Yaser Abdel Said: Man convicted in 2008 of the murders of his daughters sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

CNN
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Yaser Abdel Said was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of capital murder in the 2008 murder of his two daughters, Amina, 18, and Sarah, 17, according to a statement from the office of Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot.

On New Year’s Day 2008, Said took his two daughters for a ride in his taxi. Hours later, the girls’ lifeless bodies were found, with multiple gunshot wounds, in Said’s abandoned taxi. Before dying, Sarah made a brief desperate plea for help. By the time police located the taxi, the sisters were dead and Said was missing, along with his handgun and all of his life savings, CNN previously reported.

Said remained a fugitive for more than 12 years, including six on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, before he was captured without incident on August 26, 2020 in Justin, Texas, the statement said.

After six days of trial, a Dallas County jury deliberated for three hours before returning a guilty verdict on Tuesday, the statement said.

“There is nothing honorable about what Yaser Said did on January 1, 2008. Dallas County showed Mr. Said that there is no excuse for taking another human life. He must now spend the rest of his life confined to a living prison cell under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,” District Attorney Creuzot said. « Although this verdict does not bring Sarah and Amina back, my office and this jury have done everything in our power to see justice served. »

Saïd’s public defender, Bradley Lollar, told CNN: « We are disappointed with the verdict, but accept it. We plan to appeal. »

Lollar added: “This was a case where there were no witnesses, no physical evidence of any kind, no surveillance video or confession. On the contrary, our client has always maintained his innocence of the crime.