In 1999, an Oakland man was one juror away from conviction of torturing a woman to death. Now he stands accused of murdering his wife

OAKLAND — Nathaniel McCowan claimed that he and his wife were in such an intense argument, that it was best they parted ways.

So around 2 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2023, McCowan, 49, claimed he pulled over his Hyundai and let 36-year-old Laketha Humphrey-McCowan out on 73rd Avenue in Oakland. He told police he was so drunk that he crashed the car on 106th Avenue near Interstate 580, then simply walked back to his home on Malcolm Avenue, authorities said.

Somehow, Humphrey-McCowan turned up dead of a gunshot wound on the freeway.