Owens was told to stay home as her husband drove around her daughters to talk. Prosecutors continue trying to build their case against a father accused of murdering his teenage daughters. The judge warned Said that prosecutors would be allowed to raise any issue from the trial with him but he said he wanted to talk anyway. The defense is also expected to try to discredit Sarah's chilling 911 call, played before the jury on Wednesday, where she said her father shot her. On Thursday, the mother of Amina and Sarah Said took the stand. Caught in 2020. https://t.co/R77vHTz043 pic.twitter.com/ApAbeA3VgF. She commented, Now the girls can rest in peace. And he controlled everything in his household. @NBCDFWhttps://t.co/R77vHTz043 pic.twitter.com/5eP4TqCGdS. Calling All True Crime Fans Said entered a not guilty plea Tuesday and faces an automatic life sentence if convicted. A film made about the murders, "The Price of Honor," alleged the girls were killed by their father as an "honor killing," a cultural practice where someone is killed after bringing shame on their family. He controlled what they did, who they talked to, who they could be friends with, if they and who they could date. Black said the sisters, both high school students in Lewisville, dreamed of becoming doctors, and that Yaser Said grew "angrier" as they grew up and became more educated and independent. Prosecutors continue trying to build their case against a father accused of murdering his teenage daughters. In a letter written to the judge, Said wrote that he was not happy with his daughters dating activity but he denied killing them. A detective and construction worker were among the witnesses called in the trial of Yaser Said this Friday afternoon. The authorities think that the daughters were shot and killed around 7.30pm close to the Omni Hotel. Day two of testimony ended with a former crime scene investigator who wheeled in a cart full of evidence including the bullet-riddled cab seats, shell casings and projectiles found throughout the car and photographs showing a shell casing found on Aminas shoulder. Said took the teens in the taxi cab to eat and talk, and refused to let her come along. The father told the courtroom that he only wanted to take his two daughters to dinner on New Year's Day 2008 but on the road in his taxi, he said he saw someone following them. Dr. Brasheer Ahmed, with the Muslim Community Center in North Richland Hills, told NBC 5 in 2020, following Said's arrest, that murder was against Islamic principal. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. The trial is expected to continue throughout the week. Defense lawyers unsuccessfully tried to limit the scope of cross-examination. She said she married him at the age of 15, with the permission of her parents after dating for three weeks and had three children with him over the next three years. "Initially, we were looking at the boyfriends originally, and then we focused on the defendant,"Retired detective RandallJohnson said. Her chilling 911 call was played before the jury on Wednesday where she was heard saying her father shot her and that she was dying. Instead, she wanted to get out of the house at the time. Prosecutors claim Said's daughters made an outcry that he'd sexually abused them and had touched them inappropriately. The next morning, on New Years, Amina's friend received a text message from Sarah asking Amina to call her mom. "Her look was in fear, she didn't look like she wanted to be there," said Amina's boyfriend Edgar Ruiz. Yaser found out that both girls were dating in the fall of 2007 and like many times before he pulled a gun on Amina and Sarah and threatened to kill them for not following his rules. The girls' bodies were found in their father's taxi cab outside the Omni hotel in Irving, both of them had been shot multiple times. Said refused to look up as two medical examiners who conducted the victims autopsies took the stand and described photographs of each victims examination displayed in the courtroom. The murderer was my husband, and those girls were my beautiful, brilliant, talented daughters. You can also check out a post where Patricia laments the death of the girls. The mothers sister and victim's aunt, Connie Moggio, told 65-year-old Said she hopes the remainder of his years in prison are filled with his worst nightmares. "And I was told that nobody had seen the cab driver.". Silence filled Dallas County District Court 7 Wednesday as prosecutors prepared to present the chilling 911 call made by a dying Sarah Said on New Year 2008. More than 50 people were called to testify, including the girls' mother as well as local and federal investigators and experts on Muslim culture. Cross examination is done with Patricia Owens (mom of Sarah and Amina) - who testified that when girls returned home days before their murders Yaser Said appeared happy; when Amina came back last he kissed her on the forehead and shed a tear. She said she and her two daughters returned to her husband because he was abusive and she was scared of getting hurt if they didn't. This story has been shared 685,769 times. 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The father said he loved his daughters and is not to blame for their killing. A Texas man on trial for murdering his two daughters in honor killings because they were dating American boys was called the devil in court Thursday by the girls mother, who detailed 15 years of abuse during their marriage. He also told evidence on Sarahs body indicated she was shot at very close range. It took just 20 minutes in court for Yaser Said testifying in his own defense to tell his story claiming he was not with his daughters when they were murdered. Amina suffered two gunshot wounds, including a fatal wound to the chest. https://t.co/dxERwZ2CM6. The mothers actions in the days leading up to the murders are extremely suspicious. He said nothing would happen to him, Ms Owens said, with Mr Said present in the courtroom. Owens said her ex-husband was abusive and controlling and would look over the girls' phone records and would call numbers to see if they belonged to a boy or a girl. He said nothing would happen to him.. Were here to offer condolences, continued condolence to this family, but were also here to see that justice is done which it was, Creuzot said. The state wants to convict Yaser for being Muslim in 2008.. Yaser was abusive.. The death penalty is not an option in Yaser Said's case. They then moved to another area, closer to Ms Owens sister. The capital murder trial of Yaser Abdel Said, a 65-year-old cab driver from Lewisville accused of murdering his two teenage daughters in a purported "honor killing" continued Thursday in Dallas with the girls' mother taking the stand. The mother must be charged with conspiracy to murder her daughters. Owens, who. Ms Owens added that another factor in the return to Texas was for Amina for graduate high school and not put her college scholarship at risk. He said he regrets leaving them alone and denied killing them. I could see a young lady who had her eyes fixed open and there was stuff coming out of her nose, said Watson. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The girls' aunt, Connie Moggio, broke down on the stand as she identified autopsy photos of her nieces. Amina and Sarah Said were murdered by their father Yaser Abdul Said an Egyptian immigrant on January 1st 2008. Thanks for contacting us. And he controlled everything in his household. According to law enforcement, he shot the girls to. She never went through with the protective order, however, because she and her daughters went back to Said. My dad shot me! Deciding to run away with two friends they confined in their mother their plans to escape their father. ", Patricia Owens, the mother of Sarah and Amina Said, takes the stand in the trial of Yaser Said. "If the FBI did their work, they would know, but they were looking for Yaser Said and they did not do what they have to do," he said. Black said Sarah Said was shot nine times and Amina Said was shot twice. FBI agent Daniel Gimenez, who led the federal governments effort to track down Said, took the stand Friday afternoon. "Yes," Owens responded. A member of the defence team claimed during opening arguments that Mr Said had been targeted for being Muslim, adding that all the 911 calls reveal is that Sarah was in extreme trauma. Saids abusive tendencies were evident early on when he sliced her leg open with a knife for refusing to have sex with him. Police allege these were honor killings committed by an abusive, controlling and possessive father who was angry his daughters dated outside their culture and had left home recently. @NBCDFWhttps://t.co/R77vHTz043 pic.twitter.com/5eP4TqCGdS. Said will be automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors presented an email Amina reportedly sent her Lewisville teacher days before her death, confiding that her father was arraigning her marriage so she and her sister were going to run away. The last time was fatal. Prosecutors say that Mr Said shot and killed his daughters on New Years Day in 2008. The last time she was him was the night Yaser Said. Defense attorney Joseph Patton said in opening statements that the evidence would not support a conviction, that police were too quick to focus on Said, who was born in Egypt, and suggested that anti-Muslim sentiment played into that focus. "I told them the car is yours. However, Patricia herself, who married Yaser when she was 16, spoke about how he beat her. The defense rested after the defendant's testimony. At this time, you are nothing. We've received your submission. "He will kill us," Amina wrote. And he controlled everything in his household, prosecutor Lauren Black said during opening statements on Tuesday. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. I didnt think anything would happen, she testified. But, Patricia maintained that if she saw her ex-husband again, shed first call the authorities and then ask him why and how someone could murder his daughters. The server is misbehaving. "When they had more independence, that was less control for him," Black said. The K9 was also shot once. Said's defense argued Owens' story had changed so much over the years that she was close to becoming a suspect herself and also claimed police were fixated on blaming a Muslim man for the killings instead of looking at other potential suspects. His son, Islam Said, and his brother, Yassim Said, were subsequently convicted of helping him evade arrest. He said he assumed that he was the target and so he claimed he got out of the car at an Irving Transit Center where he assumed the girls would be safe. FBI had been in touch w/apt management bc Saids son lived there. Caught in 2020. https://t.co/R77vHTz043 pic.twitter.com/ApAbeA3VgF. Both Sarah and Amina appeared at school with bruises, and at one point Amina even had a split lip. Unfortunately unknown to Amina and Sarah and the boyfriends, their mother was talking to their father and planning on returning back to her husband. She told jurors about a conversation she had with a frantic Amina the day of the murders. It's a murder," Irving Police Detective Joe Henning said. They moved to Oklahoma but later went back to Texas when Mr Said reported them as missing. Im dying, Sarah said in the recording. But long before 2008, Owens testified, she and her daughters were abused by Said. Yaser Said takes the stand Monday in his capital murder trial. Upon arrival Patricia tells her aunt the girls were going to run away with their friends and she couldnt let that happen, then Amina spoke up and said; "my mom said she always wanted to leave my dad so we let her come with us." My father shot me. "That devil there," Owens said of Yaser Said, the man she . Upon the SWAT teams notice and knock announced, the defendant came out and surrendered, said Gimenez. Patricia Owens, the mother of 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said, takes the stand on the third day of trial of her ex-husband Yaser Said at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in . Authorities believe that the daughters were shot before 7:30 p.m. near the Omni Hotel. After learning about the allegations, Owens said that she went with the daughters to the Hill County Sheriffs Department to make a report before moving to another town to be near her sister. Patricia Owens, who is . Owens appearance marked the third day of testimony in the prosecutions presentation against Said, whom they allege was obsessed with possession and control. That control, Owens said, included choosing where the family would live and who they would communicate with. "She didn't want to go back home, she would rather be dead than ever go back there," Moggio testified. Speaking through an interpreter in his native Arabic, Said testified someone else is responsible for the crime, but investigators never found that person because they only pursued him. She gave birth to Amina, Sarah, and their brother Islam in the first three years of their marriage. He told jurors he was not with the girls when they died and someone else is to blame. Patricia made call after call to Amina begging her to come home throughout the day saying her father had forgiven her and they were all going to go out to eat but Amina again refused. Her chilling 911 call was played before the jury on Wednesday where she was heard saying her father shot her and that she was dying. The shocking accusation against Yaser Said came during testimony by his ex-wife, Patricia Owen, in Dallas County Court on Thursday during his capital murder trial. After the 2008 killing, Patricia Owens, Yaser Said's former wife, told FBI agents that Yassein Said made statements to her indicating he had little remorse for the victims, but indicated. Prosecutors claim Said murdered the girls inside his cab in Irving because was upset that his children were dating. Said is accused of murdering his two teenage daughters, Amina and Sarah Said, in 2008. The sisters had become "very scared for their lives," and the decision to leave was made after Said "put a gun to Amina's head and threatened to kill her," the prosecutor said. You deserve a lot more than what the judge gave to you. Owens claimed she left Said multiple times during the marriage and described him as controlling. Texas father Yaser Said stands accused of shooting and killing his daughters in his taxi, in what has been reported as an honour killing. Said disappeared and had not been seen for 12 years until his arrest in Justin by the FBI in August 2020. In all fairness to her, shes commented that in her belief, Yaser would not abuse his daughters. The defense rested after the defendant's testimony. Texas father accused of fatally shooting his daughters. @NBCDFW https://t.co/X5svQKi9it pic.twitter.com/ZmIM6Lof1n, Prosecutors asked Owens if she had any idea what might have happened to her daughters when they left to eat with their father and she said, Part of me did. Yaser was abusive.. "It is wrong for the government to generalize an entire culture, criminalize an entire culture, to fit their narrative, and to fit their objective. The mother added that part of her decision to bring the girls back to Dallas was so Amina could finish high school and not jeopardize her college scholarship. You do whatever you want since you know how to drive. That revelation, in part, prompted Owens to flee the family home with her two daughters on Christmas Day 2007, packing clothes in trash bags and heading to Oklahoma. On Christmas Day, after Mr Said went to work, Ms Owens testified that they fled to Oklahoma with their clothes in trash bags. She added that after she was told of the assault, she took her daughters to make a report at the Hill County Sheriffs Department. The cause of death for both victims was listed as multiple gunshot wounds and homicide as the manner of death. Amina kept refusing to go with her mother and she wanted to go back to Tulsa. The girls, who were both students at Lewisville High School, were reportedly shot multiple times by their father. They all headed for Kansas to Patricias aunts home. Prosecutors allege that Said eventually lured his daughters into his taxi, where Amina was sitting in the front passenger seat and Sarah was in the back. The girls managed to run away of the home to their mothers job where the girls also had part time jobs. She testified she knew the girls were dating and that Said would have become enraged if he knew about it. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. The girls and the friends agreed to allow Patricia to go along. Their own father. At least 10 killed as Israel unleashes deadly missile stri Woman has 'loud, full body orgasm' in the middle of LA concert, $76K NJ boarding school admits falling 'tragically short' in protecting teen who killed self after bullying, 'rapist' taunts, Meghan Markle's ailing dad says he refuses 'to be buried by her' in 'final ever' interview, Fans question North Wests lavish pre-Met Gala gift for Kim Kardashian: No way, Perez Hilton: Boring Meghan and Harry need to give up and move back to UK, Real Housewives of New York City reboot premiere date revealed, NY Post Sports Reporter Zach Braziller breaks down the Knicks game 1 loss to the Heat, Elon Musk Tells Bill Maher Woke Mind Virus Is Dangerous On Real Time, Prince Harry's coronation role still a mystery as William's is revealed. Upon the SWAT teams notice and knock announced, the defendant came out and surrendered, said Gimenez. Patricia Owens Said divorced her husband after the murders and dropped his last name, according to the Morning News. Owens described what happened the next day. In 1998, while living near Waco, Texas, Owens filed a report with the Hill County Sheriffs Office accusing Said of sexually abusing the two girls. Yaser Said sat emotionless, holding a finger to his ear to listen to the disturbing audio. Patricia Owens, the mother of 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said, takes the stand on the third day of trial of her ex-husband Yaser Said at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in . Jurors also saw the orange taxi cab where she and her 18-year-old sister, Amina, were found shot to death. Said took the stand as the only defense witness Monday. Yaser Said had been a fugitive from justice since New Year's Day 2008, when he allegedly murdered his teenage daughters, Amina and Sarah. "Nobody said they saw him that night. Amina was around eight years old at the time, while Sarah was seven years old. Amina's boyfriend testified he and his father indeed saw Said and both girls in his cab shortly before the shooting and that they briefly followed them out of concern. Amina and Sarah would eventually return to the Dallas area on New Years Eve, after Owens said that Said and his brother repeatedly called begging her to return.