What did Yaser Abdel Said do? Case explored as Texas man enters trial for 2008 honor killing of teenage daughters

The jury selection process at the trial of Texas taxi driver Yaser Abdel Said has begun. In 2008, the accused was charged with murdering his two teenage daughters in a purported "honor killing".

Nearly a decade after the brutal murders of Amina Said, 18, and Sarah Said, 17, the prosecution announced that Yaser Abdel Said, their father, will be held accountable for their deaths. Yaser Abdel Said is now 65 years old.

In August 2020, Yaser Abdel Said was captured by Justin, 36 miles northwest of Dallas, after 12 years on the run. He was among the list of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted at the time.

According to court records, on New Year's Eve 2008, Said allegedly took the girls to a hotel parking lot in Irving, Texas, where he allegedly shot them multiple times inside his taxi. Shortly after this, Said allegedly went into hiding.

One of his daughters, Sarah, was able to make a 911 call before she passed away. On a call with the operator, she said:

"Help, my dad shot me! I'm dying, I'm dying!"

Just the day before, the girls and their mother tried to flee Said's house to escape what they claimed was an abusive life.

---

It took 12 years to track down Yaser Abdel Said

Following a tip from a maintenance worker in 2017, authorities tracked down Said after he had been missing for 12 years. He was finally apprehended in August 2020.

As per authorities, he was residing in an apartment that his son Islam Yaser Abdel Said, 32, had rented. Before being apprehended in Justin, north of Fort Worth, Said relocated with the aid of his brother, Yassein Said, 59.

In a 2021 statement by the Department of Justice, Yassein Said was found guilty of "concealing a person from arrest and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding." In June 2021, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Meanwhile, Islam Yaser Abdel Said received 10 years after entering a guilty plea to the same charges in June 2021.

Speaking about the incident and her husband's arrest in 2020, Patricia said:

"All I can say is there’s going to be justice."

He has repeatedly stated that he was not guilty of the crime and wrote about the same in letters to Judge Anyaiam from the Dallas County Jail. It is the same jail he has been detained in since his 2020 arrest.

As per a local news station, in one of his letters to the judge, Said expressed disappointment over their dating life. But he also mentioned that he did not kill them.

Honor killing refers to the practice of killing someone for 'bringing dishonor to their family'. The documentary 'The Price of Honor,' was based on the killings of Amina and Sarah. The documentary adds to the speculation that the girls' father disapproved of their "American lifestyle."

Family members who were part of the documentary claim that Yaser Abdel Said killed his daughters after discovering they were dating people who did not follow Islam. Said was also accused of trying to arrange a marriage between Amina, who was 15 at the time, and a 47-year-old man when the family went to visit Egypt.