Landlord Called Slain Muslim Boy, Wounded Mom 'Infested Rats' After Stabbings: Sergeant

JOLIET — Will County Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Jones — who drove first-degree murder defendant Joseph Czuba to the Will County Sheriff's Office hours after the murders of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of Wadee's mother —served as the last witness called by the Will County State's Attorneys during Thursday's jury trial.

Jones, who is also running for Will County Sheriff in next year's Democratic primary, testified he drove Czuba from Bolingbrook Adventist Hospital back to the sheriff's office on Joliet's Laraway Road hours after the Oct. 14, 2023, murder of kindergartner Wadee and and attempted murder of mother Hanan Shaheen.

Wadee suffered 26 stab wounds, and the knife used to end his life was left buried deep inside the little boy's chest. Will County Sheriff's police found his lifeless body inside his mother's bedroom. Plainfield Fire paramedics tried valiantly to resuscitate the boy during the ambulance ride to St. Joe's hospital in Joliet, but nothing could be done, according to the emergency room doctors who testified at this week's trial.

Wadee was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at St. Joe's.

Wadee's mother Hanan Shaheen was also rushed to St. Joe's hospital because she suffered several stab and puncture wounds throughout her upper body and face.

A portion of Sgt. Jones' squad car video and audio capturing Czuba's incriminating statements in connection with his hate crime charges and the prosecution's motive for Wadee's murder were played Thursday afternoon for the jury.

Jones testified he has 24 years of experience at the sheriff's department and six years as a sergeant. On the day of the Plainfield Township tragedy, he was patrolling Homer Glen when he heard on the police radio of a "possible death involving a stabbing. I ended up self-dispatching myself to that call. I went to that house," Jones told the jury.

When a bloody Joseph Czuba was found in the backyard at 16201 South Lincoln Highway in Plainfield Township, the police and paramedics loaded the stabbing suspect into an ambulance cot. Jones then drove to the hospital in Bolingbrook, and when Czuba was discharged, Jones drove him to the Will County Sheriff's Office.

Squad Car Video Shows Czuba's Comments After Stabbings

The video played for the jury on Thursday showed Czuba sitting in the backseat of the Will County squad car, as a prisoner, and Czuba was speaking off the cuff, unprovoked. Jones was not asking Czuba any questions about the killing at Czuba's house earlier that day.

The video showed Czuba telling Sgt. Jones how he worried about a Jihad happening inside his house in Plainfield because of Wadee and his mother.

Czuba also began complaining about public demonstrations and protests taking place in various communities following the outbreak of war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, saying, "I can't believe all these people ... supporting this P.L.O. It's so evil. It's like crazy."

As for Wadee and Hanan Shaheen, the boy and mother who rented his first-floor bedrooms from Joseph Czuba for two years, Czuba told Sgt. Jones, "they are like infested rats.

"I was afraid for my life," Czuba claimed. "I was afraid they were going to Jihad on me."

Czuba also told Sgt. Jones, "I begged her to get out for three days, she would not leave."

Blood DNA Links Czuba To Stabbings

Prior to Sgt. Jones taking the witness stand, the Will County prosecution team of Mike Fitzgerald, Christine Vukmir and Christopher Koch called three forensic scientists with the Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Lab in Mundelein to testify.

The jury saw the forensic scientists open the sealed brown paper bags containing the prosecution's most critical physical evidence tying Czuba to the murder and attempted murder at his home: his own blood-stained dark blue jeans, his blood-stained dark-colored long-sleeved plaid shirt and the bloody knife that had to be removed from the chest of Wadee during the child's autopsy.

The bloody knife handle and bloody knife blade contained DNA that most likely came from Czuba, Wadee and Wadee's mother, forensic scientist Lisa Ramos testified. As for the blood-stained shirt, it contained DNA that most likely came from Czuba and Shaheen.

Blood from the right side of Czuba's pants excluded Shaheen's DNA, but the DNA most likely came from Czuba and Wadee, according to testimony.

George Lenard's Argument: Hanan Shaheen Embellished Her Trial Testimony

A key argument of Czuba's lead criminal defense lawyer George Lenard is his belief that Hanan Shaheen "embellished" her testimony during this week's trial.

After the prosecution notified Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak they were finished calling witnesses, Lenard called two Will County Sheriff's detectives to the witness stand late Thursday afternoon.

Detective Sgt. Mike Earnest and Detective Tom Hannon were both asked a short series of questions, one at a time, surrounding their separate interviews of Wadee's mother as she recovered from her stab and puncture wounds at St. Joe's hospital in October 2023.

Earlier this week, Lenard argued in court that Shaheen embellished various details of her testimony against his client in order to bolster her wrongful death lawsuit she has pending against him.

Sgt. Earnest testified he interviewed Shaheen at the Joliet emergency room on the same afternoon of the stabbings. Detective Hannon testified he interviewed Shaheen on Oct. 16, 2023, two days after the child's homicide.

Both detectives were asked on the witness stand Thursday:

• Whether Shaheen told them that Czuba, her landlord, returned to the bathroom after their initial altercation, now trying to break down the bathroom door while armed with a knife.
• Whether Shaheen, while hiding inside the bathroom playing dead, overheard Czuba yelling to her son Wadee "don't tell people" that he had just killed Wadee's mother.
• Whether Shaheen told them that she, while hiding in the bathroom, heard Wadee screaming, "Oh no! Oh no!" as he was being brutally stabbed in the bedroom.

Both detectives, Earnest and Hannon, agreed with Lenard's line of questioning, that Shaheen never made any of those statements to them during their interviews with her.

Earnest and Hannon's answers were either, "she never made that statement to me" or "uh, no."

When Hannon finished testifying, Lenard informed the courtroom, "Judge, that's all I have for Mr. Hannon."

Prior to their testimony, and outside the presence of the jury, Judge Bertani-Tomczak asked the defense lawyers if Czuba would take the witness stand to testify in his own defense.

"We spoke to Mr. Czuba. He indicated to us he does not want to testify," Lenard remarked.

The judge then asked Czuba about his educational level and whether he was under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. He denied that he was.

When she asked if he was taking medications, Czuba told her yes. "I have cancer," he reminded her.

On Friday morning, the lawyers for both sides will make their closing arguments to the jury and jury deliberations will begin.

It's possible that a verdict will be reached sometime Friday afternoon.

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