On November 1, 2015, a 911 call from a home on Hampton Park Drive in Buford, Georgia, reported a suicide. Responding officers found 38-year-old Jordan Whitson unresponsive at the bottom of a staircase with a gunshot wound to his right cheek. His wife, Liubov Volkova, told officers her husband had shot himself.

Forensic evidence changed the direction of the inquiry. The Gwinnett County Medical Examiner reported no gunpowder or burning around the wound and a downward bullet trajectory, findings inconsistent with a close-range, self-inflicted shot. Detectives developed evidence about the couple’s troubled marriage, including reports they had separated at least twice and had argued the night of the shooting after returning from trick-or-treating with friends; friends also said Volkova had complained about Whitson’s gun collection and spending.

The investigation ultimately focused on Volkova, and she was arrested and charged in June 2016. During a 2018 trial the prosecution relied on the forensic contradictions to the suicide account; the jury convicted Liubov Volkova of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. Did anyone who knew Jordan or the couple notice their relationship deteriorating before November 2015?