Police Records Suggest Death Isn't a Hate Crime

Police are continuing to call this an "isolated incident" and no arrests have been made

Police records obtained from the murder of an El Cajon woman on March 21suggest it may not have been a hate crime.

Shaima Alawadi, 32, was found bloodied and beaten inside this home on March 21. Her 17-year-old daughter Fatima found her on the floor of their dining room with a note nearby.

"It said this is my country, go back to yours...terrorist,” Alawadi’s son Mohammed said in an interview with NBC News last week.

The note left many people in the community fearing a hate crime.

But records obtained by NBCSanDiego revealed that Alawadi was having problems with her husband and daughter. Investigators said Alawadi was planning to divorce her husband and move to Texas.

The warrants also show that the victim's daughter Fatima was upset about the family's plan to have her marry one of her cousins. Police found Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a text message on the teenage daughter's cell phone, at the time she was being interviewed by detectives. The text read: "The detective will find out. Tell him '[can't] talk'."

Records also show a possible suspect was near the house on the day of the crime. A neighbor gave police a description of a possible suspect spotted running from the crime scene.

The suspect is described as a "darker skinned boy in his late teens or early 20s … with a skinny build, carrying a donut shaped cardboard box." He was seen at 10:30 a.m., about 45 minutes before Alawadi's daughter called 911.

Documents also show that Alawadi called the police herself nearly two months earlier to report her 17-year-old daughter Fatima missing. 

On Jan. 31 Alawadi reported the girl had been missing for 2 hours, but the call was canceled 20 minutes later when the daughter was located.

Records reveal that on Nov. 3 last year, Fatima and 21-year-old Rawnaq Yacub were contacted by police for possibly having sex in a parked car. Officers contacted Alawadii, who went to the incident location. Alwadi was driving her daughter away from the area when Fatima said "I love you mom," then jumped out of the car while it was moving at 35 mph.

Fatima was transported to the hospital with multiple injuries, including a possible broken arm, according to police. The 17-year-old told paramedics and hospital staff that she was being forced to marry her cousin and did not want to do so, which is why she jumped out of the car. Fatima refused to talk to police at the hospital, according to the documents.

Since the March 21 incident, police have asked a judge for permission to search the car of Alawadi's husband, Kassim Alhimidi.

Alhimidi and Fatima are reportedly still in Iraq, following the burial of Alawadi.

Police are continuing to call this an "isolated incident" and no arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation.

 
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