Original subtitles

-No. The monkey? -No. No. The monkey. Uh-huh.

Okay. Um...

[singing] Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.

[man] Okay.

-And one fell off and bumped his head. -Okay.

One... Two little monkeys jumping on the bed.

One fell off and bumped his head.

-[man] Yeah! -Yeah?

[birds chirping]

Being out here on the playground

makes me think about the kids when they were little.

And how much fun they had just running around being happy.

Things were simpler back then.

Amina and Sarah,

they were like best of friends like any other sisters.

[kids chattering]

But even as little kids, then to teenagers...

They didn't show outsiders what was actually going on.

They had a lot of secrets.

Nobody can be happy with that stuff going on, you know?

They just covered it up really good.

[opening theme music playing]

My sister Patricia, I call her Tissie.

We're 13 months apart, so pretty close in age.

My dad was a carpenter,

so we didn't grow up with a lot of money.

We moved constantly, so we...

We had new schools, new friends and...

And we shared a lot of clothes, makeup.

Not the hair brush, 'cause she liked to complain, so, but... [chuckles]

[man] Look here.

-No. -Look.

Smile.

[both chuckle]

[man] Again.

Give me a smile.

[Connie] Patricia was 15 when she met Yaser.

And, um...

I was 14.

And they started dating.

Yaser's from Egypt.

And, um...

From what I understand,

he was sent to America where all of his brothers were already here.

[Patricia laughing]

[Connie] Yaser's personality was pretty happy and carefree.

I think he was only, like,

five years younger than my mom.

But my mom thought she was doing right and let them get married.

She was so worried that Tissie was gonna run off and get pregnant.

[pop music playing]

[woman] Oh, you use your fingers. You don't use the...

-[woman 2] Yeah. -[woman 3] Yeah, you can't.

[all chuckling]

[sniffles]

[Connie] Tissie was excited and happy.

I think she felt like it was somebody that would love her no matter what.

Islam is the oldest.

He was special because he was the first grandbaby

and the first nephew

and so he was pretty special.

[kids chattering]

Right away, after having Islam,

she got pregnant with Amina.

And then Sarah was born a year later in March.

So, a year apart, all three of them.

She was always proud of her kids.

[kids] Cheese!

Don't take a picture. [laughs]

Cheese!

[Connie] Yaser used to always have that video camera everywhere he went.

But even before the kids were born, he was like that.

You know, he just videotaped everything.

[Yaser] Amina, what did the teacher tell you again?

I said, "Be nice to the teacher."

[Yaser] Okay. What about Islam?

-I'd be mean to my teacher. -[Amina] I don't know what he did.

[Yaser] Why?

Because I'd put her in the locker.

[Jay] It looked like typical home movies.

They were happy, they were joking.

And the fact that he was documenting their entire lives,

must mean he was proud of them, he loved them.

-Hi, Baba. -Hi.

Do you wanna see my snowman?

See, Amina's is a girl and mine is a boy.

[Jay] They were very popular in their high school.

Extremely intelligent. Getting really good grades.

It's like the all American dream, you know?

[Connie] When they were little, they were pretty close.

As they started getting little older,

Islam was treated different than Amina and Sarah.

Amina and Sarah could do something

and Islam wouldn't get in trouble for doing the exact same thing.

[Connie] Islam was a big mama's boy.

He had ADHD.

So he gets a little hyper and out there.

He was the brother that liked to just aggravate,

annoy, yeah, just pick and pick.

[Zohair] Yeah, I think he was favored because he was a boy.

But more so because he did whatever his dad wanted him to do.

I think that was kind of the main thing.

Okay. Bye.

-[Yaser] Where you going? -I'm going to the bus.

[Zohair] We have similar backgrounds.

My parents were also immigrants.

Their parents are strict in general.

Both Amina and Sarah had conflict of identity.

And I think it's something that everyone goes through

with families who immigrated from outside.

But then, the more Sarah opened up with me,

the more I realized that her father

did not care at all about Islam,

the religion, or about her culture.

He never you know, taught them the basic things.

Only thing he cared about was his authority.

[Yaser] Look at me.

You think you're some kind of secret agent or something?

[Yaser] Hi, Amina.

That's not funny, Dad.

[Connie] Yaser didn't want the girls dating American boys.

But Amina and Sarah wanted to be like the American kids

and just live free.

I can't add songs to my phone.

-Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm studying. -[Amina speaking indistinctly]

[both chuckle]

Nah, your dinosaur phone?

[Yaser chuckling]

[Zohair] He would constantly be looking at their phones,

taking their phones from them,

looking at who they're messaging or calling.

Have fun.

The thing I found really bizarre was that,

he would send her older brother Islam as kind of like a spy.

He would come early to school sometimes.

He would just sit in the parking lot watching us.

Making sure that they were there.

He wouldn't talk to me, he just looked at me

in a grimacing face

and it's kind of another level that

their dad would keep such tabs on them.

[Miguel] Honestly, the first thing I ever think about

when I think about Amina is that smile.

The mom, Patricia, brought her two daughters Amina and Sarah into my class

and said, "Hey, we're interested in martial arts.

We'd like to give it a try."

Sarah was sweet. She had a smile in her face.

She was a little younger than Amina,

so she kind of just sat on the sidelines

and let Amina run the show.

And run the show she did.

Amina was like what Disney would portray a smart-aleck teenage girl.

[Yaser] Amina... [speaking Arabic]

[Amina] I was trying to get away.

She was gorgeous. She was funny.

But she had a major attitude and chip on her shoulder.

[Yaser] Are you cold?

-[Arabic music playing] -What do you think?

And I hate this music!

Like he's crying.

Mom, open the sunroof, so rain can get on Dad.

[both chuckle]

[Miguel] Joseph was already a student when Amina got enrolled into the school.

Joseph was awesome.

He was one of my other teenagers.

They were both taking my class

and when she walked into the room, he would definitely light up.

They just kind of hit off right away.

And then I realized that Joseph and Amina were an item.

Can you please turn that off?

[Miguel] Amina had told me several times,

"Hey, if my dad comes around,

make sure you don't mention anything about Joseph and her dating."

I was just like, "Okay," you know.

Um, I don't really know what to say to that.

Would you turn that off so I can talk to you?

[chuckling]

-[Yaser] You take picture? -Yes.

You didn't ask me, I'm not asking you.

[Miguel] But that did seem a little odd to me.

And that's when I started taking little more seriously like, okay,

something really bad could happen, I just didn't know what.

Uh, what are you doing here?

-[Amina] Spending your money. What else would I do here? -Oh, no, that's bad news.

[Amina speaking]

[Connie] Always with that video camera.

And there's nothing wrong with people shooting video.

It's just creepy that you have it all the time.

[Yaser] Hmm.

[Connie] He went to their school and watched them come in and out.

He'd go up to their job and sit there...

Watch through the window,

make sure no boys were talking to 'em.

[Miguel] In the beginning, I didn't really take it serious.

Sarah was aware of the relationship with Joseph.

And the mom, Patricia was also aware of the relationship.

But if we were having any sort of events,

they would constantly remind me,

"If my dad shows up, if anybody shows up,

do not mention my relationship with Joseph.

Don't talk about us at all."

At that point, I knew something was off.

When Patricia herself came to me

and it wasn't just some teenager saying,

"My dad's a little overly protective."

[Miguel] The girls never had either of their parents show up to watch

any of their tournaments or tests or anything like that.

So the only family member that would be there would be the brother.

But he never seemed that into it.

In fact, it almost seemed...

...that maybe he was there to kind of keep an eye on his sisters.

I thought it was odd that she wasn't allowed to have an American boyfriend.

Since mom was American, but, uh...

She did talk about an arranged marriage

and I kind of thought she was just being an overly dramatic teenager.

But she was serious about it.

[Zohair] Sarah really enjoyed Egypt.

She was able to connect with her culture,

her Egyptian culture.

Like growing up in America, even in her house,

she didn't really get exposed much to her customs and the tradition.

But Sarah did mention that

she felt like her father may just get them married off in Egypt.

She kind of joked about it.

That, "Maybe that's what my dad wants

is just for me to get married off in Egypt

and just live over there."

[Zohair] It seemed like her dad

implemented the way he wanted them to live,

not based on any culture or religious values

but as kind of his values,

what he wanted out of them.

[Yaser] Amina...

This is Sarah.

-Hi, Amina. -Hi.

[Amina] Did you guys have fun?

Yeah and we're back on our way back home.

Have fun.

[Amina] You miss Texas?

No.

[Zohair] I think he was becoming more and more controlling

and threatening with them.

And I think in part it was because,

I think Sarah and Amina were becoming more expressive themselves

of what they wanted out of life.

But they always had a fear that

they might step beyond a boundary

that would make him look bad

and that they were becoming better than he was.

He drove taxi cabs for a living.

[Yaser] How long have you been working there?

Two and a half weeks.

-[Yaser] That's only and they make you supervisor? -Yep.

[Yaser] Wow.

[Patricia] She's smart like her mother.

[Yaser] Oh, yeah?

[Zohair] They would dim themselves in front of him as much as they could.

Okay. That's enough.

[Zohair] And you know, just do whatever they could

outside when he wasn't aware of it.

But now they were willing to take more risks

than they were before.

Really seeing how far they could push the lines.

[Yaser] Wow. Look at this eyes.

I'm gonna get sick now.

[both chuckle]

You don't need to do that. You look pretty.

[Zohair] They definitely hid their boyfriends

because I think that was definitely the last line

they felt in their father's eyes.

You know, if their father found out, it would be...

It would be catastrophic.

[Miguel] One day, I was told that the dad found out

about the boyfriend.

And yanked her out of my karate school,

yanked her out of her school.

That was literally the last I saw or heard from them.

I just knew that she was gone and we'd never see her again.

Oh, that's so creepy.

You know the girls are...

...teenagers and...

It just seems a little strange...

I don't really like to look at it.

When Yaser found out that Amina was dating an American boy,

he was really, really mad.

Wanted her to break it off,

and they moved.

Moved away from where the boy was that she was seeing.

[Kresha] Lewisville, Texas is a very big suburb of Dallas.

It's very diverse.

I would say Lewisville's like your small-big town?

If that makes sense?

When I had first met Amina,

she was in the 12th grade. She was a senior.

Sarah was a junior in 11th grade.

And I was a sophomore in the 10th grade.

I'm the type of person where I see details about people.

The little things, you know?

Such as body language, their eyes,

the way that they do things.

I found it interesting how a senior

would leave wherever they came from

to go to another school and not know anybody.

Like, what? Who does that?

Not many people just do that, you know?

It seemed like they really couldn't go out like a typical teenager would.

For example, if you're like,

"Hey, it's Friday night.

You know, it's the weekend.

So let's go and watch a movie at so and so's.

Movie theater."

There's no way. There's no way.

They would go to Egypt during the summer.

And they would come back

and even though they did like being able to go back to Egypt,

they didn't like the fact they had to.

It came off as if...

...something was going on with the dad's side of the family.

Don't know what exactly, but something was going on

as to why they didn't like having to go back.

[Kresha] I remember I was working a shift

at Kroger, it was an evening shift along with Amina and...

I remember seeing a tall gentleman

who had on a black leather jacket

and his stomach was protruding.

And he literally came up to Amina's lane.

It seemed like she just froze

and I just remember feeling an odd,

like an uncomfortable feeling.

And I didn't realize until after the fact that it was her father.

I felt something was going on

but I didn't press up on it to ask why.

There was a reason why she did that.

Maybe he was actually spying on them.

Maybe he wanted to see what they were up to at work

or maybe he felt he needed to insert himself as a way of saying,

"I see you, I'm watching you."

[Zohair] Um... Sarah said, that he basically was like, a tyrant at home

and he didn't treat them like his own daughters.

Like, he basically treated them what she said, were like, "Whores,"

living in his home.

And then so, Sarah and Amina they both came up with a system of texting that,

anytime, like,

you know, I would have to text her,

we'd have to, like, send a number.

Like, she'd send me a nine, that okay, it's safe to text.

As soon as she sends me a seven, I have to stop texting

to just make sure that he doesn't see any of our messages.

That's the ironic thing that, you know, I'm a Muslim,

really if the issue was that

her dad didn't approve of non-Muslim boyfriends for them,

then there's no reason for her to keep me a secret

but she was still sacred to death

in having him see me texting.

I think that he really felt he was losing control.

And, I think that...

he was also jealous of the fact that they were almost done with high school

and seeing their potential and felt threatened by it.

[Kresha] Oh yeah. Amina's mind works fast.

She thinks very fast and...

she's two steps ahead.

of anything that she's got going on and...

looking back, it's like...

she kind of knew something was gonna happen.

[Connie] The girls were doing great,

Amina got a scholarship to Texas A&M

and she was gonna be able to move away,

and live on campus and she was so excited.

[Connie] After a little while, Amina and Sarah, they had boyfriends,

they kept it secret, Amina's boyfriend, Eddie

he lived like, a block over

and then Sarah's boyfriend, Eric lived, I believe right across the street.

[Zohair] I think they really believed that they were gonna go to college

and they were gonna get away, you know, from this man and start new lives.

But Sarah told me that her Dad had put a recording device

in Amina's steering wheel

and after her father found

the recording of Amina and what she was doing,

he came into their room and he brought a gun,

showed it was loaded in front of them.

He was waving, and you know, telling Sarah, that...

um... Amina's not gonna be around any more and you better get used to it.

[dramatic music playing]

[Zohair] Sarah was just completely terrified out of her mind.

And I was telling Sarah like,

Please, can we call the police, can we call someone because

we were really scared for them that...

this could escalate to a completely different level.

But she kept telling me, "No, no, no, no, don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone."

[dramatic music playing]

My sister uh... called me,

and told me that Yaser was making threats because Amina

was dating an American boy.

So they decided to go to Oklahoma.

[Zohair] Probably one of the best moments of my life,

seeing that message from Sarah that...

they left. I told Sarah, no matter what,

just don't ever come back here. You'll finally be safe now.

Don't come back. Just don't come back.

[dramatic music playing]

[911 operator] Irving 911, what is your emergency?

On January 1st, Amina called me

and she was really pissed off.

She said, "Did you know that my mom went back to my dad?" And I'm like, "No."

I had no idea they were even in Texas.

And she said... asked me what she should do.

I said, go get a restraining order.

Then get as far away as you can.

Just go.

[Jay] When Irving police came upon the taxi cab

they found Amina and Sarah.

When they opened the doors,

they saw that Amina had been shot twice in the chest.

and that Sarah had been shot nine times.

[line ringing]

[Jay] Once we knew that the main suspect was their father,

that obviously brings it up a notch.

[reporter] Irving Texas Police, got a call,

which pinpointed the location of Yaser Said's leased taxi cab

in a parking lot of a hotel.

Inside, the dead bodies of the two teenage girls,

shot multiple times.

And their father, nowhere to be seen.

Police tell us the father is the main suspect.

[solemn music playing]

[Patricia] They took me to the Irving Police Department,

and I said, "Okay, just take me to my babies, just let me go."

They said, "We can't."

And I said, "Why can't you?"

I said, uh... "They're okay, right?"

He said, "No ma'am.

They're not okay."

And it was so... like...

It didn't...

It didn't break my heart, it shattered my heart.

And...

I should have been there and protected them.

[solemn music playing]

[Connie] I really think that she went back because

she thought that, going back...

was easier than trying to hide.

And constantly being nervous

about who's following you.

He would, uh... abuse me,

uh... like kick me, hit me,

he was physically and emotionally and verbal.

I had ulcers because of all the stress

but the reason is that I didn't do anything

was because he always threatened my family.

I thought that Yaser would hurt me,

but I did not ever think that he would hurt the kids.

After two sisters were found dead,

the FBI is calling their murders a possible honor killing.

Irving Police believe the girls were shot by their father,

who's still on the run.

[Zohair] As soon as the news came out

and I saw the main title, was a father,

kills his daughters in an honor killing.

And it's portrayed that,

in the Middle East, or in Islam,

it's a common practice.

What really incensed me,

and made me angry, especially because I knew them personally,

I knew what their house was like, I knew that

the father had, not a single ounce of religion in their home.

The whole essence of this goes down

to nothing but a psychopathic man's desire to control

his daughters and his wife.

[Connie] It was about...

the girls getting older and being able to move away and not having him...

control them anymore, and then once they,

you know, moved out of the house and when she knew it was coming.

He just decided he didn't want them in the world anymore.

You're kidding? What? I am so heartbroken.

I'm sorry, I trying not to cry,

because I can't believe that he took them away.

'Cause they had a bright future ahead of them.

[exhales]

The fact that I'm just hearing this, I'm just shocked

because I knew they wanted to go to school,

they wanted to better themselves.

I did not know that she got a scholarship.

[crying] He just took that away from them.

[sniffles] I'm sorry. Excuse me.

Just... [exhales] How dare he?

Those girls had potential to do great things and for him to take that away...

I did not know that. [cries] Excuse me. I'm sorry.

[Kresha crying] I can't believe he did that.

[Kresha cries]

A candlelight vigil held for the Said sisters at 6:00 tonight,

in Lewisville High School, where Sarah still attended.

It was the first day back to class for these students after the Christmas break

Uh... it was organized on short notice.

[Connie] You don't want to believe it, even though through all the phases

of going to the funeral home and...

helping your sister make arrangements and...

picking out the coffins and stuff, I guess still, you're in such a shock...

that uh...

nothing is more reality until you see them laying in a casket.

[Patricia] It's horrible.

You don't want to see your baby in a casket.

When people tells me, "It's gonna be okay."

It's never gonna be okay.

[Zohair] I just, I couldn't believe it.

We just cried on the phone for...

a long time.

Even though, like when we saw the signs were there that...

you know, he could do this, but when...

he actually did do it, it took me a long time to really grasp

how far, how low a human being has to go to kill his own...

flesh and blood.

Dad, just turn yourself in,

you know if you do I'll get you a lawyer to help you out.

Uh... maybe they won't put you on death row, but...

um... you can sit in prison and think about what you've done.

We will not quit until we find you.

If it's the last thing I do.

I promise.

I will find you.

[solemn music playing]

There were a lot of police there too, because of what happened

[Zohair] Even though it was a memorial but at the same time,

there was a bit of fear that...

you know, what if he comes back.

It was really uneasy...

it wasn't really a closure to it.

You know, he's still out there.

The possibility exists, that he could really, he could be anywhere.

He could have made it to the airport, he could still be in the state.

Um...

but we're gonna keep looking just like he's here in local.

[solemn music playing]

[Kresha] We're all heading out to go to the Muslim cemetery and...

Islam was like,

"It's their fault."

"They are the reason why they died, they shouldn't have done that."

"They should have done this..."

He just went on a rampage of speaking down on them and...

everybody's looking like, "What is wrong with him?"

Why is he doing this?

[dramatic music playing]

A private investigator told Fox News that he believes Yaser Said

is hiding in plain sight, as a taxi cab driver in New York City.

Irving Police say today that they have no evidence

or reason to believe that Yaser Said is in New York City.

You pray every day, you know, please let this be the day, he gets caught.

And then, so, it's just really hard because each day goes by and it's like

God's not hearing you.

[solemn music playing]

[Patricia] Why did I come back?

How come I didn't make the right decision?

Why did I let them go away with him?

Just different things just...

kept going around and around and around.

[Connie] A lot of people don't realize that...

she didn't just lose her girls,

she has lost everything in one day.

[Connie] And they liked to say, she shouldn't have went back,

you know, and what these people are failing to understand that

it's easier to blame the person that's not there

then blame the person that actually did it.

It's been almost seven years now since the brutal murders

of two teenage girls in Irving.

And today, their father is the newest edition

to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

It all started with a maintenance man,

walking up to an apartment door, knocking on the door,

because he wanted to fix a pipe.

The maintenance worker...

very astutely, looks him over,

and thinks to himself, "I've seen this person before."

He was able to connect that face, with that poster,

he alerts his manager, manager calls FBI,

FBI special agent shows up at the door at 6:15.

Islam opens the door.

And Islam refuses to let him in.

Islam's like, "There's no way in hell you're coming in here."

"Go get a warrant."

Okay, that's a tip. It's time to go.

But they found, what turned out to be, a mountain of evidence.

[Jay] They found a used cigarette butt,

they found a hair brush,

they found a toothbrush,

What are you gonna get off that, DNA.

So, it let police and it let the FBI know,

this guy is still in Texas.

And that means they could setup surveillance.

[Jay] Their belief is, if we watch Islam,

he will eventually lead us to his father.

So, finally after about 10 or 12 days worth of surveillance,

they believe they have enough.

[reporter] All new at 10:00, 12 years after his daughters were murdered

and after more than five years on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list.

Tonight Yaser Said is in police custody, we can report,

Irving PD and the FBI, tell us they worked together to track down and find him.

They arrested him in the city of Justin in Denton County today.

Said is now charged with capital murder.

[Zohair] I cried.

it was a big moment of relief,

uh... for me after so many years.

And I'd pray every day, every morning, I'd pray that, you know,

somehow through a miracle,

God find him and bring him to justice,

and bring their souls peace.

[solemn music playing]

[Zohair] That was one of those things about Sarah, that she was the fighter,

it was a definitely a miracle that you know, she was able to do that...

in her last breaths.

Uh... to make sure that

there's not a shadow of a doubt that he was the one who did this.

[reporter] The attorney's office charged two family members,

Yaser's son, Islam, and brother, Yassein, accusing them

of protecting the fugitive from arrest.

The police believe the two had been

protecting Said since at least 2017.

[Connie] I'm still mad at Islam.

I love Islam...

for the boy that I knew.

I don't like Islam for the man that he's become.

[chattering indistinctly]

It was like a, like a wound had opened up and somebody poured

alcohol in it.

I couldn't believe it. I can't stop loving my son

but I do not like him right now.

[solemn music playing]

So, Yaser, uh... keeps claiming he's innocent, he didn't do it.

Um, but he'll have his day in court, just like anyone else.

[Patricia] I have to face him.

I have to tell him what he, what he did.

I want him to know...

what he has done and how many people he has...

hurt.

[birds chirping]

[Kresha] I make sure every time I was home, on leave...

I make sure, I go and see them and I lay flowers.

[solemn music playing]

I try to change the colors each time so that they know,

they're not forgotten.

And, um... somebody cares about them.

They loved each other so much.

[Patricia reading] My heart, an open wound,

I can only cry.

I don't try and understand. Make me a bird, let me fly.

I hate you. I hate your land.

You've frozen my heart. Let me die.

[Connie] I felt like, that, Amina knew something was gonna happen.

I don't know if she thought she was gonna die,

but I think that she knew, there was big changes coming.

[Patricia reading] Make me an angel. Let me fly.

Around and around.

Let me go and cannot be bound

by pain you will never know.

You don't know me. And here, I don't want to be.

[solemn music playing]

[chattering indistinctly]

[Connie] It's been, you know, over 13 years now,

I talk about Amina and Sarah a lot.

I talk to my daughter all the time about,

about it. My grandbaby's named after Amina.

[Yaser] Hi Amina.

They're not just a memory. Not to us anyway.