Jeremy Boivin, the friend of Bob Lee who was a pivotal figure in the prosecution's theory of Nima Momeni's motive to attack Lee, went on camera in a Dateline special about the case to clear his name after Khazar Momeni accused him of assault.

The Dateline episode, titled "Under the Bay Bridge," aired Friday on NBC and can now be found on Peacock. It recounts the story of Bob Lee's April 2023 murder, the investigation that led to the arrest of Nima Momeni, and the trial that concluded in December where Momeni was found guilty of second-degree murder.

The episode includes few details of the case that you would not already know from reading SFist's and others' coverage of the case and the trial last fall, however it does include interviews with several figures related to both Lee and Momeni who had not spoken publicly until now. These include Lee's two teenage children, who talk about their dad's kindess as a father, and about the stress of sitting through the trial.

And Momeni's mother, Mahnaz Tayarani, who did not shy away from making statements to the press during the trial, now speaks out more fully — stressing that she raised both of her children to be kind. She and the Momeni family maintain Momeni's innocence, saying he acted in self-defense.

But one figure who remained faceless and voiceless throughout the trial was Jeremy Boivin, the friend and purported drug dealer to Lee, who was one of the last people to see Lee on the final day of his life, but who was never called as a witness.

It was at Boivin's apartment, as you may recall, that Khazar Momeni says she took whip-its, LSD, and GHB on April 3, 2023 — the latter of which she says she took for the first time, and which left her dazed. Momeni testified on the witness stand during her brother's trial that she awoke after passing out to find Boivin touching her inappropriately, and she says she was wearing a bathing suit she didn't remember putting on.

"I started crying, I’ve never cried like that before," Ms. Momeni testified on the stand, on her third day of testimony.

She reportedly gave the idea to her brother that she was sexually assaulted that afternoon — and he soon arrived to retrieve her from Boivin's apartment — only to recant later, saying in a text, "Bob never touched me. No one did." But she gave contradictory testimony, admitting that she had invited Boivin back to her apartment the night of the murder, after her brother and Lee left around 2 am.

"Sometimes I go back to my abuser," she said on the stand.

But, when asked whether she ever called the police about the alleged assault, she said, "I did not. [Boivin] had threatened to kill me if I said anything. He physically assaulted me on numerous occasions. I’m scared of him."

Boivin tells Dateline's Josh Mankiewicz what his lawyer has told the media in the past, that he and Khazar Momeni had an ongoing, consensual sexual relationship that went on for months after this first meeting — and there was some suggestion at trial that the two had seen each other just weeks before the trial began.

"So her saying these allegations is just baseless and really unfounded," Boivin said in the Dateline episode. He further added that Khazar apologized to him shortly after giving the testimony for making such allegations on the stand, and Mankiewicz then asks, rhetorically, whether this means that she perjured herself on the stand.

It's unclear whether the two have continued their relationship.

Boivin's encounter with Khazar Momeni was, ultimately, the inciting incident in the prosecution's theory of the case, and the reason for her brother's rage, which spilled over into rage against Lee for bringing her into that situation.

Nima Momeni made a court appearance on Friday, and his sentencing has now been scheduled for May 16. He faces 16 years to life in prison for second-degree murder, and his lawyers have vowed to appeal. Khazar Momeni and her plastic surgeon husband, with whom she has an open marriage, were reportedly bankrolling Momeni's defense.

The long delay in sentencing is due to Momeni's Florida-based attorney, Saam Zangeneh, and his trial schedule.

Meanwhile, Lee's family has said they plan to file a civil wrongful death suit against the Momenis.

Previously: Bob Lee Murder Case Gets 'Dateline' Treatment Friday

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