The trial got underway this week in Dallas for a North Texas man accused of killing his two teenage daughters 14 years ago.
Yaser Said, 65, who eluded authorities for 12 years and was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, is accused of killing Amina Said, 18, and Sarah Said, 17, on New Year’s Day, 2008. If found guilty, he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.
In August 2020, a tip led the FBI and Irving police to capture Said at a Justin, Texas, residence, only 30 miles from the scene of Sarah and Amina’s murders.
Said’s son, Islam Said, and brother, Yassim Said, were apprehended on suspicion of aiding in his disappearance. Islam Said was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison last year, while Yassein Said received a 12-year sentence.
Police stated the girls said they were afraid of their father. Friends and family members of the girls have reported that he was abusive and controlling.
Amina and Sarah accused their father of sexual assault in October 1998 when they were 9 and 8.
A few months later, however, the daughters claimed they had lied so they could move in with their grandmother. A district judge dismissed the case. Family members have stated that they believe Said forced his daughters to recant their accusations.
When the girls got older, they both dated American boys, and investigators suspect this caused Said to become jealous and obsessive.
Amina and Sarah left Texas in December 2007, a week before their deaths, along with their mother and two friends. They rented an apartment in Oklahoma using a false identity because they were afraid of Said, according to authorities’ claims.
However, according to the authorities, the girls’ mother brought her daughters home on New Year’s Eve and persuaded them to have dinner with Said alone after talking with their father.
Police suspect Said shot his daughters in a taxi he borrowed from a friend.
Amina was shot twice, and Sarah was shot nine times.
“My father shot me. I’m dying; I’m dying,” Sarah told a 911 dispatcher, identifying her father as the suspected shooter.
An hour later, a man found the girls slumped in the taxi in front of the Omni Hotel in Irving and dialed 911.
Said has insisted that he is innocent and has written letters from jail to state District Judge Chika Anyiam, who is in charge of the case.
“I did not do the killings or any[thing] to hurt them, that’s fact,” he wrote.
Jury selection for the trial took place on Monday, and opening statements began the following day.