Travis Maldonado became well-known after the Netflix series Tiger King premiered. He was one of the many husbands of infamous animal breeder Joe Exotica. He married Joe in a triple wedding with John Finlay. Though Travis died in a tragic accident, people are still interested in certain aspects of his life.
The handsome young man from Southern California had a bright future ahead of him. However, he is no longer with us due to his carelessness.
Today, let us examine Travis Maldonado’s life and discover the actual cause of his death. Meanwhile, learn about his past life and more!
Travis Maldonado was born into a close-knit family
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Travis Michael Maldonado, the late celebrity spouse, was born in California on March 22nd, 1994. He is one of Danny and Cheryl Maldonado’s three children. Travis spent the majority of his life in San Bernardino County, where he also graduated high school.
Travis was of Caucasian ethnicity. From his father’s side of the family, he has Spanish ancestors.
Travis’s father, Danny, is also a retired United States Marine. He left his position as Master Seargent. He retired after more than 20 years of service to the country. Travis’s mother Cheryl, on the other hand, previously worked at Philips 66 but left the company in October 2019.
Travis Maldonado had two brothers and sisters
Travis Maldonado had two older sisters, Ashley and Danielle Maldonado. Travis’s sisters shared numerous posts on social media following his death, indicating that all three of them were very close. When the family lost their little brother, it was a heartbreaking moment.
Despite their differences, all three Maldonado siblings were quite close to each other. Furthermore, following Travis’ tragic death, his sister Ashley launched a GoFundMe campaign for them to travel from California to the zoo where her brother died.
Ashley and Danielle continue to remember their late brother. The wound has not yet healed.
Travis had been a drug addict in high school
Travis’s adolescence was not as idyllic as one might expect. He was addicted to meth and struggling in school. His parents were concerned about what he would do after graduating from Chino High School. It was at this point that they decided to send him to the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. One of Maldonado’s family members was already employed there. The employee then suggested to Joe that he take Travis in the hopes that he would be able to overcome his addiction.
Though we can’t say for sure if Travis quit smoking, he seemed to enjoy his time back at the zoo. Travis, unlike John Finlay, did not undergo a visible transformation. He was still the same good ol’ guy who liked to smoke and ride his motorcycle around the estate.
In a three-way ceremony, Maldonado married Joe Exotic.
Many of you have probably heard of polygamous relationships, but have you ever heard of a three-way wedding ceremony? So you will now.
Joe fell in love with Travis after he started working at the Oklahoma Zoo as a teenager. In 2014, he married Joe and Joe’s other boyfriend, John Finlay, within a month of moving in. Travis’s death shocked everyone because the couple had been married for years. When word of Travis’s death reached Joe, he told Texas Monthly, “My entire soul died.”
Furthermore, John Finlay has stated that the marriage between him, Travis, and Joe was never legal. John is currently engaged to his girlfriend Stormey Sanders. Meanwhile, Travis’s husband, Joe Exotic, has been married to Dillon Passage since 2017.
Travis Maldonado’s Cause of Death Did he kill himself?
Travis passed away on October 6, 2o17. He died tragically from a self-inflicted wound, not from suicide. Travis was at the zoo’s gift shop at the time, showing off his Ruger pistol to a member of the staff. He was attempting something he’d read about on the internet.
Travis removed the magazine from the gun, and even though there was still a bullet in the chamber, the internet told him it wouldn’t fire. Unfortunately, it did fire, killing him almost immediately. He was dead before the first responder arrived.
Joe was devastated by his death. Finlay remembered that when he went to see Joe after Travis died, he was a wreck. He was nothing like his usual self. When Finlay went to his house to find him, he found him sobbing in the garage with a gun in his hand.
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