Family members of Jonathan Crews think that after giving him an ultimatum, his then-girlfriend Brenda Lazaro killed him in a jealous rage.
They assume Lazaro told the police about the incident after waiting 30 minutes, saying that Crews had discharged himself in an erroneous effort to show his affection for her.
After being unsatisfied with Brenda Lazaro’s explanation and the police investigation into his killing, Jonathan Crews’ family took legal action by filing a wrongful death lawsuit.
A jury found that Lazaro, who had been Crews’ girlfriend for three months at the time of his death in 2014, was most likely to blame for Jonathan Crews’ demise in September 2022. The lawsuit was therefore settled.
Lazaro is still viewed as a suspect by the victim’s family and several friends even though she has not been charged.
The puzzling shooting death of Jonathan Crews will be explored in an upcoming episode of NBC’s Dateline called “Beyond Door 813.” At 9 PM ET on Friday, April 7, 2023, the two-hour show will premiere.
“When 27-year-old Jonathan Crews inexplicably passes away in his Texas apartment, his family takes matters into their own hands in an effort to find answers,” the episode’s summary read.
Although Jonathan Crews was a native of California, he spent his formative years in Irving, Texas. He was one of Pam and John Crews’ three children when he was born.
Pam Crews took care of the family while her husband John worked as a pastor and a lawyer.
Jonathan Crews picked up the skill of pistol shooting while visiting his grandfather in Montana, and he finally purchased his own SIG Sauer 9-millimeter weapon. He owned a gun when he passed away at the age of 27.
Crew grew up to be a big, gangly teenager who loved playing the bass guitar and listening to bands like Green Day and Ozzy Osbourne, according to D Magazine.
However, he stopped listening to them after learning that his mother was a fan of such bands. He was usually reticent around individuals he didn’t know well, but he also had a laid-back approach and a warm grin.
Jonathan Crews earned a history degree from Baylor University in 2009. He shared a residence with his close buddy Jacob Ramsey, whom he had known since the ninth grade, while attending Baylor.
Ramsey reportedly admitted to the publication that he had harbored certain feelings of envy toward a particular person who was exceptionally athletic, attractive, and had the capacity to always be kind.
Ramsey said that he could never be upset with this individual, particularly when they were in college.
Brenda Lazaro, who was 26 years old at the time, and Jonathan Crews had just been dating for three months before to Crews’ passing. He was the urgent care center’s operations director.
At the Wu Yi Shaolin martial arts center, which is housed in a strip mall in Coppell, Brenda Lazaro and Jonathan Crews initially became acquainted. Dani and Pam Crews, who is Crews’ sister, were also students there.
According to D Magazine, Ramsey claimed he liked being in relationships and would constantly give everything he had, frequently spending a lot of money. He was desperate to find a wife.
On the evening of February 2, 2014, Jonathan Crews was shot and killed while Brenda Lazaro, his then-girlfriend, was present at his Coppell, Texas apartment. Their relationship had lasted three months.
Brenda Lazaro said that Jonathan Crews had fired himself in an idiotic effort to show Brenda Lazaro that he loved her, but Pam Crews, his mother, and other family members weren’t persuaded.
They don’t think Crews could have accidently killed himself given his understanding of firearm safety and competence.
Instead, when the police were unable to offer adequate explanations for his murder, they began to think that he had been assassinated and opened their own inquiry.
Pam Crews, the mother of Jonathan Crews, thought Brenda Lazaro was upset when he broke up with her after she gave him a choice between her and his buddy Emily.
Pam’s hypothesis is that Lazaro killed Crews out of envious rage.
Lazaro called 911 that evening, indicating that she waited 30 minutes after Crews was dismissed before doing so. Lazaro didn’t go to Crews’ burial, either.
Jonathan Crews was discovered dead in his apartment on February 2, 2014, which was also Super Bowl Sunday, from a single gunshot wound to the heart. That incident occurred more than nine years ago. Using his own SIG Sauer 9mm handgun, Crews had been murdered.
Crews was found laying on his back in bed with his arms outstretched when paramedics arrived on the scene.
On top of the blanket next to him, the police discovered the gun. The cause of death was listed as “undetermined” by the authorities, who said they lacked sufficient evidence to ascertain what happened.
In 2016, the family of 27-year-old Jonathan Crews sued Brenda Lazaro for wrongful death in a 206 million dollar case, blaming her for the murder of Jonathan and terminating his employment.
Pam, Jonathan’s mother, uncovered several shocking details and a long list of police shortcomings during the course of the family’s research, leading to the conclusion that there was “insufficient evidence” to arrest Lazaro.
Investigation by the family found that the medical examiner, who ruled Jonathan’s death “undetermined,” was not given some crucial information.
Moreover, some witnesses went uninterviewed, and some forensic procedures were skipped because they were thought to be too expensive.
Following a botched police investigation into the 2014 death of Jonathan Crews, Brenda Lazaro was sued by Crews’ family two years later.
Lazaro was held accountable in the case for Crews’ passing. After a three-day trial in September 2022, a jury ruled Lazaro probably to blame for Crews’ passing, giving the Crews family a victory.
The family of Jonathan Crews claimed in their complaint that Brenda Lazaro, now Brenda Kelly, had killed Crews and fabricated a tale about his shooting himself.
Her contradictory statements to others were included as proof in the case; one acquaintance said she said Crews shot himself in the head, while another claimed she said he shot himself in the chest.
Lazaro, though, disputes the accusations and has not yet been put on trial for a crime.