A masked man leapt from a bush to kill a Hayward man. Photos, phone records and a Selena Gomez song led to arrest of wife, lover

HAYWARD — It all started at 10:20 p.m. on Oct. 8, when 35-year-old Razma Mohammed-Ibrahim ran to her neighbors’ door, frantically stating that she found her 51-year-old husband dead from stab wounds and needed them to call 911.

But now, the Hayward police investigation has ended with the arrest of Mohammed-Ibrahim on charges of arranging the murder of her husband, Parwiz Assar, along with her 21-year-old lover, Samim Azizi. In the six weeks between the homicide and both suspects’ arrests, police uncovered evidence of serious marital problems, an ongoing affair and a victim who sensed that his life was in danger yet continued to go to the home he and his wife shared, according to court records.

The evidence against Azizi and Mohammed-Ibrahim is a collage of internet searches, text messages, phone records, surveillance footage and even a haunting post on Mohammed-Ibrahim’s Instagram account, made the day Assar was killed. The post included the Selena Gomez song “Single Soon.” Police also uncovered text messages between the two the day before the killing, where Azizi allegedly assured Mohammed-Ibrahim that the knife he’d selected was “strong,” police said in court filings.

On the night of the homicide, Azizi texted her a picture of himself hiding in a bush outside the couple’s Hayward home, shortly before police say he leapt from the bush and stabbed Assar repeatedly, leaving him to be “discovered” by Mohammed-Ibrahim.

“Look where I am,” he allegedly texted Mohammed-Ibrahim.

“Be careful,” she allegedly replied.

Assar was fatally stabbed as he walked to his front door on Lance Way in Hayward, in an incident that was almost entirely captured on surveillance footage. Police say that the home’s Ring camera showed a man armed with a knife and wearing a mask — that concealed everything but his eyes and bridge of his nose — pop out of a bush and attack Assar. He screamed for help until the video cut off.

Hours later, when Mohammed-Ibrahim reported the homicide to police, she agreed to an interview at the Hayward police station. There, she reportedly denied the couple had marital problems or that they’d argued over her having an affair.

But police say their records show otherwise. Within the two weeks prior, Hayward officers had been called to the home for a domestic disturbance that occurred after Assar allegedly spotted an “unknown male” walking into his home on the very same Ring camera that would later capture his killing. During that incident, Mohammed-Ibrahim allegedly told police that her husband was coming home with a gun when he discovered the affair.

Six months earlier, in April, there’d been an even more serious allegation: Assar accused his wife of kidnapping their children on a purported vacation to Canada, where she allegedly allowed their visas to expire. It was after this incident, friends and family later reportedly told police, that Assar began coming to terms that his marriage was over.

In fact, at 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 9, a man walked up to the police tape at the homicide scene, told investigators he was a close friend of Assar and dropped a bombshell: Assar suspected that his wife may be planning to attack him, and even asked his friend to stay at their home occasionally for his own safety, police said in court records.

Azizi, a Washington resident, was identified as a suspect from phone records placing his location near the crime scene, authorities said. Police determined he was Mohammed-Ibrahim’s lover in part due to evidence showing the two had a rendezvous at a Motel 6 before the homicide.

Both suspects are in custody, despite Mohammed-Ibrahim allegedly warning Azizi that he had an arrest warrant after a KTVU reporter tweeted about it, police say. Mohammed-Ibrahim did not enter a plea at a court appearance Monday.

She is being held without bail and next due in court in December.