Zohreh Sadeghi: A Podcaster's Parasocial Nightmare

[00:00:07] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young and this is Serial Napper, the number one true crime podcast for naps. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep or perhaps to give you nightmares. Tonight's episode comes with a trigger warning for stalking

[00:00:34] and harassment. Please listen with caution and prioritize your mental well-being. If you believe that you are being stalked, I urgently encourage you to contact the police. If you're in a dangerous situation, call 911. When this story broke, I immediately had this terrible feeling in my gut. I went through

[00:00:54] all of my social media and I deleted the vast majority of public-facing photos of my children. I cleaned up my contact list and I became clear on what I was no longer willing to participate in. According to the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center, nearly one

[00:01:12] in three women have experienced stalking victimization at some point in their life. Sixty-nine percent of female victims of stalking were threatened with physical harm. Zohreh Sadeghi was a 33-year-old young woman living in Redmond, Washington. She was an immigrant

[00:01:29] from Iran, a successful software engineer, and a podcaster who shared her lived experiences talking about how to find a job in the tech industry as a newcomer. In the summer of 2022, she would have the chance to meet one of her listeners, another

[00:01:46] Iranian immigrant, 38-year-old Ramin Khoda Karamrezai, who seemed to be enamored with her. At first, Zohreh was flattered, but when he began harassing her, calling her from different numbers and even showing up at her home with gifts, she became terrified and she filed

[00:02:07] an order of protection against him. Sadly, as we have seen time and again, orders of protection are simply pieces of paper that often do not protect victims against their stalkers. Just one week after the order was filed, Zohreh's stalker would break into

[00:02:24] the home where she lived with her husband and shoot them both in cold blood before taking his own life. There is an important lesson to be learned here regarding the toxic parasocial relationships that some people have with their favorite content creators and the lack

[00:02:40] of protection available to victims of stalking and harassment. So let's jump right in. Zohreh Sadeghi and her husband, Mohammad Naziri, were married in 2011 after moving to the States from Iran in search of the American dream. And for the most part, they found it. Both

[00:03:00] were hard-working, skilled software engineers with a ton of knowledge to offer. Zohreh worked at Promontory Mortgage Path and had her own podcast dedicated to helping Farsi-speaking people find jobs in the tech industry. Her husband was equally as successful, having

[00:03:18] previously worked for Google and now as a lead software engineer for Amazon. Together, Zohreh purchased a beautiful home in Redmond, Washington in 2021, which was valued at over $1 million. This is where Zohreh's mother also lived with them. The house was located

[00:03:37] in a quiet, safe community and it was an oasis where they could come home and relax after a busy workday. That is, until their peace was absolutely destroyed by an individual who didn't respect boundaries or the law. Zohreh was very active on social media as

[00:03:56] part of her podcast, which was dedicated to those who speak Farsi, the official language of Iran, and looking for a job in the technology sector. She would often stream on a platform called Clubhouse, a social media app that has been described as a mix of podcasting and

[00:04:13] conference calling. The way that it works is that hosts will create a room on a specific topic and then listeners can jump on, join in, listen to the audio, and even interact with one another. Zohreh built an engaged community of people who were just like her

[00:04:30] at the beginning of her tech career. And she had a ton of solid advice to offer, so it's no wonder that she attracted a following that admired her and looked to her for guidance.

[00:04:43] In the summer of 2022, Zohreh would meet one of her fans in person, a fact which at first she actually kept from her husband. And I get it, it's a difficult balance of trying

[00:04:55] to be open and engaged with the people that you speak to while also ensuring that you're keeping safe and you're protecting yourself. She likely didn't want to hear the backlash from her husband about how it wasn't a great idea. 38-year-old Ramin Kota Karamrezai introduced

[00:05:13] himself to Zohreh as an avid listener, and at first she was honored and happy to form a professional relationship with a fan. But it soon became clear that Ramin wanted much more than that. While Zohreh tried to maintain an innocent friendship with her listener,

[00:05:30] Ramin's intentions were sinister. He began calling her and texting her non-stop, and when she tried to set boundaries, he refused to listen. She described him as having quote "...bursts of anger and being completely delusional." When she would block his phone

[00:05:49] number, he'd simply try calling her from a different number. He wasn't giving up. On November 6, 2022, Zohreh told Ramin that their friendship was over and he needed to stop contacting her and just leave her alone. She blocked all of the different phone numbers

[00:06:07] that he had used as well as all of his social media profiles. But again, this did not stop him. He'd just find other numbers to use and create new social media profiles to continue to harass Zohreh. Then on November 21, 2022, things escalated. Zohreh received a phone

[00:06:28] call from a number that she didn't recognize. When she picked it up, it was Ramin on the other end of the line. She told him once again to stop calling, she didn't want to hear

[00:06:39] his voice, and he responded by telling her that he was in her neighborhood despite the fact that she had never even told him where she lived. She hung up and blocked this new number, but Zohreh was absolutely terrified. He knew where she lived with her husband and

[00:06:58] her mother, and he was not taking no for an answer. The harassment continued through December when this time, he reached out to Zohreh through the Telegram app to tell her that, once again,

[00:07:10] he was in the area. This time, he was sitting outside near her house, watching her. I have a copy of a portion of the call log between this man and Zohreh, and he would call her

[00:07:23] every other day, sometimes multiple times a day, from either a new number or a private number, and if she didn't answer, he would just leave her these menacing voicemails saying

[00:07:34] that he wouldn't let her go and the only thing that will make this all stop is if he killed himself or died. December 5th at 2.40pm, December 7th at 11.08am, December 11th at 2.25pm, December 15th 7am, December 16th 9.58am, all the way through until February when she

[00:07:58] finally decided to reach out to the police. There would be several events that finally were the straw to break the camel's back and force Zohreh to go to the authorities. And it wasn't just Zohreh that he was harassing. Even though she hadn't given Ramin her or

[00:08:16] her husband's contact information, he began to call and message her husband up to 20 times a day. If he couldn't reach her directly, he'd try to get through to her through her husband. Zohreh had learned that Ramin installed an app on his phone to record conversations

[00:08:33] with her. Then he would edit the audio in a way to make it look like the two of them had this relationship and then he would send it to her husband. Zohreh would say quote,

[00:08:45] He sent an edited snippet of the recording. I was not in an emotional state to listen to it, but I really feel violated that he has been recording me without my consent. In December of 2022, Zohreh had major back surgery. This seriously affected her mobility,

[00:09:04] which made her worry that she physically wouldn't be able to respond to a crisis if it were to happen. If Ramin had decided to physically harm her, she wouldn't be able to fight

[00:09:16] back against him. This fear was only compounded when her husband had to go away for a work trip to Australia, leaving her alone in the home with her elderly mother. I'm not going to victim blame here because I'm sure that there were reasons, but if you're being stalked

[00:09:34] and harassed by someone who appears to be out of their mind, please take it so seriously. Meaning, don't take your safety for granted. Explore all options to keep yourself safe and guarded because humans are unpredictable. Zohreh would write quote,

[00:09:51] All of this has caused me great distress and pain, and now I am suffering from a deep-seated fear for my safety. It has taken a toll on my recovery. I haven't been able to open the curtains in my bedroom out of fear of him being outside watching me.

[00:10:08] Ramin must have been keeping tabs on her husband because literally just a few minutes after he left for his work trip, Ramin showed up at her front door with flowers. She didn't answer, instead she called the police, but he had left the property by the time they

[00:10:25] arrived. Ramin was becoming more brazen, escalating from phone harassment to stalking her at her home. In early January, Zohreh discovered a package in her mailbox. It was jewelry, a gift from her stalker. She called the police again, and this time they were able to give

[00:10:47] a verbal warning to Ramin when they finally tracked him down. Ramin worked as a truck driver, meaning he was constantly on the road, traveling to different cities, which made it difficult for the police to track his whereabouts, and it only made things more concerning for

[00:11:04] Zohreh. She had no idea where he was at any given time, whether he was miles away working or sitting in his truck in her neighborhood. This verbal warning by the police didn't faze Ramin one bit, and it certainly didn't stop him from continuing to stalk and harass

[00:11:24] his victim. He continued to call relentlessly and to send gifts, this time a neck scarf which Zohreh would open in front of the police because she was terrified by what she might

[00:11:43] find in the package. At one point, he even went as far as to hire a jazz band to play outside of her home for two hours, sending her the proof of payment, but he cancelled

[00:11:55] it when she begged him to. On March 3rd, 2023, Zohreh signed a temporary order of protection against Ramin. He was also to be charged with two counts of telephone harassment and one count of stalking, a misdemeanor according to the police. There was also a bench warrant

[00:12:14] issued with bail set at $100,000. However, police had a difficult time finding him so that they could actually serve him with this restraining order and bench warrant. Again, he was a trucker, and he didn't appear to have any sort of fixed address. Ramin would

[00:12:30] never be served because just a week later, things reached their boiling point. In the early morning hours of March 10th, 2023, the Redmond Police Department responded to a 911 call that came in from Zohreh's mother who had been in an altercation with an intruder

[00:12:48] at their home, reporting shots fired. When the police arrived at the scene, they found Zohreh's husband lying at the front door, suffering from a gunshot wound. They attempted to perform CPR, but they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Upon

[00:13:07] walking further into the home, they would find Zohreh, dead from a gunshot wound, killed by her stalker Ramin, who had taken his own life after. He had broken into the couple's home through a window during the night, first encountering Zohreh's mother, who was able

[00:13:25] to get away from him and flee to a neighbor's home to call 911. Sadly, Zohreh and her husband weren't as lucky and were killed shortly after. Redmond Police Chief Darrell Lowe, who had been briefed on this stalking case earlier in the week because it was so severe,

[00:13:43] he spoke to the media saying, quote, This is the worst case scenario. This is every victim, every investigator, every police chief's worst nightmare. So let me start by offering my condolences to the family of the victims and acknowledging

[00:13:59] the impact to the Redmond community and the aftermath of this tragic event. Last night, around 145 a.m., officers responded to the 16700 block of Northeast 89th Street regarding shots fired. Officers were met by a neighbor and the mother of one of the victims and directed

[00:14:15] them to the home. As officers approached the front of the home, a male, later identified as the husband of the victim, was seen in a doorway. As officers tried to communicate with him, he collapsed and became unresponsive. Officers evacuated him from the front of

[00:14:32] the house and realized that he had been shot. CPR was started and he was handed over to paramedics and unfortunately was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers formed a search team and entered the location, understanding that there were two other individuals located

[00:14:48] inside the home. The officers discovered a female deceased from a gunshot wound and a male deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the master bedroom. The Redmond Police Department is familiar with both the victim and suspect in this case because of

[00:15:06] an active stalking investigation that was occurring. A protection order was obtained by the Redmond City Prosecutor but had yet been served on the suspect because his whereabouts were unknown. The detectives had been in frequent contact with the victim and her

[00:15:21] family throughout this investigation. So, the restraining order was sought at the beginning of March as the investigation got to that point. And I would just remind the public that a restraining order is simply a piece of paper that allows officers to take enforcement

[00:15:39] action should a suspect violate the court order. But a piece of paper does not protect a person when someone is intent on causing them harm. So, the message to them is just

[00:15:51] in this case as this victim did to work closely with investigators to allow us to seek that restraining order so we can take enforcement action should a suspect violate it. But I

[00:16:00] do not want to create a false sense of security just because a restraining order or a protective order is obtained that that is some type of shield that it is important for them to report

[00:16:10] each and every violation of that court order so that we can actually, so that the prosecutor can then actually bring that person forward for justice based upon violating that court order. In this case, the victim did everything that they possibly could. Unfortunately, this

[00:16:26] person broke into their home and killed her. And it is a tragic event. And he is exactly correct. A protection order is just a piece of paper. And the police, they can only do what they can within the means of the law that's available to them.

[00:16:43] There was a clear escalation of the level of stalking and harassment, from calling the victim on the phone repeatedly, calling her husband, threatening to take his own life, to sending gifts and then showing up at her front door. Ramin's wife would come forward

[00:16:58] with more information about his behavior leading up to the tragic double murder suicide. In an interview with ABC 13 News, she said that his whole demeanor had changed in the weeks leading up to the killings. About a year prior to the tragedy, Ramin had told his ex-wife

[00:17:16] that he and Zohreh were dating. It was obviously not true because she was married and wanted no contact with him. But apparently, he didn't even believe that she was actually married. Ramin thought that Zohreh was just trying to get rid of him and using being married

[00:17:35] as an excuse. Later on, Ramin would tell his ex-wife that he was devastated because Zohreh had broken up with him, even crying to her on the phone about it. He was delusional. This is not the outcome that anyone wanted. And yet, the measures that we currently have

[00:17:53] in place, they weren't enough to prevent it. We need better laws to protect victims of stalking and harassment. Full stop. According to the Stalking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center, an estimated 13.5 million people are stalked in one year period in the US. 46%

[00:18:12] of stalking victims fear not knowing what will happen next. They're just walking around on eggshells, constantly looking around the corner and behind them. 29% of stalking victims fear it will never stop. Because people who stalk keep going. They don't learn. 1 in

[00:18:30] 8 employed stalking victims lose time from work as a result of their victimization, and more than half lose 5 days of work or more. 1 in 7 stalking victims have to move as a result of their victimization. Stalking victims suffer much higher rates of depression, anxiety,

[00:18:49] insomnia, and social dysfunction than people who are just in the general population. In a time where we're more connected to celebrities, influencers, and creators through the magic of social media, stalking is more rampant than ever. This story terrified me. I'm

[00:19:07] not a large creator by any means, but just by putting my name and my face out there, I've had to deal with people, mainly men, who think that they know me just because they

[00:19:18] listen to the podcast or follow me on social media and want more of a personal relationship with me. And sure, I am absolutely happy to be friends with people online. I love my

[00:19:29] listeners. I love getting to chat with everybody every day. But there is a clear boundary that you shouldn't push. I'm a happily married woman. I don't go around chatting inappropriately with men that I don't know. But as women, we're taught to be sweet, gentle, polite,

[00:19:48] so as not to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. In the past, I've been much more passive and agreeable about the whole thing, but when this story broke, it really changed my perspective. When people push the limits and trample all over your boundaries, you

[00:20:04] have to put your foot down. You have to cut them out. According to the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, if you are the victim of a stalker, there's a few things

[00:20:13] that you need to do. Obviously, contact the police and make a police report as soon as you realize that you're being stalked. Keep a written record of every interaction with your stalker. Note the time, the date, the place of every contact with the stalker, even

[00:20:30] if it seems like it's insignificant at the time. Record all answering machine messages left by the stalker and note any hang-ups and occasions where the person on the other end of the line says nothing. Keep a record book and then keep a copy of that book in

[00:20:45] a safe place that's outside of your home. Tell people about it. It can be extremely isolating being stalked, but it's important that you tell family members and friends, co-workers and employers and neighbours about what is happening to you. If you have children,

[00:21:03] make sure that their schools and caregivers are also aware of the situation, and inform them that none of your personal information should be given to anyone. And finally, because a protection order is just a piece of paper, you gotta increase your personal safety. Be

[00:21:21] cautious when you're out in public or on social media talking about your social plans, your travel plans. Anyone could be listening or watching from anywhere. Be super duper careful about what you post online, especially when it comes to your kids. Invest in a home security

[00:21:38] system and good lighting outside of your house. And change your routine up every so often. Make sure that you're taking different jogging routes or different ways to work every so often. Obviously, some people are going to hear this, and they're gonna think it's

[00:21:53] overkill, and that's fine. Just being aware that these things can and do happen to anyone is important. Zohreh Sadeghi thought that she was connecting with a fan, someone who supported her and was in her corner, but he had other things in mind. She did absolutely

[00:22:11] everything correct, and sadly, it wasn't enough to save her in the end. Because you can't stop monsters like that when the systems that we have in place support their rights more than they do with the victims. And now I'm stepping off my soapbox.

[00:22:27] That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper. I also have a Serial Napper true crime discussion group, it's called Serial Society. I'll have the link in my show notes or you can just search for it on

[00:22:40] Facebook. I'd love to chat with you about this case and all of the other cases that I cover. You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:22:50] I post all of my episodes in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out. And if you're watching on YouTube, I would love if you could give me a thumbs up and subscribe.

[00:22:59] I'm over on X, formerly known as Twitter, at Serial underscore Napper, and I post things on TikTok. Serial Napper Nick, and that's all one word. Until next time, sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments. Bye.