A Texas cab driver accused of murder and who had been on FBI's "Top Ten" list of fugitives has finally been nabbed after being on the run for more than a decade. Yaser Abdel Said, 63, was wanted in connection with the homicide of his two teenage daughters because they were dating non-Muslim men.
Said was placed on the FBI's "Top Ten" Most Wanted Fugitives list on December 4, 2014 although he has been on the run since 2008. Two other arrests were also made alongside Said, who were accused of helping Said in the twin murders. Said is currently in federal custody and will soon be transferred to Dallas County.
Father or Butcher?
Yaser Abdel Said, 63, of Lewisville, northwest of Dallas, reportedly got upset with his daughters, Amina and Sarah, aged 18 and 17, respectively, when they started dating non-Muslims. However, he didn't disclose this to his daughters and instead invited them out on New Year's Day 2008 for dinner.
According to the FBI, Said instead of taking them for dinner drove them to Irving, Texas, where he allegedly shot both his daughters inside the taxicab, otherwise described as "honor killings". They both died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Based on an investigation by the Irving Police Department, on January 2, 2008, a capital murder-multiple warrant was issued for Said's arrest. On August 21, 2008, a federal unlawful flight to avoid prosecution warrant was issued by the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas.
Honor Killing
Although Said action has been termed as "honor killing", Irving police Chief Jeff Spivey disagreed with the description. "I don't know how you can use the term 'honor' and 'killing' in this instance," he said. "This man brutally murdered, shot to death his two daughters inside his taxi cab. What led him to do that? I think at this point to us, it's irrelevant."
Said has been on the run since 2008 but on Wednesday an FBI SWAT team finally tracked him down in Justin, Texas, about 22 miles west of Lewisville, where they arrested him without any incident. The FBI also announced that two more arrests were made of Islam Said (suspect's son) and Yassim Said (suspect's brother). They both face charges for harboring a fugitive.
The search for Said was coordinated by the FBI's Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force, which is composed of FBI special agents and officers from the Carrollton, Dallas, Garland, Grand Prairie, and Irving Police Departments and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Other family members of Said were overjoyed with his arrest.
"All I can say is, there's going to be justice," said Patricia Owens, mother of the victims and a former wife of Said. "My daughters were loving, caring, smart, loved everybody, would help anybody," she said. "They were two of the most awesome kids in the world, and they did not deserve what happened to them." Said was the 504th person to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, which was started in March 1950.
