Death of Beverly Hills High senior unravels Westside's tight-knit Persian Jewish community
Investigators ruled that Bianca Khalili jumped from a 15th-floor apartment balcony. Her family says she was pushed by a friend, and they want the case reopened.
On the evening of May 26, Beverly Hills High senior Bianca Khalili visited Dora Afrahim, another popular daughter of the Westside Persian Jewish community who lived in a glittering Century City high-rise.
About 11 p.m., neighbors heard screaming. They looked down from their windows and saw Bianca's crumpled body at the foot of the building.
In June, investigators ruled Bianca's death a suicide, saying evidence indicated she had jumped off the apartment building's 15th-floor balcony. "We found no evidence, no physical evidence, no witness testimony, nothing to support the fact that this incident was a homicide," said Los Angeles Police Lt. Raymond Lombardo, a department veteran who supervised the investigation.
Nonetheless, today, more than three months after Bianca's death, the events of that night continue to divide local Persian Jews, who are unaccustomed to dealing with violent crime and the taboo of suicide. Indeed, no incident in recent memory has so polarized the wealthy, well-educated and insular emigre community, challenging its commitment to Persian Jewish tradition and American justice.
"An entire Persian community centered around Beverly Hills High School has been rocked by this," Lombardo said. The case, he said, has "divided the community like driving a stake through their heart."
Bianca's family and friends say Dora pushed her and demand that police reopen the investigation.
"I just want to clear her name," said Bianca's mother, Niloofar "Lily" Khalili, who insists her daughter could not have killed herself.
Dora declined interviews and photographs. Her father points to the official finding of suicide. He says his daughter has received threats and that community suspicion may spoil her prospects for getting an education, finding work, marrying and starting a family.
All summer, members of the Persian Jewish community have continued to bombard officials with e-mails and phone calls, write letters to the Jewish Journal, post messages on Facebook, and discuss the case in parks and at Westside temples. They have taken sides, calling on police, rabbis, school officials and community leaders to intervene on behalf of one side or the other.
But nothing can ease the heartache of the two families involved, the relatives of two 17-year-olds who once celebrated holidays and other special occasions together, two friends who exchanged texts, calls and photos, two girls on the verge of adulthood.
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