.”
Sharkey’s mother also suspects foul play.
“I do believe she was murdered. Yes. From what I’ve been able to gather as well as a mother’s gut. I learned very young as a mom to trust my gut. It’s not let me down,” said Stacy Clark Robinault, in an interview with ABC13. “The horrific nature of her last moments must’ve been … I can’t even. I can’t even go there.”
The family mourned their daughter’s death on social media days after pleading with the public to help find her.
“It’s with deeply broken hearts that Mike and I want to let you all know that Lexi’s body has been found,” wrote Robinault in a Facebook post, with more than a thousand messages of condolences pouring in.
“We cannot begin to thank you all for your love and the kind words you’ve extended to our family! Please give us this time to grieve this incredible loss to our family and this world!!! We will miss you, Love!!!!”
Sharkey, born Alexis Leigh Robinault, referred to herself as a ‘mentor’ and had more than 30,000 Instagram followers. She was married to Tom Sharkey.