She Fled Iran, But Was Murdered in America by Radicalized Muslims

She Fled Iran, But Was Murdered in America by Radicalized Muslims

 

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com )  

 

SAN BERNADINO, CALIF. (ANS -- Dec. 7, 2015) -- Benetta Betbadal, a Christian, fled persecution in Iran as young woman. 

 

A story by CBN News reported that for more than three decades she enjoyed a better life, along with religious freedom here in the United States.

 

All that came to an end last Wednesday when she was murdered by an Islamic terrorist--not in Iran--but in California.

 

Americans are mourning the victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino. Wife and mother Benetta Betbadal, 46, is among those remembered.

 

"She was a great wife, a wife who would take care of her family, great cook, great mom," her husband Arlen Verdehyou, a police officer, said. "She made the house beautiful. She was an angel."

 

"This is the United States. It's international. Any type of religion we have in this United States and unfortunately it had to happen at her work, and by Islamic.. I don't know if it was terrorists or what, but obviously unhappy employee at this moment that caused all this sadness," CBN News reported he said.

 

A Christian born in Iran in 1969, Betbadal escaped religious persecution following the Iranian Revolution. 

 

She was only 18 when she arrived in the United States, settling first in New York City. She later moved to California where she met and married Arlen Verdeyhou.

 

They have three children, ages 10, 12 and 15. Her daughter, Jolen, said she'll miss talking to her mom.

 

"It's like, she would be the one I would talk to mostly about everything. She knew all my secrets and everything," she said. "She's my best friend, basically."

 

As a graduate of California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Betbadal worked as a San Bernardino County health inspector.

 

Her husband said he exchanged text messages with his wife around 8 a.m. Wednesday, telling her he was going to do some Christmas shopping.

 

CBN News reported he said Betbadal had just finished decorating the family's Christmas tree and was excited about a presentation she was set to give that day at the office Christmas party.

 

Three hours later, shots rang out at the Inland Regional Center. Muslim gunmen Sayed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik carried out their attack. 

 

Fourteen people were killed, including Betbadal.

 

Her husband suggested that even America may not be a safe place for Christians.

 

"It chases you. Wherever you go it can chase you. That is pretty much it. She ran... 35 years she's been here, or 31 years, and now gone, at the hands of...(an) Islamic fanatic," he said.

 

Jolen said her mother would want their family to move on.

 

"She would want people happy, she didn't want people grieving, or crying, or anything," CBN News reported she said. "So that's what I'm taking in and I'm turning that into my support that's making me strong."

 

Reports say that she was a member of St. Paul's Assyrian Chaldean Church. 

 

According to a story by Larry Altman for The Sun, family members said Betbadal’s greatest love was for her husband, her children and her extended family. A gofundme account  was established to assist them.

 

In the statement issued to media, The Sun reported Betbadal’s family said  “It is the ultimate irony that her life would be stolen from her that day by what appears to be the same type of extremism that she fled so many years ago.”

 

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Photo captions: 1) Benetta Betbadal. 2) Bennetta Betbadal, third from left (Via www.gofundme.com). 3) Jeremy and Elma Reynalds.

 

About the writer: Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "From Destitute to Ph.D." Additional details on "From Destitute to Ph.D." are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com . 

 

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