Illinois Child Killer Influenced By Conservative Talk Radio: Prosecutor

PLAINFIELD, IL — Three days before 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi was fatally stabbed and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, critically injured, Plainfield landlord Joseph Czuba told his wife of plans to evict them from their home, citing unrest in Jerusalem, Will County prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald outlined at Monday's court hearing for the first-degree murder defendant.

During Czuba's appearance in court Monday, Fitzgerald informed the judge that the murder defendant's wife, Mary, was not home at the time of the Saturday stabbings. She told detectives following the incident that her husband "listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis" and reiterated that Hanan is Palestinian.

Joseph Czuba feared, his wife told deputies, that Shaheen would gather her Palestinian friends or family to attack him and his wife, Fitzgerald said.

Czuba confronted the 32-year-old Palestinian tenant Saturday morning, expressing his anger at her over the conflict between Hamas and Israel, she later told Will County sheriff's deputies. She responded, "Let's pray for peace." Back on Oct. 7, war broke out in Israel after the terrorist militant organization Hamas launched an assault on the Middle Eastern country.

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On Saturday, Will County sheriff's deputies found Czuba in his backyard at 16201 S. Lincoln Highway lying on his back with a laceration on his forehead. He sat up and put his hands behind his back when deputies recovered a knife holster strapped to his body and several pocket knives near his feet, Fitzgerald revealed.

After Monday's almost-hour-long hearing, Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins determined the 71-year-old Czuba would remain detained at the Will County jail, facing eight felony charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and two hate crimes.

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"Joe related to his wife that he wanted Hanan and her son to move out," Fitzgerald told the judge.

Fitzgerald outlined the following details during Monday's court hearing:

• In the days leading up to Saturday's stabbings, Joseph Czuba had withdrawn $1,000 in cash out of fear that the United States' power grid would go down.
• Czuba talked to his wife about a “national day of Jihad” occurring on Oct. 13.
• "Joe told her there was an event that would occur on Oct. 14, but did not explain what that was," Fitzgerald remarked.

Shaheen and her son, Wadee, had rented two rooms from Czuba for two years. They shared the house along with Czuba and his wife. Prior to Saturday's attack, Wadee's mother had not had difficulties with Joseph Czuba but said he was an "angry man," Fitzgerald said.

Saturday started as a normal day for Shaheen as she ate breakfast. Suddenly, at about 11:30 a.m., she heard a loud knocking on her door. Fitzgerald said she opened it to find Czuba, who began arguing with her over Hamas and the conflict in the Middle East. The argument became violent as Czuba began stabbing her several times, prompting her to run and lock herself in her bathroom with a phone, the prosecutor said.

"[She] was not able to get her son," Fitzgerald explained. "She could hear her son being stabbed."

At 11:38 a.m., Will County sheriff's deputies rushed to the house along Plainfield Road after Shaheen called 911, saying "the landlord was killing her baby with a knife," according to prosecutors.

Fitzgerald told the judge that Wadee was found in a room in the back of the house, lying face down with a knife inserted four inches into his abdomen. The child was unresponsive and not breathing.

The prosecutor told Judge DeWilkins that Czuba faces three separate counts of first-degree murder, crimes with a sentencing range of 20 to 60 years in prison, and one attempted murder charge with a prison term of 6 to 30 years. Czuba also faces two counts of aggravated battery, each carrying a 2-5-year prison term. The two hate crime charges each carries a prison term of one to three years.

The Will County Public Defender's Office was appointed to represent Czuba. One of the lawyers defending him reminded the judge that her client is 71 and a military veteran who served in the Air Force from 1969 to 1973 and was honorably discharged. She said he has no criminal history, is self-employed and has several ties to the community, owning several properties in Joliet and Plainfield. Czuba also attends St. Mary's Immaculate Church in Plainfield, has a valid Illinois driver's license and has been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

In making his decision, DeWilkins ruled that Czuba poses a "real and present threat to one of the victims, Ms. Shaheen, who survived this attack, but also a threat as to the community in general." The judge also cited the use of weapons, the 6-year-old boy's age and the murder charges themselves as reasons to deny pre-trial release for Czuba.

The judge set Czuba's preliminary hearing for 9 a.m. Oct. 30 in Courtroom 202 in front of Judge Dave Carlson.

As the hearing ended, seven deputies surrounded the seated Czuba as he wore his red-collared Will County jail uniform, the color red symbolizing his assignment to the medical unit. The deputies returned the handcuffs and shackles around the murder defendant before escorting him away from the courtroom. Will County jail logs list Czuba as 5-foot-8, weighing 125 lbs.

"Mr. Czuba will be remanded back to the Will County detention," the judge ordered at 11:41 a.m.

Monday morning, the FBI said its Chicago field office, along with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, has opened an investigation into the killing.

"The FBI takes the investigation of hate crimes extremely seriously and encourages members of the community with information regarding this incident—or other potential hate crimes—to contact us at 1-800-CALL-FBI," officials said in a statement.

Joseph Czuba's petition to deny pre-trial release

Editor's note: Patch published Wadee Alfayoumi and Hanan Shaheen names' based on the spelling in Will County court documents.