May 8, 2014: Annie’s killer Jay Travis had his first parole hearing today. Although no one in Annie’s family was able to attend, we were well represented by Catherine with the California Attorney General’s office. Catherine has been on this case from the very beginning, and she went to the parole hearing filled with passion. This report is based on what Catherine told me. In short, Jay’s parole was denied, as expected. His next hearing will be in 7 years. The hearing ran for about 6 hours. The two-member board, one man and one woman, were very nice and experienced, and they asked all the right questions. Jay spoke and answered their questions for quite a while. He said that he was seeing two other women at the same time as Annie (we knew about one), and that the stress of that situation was very hard on him. He said that his girlfriend Tracy (and the mother of three of his children) urged him to kill Annie. (We’ve heard this before.) Jay said he told her he wouldn’t do that, but then he thought a lot about it, and how he would do it—essentially admitting premeditation, which has never come up before. On the day of the murder they went to that party together and had a good time. He claims he doesn’t know why he shot her. This is a direct contradiction of the letter he wrote to the sentencing judge, when Jay claimed he killed her because he loved her so much and couldn’t bear anyone else having her. This is just one example of Jay’s disconnect with reality, and it’s what gave the parole board the most problem. He has to work on a number of his issues, but even after 7 more years it probably won’t go well for him. And by then he’ll be about 50 years old.
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