Girlfriends. I know. She had told her boss that she had done something bad. I think the last statement within her diary said it all. We knew we would get here. We just knew that we had a lot of hurdles to get over. I will never forgive myself. Never. The life of a Police Officer. Its full of danger. And stress. The life of a Police Officer. Its full of danger. And stress. They have rough days at work. And they end up holding it in. Theyre our First Responders. It is hard. It is hard work. From one call to the next, you dont know whats going to happen. But our story is about what happened when a First Responder had to face a crisis in his own home. Baby, please wake up a cop pleading for help, from his fellow men and women in blue. Tell them im a cop, please. Tell them to hurry, please. In one moment, a family is shattered. It was like disbelief. Its a surreal moment. And over time, an entire communities secrets would be revealed. I laid there and cried. It does not make sense. It starts here in the village of los lunas, mexico. 25 miles south of albuquerque. Tera chavez grew up in a loving family with her twin brother, josh, and young brother, aaron. Joseph cordova and Theresa Cordova are the parents. She was a loving girl. She was always working with drawings and poetry. Or just writing. Melanie gonzalez was teras best friend growing up. She was amazing, she was shy. I know a lot of times in school, people thought that she came off kind of stuck up. That wasnt her . Not at all. Then one day at summer camp, that shy girl met a handsome boy who would change her life in so many ways. Levi chavez. How did she talk about him . She loved him. It did not take very long before she fell for him. He was charming towards her, and she thought he was gorgeous. Tera was quiet and artistic. Levi was a guys guy, who loved boxing. They were in the desert. Tera got pregnant when they were still in high school, and they got married just before her graduation. He was happy about, and scared as well, just like she was. Something that neither one of them expected. It just happened. Every time we would see them, they were happy. Michael romero is levis uncle. And as the town magistrate, he performed the ceremony. On the wedding day, the whole town was there . Yes, the whole town is there. It was a joyous occasion. A loving couple. And together, they dreamt of a life that theyd have. Tera worked as a hairstylist but had bigger goals. She was really wanting to start her own business. Her own business meaning her own salon . Yes. So she approached me. Im all for it. I will be a silent partner. Although, she did laugh at me. Because i was not silent. Levi chavez worked long hours as an officer at the Albuquerque Police department. It was his dream job. In his world, police work was known as the family business. His grandfather from his fathers side was a Police Officer and he has four or five uncles that are Police Officers. And i am an ex Police Officer myself. So he was a natural . He was a natural. By 2007, they were raising two children. And had settled to a new house in los lunas. While levi was out fighting crime, tera was finding out that life in the suburbs was not entirely crime free. Terrys brother aaron. She called us and said someone is trying to break into my house. We checked and it looked like someone tried to mess with it a little bit. Whoever did that did not steal anything, but it put levi and tera on alert. She suggested he keep one of his onduty guns at home to protect herself. When they have a high crime rate. There are a lot of breakins, a lot of crime in the area. And levi and tera were about to experience it firsthand. Levi bought an expensive new truck. Late one night, tera was home alone and heard her dog bark. She looked outside, and the truck was gone. She said, hey, levis truck got stolen. And i said, well, what happened, is levi home . She said no, he was at work last night. That made melanie worry, and it turned out, there was plenty to worry about. Two weeks later, on a sunday, the kids were away, visiting levis dad. Levi himself had a quiet weekend on patrol. But when he stopped to check on tera, and saw what was in front of him, this Police Officer found himself on the other end of an anguished call to 911. Please have somebody come here right away. Please. Coming up the distraught husband, overcome by guilt. I will never forgive myself. Never. When dateline continues. Its the most wonderful time of the year nondrowsy claritin knocks out symptoms from over 200 allergens. Without knocking you out. Feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. Live claritin clear. Mom i got the job yeah, i feel like its all coming together. Introducing the allnew 2024 chevy trax. With all the tech. Here we go. Were going home monty. And all the room. For all of lifes firsts. Your first new car is here. The allnew chevy trax starting under 22,000. 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Plus, fastworking crepe corrector diminishes wrinkled skin in just two days. Gold bond. Champion your skin. After advil. Feeling better . On top of the worlddddd before advil. Advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. When pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liquigels. It was a blustery october night. With high winds, gusting over new mexicos sandy mountains. Albuquerque Police Officer, levi chavez, called 911 from his own home. Baby, please wake up. Please. He told police he had found his wife lying in a pool of blood in their bed. In a panic, levi chavez begged for help. They are on their way. Levi is it going to be easier if you go to another room . I cannot leave her. Okay. Oh my god. Aaron jones was a detective with the Sheriffs Department in los lunas. When i got a call from our sergeant that a Police Officers wife had been shot. It was just after 9pm when jones got to the chavez home. It was disturbing, there was a young, handsome Police Officer, a young, beautiful wife. Joan saw tera lying on the bed with a Gunshot Wound to her head. And he found this glock 17 by her body. It was the same gun levi said he had given her for protection. It was a Service Weapon . It was a Service Weapon. That he had left at home . Yes. And on the night stand, a three word note. Im sorry, levi. Jones quickly determined that tera had not been a victim of crime, but had turned the weapon on herself. She was only 26. We do have a high suicide rate. Unfortunately, Valencia County has a high rate of suicides. And it was a Police Officers wife. Within minutes, members of levis own Police Department in albuquerque came over to the house to offer levi support. As the news of teras death spread, one officer called teras best friend, melanie. She just came out and said it. Mel, tera is dead. And it took me a minute to process it. And i was like, what do you mean . I do not understand. At the scene, police saw an unconsolable husband. He kept referring to himself as a piece of crap, and other things. And that he should have just been a better husband. That he should have been with her. I will never forgive myself, never. Jones, the local detective, took a statement from levi, The Big City Cop who had bared his soul the rest of my life, i will never be able to move on. He told jones he blamed himself for the suicide. His wife was prone to depression, he said, but he did not take it seriously. Now, it was too late. How old are the kids . Ten and six. The detective did his best to bring a weeping levi chavez under control. Whatever is going on right now, take a deep breath. Youre trying to make this guy feel better . I am always concerned that, possibly, my sympathy and empathy had gotten to the point, he might hurt himself. Officers went through the scene in the bathroom, and stumbled on something. Tera, the writer, had kept a journal tucked under her mattress. Parts of it were very dark, it described a young woman that was having some dark times in their life. Tera had laid bare the depths of her despair. Writing, sometimes i just want to disappear. And, im depressed. I want to fall off the face of the earth. And every day i feel my time and work, kids and endlessly trying to make my marriage work. Im getting nowhere, i never do. Sounds like depression to me . Classic depression. And police found another page of writing that sounded desperate. Torn up and buried in the trash can. And levi showed Detective JonesSomething Else. I got a text. A text he received from tera earlier that day. It says, im afraid im going to hurt myself. Im so, so, so upset and hurt. Open and shut. By 2 am, police were wrapping up their work at the chavez house, and Detective Jones headed to teras parent home to break the news. He introduced a deputy and chaplain, and said, it is about your daughter. So i am already feeling weak. What did you think . I thought that it was a terrible traffic accident. I never thought to hear otherwise. I asked him what happened, and aaron jones said, it is an apparent suicide. Possibly the most painful news a family can ever hear. But they were not prepared to accept it, and they felt a deep conviction that no one outside the family saw coming. When you hear suicide, what do you think . No way no way that girl loved those children. And i knew right then and there that she would not take her life and leave those children behind. Coming up heartbreak and disbelief. Thats not the tera i knew. I never wouldve in 1 million years thought that she would take her life. Was teras death definitely a suicide . Something about it just started stinking. When dateline continues coming up heartbreak and disbelief. Thats not the tera i knew. I never wouldve in 1 million years thought that she would take her life. Was teras death definitely a suicide . Something about it just started stinking. 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Order yours now from blendjet. Com before they sell out again loving this pay bump on our allowance. Wonder where mom and bdad got the extra money . Maybe they won the lottery . Maybe they inherited a fortune . Maybe buried treasure . Maybe it fell off a truck . Or maybe they switched to Xfinity Mobile the fastest mobile service. Save hundreds a year over tmobile, at t and verizon. Now i can buy that electric scooter. Im starting a Private Equity Fund that specializes in midcap. You do you. Family and friends awoke to switch to Xfinity Mobile today. A Piercing Sadness in this tight new mexico community. Tara chavez, the wife of an Albuquerque Police officer, had died by suicide. I lay there and cried. I couldnt believe it. Somebody that i talked to every day is gone and you dont know why, you dont understand it. It doesnt make sense when levis Uncle Michael tried to helped his nephew the next morning, he says he saw a broken man. He was in bed and i dont know what to say. Its the worst that could happen to anybody. What did he say to you that day . Do you remember . He was too emotional, he couldnt speak. Along with the shock, teras best friend was overcome with a sense of disbelief. Part of me was like, no, this isnt right. This isnt what happened. Like, theyre lying. Its not true. Thats exactly what teras parents were telling the detective, whod come to their home with that terrible news. For one thing, they told him there was simply no way tera would leave her children. You would not be the first family of a loved one who committed suicide, who did not want to believe that that was possible. Josh, i dont know about other families. But i knew tera. I knew tera. But, what about the depressed person who emerges from that diary that police found at the scene . Teras Family Points out, many of the darker passages in that journal were several years old. Her journal, i think, was an outlet for her to vent sometimes. Gena cordova is teras sisterinlaw. I mean, im married. I have kids. Sometimes, i just want to disappear. It doesnt mean that im going to harm myself in any way. The very last entry, three months before her death, suggests tera was, in fact, the opposite of depressed. Tera wrote, goodbye to the person i used to be. Welcome new day, happiness. I think the last statement within her diary said it all. Happiness. Her family says she had lots to be happy about. Tera was finally making plans to open that new hair salon she had long dreamed of. She was even starting to look at real estate. She was so excited to do it. Gina says tera had an appointment to look at this location with her dad, scheduled for just two days after her death. She was thinking about how she was going to decorate and how it was going to be, you know, girly. She was just really excited about it. Thats the tera her brother, aaron, saw all the time. He says, two days before she died, tara had sent him this funny video of her kids. Sounds like you are dancing. They were dancing around the shop, just being goofy. They were joking around. It was pretty funny. Nothing on that video suggests that she was in a miserable place. Theres a little second that you see her, shes laughing because her daughter and her little boy are just goofballs, you know. Teras best friend, melanie, Reread The Last text tera sent her around that same time. She saw nothing frightening. It was real simple. She just said, hi, i havent talked to all day. How are you doing . Doesnt sound like someone in the middle of a terrible depression. Not at all. Could you have conceived of her taking our own life . Its not the tera i knew. I never wouldve in 1 million years, expected or thought that she would ever take her life. Melanie and the cordovas say, their instincts were telling them that something was wrong in that Suicide Scene at the house. And they let Detective Jones know it. I talked to aaron jones, i dont think he believed you. Im sure he didnt. It look like a suicide. Thats correct. Something you said to him or some way you said it made him think that he needed to dig a little deeper. Yes. I promised teras mom and dad that i would look at it. I knew that i couldnt just close this case without looking at it and digging into it. To begin with, jones knew from experience, that Bedroom Scene was very unusual. Women make up just 10 of gun suicides. And he wondered about that recent break in attempt and levis stolen truck. Had someone been casing the neighborhood . Maybe targeting the officers house . I wanted to check and make sure that there wasnt any kind of indication of any kind of breakin or maybe Somebody Else had done this. Nothing seemed to be missing from the house. And jones could find no sign of forced entry. Still, he went back to the photos in the bedroom. He started noticing things. Like, what appeared to be a swipe of blood on the bed. What could that smear of blood on the bed sheets indicate . Well, it could indicate the fact that she