PA ImagesIt should have been the happiest weekend of her life, and yet the photographs of Sara Baluch wearing her beautiful white bridal gown are among the most heartbreaking I have ever seen.
On February 19, Sara’s fiancé Mohammad Sharifi was shot dead in the parking lot of a Hixson Pike apartment building.
24-year-old Mohammad had been trying to sell his Xbox One when he was killed, with the murder taking place just two weeks before he and Sara had been due to wed.
On what should have been the day of their wedding day, a devastated Sara, 22, visited Mohammad’s grave site at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee, dressed in full bridal finery. She would have visited on the day itself, but was prevented from doing so due to thunderstorms.
Photographs show a veiled Sara sitting by the grave of the man who would have been her husband, tears streaming down her face.
Speaking with the Times Free Press, Sara spoke of how they fell in love just two weeks into their relationship.
Sara, who described their love as ‘perfect’, spoke of Mohammad’s kind and selfless nature:
When you came to him with a problem, it became his problem,
He would sit there and try to tell you how you can fix it. He wouldn’t just sit there and be like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry’.
She added:
All he wanted to do was make people smile.
He would say anything just to make people laugh. You don’t find that kind of care in people. People our age are just so selfish now. But him, he was nothing like that.
You’d have half a cup, and he would fill that cup for you. Somehow, he would give you the world. Oh my God, he was perfect.
Vol Nation…I come to you with sad news. I've never met this family but I have started a GoFundMe campaign to bring hope to this family who lost a loved one far too soon. Please help if you can. I know the family would be forever grateful. https://t.co/Vu8og7LrGO via @gofundme
— Colby Howell 🍊🍊 (@CH_VolNation) March 3, 2019
Sara’s birthday took place just one week after Mohammad’s death, and his mother gave her the presents he had bought her at his funeral. The gifts included a Rolex watch he had wanted her to wear at their wedding.
Speaking with the Times Free Press, Sara said that Mohammad still visits her in her dreams:
I begged him. I made him a promise. I said, ‘I promise I’ll love you forever if you promise just to come to my dreams so we can make memories together.
But he won’t talk to me. He just comes to me and he holds me. That’s all he does. I’m happy. I’m so grateful. That’s the closest thing I’ve been getting to holding him. But I want to ask him, ‘Are you OK?’
She added:
Our love had to exist in a different world,
It couldn’t exist here. It was too perfect it seemed unnatural.
HAPPENING NOW: D’Marcus White appears in court. He shot and killed 24 year old Mohammad Sharifi. He is charged with criminal homicide and aggravated robbery. pic.twitter.com/BOEtOjhc0F
— Jake ChapmanWRCB (@JakeWrcb) March 12, 2019
20-year-old D’Marcus White has reportedly since been charged with criminal homicide.
Our thoughts are with Sara Baluch and all the loved ones of Mohammad Sharifi at this difficult time.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.