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48 Hours investigation into the mysterious shooting of a Minnesota nurse 32-year-old Alex penig was found dead in
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her bathroom and her friend Matthew eer told investigators she had shot herself but the evidence left detectives with
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some big questions about how exactly penig died 48 Hours contributor Natalie Morales looks at this complex
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case a few days before Christmas in 2022 police were called to the Minnesota apartment of 32-year-old nurse Alex
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penig her friend Matthew Ecker told First Responders Alex locked herself in the bathroom and fired a gun were you
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guys arguing or something no she just scammed it and put it to her head police saw prescription anti-depressants
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suggesting Alex had been depressed but her parents Mary Joe and Jim say she was fine I talked to her at 6:00 that
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evening via text she was doing great and they say Alex did not know how to use a
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gun she didn't like guns so didn't make any sense evidence suggested to detectives Jennifer odonnell and Abby
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Des Santo that Matthew eer wasn't telling the truth about how Alex died how did she get in that position Alex's
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legs were straddling the door as shown in the CBS News animation based on crime scene evidence Matthew eer had told
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police after hearing Alex fire the gun he broke open the bathroom door we think that if that had been the case her legs
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would have been swept behind behind the door but maybe most surprising was that Alex's left hand was found on the gun
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when she was right-handed you don't use a weapon with your non-dominant hand Ecker was charged with murder his family
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hired defense attorney Bruce Rivers he didn't have any motive to kill her Rivers says it's much more likely Alex
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did this to herself the only evidence is that she touched the gun there was gunshot residue on her left hand and
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only Alex DNA was found on the gun Matthew's family insists he would never hurt her there's no way he did this his
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sister Amy I would bet my entire life on the fact that he is [Music] innocent you can watch Natalie's report
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the strange shooting of Alex penig on 48 hours tomorrow night 109 Central right here on CBS and of course streaming on
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Paramount Plus