Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy

February 28, 2025:

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A jury has found a 73-year-old Illinois landlord guilty in a hate crime attack that left a Palestinian American boy dead and injured his mother. Joseph Czuba faced murder, attempted murder and hate crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, in October 2023. Authorities allege that Czuba targeted them because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. He had pleaded not guilty. The family was renting rooms from Czuba at a suburban Chicago house. Shaheen testified at the trial that he attacked her with a knife before killing her 6-year-old son in another room. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

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JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges Friday for the brutal killing of a 6-year-old whose mother rented rooms in the man’s home, an attack that spiked fears over anti-Muslim discrimination in the earliest days of the war in Gaza.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023 in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago. Authorities alleged the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.

Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before returning with the verdict.

“I don’t know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or laughing,” Wadee’s father, Odai Alfayoumi, said at a news conference, speaking in Arabic. “People are telling me to smile. Maybe if I were one of you, I would be smiling, but I’m the father of the child and I’ve lost the child. And I feel like this decision came to a little too late.”

Ben Crump, the national civil rights attorney representing Shaheen, released a statement calling the verdict a “measure of justice.”

“Wadee was an innocent six-year-old child whose life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence fueled by hatred,” the statement added. “While we are relieved that his killer has been held accountable, we must continue to stand against the rising tide of hate that led to this senseless act. We must honor Wadee’s memory by continuing to fight against hate in all its forms and working toward a future where every child is safe, valued, and free from violence.”

Crump asked that the media continue respecting Shaheen’s privacy as she honors her son’s memory.

Shaheen did not speak at a press conference following the jury decision. Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-Chicago, said it was too difficult for her and added that she “only prays for peace and love.”

The trial featured detailed testimony from police officers, medical workers, Czuba’s ex-wife and Shaheen, who described how Czuba attacked her with a knife before going after her son in a different room. Prosecutors say that the child had been stabbed 26 times. He was found naked with a knife still in his side.

Graphic photos of the murder, a knife holder Czuba allegedly used that day, along with police video footage were central to the Will County prosecutors’ case. At times video screens showing explicit footage were turned away from the public viewing audience where members of Wadee’s family sat during the trial.

“If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors during opening statements.

Czuba’s attorney, George Lenard, declined comment Friday. Czuba had pleaded not guilty. He faced murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crime charges in an eight-count indictment.

Czuba is scheduled for sentencing on May 2, according to the Will County Circuit Clerk’s office.

Defense attorneys insisted pieces of evidence tying Czuba to the crimes were missing. His ex-wife, testifying for the prosecution, could only describe one outburst during their 30 years of marriage and said he carried knives often because he was handy around the house.

“Go beyond the emotions to carefully examine the evidence,” said Kylie Blatti, one of Czuba’s public defenders. “It is easy to get lost in the horror of those images.”

One of the critical parts of the trial was Shaheen’s testimony and the 911 call she made to report the crime that happened just days after the war started. She said they had not previously had any issues in the two years they rented from the Czubas. They shared a kitchen and living room with the Czubas.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ’You, as a Muslim, must die,” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover. The boy was later pronounced dead.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, civil lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them.

The case generated headlines around the world and struck deeply for the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

“All of us who are parents, who are Arab or Palestinian … who are Muslim, we all saw our children die in Wadee Alfayoumi, because this could have been any one of our boys, any one of our girls,” CAIR-Chicago’s Rehab said. “It just so happened that it was Wadee Alfayoumi. When he was targeted, all of our children were targeted. Every Muslim was targeted when he (Czuba) yelled, ‘All Muslims must die.’”

February 26, 2025:

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A harrowing 911 call, police video and other crime scene evidence are expected to play a key role as the murder and hate crime trial for an Illinois landlord accused of killing a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy continues Wednesday (Feb. 26, 2025). Seventy-three-year-old Joseph Czuba faces murder, attempted murder and hate crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, in October 2023. Authorities allege that Czuba targeted them because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. Czuba has pleaded not guilty.

February 25, 2025:

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Prosecutors say a suburban Chicago landlord took a knife from a belt holder and attacked a Palestinian American woman before fatally stabbing her young son 26 times in 2023. The landlord, Joseph Czuba, is accused of fatally stabbing 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and wounding his mother Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Shaheen testified in court that Czuba attacked her first before going to another room to attack her son. Prosecutors played a recording of Shaheen’s 911 call as she took the stand. Defense attorneys told jurors that the prosecution is missing key pieces of evidence.

February 24, 2025:

Joliet, Ill. (AP) — The trial of a suburban Chicago landlord accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in a 2023 attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son is set to start Tuesday (Feb. 25, 2025).

Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023. Authorities said the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Opening statements start Tuesday morning in a trial that is expected to last about a week.

Czuba has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges. His defense attorney, George Lenard, declined to comment before the end of the trial.

The attack on the family in Plainfield, nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, has renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The proceedings also come amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

“We firmly pray and hope that Mr. Czuba will be locked up for the rest of his life, so we can send a message that hate crimes against anyone on the basis of their religion and national origin are not tolerated,” Joe Milburn, a staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told reporters Monday ahead of jury selection.

Prosecutors allege Czuba became increasing paranoid about the war because of listening to commentary on conservative talk radio. Shaheen told police that Czuba was upset over the war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was stabbed 26 times. Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior.” Czuba remained detained with prosecutors arguing that Czuba was a danger to Shaheen and others.

Hundreds attended the boy’s janazah, or funeral service, where the boy was remembered as kind and into sports and Legos.

Separately, the father of the boy, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live at the home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

OCTOBER 30, 2023, UDPATE:

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her son. Seventy-one-year-old Joseph Czuba appeared in court Monday (Oct. 30, 2023) on eight counts from an indictment by an Illinois grand jury. He is charged in the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin on Oct. 14. Authorities say the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith. Shahin told police that Czuba, her landlord in Plainfield in Will County, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

OCTOBER 30, 2023:

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her son is scheduled to appear in court following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury. Joseph Czuba, 71, is expected to enter a plea at an arraignment Monday (Oct. 30, 2023) on eight counts in the indictment filed last week. He is charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, and the wounding of Hanaan Shahin, 32, on Oct. 14, 2023. Authorities say the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith. Shahin told police that Czuba, her landlord in Plainfield in Will County, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

OCTOBER 25, 2023:

CHICAGO (AP) — A Palestinian American woman whose 6-year-old son was killed in what police are calling a hate crime in a Chicago suburb is asking the public to “pray for peace” as she recuperates from her injuries. Hanaan Shahin issued a statement Tuesday (Oct. 24, 2023) through the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after meeting with the group’s executive director a day earlier. It marked her first public comments since the brutal Oct. 14, 2023, attack that left her with multiple stab wounds and stitches on her face. She was recently released from the hospital. Authorities say the family’s suburban Chicago landlord singled them out because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the escalating Israel-Hamas war.

OCTOBER 16, 2023, UPDATE:

CHICAGO (AP) — A 71-year-old Illinois landlord upset over the Israel-Hamas war attacked a Palestinian American woman with a knife when she proposed they “pray for peace” and killed her 6-year-old son, authorities said Monday.

The details emerged as Joseph Czuba appeared in court on murder, attempted murder and hate crime charges while the boy’s Muslim family prepared to bury him in the Chicago area.

Czuba, a Plainfield resident, replied, “Yes, sir,” when asked if he understood the charges and was subsequently returned to jail in Joliet, 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. A Will County judge granted a court-appointed lawyer.

Wadea Al-Fayoume, who had just turned 6, had been stabbed multiple times when sheriff’s deputies discovered him Saturday (Oct. 14, 2023) in response to a 911 call.

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s office said.

The boy’s mother told investigators that she rents two rooms on the first floor of the Plainfield home while Czuba and his wife live on the second floor, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald said in a court filing.

“He was angry at her for what was going on in Jerusalem,” Fitzgerald said. “She responded to him, ‘Let’s pray for peace.’ … Czuba then attacked her with a knife.”

The boy’s mother fought him off and went into a bathroom where she stayed until police arrived. Wadea, meanwhile, was in his own room, Fitzgerald said.

“Wadea should be heading to school in the morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a written statement.

Jewish and Muslim groups have reported an increase of hateful rhetoric in the wake of the war.

“We are not animals, we are humans,” said the boy’s uncle, Yousef Hannon. “We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans.”

Police found Czuba with a cut on his forehead, sitting on the ground outside the home. The public defender’s office did not immediately return messages seeking comment about the charges against him.

Czuba’s wife, Mary, told police that her husband feared they would be attacked by people of Middle Eastern descent and had withdrawn $1,000 from a bank “in case the U.S. grid went down,” Fitzgerald said in the court document.

The Justice Department said it opened a hate crime investigation into the attack.

“This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” President Joe Biden said.

OCTOBER 16, 2023:

CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say a 71-year-old Illinois man has been charged with a hate crime, accused of fatally stabbing a young boy and seriously wounded a woman because of their Islamic faith and the Israel-Hamas war. The Will County Sheriff’s Office says in a statement that the man was in custody Sunday (Oct. 15, 2023) and is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Authorities say they found the woman and child repeatedly stabbed Saturday morning at a home southwest of Chicago. The sheriff’s office says the woman was hospitalized with multiple stab wounds and is expected to survive.

Jury finds Illinois landlord guilty of murder, hate crime in 2023 attack on Palestinian American boy

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