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Trial Starts For Texas Dad Accused Of Teenage Daughters’ 'Honor Killings'
Yaser Said, who was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List in 2014, is accused of gunning down his daughters, Sarah, 17, and Amina, 18, in a taxi cab near a Texas motel in 2008 and then fleeing prosecution.
A Texas taxi cab driver who spent years on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for the alleged "honor killings" of his teenage daughters will stand trial this month.
Jury selection for Yaser Abdel Said’s trial concluded Monday and trial proceedings were expected to get underway Tuesday.
Said was arrested in 2020 after spending 12 years on the run for the New Year’s Day 2008 shootings of his daughters, Sarah, 17, and Amina, 18. He was placed on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List in 2014 and a reward of up to $100,000 had been offered for information leading to his capture.
Said allegedly took his two daughters for a ride in his taxi cab under the guise of taking them out for dinner on Jan. 1, 2008. He then shot them both multiple times inside the cab near a hotel in Irving, Texas, according to the FBI.
Said’s daughter Sarah — who was shot nine times — called 911 and implicated her father as the shooter in her dying breaths.
“My father shot me. I’m dying … I’m dying,” the 17-year-old told dispatchers, WFAA reported.
At the time, their deaths were described by surviving family members as "honor killings," the Associated Press reported. According to police records, Said was enraged at — and had previously threatened to hurt — one of his daughters for dating a non-Muslim boy. The girls’ family suspects that Said carried out the killings because of his perception that the two teenagers brought shame on the family .
Said went into hiding after the shootings, but was charged with two counts of capital murder.
For years, authorities suspected that Said had fled to his native Egypt or New York City but, in August 2020, he was arrested in Justin, Texas — roughly 34 miles northwest of where his teenage daughters were found shot to death.
Said’s son, Islam Said, and brother, Yassein Said, were also charged with helping conceal the Texas man, and were sentenced in 2021 to 10 and 12 years behind bars, respectively.
The case’s pre-trial proceedings were previously postponed in June. If convicted, Said faces an automatic life prison sentence.
