Texas Father On Run For Over 12 Years Found Guilty Of Killing His Two Teen Daughters

The father of two teenage sisters discovered dead in a taxi in Texas almost 15 years ago has finally been brought to justice for committing what authorities have called “honor killings.”

On Aug. 9, 2022, a Dallas County jury found Yaser Said, 65, guilty of capital murder in connection with the 2008 fatal shootings of his daughters, 18-year-old Amina Said and 17-year-old Sarah Said, ABC News reported.

After the verdict was read, Patricia Owens — Yaser's ex-wife and the victims’ mother — told the defendant: “You deserve to die now, not in prison. You took my life. You took my family all in one night.”

Yaser, a Muslim born in Egypt and now an American citizen, was upset his daughters, Amina and Sarah, had begun dating and brought what he considered to be shame on the family, some relatives have claimed.

In an email Amina sent to her history teacher on Dec. 21, 2007, the teenager wrote that she was “so scared right now.”

“OK, well as you know we’re not allowed to date and my dad is arranging my marriage. My dad said I cannot put it off any more and I have to get married this year,” the email reads, according to prosecutors. “He will, without any drama nor doubt, kill us.”

Eleven days later, on Jan. 1, 2008, Sarah managed to call 911 as she lay dying and told the dispatcher her father had shot her, according to the audio played in court.

Sarah and her older sister Amina’s bodies were later found in their father’s taxi in Irving. Amina had suffered two gunshot wounds while Sarah was struck nine times.

Immediately following the shootings, Yaser fled and he spent the next 12 years on the FBI’s Most-Wanted list. On Aug. 26, 2020, authorities captured Yaser at a home where he had been hiding out in Justin, Texas.

During his recent trial, Yaser testified in his own defense and claimed on the stand that the evening Amina and Sarah were shot they were in his cab on the way to dinner with him when someone — he speculated perhaps his daughters’ friends or someone sent to “assassinate” him — began following the vehicle.

According to Yaser, out of fear he made the “very stupid decision” to abandon the vehicle and his girls and run, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Though Yaser made it clear in court that he was unhappy about his daughters’ social lives, he denied he had anything to do with their murders.

“Everybody has a preference in how they discipline their kids, just like they have a preference for what kind of food they eat, what kind of people they date, what religion they want to practice,” Yaser's defense attorney said in closing arguments. “Discipline does not mean you murdered your children. Your culture does not mean you murdered your children.”

A jury didn’t find Yaser’s story credible and following several hours of deliberation they convicted him of Amina and Sara’s slayings, WFAA reported.

In a victim’s impact statement, Owens said her daughters “were very smart, intelligent, and bright, and did not have an enemy in the world.”

She then told her husband: “At this time, you are nothing. You are a prisoner. You are a murderer and the devil.”

Yaser was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For more on this case, stream Devil in Suburbia: "Under His Eye" on Max.