Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is re-examining the murder of Tahereh Ghassemi, whose death was ordered by her ex-husband, Hamid Ghassemi, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hamid paid Tyler Ashpaugh, Skylar Williams, and Daniel Richter $10,000 to kill his ex-wife following lengthy divorce proceedings. Hamid was also alleged to have wanted his adult son, Hamed Ghassemi, also killed.
The Ghassemi family was originally from Iran, but Hamid moved to the United States and began having affairs with other women. He even secretly remarried.
When Tahereh and their son finally arrived in Louisiana and learned the truth, Tahereh was heartbroken and asked for a divorce. The divorce trial finally ended with Hamid owing his ex-wife $1 million and two properties.
Three months later, Hamid had her killed.
On the evening of April 11, 2015, Tyler Ashpaugh, Skylar Williams, and Daniel Richter abducted Tahereh from her Baton Rouge home and used a .22 caliber pistol and a syringe of insulin to subdue her.
Tyler Ashpaugh was the triggerman in Tahereh Ghassemi murder
The kidnappers took her to a deserted area in St Helena Parish, north of Baton Rouge, where Ashpaugh shot her twice in the head. They wrapped her in a comforter blanket taken from her home and buried her in a shallow grave in the woods.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThe killers torched and abandoned her car in an industrial area of Baton Rouge, about six miles from her home.
Tahereh’s son, Hamed, reported her missing a couple of days later. The police initially suspected Hamed may have killed his mother because the pair had a strained relationship, and he stood to inherit the money she had just received in the divorce settlement.
However, the cops soon began to suspect ex-husband Hamid was the killer. Detectives learned that he had telephone contact with Ashpaugh on the night Tahereh vanished.
The police followed Ashpaugh’s digital footprint to a wooded area in St Helena Parish, where they eventually stumbled upon Tahereh’s shallow grave.
Daniel Richter had worked as a mechanic at the car dealership owned by Hamid, and the police believe he had been persuaded to help his boss kill Tahereh because he wanted to impress him. Richter had recruited his friends, Williams and Ashpaugh, to help him do the killing.
Killers and Hamid Ghassemi faced lengthy sentences
Williams and Richter pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 30 years each. Ashpaugh died from a fentanyl overdose while in custody awaiting trial.
In 2023, 72-year-old Hamid Ghassemi was found guilty by a jury of killing his ex-wife and was sentenced to life in prison.
Dateline: Secrets Uncovered airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Oxygen.