Audio streamer and husband fatally shot by stalker, US police say

WASHINGTON – An audio streamer and her husband were fatally shot in Redmond, Washington, early on Friday by a fan who had been stalking the woman, said US police.

The audio streamer, Ms Zohreh Sadeghi, 33, and her husband, Mr Milad Naseri, 35, were pronounced dead in a home in Redmond, about 24km east of Seattle, at around 1.45am on Friday, said Redmond police chief Darrell Lowe.

Ms Sadeghi’s mother, who was also in the home at the time, escaped and called the police from a neighbour’s house.

The gunman, Ramin Khodakaramrezaei, a 38-year-old long-haul trucker from Texas, had broken into the home through a bedroom window, Mr Lowe said.

Khodakaramrezaei, who had been stalking Ms Sadeghi, fatally shot himself after shooting the couple, according to a Redmond Police Department statement.

Khodakaramrezaei first discovered Ms Sadeghi after listening to a Farsi-language audio stream about gaining employment in the technology industry, Mr Lowe said at a news conference.

The stream was hosted on Clubhouse, a social media app described in a blog post by Hootsuite as “a cross between a podcast and a conference call” and that allows users to talk and listen in chatrooms.

It is believed that Khodakaramrezaei was a listener of the audio stream featuring Ms Sadeghi and later began communicating with her.

They eventually became friends, until his actions escalated and she sought a no-contact order against him, police said.

His interest in Ms Sadeghi was made clear by messages he had sent her.

“One message suggested he would love her forever and would burn himself in front of her house,” Mr Lowe said.

According to the authorities, Khodakaramrezaei had harassed Ms Sadeghi over the phone for months, even calling her more than 100 times in one day.

“There were instances where the individual did show up at the location previously, bearing gifts,” Mr Lowe said, referring to Khodakaramrezaei.

“There were items, I’ll say items of affection, gifts, that were mailed to the victim.”

Khodakaramrezaei once followed Ms Sadeghi to a conference in Denver near the end of 2022 and visited her home the night before the shooting, the chief said.

Ms Sadeghi contacted the police in January, and the department assigned the case to an investigator, but police could not easily locate Khodakaramrezaei.

It was not until March that a judge issued a temporary protection order forbidding Khodakaramrezaei from contacting Ms Sadeghi. The order, however, had not yet been served as at Friday.

Investigators had been attempting to find Khodakaramrezaei so that police could arrest him, Mr Lowe said.

“This is every detective’s, every police chief’s worst nightmare,” Mr Lowe said.

Police were not aware of Khodakaramrezaei having any criminal history beyond minor traffic violations.

They also could not confirm whether he had obtained his weapon legally.

Investigators said he had rented a vehicle, but it was not immediately clear how he had travelled to the home. NYTIMES