GUILTY: Landlord Guilty On All Counts In Boy's Hate Crime Murder

JOLIET — On Friday afternoon, twelve Will County jurors found Joseph Czuba guilty on all charges in the death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

They returned charges of guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder and two hate crimes.

Wadee, a kindergartner, was stabbed a total of 26 times inside his mother's bedroom on Oct. 14, 2023.

The boy and his mother, then 31, were attacked inside Czuba's Plainfield Township house on Oct. 14, 2023.

Czuba will be sentenced May 2.

On Friday at the press conference in the Will County Courthouse, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, announced that “justice has been done” following the conviction of the Plainfield landlord on all counts in the hate crime murder of the 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy, Wadee Alfayoumi, and the stabbing of his mother.

At that news conference, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said in part:

"All the way up to the President of the United States at the time, President Biden—there was culpability. When the president came out and reiterated unfounded claims that 40 babies were decapitated, that they were basically beheaded by Palestinians—this was part of the radicalization process of Joseph Czuba. That's what he was reacting to, these unfounded claims... The way that the media covered the conflict, showing only one side of what was happening, and not at all showing the humanity, suffering, and the reality of the Gazans on the ground who were losing life, limb, property, infrastructure, houses, by the tens of thousands."

CAIR-Chicago said it plans to be present for the May 2 sentencing.

Patch's previous coverage of the case:

• Prosecutor Slams 'Outlandish Theories' Blaming Slain Boy's Mother For Hate Crime Killing
• Slain Boy, Wounded Mom Called 'Infested Rats' By Czuba: Testimony
• 'The Landlord Is Killing Me And My Baby': Plainfield Murder Trial
• President Biden Meets With Mom Of Boy Killed In Plainfield Hate Crime