JUSTIN, TEXAS — A man on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list accused of murdering his two daughters in 2008 has finally been captured.
Yaser Abdel Said was placed on the agency’s list on December 4, 2014 after evading capture for nearly six years. Said was wanted in connection to the January 1, 2008 shooting deaths of his daughters, Amina, 18, and Sarah, 17.
The 63-year-old was taken into custody in Justin, Texas, on August 26.
"The FBI-led Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force has worked tirelessly to find Yaser Abdel Said. These experienced investigators never gave up on their quest to find him and pledged to never forget the young victims in this case,” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno said in a statement."
"His capture and arrest bring us one step closer to justice for Amina and Sarah. We want to thank our partners at the Irving Police Department for working with us to apprehend this dangerous individual," he added.
Said, a former taxicab driver in the Dallas area, allegedly shot his two daughters after taking them on a car ride under the guise of getting something to eat. Around 7:30 PM on January 1, 2008, the Irving Police Department received a panicked phone call from a young woman that was later determined to be Sarah Said.
"Help, I'm dying. Oh my God. Stop it," the 17-year-old could be heard saying in the 911 call, according to police.
Hours later, the girls’ bodies were discovered inside a cab near an Irving motel having sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
At the time, a police report indicated that Said had previously threatened one of his daughters with "bodily harm" after she went on a date with a non-Muslim.
Gail Gattrell, the sisters' great-aunt, called the deaths an "honor killing," in which a woman is murdered by a relative to protect her family's honor, according to the Associated Press.
In the years before Said’s arrest, some called for the girls’ mother Patricia Said to be charged with crimes related to their deaths. Patricia had reportedly taken her daughters away from their father in late 2007 after Amina and Sarah expressed fear for their safety; many reports indicate that Patricia knew they would be punished should they return to their father.
Patricia reportedly told her sister that the girls would be killed by their father upon going home.
After an apparent change of heart, Patricia was able to convince her daughters to return home to Said—a decision that ultimately sealed their fate.
Despite calls from relatives like Jill Abplanalp, Amina and Sarah’s great-aunt, to seek charges against Patricia, officials said there has never been enough evidence to do so.
"(Patricia) may be guilty of making some bad decisions or having bad judgment ... but there are no criminal charges that can be filed against her," Detective Joe Hennig reportedly wrote in an email to Abplanalp in June 2012.
Yaser Abdel Said was the 504th person placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He will face trial in the Southern District of Texas.
"On January 1, 2008, the Irving Police Department opened a murder investigation after two young girls were found shot to death. Since that night, the members of the Irving Police Department and our partners with the Dallas FBI have tirelessly pursued justice for Amina and Sarah," Irving Police Chief Jeff Spivey said in a statement.
"Even after 12 years of frustration and dead ends, the pursuit for their killer never ceased," the statement went on to say. "Today’s arrest of their father, Yaser Said brings us closer to ensuring justice is served on their behalf.”