Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - 2 Teen Girls Executed: HONOR KILLINGS?

Episode Date: August 4, 2022

The trial continues for Yaser Said, accused of killing his teen daughters. January 1, 2008, Said forced the girls to go with him to dinner, alone. This, after the girls and their mother had left the dad, hiding in Oklahoma following years of controlling and manipulation. The family returned to Texas after promises from the father.  Police say Said drove them in a taxi cab to a hotel and shot his daughters. Amina was shot twice in the chest. Sarah, the younger daughter,  was shot 9 times.  Sarah managed to call 911 for help, naming her father as their killer.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC, Twitter @TroySlaten  Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA, AngelaArnoldMD.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital John Guard - Chief Deputy – Pitt County Sheriff’s Office (Greenville, NC), Specializes in Investigating Domestic Violence Cases, Dr. Jeffrey M. Jentzen Professor of Forensic Pathology and Director of Autopsy and Forensic Services at the University of Michigan Medical School, former Medical Examiner in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin [e-mail]  Kristy Mazurek - Emmy Award-winning Investigative Reporter  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How do two teen girl sisters end up dead north of Dallas? And what exactly is an honor killing? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen to this.

Harvey 911, what is your emergency? Hi. Oh my God, Tommy. I'm dying. I'm dying. What's going on, ma'am? I'm dying, that's what's up. Okay, let me transfer you. I'm going to get our department on line, okay?

Hold on one sec, okay? What? Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. What? Oh, my God! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Irving Fire Department? Irving Fire Department? Ma'am, are you still there?

Ma'am, are you still there? Ma'am, are you still there? All I've got is she's telling me she's dying. I'm getting... I've got a... Are you still there, ma'am? Ma'am, what is your address? Ma'am. Then ensues the desperate search for two young girls.

You were just hearing the 911 call made by two sisters, Sarah and Amina, near Dallas, Texas. You can hear her say, I'm dying. That's what's up. Crying, pleading, begging. But they couldn't be located immediately. Listen to our friends at WFAA. You hear her last breath. She was fighting until the very end. After that call, there was a frantic search for the girls. But technology was limited and the phone couldn't be traced. Police drove up and down the streets, searching for more than an hour. Moving 911, what's your emergency?

But then, another 911 call. A cab driver at the Omni reported seeing two girls in a taxi slumped over and possibly dead. And she had blood coming from her ear. To hear these 911 calls and connect them to two beautiful teen girls is overwhelming. When I first listened to the 911 call, I had to stop midway and gather myself and listen to it again, knowing that I was hearing what we call in the law a dying declaration, words spoken as the life literally ebbs away from the victim. Their last words.

And this is from a teen girl, one of them about the age of my little girl and my son. It's hard to connect two beautiful teen girls dying, shot dead in the back of a cab. Police try desperately to find them when another 911 call comes in regarding two girls slumped over in a cab at the Omni. Take a listen now to more of the 911 call. The cab in our cab stand, it doesn't appear that there's a driver, but there are two people inside the cab, one in the passenger seat

and one in the rear of the vehicle. One of the people in the passenger seat looks like she's hunched over and she has blood coming from her ear. It doesn't look like they're alive to me. I understand that. We've got our officers en route. Joining me is an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111.

First, I want to go to high-profile lawyer joining me out of L.A. It's Troy Slayton with the Slayton Lawyers Group. You can find him at Troy Slayton. Troy, I want to speak very quickly and narrowly to you regarding 911 calls. I would very often start jury trials with 911 calls because that takes us in that moment to the time of the incident. Unlike a witness, unlike a diagram or a crime scene photo, we are in it at the moment of the incident. Would you agree? I do agree, Nancy.

And the defense attorney will obviously object to it on the basis that the statements are hearsay. They're out-of-court statements being offered for their truth. But as you pointed out in your opening, there are several exceptions to the hearsay rule that would let this in. Number one, it's a dying declaration. two, an excited utterance, something that's being said in the moment of a serious and alarming incident is typically allowed in because it's reliable. Troy Slayton is a veteran trial lawyer joining us out of L.A. at Slayton Lawyers Group. Hearsay, what is it? I don't like throwing around technical legal terms.

Hearsay is one of those. It's very simply saying in court what somebody else said. And there are some times that that's okay. But when that other person, the third person that was speaking, cannot be cross-examined, then it can't come in, except for certain exceptions, such as dying declaration. Why can't it come in? Because it's unreliable. In a court of law, we need to be able to test evidence through the cross-examination process

to allow a jury to hear from the witness and have them be tested about their testimony. Were you able to see it? Was your eyesight good? Do you have a good memory? Do you remember other things around the time? So that's what the whole point of examining witnesses and cross-examining witnesses. You're right. You're right. Under our Constitution, under the Sixth Amendment, you have a right to a lawyer and the right to an appeal and the right to cross-examine witnesses brought against you so here says unreliable nancy exactly if you can't bring this witness on that was speaking and that is the dead teen girl then she can't be cross-examined and therefore there is a leg to stand on that this should not come into evidence at any given procedure.

However, the dying declaration and the excited utterance exceptions may very well override that and it be allowed in. Again, you're hearing 911 calls made by two teen girls that are literally bleeding out, dying in the back of a cab. Why? With me, as I said, an all-star panel. I'm going to go right now to renowned psychiatrist joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Dr. Angie, thank you for being with us.

I find it incredible, amazing, miraculous that this teen girl had the wherewithal to speak to 911 in the way that she did. And to even call 911. It is incredible. You know what it shows me? Nancy, she did not want someone to get away with this. She knew she was dying, which must have been a horrible feeling for her. But she also did not want someone to get away with this, did she? I think she was desperately hoping there was a way she and her sister could be saved. Let's hear again our cut three. This is one of the teen girl victims begging for help. Listen. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 51, 52, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, Irving Fire Department. Irving Fire Department. Ma'am, are you still there?

Ma'am, are you still there? All I've got is she's telling me she's dying. I'm getting... I've got a wire. Are you still there, ma'am? Ma'am, what is your address? Ma'am. I hate hearing a 911 call.

It's really hard playing them for juries, but it's the truth. And it's beyond a jury's right. They cannot turn away from the evidence. They have to confront it. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Who, what, where, why, and when. Who would want to kill these two young girls, literally shooting them dead, multiple gunshot wounds in the back of a cab? Have you ever heard of honor killings?

Take a listen to our friends at NowThisWorld. An honor killing is the murder of one family member by another due to a perceived shameful act by the victim upon their family or community. They are predominantly carried out in honor-based societies, which define a person's standing by their integrity in the eyes of the community. Those with honor are generally viewed as good, while those without are shamed. In these societies, women are believed to dishonor their families through immoral,

often sexual, behavior. Because a woman is generally understood as a man's property, their betrayal strips away their honor and can be punishable by death. Honor killings can happen as the result of a woman seeking to escape from an arranged marriage or having an extramarital affair. They can also stem from actions as basic as dating someone not accepted by a family or wearing western clothing. Dating someone not accepted by the family or wearing western clothing will get you killed in an honor killing? And this occurs in

honor-based societies. What's honorable about killing a woman who doesn't do what you tell her to do? How is that honorable? Take a listen to Archana. Hold on. Take a listen to Archana Payara with Sanctuary for Families on 48 Hours. legal rights, her family may react, retaliate by killing her or hurting her in order to avenge her misbehavior and clean its own honor, redeem itself in the face of the community. Primarily occurring in parts of the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, cases of honor violence are now being found in Europe, Canada and the United States. Experts have no handle on the exact number of cases, but worldwide the UN estimates that at least 5,000 women are murdered each year in the name of honor.

I've heard of honor killings in third world countries, but not here on U.S. soil, not a few miles shy of Dallas, Texas. No, haven't heard of that happening until now. Joining me in addition to high-profile lawyer Troy Slayton, psychiatrist Dr. Angela Arnold, is John Gard, Chief Deputy Pitt County Sheriff's Office, Dr. Jeffrey M. Jempson, Professor of Forensic Pathology and Director of Autopsy Forensic Services at University of Michigan Medical School. But first, to Christy Mazurek, Emmy Award winning investigative reporter.

I want to hear about the two girls, where they were found dead, and the nature of their injuries, Christy. So the girls were spotted by a cab driver inside a taxi cab, shot multiple times. As any traveler might be aware or notice, in front of a hotel, you'll have a line of taxi cabs. This one didn't have a driver in it, but it had two passengers slumped over, according to this cab driver who made the second 911 call. Yeah, I know what you're talking about, Chrissy Mazur. I mean, I'm thinking specifically about the cab line at LaGuardia. Have you ever seen that?

Yes. Now, I mean, it's really long, but it's handled in a very orderly manner. And if the cab is in front, the taxi's in the front of the line, the other cabs won't take a customer until that cab leaves with a customer or just leaves. So I'm imagining outside this Omni Hotel, there's a line of cabs and a line of people waiting to get taxis, but the front cab won't leave. Is it moving? The passengers aren't moving and there's no person behind the wheel. And so the number two cab driver gets up and goes to check on the cab to find out what's happening. Is that

how it went down? That's right. And he finds the two girls slumped lifeless. How many times were they shot, Christy? Several in close range. Well, you're right, Christy Mazurek. Sarah was shot nine times and Amina was shot twice. An honor killing. What is that and what does that have to do with these two young girls? Take a listen to this. This email Amina reportedly sent to her Louisville teacher days before her death, confiding that her father was arranging her marriage, so she and her sister were going to run away. I know that he will search until he

finds us, and he will, without any drama or doubt, kill us. How many times, oh, and by the way, you're hearing our friends at 5 NBC, that was Maria Guerrero. How many times to you, Troy Slayton, have you had a case where the murder victim says, he, she is going to kill me? Here's a great example, Troy, and you and I have discussed this one a hundred times. Do you remember Jody Arias and boyfriend Travis Alexander? How many times did his friend say, get away from her. She's evil. You're going to end up dead. She's going to stalk you and stab you a hundred times. And she did. That's exactly what happened. I've had so many cases where typically a woman will say,

he's going to kill me. Here's the key to get into my house. Here's a safe place. Here's a phone. If anything happens to me, he did it. And here you have this little teen girl telling a teacher he will track us down no matter how long it takes and kill us. It happens, Nancy. And also in this case, Amina told her boyfriend that she knew she was going to die. At this young age, they're already contemplating their deaths. I mean, John Gard is joining me, Chief Deputy of Pitt County Sheriff's Office in Greenville, who specializes in domestic violence cases.

John Gard, how many times have you seen a murder victim, a homicide victim, state like a premonition, X is going to kill me. You know, we get that a lot in our post-homicide investigations, you know, after a homicide occurs and we're running down the history. And of course, that helps us, you know, lay out premeditation in some of the cases. We don't have that all the time, obviously. But in this one, you have that and then the dying declaration that i think is really really strong it really is as a matter of fact let's take a listen to the beginning again of that 911 call

the teen girl is screaming and and crying so badly it's really hard to make out what she says but listen carefully. Did you hear that? She says, my dad, my dad is trying to kill me. That is why defense attorneys would fight tooth and claw to keep this out. If you listen carefully, you hear it. You hear her pointing out who her killer is, Troy Slayton. Yes, Nancy. And that's why the defense attorney in this case says that oftentimes when people are in periods of trauma, that they hallucinate. And therefore, the statement is unreliable and shouldn't be admitted into evidence. Okay, you need to get that out of your mouth right now because nobody is believing that these girls hallucinated. He shot them dead in a cab. And

Christy Mazur, isn't it true the dad is a cab driver? He is a cab driver. Can we connect him to this cab? Correct. He is connected to that cab. He was driving them in his cab and after the shooting went missing. It's amazing to me that this is called an honor killing of all things, but there were so many signs. There was a trail a mile wide leading up to the murders take a list our friends at wfaa these are videos that have rarely been seen well look at these eyes this is the officer saeed okay turn it off dad with his teenage daughters amina and sarah he followed them everywhere and he recorded their every move here he's keeping an eerie watch on Sarah at work. She smiled to the customer. But she has to. Part of her job. She's in trouble. Did you hear that? She smiled at a customer.

I guess she was working fast food. What about at Chrissy, Missouri? He would go watch the daughter and monitor her at work at a fast food restaurant? He monitored every movement of every female in his household. The two teenage girls, the girl's mother, everything was monitored. He'd shoot out the tires of his wife's car so she couldn't leave to go grocery shopping. It was a pattern dating back well over a decade of just quick violence and controlling ways. To Dr. Angela Arnold, my knee-jerk reaction, which knee-jerk reactions are normally wrong, but my immediate reaction is to blame the mother because it's her duty to protect the children, to keep them away from the father. Of course, I think he's the killer. Their own father murdered them over what? Smiling at a patron at a fast food restaurant? But why didn't the mother get them out of there?

See, I can completely understand why you would feel that way and why your viewers would feel that way. But this is such a strong cultural thing. I knew you were going to have a butt in there. So you think cultural indoctrination exonerates the mother from not protecting her children.

Okay, that's BS. Go ahead and try to explain yourself. Nancy, think about all of the different... This is a type of intimate partner violence against women, isn't it? Think about all of the women that are involved in intimate partner violence. Nancy, it is so hard to get out of these kind of situations. Did she have any money? Okay, Dr. Angie, it's one thing if you keep yourself in the relationship and you can't figure out a way out, but it's another thing

if you leave your children in it and then they die. And I see it over and over and over. Mothers who will not act when their children are in danger. And I say they should be locked up too. Call me harsh. Call me wrong. But if you want to stay in it and you can't see your way out of it, that's one thing. But to leave your children in mortal danger, in danger of being murdered, raped, sex assaulted, that's on you, mom. I completely disagree with you on that. What do we know about this family's background? Take a listen to our friends at 5NBC. They were all American sisters dreaming of college and beyond. Their lives cut short in a taxi cab on New Year's 2008. Prosecutors say at the hands of a father obsessed with possession and control. He controlled his two daughters, Amina Saeed and

Sarah Saeed. He controlled what they did, who they talked to, who they could be friends with, if they and who they could date. Dating outside their culture, prosecutors will try to prove drove Yasser Said to murder. Drove him to murder. And I want to point something else

out to you, Dr. Angela Arnold. You may be a renowned psychiatrist, but everything you just said about cultural indoctrination is BS. They may not have that at medical school, but I think you can smell it just as well as I can because the mom was American born. She is American born and raised in America. She knows that this is wrong. She doesn't have to stay in a relationship or that her children, her girls don't have to stay in a relationship because of honor. That is complete crap, Dr. Angie. Well, Nancy, how do we know that she wasn't a victim of this violence also? I don't know that she wasn't. You just heard Christy Mazurk state

that the father, the husband, would shoot her tires out just when she's trying to go to the grocery store. So obviously she is a victim of domestic violence, but that does not excuse her for leaving her children in it. Hey, you know what? She nearly escaped with the children. Take a listen to our friend Rebecca Lopez, WFAA. In December, their mother, Patricia, decided it was time to take her daughters and leave Saeed. The girls and their mother hid in Oklahoma for a few days. But then on New Year's Eve, Patricia went back to Saeed. Amina begged not to go.

Amina said she was never going back. Patricia insisted. Amina said she was never going back. But Patricia insisted. Amina said she was never going back, but the mother, Patricia, insisted that they return. Okay, Christy, Missouri, let me understand. They got away. They moved away, but then went back. The mother goes back, even though the children, both now murdered, begged her not to go back. Is that correct, Christy Mazurk?

That's correct. They fled the state of Texas, rented an apartment under a fake name in Tulsa, but returned back to the area where the father is, where this, you know, domestic violence husband is around New Year's Eve, and the mother's family is still baffled by it. You can ask them today. They have no reason why they returned. You know, to you, Dr. Angela Arnold, again, I think you're totally wrong. But she did escape. And then she went back. Does she need a man that badly that she's willing to subject her children to this?

Nancy, there was, in part of the violence that she has been suffering all these years, which I'm sure she has, he has worked on her brain. And she was able to escape for a minute, but she never really escaped psychologically from his hold that he had over her. So I don't believe it's as black and white because, Nancy, I've taken care of these kind of women. Really? Yes. It is so hard to even convince them to leave. I have tried to teach women, always have a little money stash away, something in your car so that if in the middle of the night, you have to run, you've got some money, you've got your keys. That's all well and good and i agree with you our nine years at the batter women's center as a volunteer i wasn't even getting paid for it

yes i know that but when you leave your children in it to hell with you they can both play gin rummy with satan for all i care well i do believe nancy i feel sorry for the mother i really do i feel sorry for her too but that does not remove the responsibility from her. She put these children right back into the frying pan. She gets them out of the fire and throws them into the frying pan. I mean, to you, John Gard, Chief Deputy, Pitt County Sheriff's Office, your expertise is domestic violence. I have no doubt in my mind, the mother was being abused. I have no doubt. But to bring the children back into this, knowing what could happen? It's difficult to understand, but it's not uncommon. I mean, we talk about the level of control once you're embedded into a relationship like that and you're isolated uh i i know it's

tough to understand and i would dare say that we look at the thousands and thousands and thousands of women that are murdered over the years in the context of intimate partner violence i dare say there's many of them that went back thinking they were going to be killed. A lot of times there is a ton of manipulation that never makes it out in the press. Now, we are able to see that in a lot of the cases we investigate because a lot of the things we monitor and have access to that maybe the media may not. But this is absolutely not uncommon. But I don't think she planned on this no i don't think she planned it but it's just like picking up a loaded gun and pointing it and shooting it wow

i didn't plan to kill jackie but oops she's dead you bring the children back into a violent situation what do you think is going to happen even Even though, again, same story, second verse, same as the first. He promised he'd, quote, change. So mom drags the children over there, tearful begging, back to dad. Take a listen to Rebecca Lopez, WFAA. On January 1st, Saeed forced the girls to go with him to dinner alone. Police say he drove them in a taxi cab he was borrowing from a friend to the Omni Hotel in Irving and shot his daughters. Amina was shot

twice in the chest. Sarah, the younger daughter in the back seat, was shot nine times. Sarah managed to call 911 for help. She names her father as her killer. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To you, Dr. Angela Arnold, what does it tell you that the girls were shot multiple times? He didn't kill them. He killed them 11 times over. Oh, he was so angry. It was all of his anger coming out. And I can't even imagine the thoughts that this man must have going through his head to be able to think the way he does about these girls.

These are his flesh and blood and every ounce of his anger towards them. And you know what else, Nancy? He was going to make sure that they never got away again. In his mind, Christine Berserk, what were they doing wrong? They were becoming, quote, too American. His words. Well, why in the hay does he have them live in America if he doesn't want them to become Americans? They are Americans. Correct. Born and raised here. Daughters of an American-born mother. But they were becoming too Americanized, dating outside of the Muslim culture.

Talk about premonitions. Take a listen to our friend Maria Guerrero. Connie Maggio broke down on the stand identifying autopsy photographs of her nieces, saying a frantic Amina told her this the day of the murders. She didn't want to go back home. She'd rather be dead than to ever go back there. To you, Christy Mazurek, they, the two girls, the teen girls, stated point blank, I'd rather be dead than live with my father again.

And it wasn't just because he hated them becoming Americanized. There was more to their hatred of their father. Isn't that true, Christine Zarek? For sure. It dates back almost a decade before the killings. In 1998, both girls accused their dad of sexually abusing them, and their mother even swore in an affidavit that the allegations were true. Oh, there's the mom again, the enabler. Take a listen to William Joy, WFAA. Detectives say Sarah and Amina told police when they were younger that Saeed had sexually abused them. Police believe he was angry they were dating non-Muslim boys. Let me understand. The sex abuse had been when, Christy Mazurik? 1998.

So that places the girls at what age when they were being sex abused? About seven and eight years old. So that places the girls at what age when they were being sex abused? Okay. The mother who moves the girls back into this horrible and fatal situation says at the time when they're seven and eight years old that the dad was sex abusing them. To Troy Slayton joining us, high profile lawyer out of LA, the father should have been put in jail right then for sex abusing the children. So often the mothers turn the other way. And I know this from experience, they don't want to out the father as a child molester. So they protect

the dad and not their own children. But here you have the mom corroborating the girl's story, but nothing was done. I hear you, Nancy, but there are reports that the daughters who may very well have been victims of sexual abuse recanted their statements to investigators that they were sexually abused. I've actually had that happen, a recantation on the stand in front of the jury. Which is why I would have a problem in this case to have the judge admit that evidence because it's again not reliable. I went forward in that case and the jury returned a guilty verdict and I would do it again because at this young age, seven, eight, nine years old, if the medical doctor states that the child has been sex assaulted, which is easy to

tell, if an eight-year-old girl no longer has a hymen, someone has assaulted her. And I would be very curious as to the circumstances surrounding the recantation. Was it to daddy's defense attorney? Why did the child recant? Was she beaten? Was she coached? Because you've got two children and a mother saying they were sex abused. You've got physical evidence that would show sex abuse and they named the father, but nothing was done. The mom put the children back in the home and now they're dead. So what can an attorney, a defense attorney possibly say? Take a listen to Sean Robb at Fox 14. Defense attorneys countered no eyewitness or surveillance cameras captured the father at the crime scene and claimed the government focused on him because he was Muslim. The state wants to

convict Yasser for being a Muslim in 2008 because the evidence will show that the evidence will not support convictions of capital murder today. It would not have supported it in 2008, and it will not support it in this trial. Okay, wait a minute. Did he actually just say that the state is prosecuting the dad for being a Muslim in 2008? Oh, okay. Hold on just a moment.

Isn't it true, Christy Mazurek, that simultaneous with the two girls' homicides, the dad leaves town and goes on the lam for 12 years? Yes. In fact, he was one of at close range on two unarmed teen girls. What does that tell you about the mindset of the killer? Well, again, it implies that there is a close connection with individuals when we see extensive trauma many times that is the result of the individual the assailant knowing the victim and attempting to basically destroy their image as well as their lives Nancy I've been aware of these honor crimes since 2002 when I was involved in an

international conference in Jordan. And it was sponsored by actually the Queen Abdullah and the medical examiner in Jordan. And they were first to start to actively publicize these deaths, which basically accounted for about 60% of all female homicide cases in Jordan. I'm sorry, would you say that again, Dr. Jensen? Yes. Honor crimes in 2004 in Jordan accounted for 60% of all female homicides in that country. Since then, because of the actions of the medical examiner and the queen, these have come to light and there is more scrutiny. In Jordan, there was actually a law that allowed lenient penal types of sentences for individuals who perpetrated honor crimes. And this is an interesting case because fathers are only involved in about 12% of the honor crimes. Most of these are committed by the brother of the individuals who basically, I would assume, is assigned by the parent to perform the honor killing.

And most of these young women are between 15 and 45. Wow. You know, Dr. Jensen, you just laid a lot of information on me. The Queen of Jordan and the medical examiner there bring to light that then, 2004, 60% of all female homicides were honor killings. That's amazing to me. And the fact that we know of 5,000 a year honor killings is so distressing. I've been aware recently there have been honor crimes or honor killings coming to light across the United States.

I know of one in New York State, one in Oklahoma, and I really wasn't aware of this one in Texas until we started discussing this case. That's right. So it's now a trend that has caught hold in the U.S. Speaking of the father's mysterious disappearance simultaneous to his daughter's murder, take a listen to our friends at WFAA. It's been nearly 13 years since police say Yasser Saeed killed his 17 and 18 year old daughters Sarah and Amina on New Year's Day. This man brutally murdered, shot to death, his two daughters in his taxi cab. Wednesday, Irving police joined the FBI to announce that

after thousands of tips and six years on the FBI's top 10 most wanted list, Saeed had been captured in Justin, Texas, in Denton County. We have tirelessly followed every lead, never losing faith or hope that we would one day locate and arrest Yasser Saeed. I pray to God that justice prevails. The trial ongoing. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.