ATLANTA — For friends of Mariam Abdulram, it's been a day to hug friends tighter. Many of them spent Friday dropping off flowers and lighting candles outside of Revery Bar where the 27-year-old used to work.
Mariam was reported missing after leaving her bartending shift at the bar.
According to police, her body was found by witnesses hours later near Lakewood Avenue. Investigators determined it was the same woman witnesses saw being forced into an SUV about a mile and a half away.
The owner of the bar says it will remain closed through the weekend to mourn the loss of one of their "family members".
Zachary Freeman met Mariam at Church, which is another bar he says she used to work in. They bonded over their love for the Japanese language.
"We met over the fact that she was interested in learning Japanese and I work as a translator for a Japanese company," he said. "After we exchanged information, she began studying Japanese to surprise her mother one day. She was an amazingly kind person. An amazing soul."
Freeman says she made a great impact in Edgewood, the community where she made many friends. He says everyone loved being around her.
"She was so kind and genuine and authentic," he added. "Just to have someone like that taken away... because of someone's callousness."
Mariam is bringing people together even after her passing. While trying to process her passing at a restaurant in Edgewood, he met James Daniel, who is also grieving Mariam.
"It's definitely gonna leave a hole in a lot of us, and in a lot of our hearts," Daniel said. "It seems surreal in the ... worst of ways that I won't see my friend again, talk to my friend again, hug my friend."
Freeman found out the news about Miriam on Instagram, while Daniel heard from mutual friends. They say they're both still trying to process her passing.
"It's destructive, it's devastating," said Freeman. "When I saw the news, I had to drop everything. It's just awful it can happen to someone I talked to like a day or two ago."
Police say a person of interest was detained. Mariam's family tells 11Alive that police told them the man in custody was involved in a police chase and crashed in Griffin.
Georgia state patrol says the man taken into custody after the pursuit, which ended when the man crashed into another car, is a 27-year-old from Griffin who’s being held only on traffic charges.
Police say it's still an active investigation and no charges have been filed yet in the kidnapping case.
"She's a person that was hopeful," Daniel said. "She's a person that was happy. She was a person with aspirations and a person who was loved and loved and it just really sickens me that somebody took her. It's disgusting.”
Her father tells us Mariam was the most peaceful and loving person, who did not deserve this. Her friends are echoing that sentiment.
"She's intelligent, she's witty. She's humorous, she's clever. She's very, very giving very caring, and very, very low genuine very kind, intuitive person," added Daniel.
"I used to feel like I could walk around this city. And now I don't. I don't feel safe to just exist. I want everyone to be safe," Freeman said. "To cherish the time they have with their loved ones and everyone around them and their friends."
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