John Joseph Rush, known as J.J., was shot and killed on March 8, 2015, in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. A retired St. Petersburg police patrol officer who had left the force after a 2005 on-duty car crash, Rush was employed as an investigator at the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner’s Office when he died.

His ex-wife, Cara Ryan, admitted to shooting Rush and said she acted in self-defense, alleging he became violent and attempted to rape her during a visit to her apartment. Investigators and prosecutors disagreed, saying she had lured him with a sexually suggestive text and that tensions and control issues in their volatile relationship explained the killing. They arrested Ryan and charged her with second-degree murder.

Defense lawyers raised claims about Miranda warnings and evidence handling; prosecutors pointed to inconsistencies in Ryan’s statements and other case circumstances. Few questions remain about who died and how; what remains unsettled is the full story of what led to that fatal encounter. Does anyone have information about their relationship or the night of March 8, 2015?