Jodi Arias' Former Cellmates Share Secrets About Her "Sociopathic" Behavior

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Jodi Arias' Former Cellmates Share Secrets About Her "Sociopathic" Behavior

ABC News

It's been 10 years since America first met Jodi Arias, an unassuming 27-year-old woman who would soon become one of the country's most infamous criminals.

Arias was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of her former boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in 2013 - after she narrowly avoided the death penalty twice.

Since then, Arias has been serving time in Arizona State Prison.

Jodi Arias
ABC News

Two women who shared a cell with Arias have spoken publicly about their time together, and it's safe to say Arias didn't make a good impression on either of them.

"I really think she would try to hurt someone."

Cassandra Collins bunked with Arias before her conviction in 2013, and doesn't mince words about her former cellmate, calling Arias "out of her freaking mind."

What Collins remembers most about living with Arias is her very confused feelings about prosecutor Juan Martinez.

Juan Martinez
Mark Henle - The Republic

Martinez tore apart Arias' story about killing Alexander in self-defense during cross-examination.

But Collins says Arias was "obsessed" with the prosecutor.

"She asked me questions like 'why doesn't Juan Martinez love me?'" Collins remembered.

"And I'm like, love you? He's your prosecutor, he's there to prosecute you for a crime."

Despite trying to make Martinez "love" her, Collins also remembers Arias threatening to have the prosecutor killed if she was given the death penalty.

Cassandra Collins.Fox 10

"I really think she would try to hurt someone," Collins admitted.

"[Jodi] tried to manipulate every inmate there and tries to control how they think about her case," she added.

"She'll try to suffocate you with her version and her side. When I got released out, I was like thank you God I got delivered out of hell."

"She will use you to get what she wants."

Collins isn't the only prisoner who was disturbed by her encounters with Arias behind bars.

Another one of her former cellmates, Tracy Brown, has a unique souvenir from her time with Arias: six jailhouse tattoos inked by the killer.

Inside Edition

Arias even signed one of her designs on Brown's ankle - a tattoo that Brown calls, "The biggest mistake I ever made."

The tattoos weren't just a way for Arias to bond with her cellmates. Brown says Arias used the hobby - and her painting skills - to make extra money in prison.

Brown says when guards caught Arias with her contraband tattoo supplies, she would charm them until they looked the other way.

"There were a couple of officers "” she would flirt with or play with her hair with "” and they would go in find that tattoo equipment, and they would leave it alone," Brown remembered.

But Brown's most intriguing memory of her cellmate is a jailhouse confession that Arias shared out of the blue.

Jodi Arias
WPTV

She claims that Arias fell to her knees one night and revealed she had meant to kill Alexander's new girlfriend, Lisa Daidone, not her ex-boyfriend.

Brown was even more disturbed by the way Arias treated her parents, who were outspoken supporters of Arias throughout her trials.

She remembers that Arias turned down visits from her parents multiple times - after they drove to Arizona from California just to see her.

Justice for Jodi

Arias was reportedly more interested in seeing her obsessive pen pals than her own parents.

"She will use you to get what she wants, then when she is done with you, she will throw you away," Brown says.

"She's a sociopath"

A new appeal

Arias and her legal team are hard at work on a new appeal, hoping to shorten her life sentence.

A judge recently turned down her legal team's request to have the appeal hearing behind closed doors.

Jodi Arias
Charlie Leight - Pool

Arias' team claimed keeping the public out of the courtroom was "in the interest of protecting the safety of certain parties."

While parts of Arias' trial were aired on TV, she testified to an empty court in her sentencing trial and refused to speak further when the public was allowed inside.

Motions will go back and forth between Arias' team and the court until her appeal some time next year.

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[H/T: Inside Edition, Daily Mail, AZ Cental]

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