Woman gets 18 years for robbing dead Iranian

of an Iranian-American taxi driver who was murdered in a grisly fashion by her boyfriend.

A jury convicted Mariesha Ohlfs, 34, of helping her two younger co-defendants rob Hooshang Vatanpour, 56, a former Iranian air force helicopter pilot.

Ohlfs’ boyfriend, Noah Whitehead, and William Stephens were convicted earlier of capital murder. Ohlfs helped plan the robbery and took the men two gallons of gasoline, which they used to set Vatanpour’s body on fire, testimony showed.

Both men received life in prison without parole because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

On July 2, 2009, Vatanpour picked up Stephens and Whitehead near a Dallas bus station and agreed to take them to Wichita Falls. Near Alliance Airport, Vatanpour was hit over he head with a bottle. His throat was then cut, he was stabbed seven times and his body was later set on fire, investigators testified.

The two men called Ohlfs to come fetch them and bring two cans of gasoline. She was found guilty of robbing Vatanpour after his slaying. The jury needed only an hour to reach the verdict on her case.

Ohlfs was the final suspect convicted in the case that netted the trio only $200 and some credit cards.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Whitehead, 23, fought with Texas police officers in 2007 after refusing to pay for a cab ride, Stephens, 22, has a police record dating back to 1999 when he was 12 years old, and Ohlfs, 32, left her husband in Wisconsin and returned to Texas just a few weeks before the murder.

Vatanpour’s daughter, Lida, said of her father, “He had been through so much in Iran. He took us out of there so we could have freedom of ideas and freedom to practice our religion.”

Lida Vatanpour said, “He didn’t want us to go through it, so he got us out and moved us to Turkey.… We had family in Texas, and they talked about us coming here. Dad got us here as fast as he could.”

Vatanpour brought his wife, two daughters and two sons to Allen, and within weeks got a job as a taxi driver.

“It was a different culture for him,” Lida Vatanpour said. “He knew little English and he had been taking English courses to improve.”

But most of all, Vatanpour was finally happy. “He was the most wonderful dad,” his daughter said. “He was very loving and caring to us.”

Authorities traced the suspects using phoned-in tips, tracking dogs and a surveillance camera that recorded one man as he bought beer at a convenience store a short drive from the crime scene.