Tarrant County family questions daughter's 2022 suicide ruling, pushes for new investigation – CBS News

Tarrant County family questions daughter’s 2022 suicide ruling, pushes for new investigation  CBS News

Bella Gonzales' parents point to journal entries, alleged abuse and unanswered questions as outside experts prepare to review the case. More than four years have passed since Isabella Nicole Gonzales died inside a Fort Worth apartment. And for Jesse and Billie Gonzales, four years of wondering whether the official finding in their daughter's death tells the whole story. Bella, as everyone called her, was 23 years old, and five days after her 24th birthday, she died on May 20, 2022. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a suicide. Her parents aren't satisfied. They believe evidence of alleged intimate partner violence, Bella's private journal entries, and what they view as unanswered questions surrounding the investigation deserve another look.

They wonder whether their daughter could have been the victim of a hidden homicide concealed as a suicide. Fort Worth Police and Tarrant County death investigators have made no official finding that Bella was killed, and CBS News Texas has found no evidence that police have named or treated the man who lived with her as a suspect in her death. That distinction matters, as do the questions her family says remain unanswered. Before Bella became a case number, her parents say she was a showstopper in dance, gymnastics, and cheerleading. "She came alive, like on stage," Billie Gonzales remembered.