News

Houston (CNN) -- Homicide detectives here say they
are exploring every possible avenue as they investigate the
assassination-style killing of an Iranian dissident as she drove home
late one night in mid-January.

Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was shot and killed on January 15 as she
drove her father's car home just before midnight. She was studying
molecular genetic technology at the University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston.

"The evidence indicated that she had been shot through the passenger
side window," Houston Police Sgt. J.C. Padilla said. "She was shot one
time and an autopsy revealed she had been shot in the head."

Bagherzadeh had come to Houston in 2007, her friends said. Before her
arrival, they say, she had traveled throughout Europe, living in Paris
and, for a time, in Budapest.

Her father had once worked for the Iranian Oil ministry, according to police.

In 2010, not long after the disputed presidential elections in Iran,
Bagherzadeh joined a group called SabzHouston, formed to protest the
election results. She was videotaped by a reporter for the Houston
Chronicle while on a street corner, saying she was showing support for
"brothers and sisters suffering in Iran."