 |
|
 |
It
was 15 months ago that Iman Muhanna, 42, and 6-months pregnant, was
found dead in the bedroom of her Metairie, Louisiana home. She had been
viciously stabbed 33 times. The couple's unborn daughter did not
survive...
Hard hitting, no holds
barred prime-time crime fighting advocate, Nancy Grace, resurrected
December 17, 2004's unsolved cold case murder of Iman Muhanna Mohammed
this past Friday night on CNN.
It was 15 months ago that Iman
Muhanna, 42, and 6-months pregnant, was found dead in the bedroom of
her Metairie, Louisiana home. She had been viciously stabbed 33 times.
The couple's unborn daughter did not survive the attack, turning the
case into a double homicide.
First
to arrive at the gruesome scene was Fakhri Mohammed, 45, the victim's
husband, returning home after dropping the couple's two children off at
school.
Initial police reports indicated there was no evidence
of forced entry into the couple's home, and confirmed that nothing was
stolen. The only other thing that seemed to indicate foul play was a
cut telephoneline.
Mr. Mohammed was apparently quickly ruled
out as a suspect based on his absence from the marital home the morning
of the murders. Jefferson Parish authorities have also not labeled the
case as a hate crime.
Despite CrimeStoppers' announcement of a
$45,000 reward for tips and the efforts of a few local reporters and
follow-up campaigns such as the one launched by the Muslim American
Society's Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom), the unsolved murders have
received little media coverage. In fact it MAS Freedom's August of 2005
petition that brought the case to the attention of Nancy Grace
producers.
"Someone out there knows something about this case.
Mrs. Mohammed needs someone to advocate for bringing her murderer, or
murderers, to justice. It would be great if Nancy Grace of CNN and
other crime solving programs would give this case coverage," stated MAS
Freedom Executive Director Mahdi Bray.
When producers announced
on April 1, 2006 that Nancy Grace would air a segment on her prime-time
CNN program, it seemed at long last that Mrs. Mohammed's case would
finally get the much needed attention it merited. Attention that has so
often before gone to cases like those of Chandra Levy,
Laci Peterson, Lori Hacking, and more recently, Nancy Halloway who
disappeared in Aruba.
Hopes
were quickly dashed however, as two-thirds of the program's opening
segment were devoted to coverage of a Duke University student's
allegations of multiple rape by the lacrosse team on March 13, 2006.
As
the Mohammed murder finally claimed the spotlight, Chief Harry Lee of
the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department, unbeknownst to him at the
time, climbed into the hot seat.
Chief Lee affirmed the known
facts of the case, adding that with the husband ruled out as a suspect,
and with no new leads to trace, the case had simply gone cold.
Outspoken
victims' rights advocate, Grace, who once staffed the hotline at an
Atlanta battered women's center for 10 years, seemed reluctant to
dismiss the husband. When asked repeatedly how Fakhri Mohammed had been
cleared of suspicion, the only answer Chief Lee could offer was that
the timeline of his story had checked out.
Grace persisted. "What time was she killed?"
Chief Lee's response, "That time wasn't determined."
If
the time of death wasn't determined, how then could the timeline of the
husband's story have been adequately verified? Where is the forensic
evidence in this case?
Trapped in the crossfire and seeming to
realize his inability to sufficiently satifsy Ms. Grace's questioning,
Sheriff Lee attempted to divert the conversation's focus from the
department's handling of the investigation by interjecting that there
was no connection to the murder and the fact that Ms. Mohammed happened
to have been the sister-in-law of Dr. Abdelhaleem Ashqar.
Ashqar,
46, was indicted in August 2004 on racketeering and conspiracy charges
in Chicago for allegedly raising millions of dollars for the Islamic
Resistance Movement, or Hamas. He also ran as a long-shot candidate to
succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian National
Authority in the January 9, 2005 election, despite being under house
arrest in Alexandria, Virginia pending trial.
Turning her attention to clinical psychologist Dr. Patricia Saunders,
Grace asked, "What's your take?No forced entry, no sex assault, nothing
stolen."
Saunders replied, "It's the 33 stab wounds that's really kind of
alarming. That's an intimate and rageful act."
"There
was also a report or an allegation that the covers were pulled up
around just up to her neck so her body was covered. I don't know what
that means. It could be just covering up the blood. It could be a
ritual. It could have modesty meaning. But the feeling I get is that
this is up close and personal, somebody who knew her," Saunders
concluded.
If an evaluation of the murder of Iman Muhanna
Mohammed were to be made based on what was aired of last Friday night's
interviews, it would appear that the case is lacking crucial forensic
evidence. And with the disbursement and relocation of thousands of New
Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, there is no telling if Ms.
Mohammed's killer will ever be brought to justice, as anyone with
information is likely more consumed with their own problems at this
late date.
Adding insult to injury, Crimestoppers Executive
Director Darlene Cusanza was waiting on the Nancy Grace set to provide
information regarding the $45,000 reward being offered for information
or tips in the case, a reward fund which is set to expire April 19,
2006, but she was never brought on camera. Ms. Cusanza stated in a
follow-up telephone interview that this was, "unequivocally
irresponsible."
Why was Ms. Cusanza's appearance upstaged?
It
seems Ms. Grace's staff had prepared a bit of entertainment in the form
of a video clip for the closing of the show in acknowledgment of April
Fool's Day.
Looks like the joke is on Iman Muhanna Mohammed
and the entire Muslim community. Just when it looked like her murder,
and the death of her unborn daughter was finally going to be given much
needed attention, she would be upstaged by a video clip of practical
jokes - and justice would not be served on this day.
Footnote:
A
$45,000 reward is being offered for tips leading to an arrest and
conviction in this case. If you, or anyone you know, has any
information about Iman Mohammed’s murder, please contact
Deputy Chief
Fred Williams of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office at (540)
364-5390 or (504) 364-5300, or contact Crimestoppers at (504) 822-111
or 1-877-903-STOP (7867). Callers do not have to give their names or
testify.
----------
Karam Thomas, freelance writer and member of Muslimah Writers Alliance,
contributed to this report.
|
