Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack
on Palestinian American boy
[March 01, 2025]
By SOPHIA TAREEN and MELISSA PEREZ WINDER
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder
and hate crime charges Friday for the brutal killing of a 6-year-old
whose mother rented rooms in the man’s home, an attack that spiked fears
over anti-Muslim discrimination in the earliest days of the war in Gaza.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi
and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023 in
Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago. Authorities
alleged the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a
response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7,
2023.
Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning with the
verdict.
“I don’t know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or
laughing,” Wadee's father, Odai Alfayoumi, said at a news conference,
speaking in Arabic. “People are telling me to smile. Maybe if I were one
of you, I would be smiling, but I’m the father of the child and I’ve
lost the child. And I feel like this decision came to a little too
late.”
Ben Crump, the national civil rights attorney representing Shaheen,
released a statement calling the verdict a “measure of justice.”
“Wadee was an innocent six-year-old child whose life was stolen in an
act of unimaginable violence fueled by hatred,” the statement added.
“While we are relieved that his killer has been held accountable, we
must continue to stand against the rising tide of hate that led to this
senseless act. We must honor Wadee’s memory by continuing to fight
against hate in all its forms and working toward a future where every
child is safe, valued, and free from violence.”
Crump asked that the media continue respecting Shaheen's privacy as she
honors her son’s memory.
Shaheen did not speak at a press conference following the jury decision.
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the civil rights group Council on
American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-Chicago, said it was too difficult
for her and added that she “only prays for peace and love.”
The trial featured detailed testimony from police officers, medical
workers, Czuba’s ex-wife and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked
her with a knife before going after her son in a different room.
Prosecutors say that the child had been stabbed 26 times. He was found
naked with a knife still in his side.
Graphic photos of the murder, a knife holder Czuba allegedly used that
day, along with police video footage were central to the Will County
prosecutors’ case. At times video screens showing explicit footage were
turned away from the public viewing audience where members of Wadee’s
family sat during the trial.
“If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left
the knife in the little boy’s body,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County
assistant state’s attorney, told jurors during opening statements.
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Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his
arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in
Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
Czuba's attorney, George Lenard, declined comment Friday. Czuba had
pleaded not guilty. He faced murder, attempted murder, aggravated
battery and hate crime charges in an eight-count indictment.
Czuba is scheduled for sentencing on May 2, according to the Will
County Circuit Clerk’s office.
Defense attorneys insisted pieces of evidence tying Czuba to the
crimes were missing. His ex-wife, testifying for the prosecution,
could only describe one outburst during their 30 years of marriage
and said he carried knives often because he was handy around the
house.
“Go beyond the emotions to carefully examine the evidence,” said
Kylie Blatti, one of Czuba’s public defenders. “It is easy to get
lost in the horror of those images.”
One of the critical parts of the trial was Shaheen’s testimony and
the 911 call she made to report the crime that happened just days
after the war started. She said they had not previously had any
issues in the two years they rented from the Czubas. They shared a
kitchen and living room with the Czubas.
Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to
move out because Muslims were not welcome. Later, he confronted
Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying
to break her teeth.
“He told me ’You, as a Muslim, must die,” said Shaheen, who
testified in English and Arabic though a translator.
Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to
recover. The boy was later pronounced dead.
Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house sitting
on the ground with blood on his body and hands.
Separately, civil lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death,
including by his father, Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and
was not living with them.
The case generated headlines around the world and struck deeply for
the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The
U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes
investigation.
“All of us who are parents, who are Arab or Palestinian … who are
Muslim, we all saw our children die in Wadee Alfayoumi, because this
could have been any one of our boys, any one of our girls,” CAIR-Chicago's
Rehab said. “It just so happened that it was Wadee Alfayoumi. When
he was targeted, all of our children were targeted. Every Muslim was
targeted when he (Czuba) yelled, ‘All Muslims must die.’”
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