Dateline: Behind Door 813 – Who is Brenda Lazaro and where is she now? Disturbing details from the true crime episode, explored

On the surface, the death of 27-year-old Jonathan Crews in 2014 seemed like a tragic case of heartbreak gone sideways. But NBC’s Dateline: Behind Door 813 pulls back the curtain to reveal a far darker—and deeply disputed—series of events.

Jonathan Crews, a Coppell, Texas man, was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest in his bedroom. His girlfriend Brenda Lazaro, a martial arts instructor, claimed he shot himself "to prove his love."

But from the moment investigators stepped inside Apartment 813, things didn’t add up. The supposed suicide had red flags fluttering everywhere: gunshot residue patterns, Lazaro's behaviour, and a gun magazine tucked neatly into a tie drawer instead of inside the weapon.

What unfolded over the next nine years is a saga full of civil lawsuits, damning evidence, a conspicuous silence—and a woman who managed to avoid criminal charges despite being found legally responsible for Crews’ death.

So who exactly is Brenda Lazaro? What really happened that night? And where is she now? This latest true crime episode, called Dateline: Behind Door 813, doesn’t just revisit a chilling death—it reopens a case that refuses to stay buried.

Dateline: Behind Door 813: What Brenda Lazaro told police

Brenda Lazaro, a martial arts instructor and Crews’ girlfriend of just three months, dialed 911 on February 2, 2014, claiming her boyfriend had pulled a gun on himself in a twisted act of devotion. According to her version, Jonathan told her to cover her ears—then shot himself in the chest. But investigators were immediately skeptical. Jonathan was shot with his own gun, a SIG Sauer 9mm, but Lazaro’s account never quite synced with the forensic trail.

For one, he was shot in the left side of his chest, though he was right-handed. Gunpowder residue was found on Lazaro’s hands and clothes—but not in places that would be consistent with a mere bystander. And a nagging question remained: why would Jonathan, known to be planning to end the relationship that very weekend, suddenly decide to die for love? When family members uncovered text messages suggesting he was planning to break things off with Lazaro, her narrative cracked further.

New life, old shadows: Where is Brenda Lazaro now?

Despite the mounting suspicion and a civil jury finding her responsible for Jonathan’s death in 2022, Brenda Lazaro has never been criminally charged.

In the courtroom, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent—and walked away from the trial owing the Crews family $206 million in damages. But money, in this case, wasn't the real prize. For the family, it was about truth and some semblance of justice.

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Today, Brenda goes by Brenda Kelly and lives in Missouri, per several reports. She’s married, has children, and works as an Area Manager at an Amazon Fulfillment Center, having climbed the ranks since joining in 2021.

If the goal was to fade into normalcy, she’s done a remarkable job of staying out of the public eye. That is, until Dateline dragged the case back into the spotlight with Dateline: Behind Door 813, forcing viewers to confront the enduring discomfort of a case closed—but not solved.

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