The Yellow Car, Episode 8: Resolve
Pooneh says it’s not so much about clearing her father’s name as it is for getting justice for her mom
Effie Entezari Estate
For 32 years, Pooneh Gray has been the driving force behind her mission to figure out who really killed her mom, Effie Entezari. She never believed that her father, Mike Entezari, shot and killed her in 1989. Mike was convicted of the murder and spent 16 years in prison. He maintained his innocence until he died in 2019.
From the beginning, Pooya Entezari, Pooneh’s brother, has been supportive of his sister’s efforts. But he isn’t one to speak publicly very often about what happened to their mother and father.
He recently agreed to do an interview with us for the podcast, and shared how his mother’s murder affected his life. Pooya was just 14 when his mom died and 15 when his dad went to prison.
"It had a terrible impact, to be honest with you. It pretty much destroyed my life, losing your mom at such a young age like that. It's very difficult. I kind of fell into a world of depression mixed with a little bit of alcohol and drugs just to help me deal with the pain, because I didn't know any other way to deal with it. So it was very traumatizing. It's affected my relationships with women as well. I have a hard time getting attached or getting close to women. Just pretty much, all the emotions you can think that somebody would go through, I went through them," Pooya said.
We asked Pooya to share what he remembers most about his mom and dad.
"I do remember my mom, she was a very beautiful woman. Very happy, at least from what I saw. I just remember her being very gentle and she loved children and she just was a good woman in general," he said. "And my father was an excellent violinist, a Persian violinist. And so I remember when I had a hard time sleeping as a child, he would sit there next to me and he would play his violin and it would soothe me so much that I would fall asleep. Both my parents loved me a lot and I loved them a lot. It's just very tragic that everything ended up the way that it did."
Like Pooneh, Pooya strongly feels that their father was innocent and that someone else killed Effie.
"I always thought he had nothing to do with it because he couldn't hurt a fly. I remember when my cat died, he cried for two weeks over it. He was a very gentle man and cared for others tremendously. A very emotional, very sensitive man. There's no doubt in my mind that he didn't do it. I never thought for one minute that he did," said Pooya.
Pooya said his dad would be blown away if he was alive today to see how far Pooneh has progressed with her independent investigation into Effie’s death.
"It seems like an impossible endeavor. She's had a lot of perseverance and she's done a lot of work to get us to this point. So I know he would be extremely proud," Pooya said.
Chapter 1 Wrongful death and tipline
In October of 2019, Pooneh’s attorneys helped her file a wrongful death lawsuit in Clark County, Wash. It names seven unidentified John Doe’s and three unidentified Jane Doe's, believed to have had direct involvement in the murder or information about it.
The ‘Estate of Effie Entezari’ is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction of the people responsible for the murder. If you’d like to come forward and leave an anonymous tip, you can call 360-210-7430 or email EffieEntezari@gmail.com. You can find more information at EffieEntezari.com.
Chapter 2 Investigation
As for where the investigation stands today, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office confirmed there is one detective currently assigned to the case. Pooneh and her team of lawyers have given all the evidence and documentation they’ve compiled to officials. They believe the DNA apparently linking a man they suspect in the crime, to DNA found on Effie’s body, is the biggest piece that will spur investigators to officially reopen the case.
"What we're hoping for is an arrest. We think we have strong evidence against the shooter and we hope for an arrest. And then we hope that the shooter then describes what happened and explains why he did it," said Pooneh’s longtime attorney Renee Rothauge. "Right now, we're working with law enforcement and we are hoping that they take the next logical steps and pursue and make an arrest and solve this crime conclusively once and for all."
Ultimately, it’s up to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik to decide how to proceed with this case. Pooneh said she and her team have had multiple meetings recently with officials from his office, and say they believe Golik will make a decision soon.
Pooneh is also asking Golik to release the evidence bullet for testing. Her ballistics experts feel if they can have it reexamined using new technology, it would show the bullet that killed Effie was not fired from Mike’s gun.
"They've held the bullet without release for 32 years. And we've heard from other experts that that's very unusual," said Rothauge. "Usually if there's a question about a crime, and there's a question about a piece of evidence, people are more than willing to have another look at it if there's probable cause. But we think that if modern day scientists are able to look at that bullet, look at the metallurgy of the bullet, look at the condition of the bullet, there's a lot they could conclude that would give us hints as to who really did this."
Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik has not responded to our requests for comment on this case.
Chapter 3 Resolution
For Pooneh, this case has been her life’s work. And she won’t stop until she feels her mother’s true killers are behind bars.
"It’s been 32 years. I mean, I've been going after my mom's killers in one fashion or another for 32 years. So I hope it's coming to an end. It needs to come to an end, but I don't know what's going to happen. I'm certainly in it for the long haul because I promised my mom that I would do this for her," she said.
Pooneh says it’s not so much about clearing her father’s name as it is for getting justice for Effie.
"My focus is my mom and getting her killer. And look, I've told the DA's office, then they can take over what happened to my dad and figure that out in the hopes that it doesn't happen again to someone else. And maybe everyone can learn from what happened," said Pooneh.
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