New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Interpreter Roya Mohammadi, 29, remembered as driven, ambitious
WEST HAVEN — Roya Mohammadi, 29, was a beacon in her five months as an interpreter.
“She had faced a lot of challenges in her life, but she talked a lot about where she wanted to go and the road she created for her life,” said Camila Güiza-Chavez, co-executive director of Havenly, a New Haven nonprofit that works to instill personal and professional leadership in immigrant and refugee women.
Güiza-Chavez said Mohammadi, a polyglot, came to Havenly in October through a referral from a local behavioral health clinic that works with people experiencing domestic violence.
“We have a lot of interpreting needs, and Roya made it possible for a lot of women from Afghanistan to take part in our program,” she said. “Although we hired her as an interpreter, she really became a member of our community. We made a lot of beautiful memories with her. She was working here but also was making friends, also supporting women in our fellowship and going above and beyond in her role as an interpreter.”
Police said Havenly officials reported Mohammadi missing on March 2, a week after she was last seen. The next day, state Department of Transportation workers discovered her body in the West River in West Haven. On Friday, a spokesman for West Haven Police said there were no updates on the department’s investigation. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Monday that her cause of death is “pending further study” and the manner is “pending investigation.”
Güiza-Chavez said Mohammadi’s path crossed a lot of different immigrant groups in the city. Chris George, executive director of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services in New Haven, said Mohammadi had approached the organization, although she had not been a client.
Güiza-Chavez said Mohammadi was included in a Havenly pilot program called Career Bridges, a fellowship for women with extensive educational or professional backgrounds in their home countries. She said Mohammadi had completed two advanced degrees in India in the fields of economics, marketing and business.
“She had a very solid dream of starting her own media marketing company,” she said. “She was very driven, very determined, and had faced a lot of challenges in her life, but she talked a lot about where she wanted to go and the road she created for her life. There was a very striking clarity about what she wanted. It’s a huge shock and a huge tragedy.”
Güiza-Chavez said Havenly staff has been requesting daily updates into the West Haven police investigation.
“We just really want to make sure it continues to be investigated, fully and thoroughly,” she said. “The way she was found and the way she died and everything we knew about her, we just think it’s really important they keep investigating.”