Sheila Paulette Shurz, 20, was fatally shot in her Mesa, Arizona apartment on August 13, 2010. The wound was a gunshot to the neck. The death was first reported as a suicide, but investigators reopened the case after inconsistencies in the initial account.

Her 21-year-old boyfriend, Bernardo Barraza, first told emergency responders that Shurz had taken her own life and that he had been in another part of the home when he heard the shot. Under further questioning his story changed; he later said the gun discharged during an argument about a recently acquired handgun while he was demonstrating how to handle it. Barraza was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Neither of the couple’s children from prior relationships were present at the time.

Sheila Shurz was buried at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Cemetery. Does anyone have information about the events leading up to that night or the handgun mentioned in the reports?