A 911 call on April 23, 2014, brought police to a Bent Street residence in Bedford, Iowa, after a report of a possible suicide attempt. Officers found 56-year-old Steven C. Malson with an apparent single gunshot wound to the head; he was taken to a hospital in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he died. The Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office later classified the death as a homicide, and the investigation became a criminal inquiry.

Two family members — wife Cindy Malson, 47, and son Zachary Malson, 24 — were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Court documents say Cindy told investigators the three had been fighting over a gun and accused Zachary of firing the fatal shot, and another relative reported hearing Zachary confess that evening. Both defendants’ accounts later diverged from each other and from evidence at the scene. In August 2014 the murder charge against Cindy was dropped. In November 2014 Zachary pleaded guilty to two counts of willful injury, assault while participating in a felony, and going armed with intent; the first-degree murder charge was dismissed and he received an indeterminate sentence of up to 25 years.

Does anyone have details about the dispute that night or remembered tensions in the family leading up to April 23, 2014?