EL CAJON, Calif. — When Shaima Alawadi, an Iraqi-born mother of five, was found bludgeoned to death in her home last month with a threatening note beside her, many members of the large Middle Eastern immigrant population here feared a hate crime.

But court documents made public this week instead reveal details of a family in crisis, with talk of divorce and a daughter resisting an arranged marriage, and of Ms. Alawadi’s survivors themselves coming under scrutiny from investigators.

From the beginning, the El Cajon police maintained that a hate crime was only one of the possibilities they were exploring. The search warrant affidavit, which was released by mistake to the Web site U-T San Diego on Wednesday and then to other media outlets on Thursday, revealed that the police obtained warrants to search the family’s house and two cars, as well as their phones.

Ms. Alawadi, 32, had been planning to divorce her husband and move to Texas, a family member told the police, according to the search warrant documents. The police reported finding legal documents in Ms. Alawadi’s car to prepare for a divorce.