The capital murder trial of Yaser Abdel Said, accused of murdering his daughters, Sarah and Amina in an “honor killing” on New Year’s Day 2008 has begun.
What to Know
- Yaser Abdel Said, 65, is accused of killing his teenage daughters in 2008 in what prosecutors have called an "honor killing."
- Said spent six years on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List before he was arrested in Justin in August 2020.
- The death penalty is not an option in this case. If convicted of capital murder, Said would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The capital murder trial of Yaser Abdel Said, a 65-year-old cab driver from Lewisville accused of murdering his two teenage daughters in a purported "honor killing," began Tuesday in Dallas.
The girls' bodies were found in their father's taxi cab outside the Omni hotel in Irving, both of them had been shot multiple times. Before she died, Sarah called 911 and told the operator, "Help, my dad shot me! I'm dying, I'm dying!"
Said disappeared and had not been seen for 12 years until his arrest in Justin by the FBI in August 2020.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Said entered a not guilty plea Tuesday and faces an automatic life sentence if convicted.
TRIAL BEGINS FOR YASER SAID, DAY 1
During opening statements Tuesday morning, prosecutor Lauren Black said Said was "obsessed with possession and control."
"He controlled what they did, who they talked to, who they could be friends with, if they and who they could date," Black said. "And he controlled everything in his household."
About a week before the sisters were killed, they and their mother fled their home in Lewisville to Oklahoma to get away from their dad, who worked as a taxi driver, Black said. The sisters had become "very scared for their lives," and the decision to leave was made after Said "put a gun to Amina's head and threatened to kill her," the prosecutor said.
But, Black said, in another act of "control" and "manipulation" by Said, he told them he had changed and convinced them to return home. The evening the sisters were shot, their father wanted to take just the two of them to a restaurant, she said.
The girls' aunt, Connie Moggio, broke down on the stand as she identified autopsy photos of her nieces. She told jurors about a conversation she had with a frantic Amina the day of the murders. "She didn't want to go back home, she would rather be dead than ever go back there," Moggio testified.
YASER SAID TRIAL
In a letter written to the judge overseeing the case, Said said he was not happy with his kids' "dating activity" but denied killing his daughters. Defense attorney Joseph Patton said in opening statements that the evidence would not support a conviction, that police were too quick to focus on Said, who was born in Egypt, and suggested that anti-Muslim sentiment played into that focus.
"It is wrong for the government to generalize an entire culture, criminalize an entire culture, to fit their narrative, and to fit their objective. The state wants to convict Yaser for being Muslim in 2008," said Patton.
His defense said no one will testify they saw Said at the crime scene, adding police should have investigated the girls' mother or Amina's boyfriend. "They were the last people to see Amina and Sarah alive," he said.
Amina's boyfriend testified he and his father indeed saw Said and both girls in his cab shortly before the shooting and that they briefly followed them out of concern. "Her look was in fear, she didn't look like she wanted to be there," said Amina's boyfriend Edgar Ruiz.
The girls, who were both students at Lewisville High School, were reportedly shot multiple times by their father. Their bodies were later discovered inside his cab, parked outside of an Omni hotel.
Before she died, Sarah was able to call 911 and told the operator, "Help, my dad shot me! I'm dying, I'm dying!"
Black said Sarah Said was shot nine times and Amina Said was shot twice.
In moments of extreme trauma, like being shot multiple times, people can have hallucinations, Patton said.
Black said the sisters, both high school students in Lewisville, dreamed of becoming doctors, and that Yaser Said grew "angrier" as they grew up and became more educated and independent.
"When they had more independence, that was less control for him," Black said.
Sarah's boyfriend testified about why she kept their relationship a secret. "Something would happen to me or something would happen to her," Erik Panameno told jurors.
Prosecutors presented an email Amina reportedly sent her Lewisville teacher days before her death, confiding that her father was arraigning her marriage so she and her sister were going to run away. "He will kill us," Amina wrote.
More than 58 people are expected to be called to testify, including the girls' mother as well as local and federal investigators and experts on Muslim culture.
The judge is also allowing prosecutors to tell jurors about allegations that Said sexually abused his own daughters, who later recanted.
A film made about the murders, "The Price of Honor," alleged the girls were killed by their father as an "honor killing," a cultural practice where someone is killed after bringing shame on their family. The film furthers speculation the girls' father objected to his daughters living an "American lifestyle."
Yaser Said, who had been sought on a capital murder warrant since the slayings, was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list. In August 2020 Said was arrested in Justin and two relatives were arrested in Euless. The relatives were identified by the Dallas FBI as Said's brother Yassein and his son Islam.
Both men were charged with harboring a known fugitive and are now serving time in federal prison.
The death penalty is not an option in Yaser Said's case. If convicted of capital murder, he would automatically be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
