More than four years have passed since Isabella Nicole Gonzales died inside a Fort Worth apartment.

Four years of grief. Four years of questions.

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.

Isabella Nicole Gonzales CBS News Texas

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.

 She was joy 

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.  She came alive on the field and just looked - she was joy. 

Her father remembers the smile and the red lipstick.

 Everybody knew who she was just from her smile and her red lips,  Jesse Gonzales said.  On the UNT football field, she would light up that whole field. 

Bella graduated from the University of North Texas in Denton. As she approached her 24th birthday, however, her family says her life had changed.

She was in a new relationship following the end of a five-year relationship, her parents said.

Billie said she felt uneasy when she met the new man.

 I immediately had like, this is not a good guy,  she recalled.

The man had previously served prison time following a drug conviction. CBS News Texas is withholding his name and full image because he ha
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