Crystal Marie Johnson Newman was 32 when she was found dead in her Burlington, Iowa, home in the early morning hours of August 9, 2012. Officers forced entry during a welfare check after reports of a domestic dispute and discovered her on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to the head. A semi-automatic pistol was in her left hand and there was a crumpled, blood-stained note plus a bloody towel in the kitchen; the scene was initially presented as a suicide but soon became the focus of a homicide probe.

Suspicion centered on her husband of fourteen years, Chico Newman, with whom she had two young children. Investigators documented a troubled marriage and an argument the night of her death about alleged infidelity; Chico had previously told Crystal’s father he suspected an affair. Chico’s defense argued Crystal took her own life or that a lover was responsible, but a jury convicted him of first-degree murder. The conviction was appealed and subsequently affirmed, and he was later sentenced for Crystal’s killing.

Did anyone who knew Crystal or the family have information about the marriage or the days before August 9, 2012?