The Murder of Shaima Alawadi

[HOOKS]

Iraqi woman beaten in Calif. dies; threat note left at scene

A 32-year-old woman from Iraq who was found severely beaten next to a threatening note saying "go back to your country" died on Saturday.

Shaima Alawadi's 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious Wednesday morning in the dining room of the house in El Cajon, police Lt. Steve Shakowski said.

Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met with Alawadi’s family members Saturday morning and was told the mother of five was taken off life support around 3 p.m.

"The family is in shock at the moment. They’re still trying to deal with what happened," Mohebi said.

The daughter told KUSI-TV that her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron.

Police Lt. Mark Coit said a threatening note was discovered "very close to where the victim was found," but he did not disclose other details of the note. The family said they had found a similar note earlier this month but did not report it to authorities, Coit said.

Coit said the attack appeared to be an isolated incident.

“A hate crime is one of the possibilities and we will be looking at that. We don’t want to focus on only one issue and miss something else.”

Sura Alzaidy, a family friend, told UT San Diego the note told the family to “go back to your own country. You’re a terrorist.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46845257#.T26kA3gm9SU

[Slewo.O]

You call someone a terrorist, and beat an innocent woman to death with a tire iron? I hope they throw the monster who did this into prison...

[rwsmith]

You call someone a terrorist, and beat an innocent woman to death with a tire iron? I hope they throw the monster who did this into prison...

Agreed. WTF is wrong with people! Shooting unarmed kids, ganging up on and lighting kids on fire, nearly beating a woman to death... Complete and utter cowards. The kind of weak, bed-wedding p@$$ies who can only feel tough when inflicting pain on someone who can't fight back. Sorry, this stuff just makes me so f'n mad, and it seems we've seen a lot of it lately. This probably isn't a healthy feeling, but what I wouldn't give for 20 minutes alone in a room with the animals that did this...

[Brad N.]

Horrible crime and if it was a hate crime I hope the fry the person who did it. Though my gut tells me her husband did it.

[Slewo.O]

Horrible crime and if it was a hate crime I hope the fry the person who did it. Though my gut tells me her husband did it.

What makes you think that?

[Brad N.]

What makes you think that?

1) My history with security and law enforcement.
2) A lifetime of watching cop and legal TV shows. This has a law and order feel to it right away.
3) 99% of the time the husband did it.

Now, I feel terrible for this poor woman and her family and regardless of what happened it will not bring her back, but it all just seems to me to be a crime of passion and the note was left in order to throw the police off the trail and possibly gain sympathy for the real killer. Like how after Susan Smith drowned her two little boys in her car in a lake she claimed it was car jacked by a random black guy.

[James Patrick]

That's my guess, too, Brad. The notes a little too direct and generic too. If you kill someone for being a certain ethnicity, you don't usually leave a note saying that's why you did it.

[King of Mars]

That's my guess, too, Brad. The notes a little too direct and generic too. If you kill someone for being a certain ethnicity, you don't usually leave a note saying that's why you did it.

You do if you want to send a message to other Muslims.

[Ryan Elliott]

1) My history with security and law enforcement.
2) A lifetime of watching cop and legal TV shows. This has a law and order feel to it right away.
3) 99% of the time the husband did it.

Now, I feel terrible for this poor woman and her family and regardless of what happened it will not bring her back, but it all just seems to me to be a crime of passion and the note was left in order to throw the police off the trail and possibly gain sympathy for the real killer. Like how after Susan Smith drowned her two little boys in her car in a lake she claimed it was car jacked by a random black guy.

What about the other note?

[Brad N.]

What about the other note?

What about it? No evidence it exists. A family friend said that they told them about another similar note a month ago but this is the husband's best friend and entirely possible he is lying to cover for the husband or the husband JUST told him about it now to cover his tracks. Or the husband had been planning it for a while and planted the other note (if it existed at all) in the first place.