VANCOUVER, Wash. — Before Mike and Effie Entezari’s names were splashed across newspapers during Mike’s murder trial, the two were busy raising a family in Vancouver, Washington.
Mike worked as an engineering professor at a local college, and Effie owned a daycare. Both Mike and Effie grew up in Tehran, and came separately to America for college. Before settling in Vancouver in 1979, the family had lived for several years back in Iran, and fled at the onset of the Iranian Revolution.
Eventually, Mike and Effie experienced marital problems. Effie filed for divorce multiple times. In 1981 and 1984, Effie abandoned her divorce petitions.
But she filed a third and final time, in 1988. The couple had a contentious divorce, fighting over money, multiple real estate investments and custody of their teenage son. Mike and Effie were also entangled in a lawsuit with Mike’s brother over money they allegedly owed him.
At the time of Effie’s murder, she and Mike were days away from the start of their divorce trial. And that did not look good for Mike.
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