The friends from Fenton and Fenton Township died just days apart
On Valentine’s Day, Sam Jawhari went upstairs to ask his daughter if she was ready to leave for driver’s education.
He had a hard time opening her bedroom door.
“I forced the door open,” said Jawhari. “She was laying in the way.”
When he opened the door, he realized something was terribly wrong. Her skin was blue and she was unconscious. He started CPR, but it was too late.
Briona Jawhari, 17, died after overdosing on heroin.
“Her laying there, it is the last thing I saw,” says the grieving father. “It is never going away. I wanted to remember her smile.”
“She had so much going for her,” said Briona’s stepmother, Enaya Jawhari. “She was beautiful.”
Everyone who knew Briona knew her as someone who always worked to make people smile. She and friends posted videos of them dancing to a favorite Taylor Swift Song on YouTube. It shows them having innocent fun.
Sam Jawhari keeps playing the last voice mail she left him on his cell phone. Her cheery voice reminds him that his little girl might have hurt herself, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t love him.
At the family’s restaurant, a sign on the door lets customers know the family is in mourning and the business will be closed indefinitely. A makeshift memorial to Briona stands outside the door where customers began leaving flowers, notes, candles, and mementos in honor of the teen who worked there.
Briona had such a way with customers that Flint Journal reporter Julia Zaher wrote about Briona after eating at the restaurant.
The article titled, Charming Server at new Beirut restaurant in Linden makes the meal said, “At 14, this young lady is a better server and salesperson than just about any adult I've encountered while eating out. She makes it fun just to be there.”
“She loves people so much. She always tried to make them smile,” said her father. “She hid her pain.”
This isn’t the first tragedy brought about by heroin for the Jawhari family. Three years ago Briona’s mother died after overdosing on the drug.
“She started cutting and taking pills,” said Sam Jawhari.
Briona Jawhari found herself following her mother’s path. She experimented with heroin with a boyfriend. She became addicted. She went into rehab but relapsed.
“She called and said I’ve fallen, but I want to get back up,” said Jawhari. “I said my arms are always open. My door is always open, but you have 2 brothers... They look up to you.”
Briona moved back home and promised not to abuse drugs.
“I don’t know what happened.”
In Briona’s memory
After his daughter died, her friends started calling. Sam Jawhari told them to learn from Briona’s mistake.
He told 19-year-old Erica Schlosser from Fenton to get help on February 15th.
“And then the next day she died,” Sam Jawhari says through tears.
He didn’t get through to Erica, but knows there are others out there that may be listening. That is why he is telling his painful story. He wants to make sure other young people learn from the end of two young lives. He wants to save their lives.
“Please,” he begs, “if you are using this crap, please get help.”
