Jonathan Crews, a 27-year-old Caucasian male, was found dead in his apartment in Coppell, Texas, on February 2, 2014. The cause of his death was a single bullet fired from a SIG Sauer 9mm, which lay by his side. Jonathan was a resident of Grand Prairie, Texas, and at the time of his death, he was working as the Operations Director at Concentra, a health care company. He was also a gun enthusiast and shot guns competitively as an adult. Jonathan loved practicing martial arts in his free time and had recently started a new job and moved into his apartment.
On the night of his death, Jonathan was in his apartment with his girlfriend of three months, Brenda Lazaro, who called 911 at 11:30 p.m. Brenda, who struggled with English, tried to explain to the operator that Jonathan had shot himself in the heart and was losing a lot of blood. Paramedics arrived at approximately 11:40 p.m. to find Jonathan dead in his bed, with the covers up to his waist and a gunshot wound on the left side of his chest. The bullet traveled through his heart, lungs, and liver before exiting out of the right side of his back, into the bed. The gun was sitting on top of his blanket, next to his dead body.
Brenda claimed that Jonathan's death was a suicide, stating that they were having a discussion when Jonathan said he loved her and was going to prove his love. She also claimed that she didn't know he had a gun. However, Jonathan's family and friends were skeptical of Brenda's account. They described Brenda as having a jealous nature and mentioned that she often made Jonathan choose between their relationship and his friendships with other women. On the day of his death, Jonathan had reportedly had lunch with two close friends, Emily and Jacob Ramsey, which allegedly caused tension between him and Brenda.
The case remains unsolved, and the police have stated that they do not have enough evidence to determine what happened. The autopsy report listed Jonathan's manner of death as undetermined. Despite the lack of criminal charges, Jonathan's family pursued a civil lawsuit against Brenda, alleging that she was responsible for his death. In September 2022, a Dallas County civil jury found Brenda responsible for Jonathan's death and awarded the Crews family $206 million in damages. The jury's verdict was largely symbolic, as it is unlikely that the family will receive much money from Brenda. The verdict, however, validated the family's long-standing doubts about the suicide narrative and supported their suspicion that Brenda may have been responsible for Jonathan's death.
