When 23-year-old Aishat Baimuradova fled her home earlier this year, she believed she finally had a chance to live the way she wanted.
Coming from Chechnya, a conservative Muslim republic in Russia, she cut her hair short, stopped covering her head, shaved off part of her eyebrow, and posted quirky selfies on Instagram.
She told her new friends she could finally breathe.
In October, Aishat was found dead in a rented flat in neighbouring Armenia. Police say she was murdered.
Two people were seen leaving the building where she was found, including a woman Aishat had befriended not long before her death. Both reportedly left for Russia soon afterwards.
Russians do not need a passport to enter Armenia; their internal ID is enough. That also makes it an easy route for anyone trying to flee.
Chechnya, in Russia's North Caucasus, is often described by rights groups as a state within a state - a place where power is highly personalised and loyalty to long-standing leader Ramzan Kadyrov often overrides laws and formal institutions.
For years, human rights organizations have documented enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings in the republic, as well as systematic persecution of those who dissent.
Chechen officials have consistently denied these allegations, complaining of fabrications aimed at discrediting the region.
Several high-profile critics of Chechen authorities have been killed abroad. Aishat Baimuradova is the first known Chechen woman to have died in suspicious circumstances shortly after fleeing Russia.
Like many other women who escape the region, she had complained of being controlled by her family. She said she was forced into a marriage, monitored, and barred from leaving home or using her phone. The BBC was not able to reach her family for a comment.
Aishat arrived in Armenia with the help of SK-SOS, a crisis group that assists people facing danger in the North Caucasus. She had publicly expressed dissatisfaction with conservative gender roles and the oppressive control women face in Chechnya.
On the night of her death, Aishat was with a woman she had recently met online, who claimed to come from Dagestan, another Russian republic in the North Caucasus. A man captured on CCTV leaving the building with them reportedly has ties to a businessman close to Kadyrov.
Chechen authorities deny any connection to Baimuradova's death, condemning such suggestions as a terrorist information attack.
Armenian authorities say they are investigating two unnamed suspects but have not provided further details. The case raises alarms about the safety of Chechen women who seek refuge, given that many still fear the extent of the reach of Kadyrov's regime beyond Russian borders.
Her story of struggle resonates deeply within the Chechen diaspora, reigniting fears of repercussions even after fleeing a life of oppression.
