Johnny Lee Holcomb, 33, was found shot to death in his apartment at a duplex in the 14000 block of Alderson Street in northeast Harris County on September 2, 2014. His death was one of two in an adjacent-apartment double homicide; his neighbor Katherine Gingrich, 26, was found dead in the next unit.

Investigators reported Holcomb had been staying at the apartment about a week after reconciling with his wife, Wilma. She said she believed he was trying to turn his life around and noted he had eight children who depended on him. Detectives linked the two killings to Kimberly Nicole Cormier and James Earl Nicholas. Nicholas was killed during a later shootout with police; Cormier survived, was arrested after the shootout, and confessed to participating in several homicides, including those of Holcomb and Gingrich. Cormier faced capital murder charges.

What details about the case or the people involved might help explain how this double homicide unfolded?