Mazen Al-Qaisi, 24, was found dead in his West Boise home on May 8, 2016, in what investigators determined to be a murder-suicide. He and 32-year-old LouAnn Michelle Nettleton were discovered by officers after a friend, Adnan Abbod, forced a welfare check following Al-Qaisi’s missed shift at a Cash & Carry store and several days of no contact. Both died of gunshot wounds, and authorities concluded Nettleton shot Al-Qaisi and then herself.

Al-Qaisi had fled Baghdad and settled in Boise about two years earlier. Friends and coworkers remembered him as cheerful, hardworking, and learning English while establishing a new life; he had no family in the United States. Friends said he had been contemplating ending his marriage to Nettleton, which had included a mosque wedding in February that was reportedly not legally binding because Nettleton remained married to another man. The deaths are believed to have occurred on or shortly after the evening of April 29, the last time a friend saw Al-Qaisi.

Police stated they do not believe anyone else was involved and that there was no ongoing threat to the community. If anyone knew Mazen Al-Qaisi or has information about his last days, please come forward.