Dateline NBC episode Deliberate Evil has explored the gruesome murders of Houston residents Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzade in 2012. The killings that took place 10 months apart garnered a lot of media attention.
Coty Beavers (28 at that time) was a student of molecular genetics and also the classmate of Iranian activist Gelareh Bagherzade. As reported on Dateline, Bagherzade's best friend, Nesreen, was married to Beavers.
Initially, the police found no link between the two incidents. But months later, 57-year-old Ali Awad Mahmoud Irsan was convicted of both the murders. Moreover, his wife, Ashmou Alrawabdeh, and 21-year-old son, Nasim Ali Irsan, were also found guilty of murder.
It was eventually discovered that Nesreen Irsan was Ali's daughter, and her marriage to a Christian man (Coty Beavers) infuriated her family, especially her father. Beavers' murder was thus an act of 'honor killing.'.
Even Bagherzade (Nesreen's best friend), who refused to help Ali in separating her daughter from Beavers, became the victim of Ali's personal vendetta. The official synopsis of the Dateline episode Deliberate Evil reads:
"A woman is found murdered in her car outside of her apartment. Solving this mystery would take not just years, but also involve at least one more murder. Josh Mankiewicz reports."
Disclaimer: This article contains descriptions of murder. Please be advised.
What happened to Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzade?
According to Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz, Gelareh Bagherzade was a research scholar at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, who was thirty years old. She was shot to death while driving to her parents' house close to The Galleria area in January 2012.
As reported on Dateline, 10 months later, another 28-year-old student of molecular genetics, Coty Beavers, was similarly shot dead in his apartment in northwest Houston. What initially seemed like two different cases later unraveled, bringing to light a complicated backstory.
Who was convicted of the murders of Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzade?
A 57-year-old man named Ali Awad Mahmoud Irsan, a Jordanian immigrant, was charged with the murders of Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzade. His family (including son Nasim Ali Irsan and wife Ashmou Alrawabdeh) was also convicted in connection to the killings.
Ali's other daughter, Nadia, was charged with stalking her sister, Nesreen Iran, and her late husband, Coty Beavers. The whole incident was eventually proved to be a consequence of a family's 'honor killing' plans.
What was the motive behind the murders?
Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson has reportedly said in a statement:
"These two murders were part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the defendant, Ali Irsan, to hunt down and cause harm to his daughter Nesreen and those close to her because he believed that she and others, including the two victims, had violated his honor as a Muslim, so he planned and executed the murder of his daughter's husband and his daughter's best friend."
As reported on Dateline, Ali was a devout Muslim, and her daughter Nesreen was reportedly involved in a romantic relationship with Coty Beavers, who was a Christian. Ali had never approved the whole thing, and it rather enraged him.
According to a court document:
"Her father strongly disapproved for cultural/religious reasons and had on many occasions warned Nesreen and Nadia that if they even talked to a boy at school he would 'put a bullet between his eyes."
Nesreen was reportedly introduced to Coty through his twin brother, Cory Beavers. Both Nesreen and her sister Nadia were studying medical sciences at MD Anderson, and that's where they came across the Beaver brothers.
Nadia eventually got to learn about her sister's romance with Coty and informed the same to their father, Ali Irsan. Ali was so enraged by this that he turned violent against Nesreen and attempted to use his power to control her.
Attorney Anderson had mentioned in a statement:
"Nesreen Irsan would not succumb to her father's complete domination and rule of her and she left his home without his permission and went into hiding."
Eventually, Nesreen got married to Coty, and they both started living together. The former even filed a protective order against her father. But Ali's determination was irrevocable.
He sought help from Nesreen's best friend Gelareh Bagherzadeh, who was an Iranian activist. But she did not entertain Ali at all and rather opposed his dominating behavior over Nesreen.
Anderson further added:
"She refused to help him and berated him for even thinking that he should be able to control his daughter, and if you know anything about Gelareh, that's not a surprise considering her beliefs as an activist for women's rights, and he became enraged with her."
When nothing worked, Ali took to his last resort. Taking help from his son Nasim, wife Ashmou Alrawabdeh, and his other daughter Nadia he planned the whole 'honor killing'. All four of them were eventually caught by the joint efforts of the FBI and Harris County Sheriff's Office.
What happened to the Irsan family?
Following the Irsan family's arrest, six weeks of trial went on. Eventually, in August 2018, Ali Irsan heard the death sentence for the murders of Coty Beavers and Gelareh Bagherzadeh.
His son Nasim Irsan, who pleaded guilty in connection to the murders, is currently serving his 40-year sentence in prison. Jon Stephenson, assistant Harris County district attorney, had said in a statement:
"The evidence would have been different. There were witnesses who would cooperate in Ali Irsan's trial that would not have been able to testify or would not testify per their agreements in this trial."
Ali's other daughter, Nadia, got ten years of probation for conspiracy to murder.
In 1999, Ali was also charged with the murder of Nesreen's elder sister's husband. He later orchestrated the whole thing as self-defense.
A court document related to Coty and Bagherzadeh's murders reads:
"As a result of that investigation, the State ultimately obtained four indictments: a capital murder indictment against Ali Irsan, appellant’s father; murder indictments against Shmou Al-Rawabdeh Irsan and Nasim Irsan, appellant’s step-mother and half-brother, respectively; and a stalking indictment against appellant."
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