Fatal destination

Warning: This story contains graphic details and images that may be upsetting. 

The photos are plentiful, and seem joyous: a young, vibrant couple that had defied the distance between them to finally build a life together in Canada.

One photo, posted to social media in June, shows a woman smiling under cherry blossoms, her husband grinning in the foreground. Another selfie portrays the two on a harbourside walk, content in the sun.

But a darkness was looming over Baran Abed and Mahdi Pourbaghi, one that would lead to her murder this summer in St. Johns.

Now, a grieving Iranian community is determined to bring her body home to Iran. Amid it all is a trail of questions and sorrow. 

Among the unanswered questions is why Mahdi Pourbaghi Baran Abeds presumed killer, whose own body was also found by police would murder the woman he appeared to love.

And then there is the disturbing legacy of a true crime podcast he started in Iran one that, CBC News has learned, would have chilling echoes to his wifes gruesome fate. 

Abed, 33, came to St. Johns from Tehran, Iran in May to start a new chapter of her life. 

Just two months later, her body was found inside a suitcase by a quiet neighbourhood in downtown St. Johns, a crime that shocked the city she was just coming to know. 

Barans remains were found by the west end of Water Street, near Springdale Street. In a July 19 news release, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said her husband was also found dead by police, and that he was suspected of killing her. 

Pourbaghi and Abed were not identified in the police release. CBC News has confirmed their identities with those who knew the couple.

To the community, the news has been devastating, on several levels. 

To hear that he may have done this is something were all still struggling to digest, said Maryam Hajheidari, a board member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Iran Alliance. 

This tragedy has deeply shaken our community. 

The alliance has been helping to raise funds to repatriate Abeds body, as the small Iranian community struggles to reconcile the man they knew with the brutal act that took Abeds life.

Although most of us didnt get the chance to know Baran personally, many of us knew her husband, Mahdi. He was an active member of our community a friend, classmate and a colleague, said Hajheidari.

Police say that they have no other suspects in Barans death. RNC Const. James Cadigan, though, said the investigation is still ongoing, as police try to piece together events from the couple's final days.

Mahdi Pourbaghi, also known as Mahdi Pourbaqi on various social media platforms, was a 34-year-old doctoral student in bioinformatics and a well-known member of the Iranian community, according to Hajheidari.

Its unbelievable that he could do something like this, said Hajheidari, who volunteered with Pourbaghi in several community events.

He was always so calm and respectful.

WATCH | Police say husband was involved in his wifes death, and its sparked a conversation about intimate partner violence: 

Hajheidari says Abeds family believed the couple, who were married for 11 years, had a good relationship.

Around town, the couple were often seen side by side at restaurants, the university and the gym. Just a month before it all unfolded, Pourbaghi and Abed looked like a happy couple settling into a new chapter in their lives.

Hajheidari says no one could have imagined that what seemed like the promise of a fresh start would end in such devastation.

However, Pourbaghis friends in St. Johns were unaware of their marriage until Abed arrived in St. Johns, says Hajheidari.

Mahdi never mentioned Baran in the two years he was here, she said. When she came, it was a surprise to all of us.

After Abed arrived, she says, there were tensions between the couple, though the issues were largely kept private.

Pourbaghi was not just a PhD candidate he was also the voice of a popular Iranian true-crime podcast in which he narrated violent crimes from a first-person point of view, telling the stories of notorious criminals like Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson and Dennis Nilsen.

The podcast, The Last Witness, was popular among Iranian listeners, says Hajheidari, who followed some of his work. 

In his final episode, released in April 2023, Pourbaghi deviated from true crime with a two-minute preview of an upcoming episode in which he described in first person the violent actions and turbulent emotions of a hypothetical killer. 

In that recording, Pourbaghi speaking in Farsi describes holding a severed head, and talking to it while he falls apart. [CBC News hired a translator to turn the Persian transcript into English.] 

He also admits to being fascinated by the complexity of committing murder, saying that murder and death always fascinated me; sudden death, blood and gore. 

His voice changes tone as he discusses the chilling details of slitting the throat of a young, innocent woman.

At one point, Pourbaghi talks about contemplating his own death, sitting by a chimney in New York and thinking about "throwing myself off from up there." 

He closes the episode with this line: The dead dont speak, but their killers do.

Hajheidari says the parallels between Pourbaghis stories and the events that unfolded are unsettling.

People are complicated, she said. Anything can trigger [us] and lead to any horrific and tragic things.

Although the details of his last podcast don't mirror the real-life events, the stark contrast between Mahdis public image among his St. Johns peers and his suspected involvement in Abeds death, she says, has left many in the community struggling to make sense of it all.

Abed had been in Canada for two months before she was murdered. She arrived in St. Johns in mid-May on a spousal work permit to join her husband, who had been in Canada for two years as a bioinformatics PhD student at Memorial University.

From her social media photos, 33-year-old Abed whose Instagram profile says she was a lash technician looked delighted settling into her new life in St. John's.

In pictures, even in the days leading up to her death, shes smiling, leaning into her husband.

Her sister, when contacted by CBC News, declined to talk about Abed. There are few friends in St. John's who know about Abed; all that remains are fleeting images that offer glimpses into her short life here.

But for Hajheidari, Abed's journey hits close to home.

We can all relate to her immigration journey somehow, said Hajheidari.

She says Abed came to St. Johns, like many immigrants, in hopes of a brighter future with her husband a dream that was violently cut short before she could fully settle into her new life in Canada.

To see her life end in such a tragic way, so soon after arriving here, is truly heartbreaking, said Hajheidari.

We may not have known her well, but we know her story.

Abeds final journey back to Iran is emotional and complex.  

The community has raised $12,000 so far, but is now encountering a string of hurdles.

A GoFundMe campaign set up to raise $22,000 for returning Abed was recently taken down by the platform, which requested more information about Abed. The N.L. Iran Alliance says it has submitted the requested documents to GoFundMe. They hope to have the donation link back up soon.

Hajheidari says the Iranian community in St. Johns is also in contact with an Ottawa-based charity organization, Pand Settlement Services, which has taken on the task of teasing out the logistics of Abeds repatriation.

The strained relationship between Iran and Canada which has no Iranian embassy has made the repatriation efforts even more complicated, says Hajheidari.

They [PAND] have been helping us manage the paperwork and fundraising. Weve had some difficulties but were halfway there, said Hajheidari.

Despite the challenges, she says, their community remains determined to see Abed returned to her family in Iran, where theyve been waiting since July to lay her to rest.

We know how important it is for her family to have her back home, said Hajheidari.

Sobia Shaikh is a community organizer and she has worked with many immigrant women in St. John's over the years. In an interview with CBC News, Shaikh who is vice-president of the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women said Abeds story shines a heartbreaking light on the isolation that many racialized and immigrant women face, especially when their support networks are fractured or absent.

We dont build relationships with newcomer families, said Shaikh.

When you dont have that time to connect and feel part of a community, you lose the protection that comes with it."

In Abeds case, arriving in a new country meant that she hadnt yet had the chance to find those connections.

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women says communities are crucial for newcomer women. But when youre new, youre isolated, she said.

Shaikh highlights the barriers that women like Abed facebarriers that are often invisible to the broader public.

Access to shelters and crisis lines exist, but they're mostly in English, says Shaikh, which leaves many migrant women without help when they need it most.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, theres very little support for immigrant women, she said. Although her organization offers a federal program to help women facing intimate partner violence, she says local resources in the province are limited.

Its really sad that we have to talk about this, Shaikh said. But its a reality. Women are scared to call for help because they fear losing their immigration status or their children she said.

Addressing intimate partner violence, she adds, isn't just the responsibility of those directly affected.

The onus isnt only on the women facing violence its on all of us, she said. Sometimes, in the busy worlds we live in, we dont take the time to notice or reach out to those who might be suffering in silence.

It was Tuesday, July 16, when a pedestrian on Water Street found the purple suitcase with Abeds body inside it.

In an image released by the RNC, Pourbaghi was seen rolling the same suitcase on a sidewalk with earbuds dangling around his neck.

But the details of the night Abed apparently died remain sparse. The provinces chief medical examiner said it appeared she had been murdered several days before the suitcase was found. 

On Monday, just a day before that grisly discovery, Pourbaghis lifeless body was found in the couple's downtown home. 

Police say its not yet clear how he died, and because authorities are still investigating they cannot yet define the tragedy as a murder-suicide.

For those working tirelessly to repatriate Abeds remains, Pourbaghis alleged crime means little: a woman they never got to know is now dead, her body stuck in a home she never had the chance to make her own.

They need and deserve to have closure," said Hajheidari, describing Abed's mourning family, to complete their grief by having Barans body back in her home country."

For anyone affected by family or intimate partner violence, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services. If youre in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.

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