$200,000 award for information

Second shooting death adds to mystery surrounding murder of Iranian-born medicalstudent

Coty Beavers — whose twin brother was the last to see Gelareh Bagherzadeh alive— was found dead on Nov. 12.
Coty Beavers/Facebook
Ali Bagherzadeh spoke at Crime Stoppers press conference in May. Theorganization is offering a $200,000, the largest award in its history.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Gelareh Bagherzadeh's shooting death remains shrouded in mystery withspeculations ranging from a politically-motivated hit to an honor killing.
Americans for Freedom in Iran

Harris County sheriff's officials and Houston police are searching for a link between the January shooting death of a medical student and Iranian-born activist Gelareh Bagherzadeh and the murder of her boyfriend's twin brother, Coty Beavers, who was found dead in his apartment from multiple gunshot wounds early last week.

As a founding member of SabzHouston — an organization pushing for democratic change in Iran — 30-year-old Bagherzadeh was a vocal critic of the ruling government in her native country.

The recent death of Coty Beavers — whose brother Cory was the last to see Gelareh Bagherzadeh alive — adds a new layer of mystery.

In the last 10 months, however, investigations led by the Houston Police Department have failed to uncover any political motivations for her death. At a press conference following the incident, the victim's brother, Ali Bagherzadeh, told reporters that friends and family don't believe the shooting was a political matter. The case remains unsolved.

The recent death of Coty Beavers — whose brother Cory was the last to see Gelareh Bagherzadeh alive — adds a new layer of mystery. His body was discovered at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 inside his northwest Houston apartment at 10801 Legacy Park Drive.

Beavers was last seen walking his wife to her car at 5:45 that morning.

Officials from the Harris County Sheriff's Office told CultureMap on Tuesday that homicide investigators have yet to find a connection between the two murders. No motive has surfaced.

In light of the new shooting, sources close to the victims' families suspect the incidents could be tied to religion, noting that Gelareh Bagherzadeh and Coty Beavers' wife were relatively recent Christian converts.

Given the lack of physical evidence in both crimes and the professional nature with which they were carried out, friends and family suspect the murders were purposefully arranged.

Given the lack of physical evidence in both crimes and the almost professional nature with which they were carried out, many friends and family believe the murders were purposefully arranged.

A close friend of the Bagherzadeh, who wished to remain unnamed, fears something akin to an honor killing while others are suspicious about the timing of Bagherzadeh's death, which occurred just weeks after a patent lawsuit yielded her father upwards of $5.8 million.

Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering a $200,000 award —the largest in its history — for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in Bagherzadeh case. A $5,000 award is currently on the table for the information about the Beavers murder.

Anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers either online or at 713-222-TIPS. The Beavers family is accepting online donations in lieu of flowers to help defray funeral costs for Coty.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”