Raghda El-Sayed
Yaser Said, 65, was found guilty of capital murder in the deaths of 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said. However, prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty, meaning Yaser Said received an automatic life sentence.
Though the incident happened in 2008, Said was arrested in August 2020, 12 years after the killing, and was on the FBI’s most wanted list.
His son, Islam Said, and his brother, Yassin Said, were convicted of helping him evade arrest.
The sisters were found shot to death in a taxi, though the younger sister, Sarah Said, made a phone call to 911, telling the operator that her father had shot her and that she was dying.
Sarah Said was shot nine times, and Amina Said was shot twice. Investigators said Amina was killed instantly.
Said denies killing his daughters. Said, who is a taxi driver, said he fled his taxi driving that evening because he thought they were being followed and someone wanted to kill him.
It’s worth noting that a week before the sisters were killed, they fled their home along with their mother in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville and went to Oklahoma to escape Said. The daughters’ boyfriends accompanied the women.
It’s been said that Said killed his daughters because he disapproved of their “Americanized lifestyle,” and the honor killing was due to them having non-muslim boyfriends.
In a letter to the judge, Said wrote that he was not happy with his daughters’ “dating activity” but denied killing them.
As for why he escaped authorities for 12 years, he claims he feared he would not get a fair trial.
