But prosecutors allege that when Amanda Alley started demanding a deeper commitment from Kazem "Kaz" Pourghafari, he killed her by setting her bedroom ablaze with gasoline.
Opening statements began Tuesday in the first-degree murder case against Pourghafari, a former Davie Planning and Zoning board member and father of two. The Broward Circuit Court trial comes more than five years after the July 1998 fire in the apartment that Pourghafari had set up for Alley in the same building as his Davie computer store.
"This case is about sex and passion," Assistant State Attorney Brian Cavanagh told jurors. "It's about greed and money. It's about lies and deceit. It's about fire and gasoline. It's about arson and murder. It's about things gone out of control."
Pourghafari, 47, doesn't deny he carried on a romantic relationship with Alley. But he had nothing to do with the blaze, said his attorney, Michael Dutko. The defense attorney called into question the thoroughness of fire marshals' investigation that concluded the fire was caused by arson.
"It wasn't a crime," Dutko said. "It was a horrible accident."
Dutko said that while fire investigators found gasoline in the bedroom, it could have come from the gasoline-powered fans used to clear the room of smoke after the fire was put out. In addition, there are indications the blaze might have been caused by lighting in Alley's room.
Cavanagh said Pourghafari killed Alley when the young woman began pressing him to get her a better apartment and a new car. She also might have thought she was pregnant, the prosecutor said. Authorities found a book of baby's names and another book on pregnancy in her charred bedroom.
"Kaz's convenient world was closing in," Cavanagh said. "His wife was getting wind of what was going on with Amanda. Kaz was getting it from both sides."
The prosecutor said that about 5:20 a.m. on July 27, 1998, Pourghafari went into Alley's bedroom, poured gasoline on her as she slept and then sparked the blaze, perhaps with a lighter that Alley had recently given him as a gift.
One of Alley's roommates told police he awoke to a loud thud and when he came out of his bedroom, he saw her ablaze, Cavanagh said. The roommate pushed Alley into the bathtub and turned on the shower. That's when he had to flee the apartment with Alley's other roommate, Cavanagh said.
As Alley choked to death on smoke, Pourghafari drove up, the prosecutor said.
"He arrived on the scene literally within moments of the fire," Cavanagh said.
Authorities would later find traces of gasoline on both Pourghafari's shoes and the windbreaker he had been wearing that hot July day, Cavanagh said. In addition, the businessman's hair was singed and his fingers were burned.
As police investigated the fire, Pourghafari told employees not to say anything about his affair with Alley, the prosecutor said.
Dutko said Pourghafari's fingers were burned as he tried to combat the blaze in a desperate attempt to save Alley. At one point, he doused himself with water and attempted to crawl into the house to save his girlfriend, Dutko said.
Pourghafari initially was reluctant to talk with investigators about his romantic relationship with Alley because he feared the repercussions it would have on his family, Dutko said.
In addition, it wasn't unusual for Pourghafari to be in the vicinity so early because he would routinely visit Alley in the morning before he went to the office, the defense attorney said.
If convicted of arson and murder, Pourghafari faces up to life in prison. He is out of jail on $100,000 bond.
Testimony begins this morning before Broward Circuit Judge Alfred J. Horowitz.
