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On February 2, 2014, Jonathan Crews, 27, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his heart. His body was discovered on his bed at his Coppell, Texas, apartment. Crews' girlfriend of three months, Brenda Lazaro, who was present at the scene when the incident occurred, told officers that Jonathan shot himself in an effort to "prove" how much he loved her.
Lazaro's narrative, however, failed to convince the victim's family members, who initiated their own investigation when police failed to prove whether he was murdered or died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His family believed Lazaro was upset that Crews was breaking up with her over an ultimatum she put forth. She had allegedly asked Crew to pick between her or his friend Emily - the gunshot was reportedly a result of this scuffle.
This week's NBC Dateline episode titled Behind Door 813 will revisit the suspicious death of Jonathan Crews. The all-new episode is scheduled to air on Friday, April 7, 2023, at 9:00 pm ET.
The synopsis reads:
"After 27-year-old Jonathan Crews dies mysteriously in his Texas apartment, his family takes matters into their own hands in an effort to find answers."
Jonathan Crews was shot with the SIG Sauer 9 millimeter he owned
On February 2, 2014, at 11:30 pm, 911 operators received a distressing call from Brenda Lazaro, who told officers that her boyfriend, Jonathan Crews, shot himself in the heart. Reports state that the phone call lasted for ten long minutes as Lazaro tried to explain why the victim had shot himself. In the call, she stated that Crews shot himself to prove his love for her.
Within ten minutes, paramedics arrived at the Coppell, Texas, apartment and found Jonathan Crews dead in his bed with sheets up to his waist and a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest. Both his arms were outstretched and his body slouched to the left.
Crews was shot with the SIG Sauer 9 millimeter he owned. First responders noticed that the bullet entered through the right side of his back and exited onto the bed after passing through his heart, lungs, and liver. The weapon was found next to his body on top of the blanket.
Lazaro was the only one present at the scene when the incident occurred. She alleged that Jonathan died by suicide in a foolish effort to "prove" his love for her. Authorities, however, claimed they did not have sufficient evidence to be sure about what happened. Moreover, in the autopsy, the cause of death was declared undetermined.
Jonathan Crews' family believes the girlfriend shot him in a fit of jealousy after giving him an ultimatum
The subsequent investigation into Jonathan Crews' shooting death revealed that he had an argument with Brenda Lazaro, his girlfriend of three months, earlier that day over a woman named Emily. According to Lazaro's account, later that evening, Crews told her he loved her and would prove his love for her before shooting himself in the chest.
Later, Emily alleged that Lazaro and Crews had a falling out because of her friendship with the victim and that Lazaro had also contacted and yelled at her once for hugging him. Emily also stated that she received an odd text message from Jonathan the night he died, in which he wrote,
"I want to die."
She further alleged that Lazaro was behind the killing and tried to cover her tracks.
Crews' family, unsatisfied with Lazaro's story, believed that he would never attempt to die by suicide and that the incident could not have been an accident given his expertise in firearm safety. They also questioned whether the 27-year-old, who was right-handed, could have shot himself with a heavy weapon on the left side. His mother Pam claimed that the girlfriend killed him out of jealousy.
The Daily Mail reported that the 911 audio generated a disturbing timeline. It demonstrated that Lazaro called the officials 30 minutes after her then-boyfriend Jonathan Crews was shot. She allegedly did not attend the funeral too. Subsequently, in 2016, the Crews family sued Brenda for wrongful death on the grounds that she fatally shot Crews.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Lazaro has never been charged in connection with the shooting death, but Crews' family won the civil lawsuit last September after a jury decided that the 27-year-old was likely murdered by Lazaro back in 2014. The Crews family received a total amount of $206 million.
NBC Dateline will further shed light on Jonathan Crews' years-old case this Friday.
