Cheralynn Sabatasso, 36, was shot and killed on the night of January 23, 2014, in the Knoxville neighborhood of Pittsburgh. She and her longtime boyfriend, Jason Eubanks, also 36, were found dead inside her silver Lexus after what investigators described as a drug deal that went wrong. The couple lived together in Mount Oliver with one of Sabatasso’s daughters.

Antoine Ward, an acquaintance of Eubanks, told homicide detectives he had arranged to buy cocaine that night intending to resell it but did not have the money. Ward said an argument broke out as the three drove through Knoxville, with Sabatasso driving; he alleged Eubanks pulled a gun and a struggle over the weapon led to Sabatasso being accidentally shot in the head, then Eubanks being shot twice in the head. The car crashed at Grimes and Zara streets and Ward fled, discarding a gun and bloodied clothing.

Ward was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide. At trial the prosecution showed a videotaped interview in which Ward described the events; he maintained the shootings were in self-defense. In October 2015 a jury convicted Ward of first-degree murder in Sabatasso’s death and third-degree murder in Eubanks’s death, and he was sentenced. Did anyone who knew Cheralynn or the couple notice anything unusual in the days before January 23, 2014?