Instead of celebrating her master's, family found woman victim of Glendale murder-suicide

A victim in a suspected murder-suicide Tuesday in Glendale had family waiting to pick her up from the airport for her graduation from a master's program this week, according to police.

Around 12:15 p.m., Glendale police found Chase Cooper, 22, and Monet Newton, 24, dead with gunshot wounds at an apartment on North 19th Avenue and West Union Hills Drive near Interstate 17, the department said in a press release.

"Initial information leads investigators to believe this was a murder-suicide conducted by Chase Cooper," read a statement from police. "As of now, detectives believe this incident to be a murder-suicide."

It is unclear when the shooting happened, but Glendale police department said Newton's family found the bodies just before noon Tuesday prior to calling law enforcement.

Newton's family made it to Glendale to celebrate her graduation, police said. When she did not show up at the airport and loved ones were unable to contact Newton, family and friends went to her apartment and made the grim discovery, according to police.

Glendale police spokesperson Jose Miguel Santiago told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday via email that Newton and Cooper "had been in a romantic relationship, our understanding is that the romantic relationship ended recently."

The investigation remains ongoing, police added.

A LinkedIn profile under the name "Monét Newton," and with the same portrait photo police released to identify Newton, lists the account holder as a human resources coordinator at the Phoenix Suns. The Republic did not receive an immediate response Wednesday afternoon from the Suns about whether Newton was employed with the NBA team.

Police advised those needing help with domestic violence to call the Glendale Advocacy Center at 623-930-3720. The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or text "START" to 88788.