Ibtihal and Yasir Darraji divorced about four years ago and have two children together. On the night of her death, Ibtihal texted her friend that she was on her way to pick up her son from Yasir and then would stop by to drop off a few things. She never arrived.

Friends interviewed during the investigation told police of multiple threats Yasir had made against his ex-wife over the last few years, court documents show.

Prior to her death, Ibtihal allegedly told co-workers she feared for her life, KHQ-TV reported. One witness told authorities that Yasir was furious his former spouse was dating and “going to night clubs.” He allegedly demanded she return to their native Iraq — or he would murder her, friends said.

“He tried before to kill her,” her friend allegedly told investigators. “He told her family what she did here. In our culture, what she was doing was not allowed. Where we are from, we are not supposed to do that. She did a lot of stuff you are not supposed to do. That’s why they divorced.”

Ibtihal worked at St. Aloysius Church until September, said Don Weber, the church administrator. Last summer she went home to Baghdad to visit her mother and when she came back, she told her co-workers that she feared for her life because family members didn’t want her to return to Spokane.

“Our understanding is she was part of an arranged marriage to her husband,” Weber said. Ibtihal was about 16 years old when she had her daughter. Her son was born a few years later and is in elementary school, Weber said.

An ex-girlfriend of Yasir told police he had threatened to kill her multiple times and assaulted her when she was pregnant with their child, according to court documents. One threat the ex-girlfriend remembered and told police was that Yasir said he would pour gasoline on her mother’s house and burn it down.

Yasir as “very jealous” and claimed he refused to let his former wife forge a new life. They alluded their friend’s death may have been an honor killing.