Sister feared slain woman’s husband

At first, Parvaiz said the assailants were a white man, a black man, and another man who burst out of the darkness shouting “terrorists.’’ Then he said it was three black men.

Finally, he admitted to police that he had plotted with Antionette Stephen, 26, of Billerica, to kill Noorani. Parvaiz and Noorani, who had met Stephen, knew her as “Soni,’’ which means beautiful in a Pakistani language.

Originally from Brooklyn, Parvaiz moved to East Boston about a year ago, but his family did not follow, although Noorani visited him there occasionally. It was not clear yesterday why he moved.

“The last time she went to his house in Boston, my sister told me that [Stephen’s] name is on the mailbox,’’ Choudhry recalled yesterday outside their father’s home on Church Street, not far from her house.

When she asked her sister why, Noorani said: “No, it’s just my husband’s friend.’’

But the extent of their friendship took an awkwardly intimate twist when Noorani visited again. The couple went to the Best Buy where Stephen worked, Choudhry said. Before they entered, Parvaiz had a warning for his wife.

“He told her, ‘don’t tell anyone you’re my wife because here everyone knows I’m Soni’s fiance,’ ’’ Choudhry recalled.

Noorani asked him why he would say that, and Parvaiz told her it was “only for the discount.’’

“He’s a big liar,’’ said Choudhry, whose grief and shock have kept her from reentering her Cedar Street home, where her sister’s family shared a meal with her Tuesday night before she was killed just outside the house.

Noorani met the man who became her husband at a Brooklyn Pakistani festival more than six years ago, and they married soon after.

During their courtship, Noorani remained in Boonton, where she had graduated from high school and worked at the local A&P grocery store.