"Behind the camera is where she came alive," said Ms Sheikh. "She had a knack for making people comfortable in front of the camera, for capturing raw emotion and joy."

Meanwhile she sought the same kind of joy in her own life. After dating Ahmad for about five years, she married him in June 2021 and they moved to Chicago together.

"They had a fabulous, big, fat Pakistani wedding, "a childhood friend recalled. "But the marriage was built on a foundation of lies and manipulation."

Khan's friends claim Ahmad had long-standing mental health issues. The couple had been mostly in a long-distance relationship before marrying, which her friends say likely obscured the extent of their incompatibility.

The problems came to a head last December when, her friend said, Khan, told her that Ahmad had a mental health crisis and she felt unsafe. The BBC was unable to reach the Ahmad family for comment.

Members of the Khan family declined, through Khan's friends, to comment for this story.

About a dozen murder-suicides take place in the US every week, about two-thirds of which involve intimate partners, according to the Violence Policy Center.

Mental illness and relationship troubles are often identified among the top risk factors for women facing abuse by their partners. Domestic violence experts say women are most at risk of being killed by an intimate partner when they are leaving the relationship.

The December episode convinced Khan - who had until then kept details of the relationship private - to open up about her unhappy marriage, friends said.

They said Khan discussed the struggles in her marriage, telling them that her husband wasn't sleeping and often acted strangely, that he was refusing her pleas to seek help or go to therapy, and that she felt his mental health struggles had become her burden.

Sania Khan spoke of her family and community not supporting her during her divorce. Image courtesy: TikTok

But friends allege that, while they told Khan to leave the marriage, others counseled her to stay in it.

But with the support of her friends, Khan filed for divorce and secured an August hearing to finalize the split.

She also filed a restraining order and changed the locks on her doors, friends said.

And she began sharing her story on TikTok, describing herself as "the black sheep" in her community.

One post reads: "Going through a divorce as a South Asian woman feels like you failed at life sometimes."

"My family members told me if I left my husband I would be letting Shaytan [the devil in Arabic] 'win', that I dress like a prostitute, and if I move back to my hometown they'll kill themselves," says another.

Another university friend, Naty, 28, who asked that her surname not be published, vividly remembers the first time Khan went viral on the platform.

"She was blowing up my phone and she said this is what I'm meant to do: To spread the word about my relationship and be a leader for women leaving their toxic marriages."

With each post, Khan found solace and strength, even as she "received backlash" for airing out the breakdown of her marriage, according to Naty.

At the time of her death, more than 20,000 people were following Khan on TikTok.

Bisma Parvez, 35, a fellow Pakistani-American Muslim woman, was one of them.

"I remember, [after] the first video that I saw of hers, I just prayed for her," she said.

"Women in these situations are told to have 'sabr' [patience in Arabic] and, in an abusive relationship, patience is not the answer."

She lamented Khan's death in a TikTok video of her own that has been among many shared across the platform.

The conversation has only swelled since then.

Apna Ghar, the Chicago domestic violence organization, said it plans to hold a virtual panel discussion to commemorate Khan's one-month death anniversary later this month.

And amid the outpouring of love from friends and followers on social media, former classmates at Khan's high school - the Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences - established a memorial scholarship in her name.

"Everyone's hush-hush, but social media helps you realize what a worldwide problem this is," said Ms. Parvez.

"We're always telling women to protect themselves, but it's important to also raise sons who respect women. That training starts at home and each household has to make that change."

References:

jihadwatch.org