Latest / Crime Night / The Influencer's Fatal Secret: The Murder of Noor Al-Duleimi

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The Influencer's Fatal Secret: The Murder of Noor Al-Duleimi · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's set the scene. Picture this. It's February twenty
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: twenty five, pre dawn. We're outside Herbal, Iraq on this
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: really desolate desert road. It's freezing cold, silent, you know
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: that kind of absolute quiet.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pitch black, nothing around for miles.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Exactly, and the only sound is this vehicle approaching, just
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a low hum. Inside there are these men, maybe going
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to work, who knows. Then they see it.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Something on the horizon, a flicker.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Right, an unnatural glow and smoke, thick plumes rising up.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Their first thought, probably what anyone with them?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Some burning trash maybe seems logical out there.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty mundane, you think, But still it's unsettling, doesn't
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: quite fit.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: And there's that worry, right, what if it spreads? It's
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: dry out there.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: So they decide, okay, let's check this out. They slow down,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: get closer, and the light gets brighter, more intense.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: And then the smell hits them before they can even
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: really see properly.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: That horrible, acrid smell of burning something deeply wrong.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: And as they got close enough, well, any idea of
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: it being trash just vanished instantly. It was horror.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: What did they see it?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Wasn't debris. It was unmistakably human, a body completely engulfed
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: in flames.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Oh god, the shock must have been unimaginable.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Absolutely paralyzing. They scrambled for a fire extinguisher, tried desperately
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: to do something, but it's late, completely futile. The fire
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: was too intense. The body was already almost entirely charred,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: just gone.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: So this wasn't just some tragic accident.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: No way. It was clearly deliberate, macabre. They knew right then.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: They had to call the security sources.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: This was a crime scene, no question, And soon that
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: empty desert spot is swarming, right police forensic experts.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Arriving, Yeah, grim scene. Their job to figure out what
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: happened from these terribly burned remains, just like the witnesses said,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: almost entirely.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Charred, a brutal attempt to erase an identity completely.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: But even a fire that intense can't destroy everything. They
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: found a few clues, small things.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Like what could possibly survive that, a few.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Strands of hair just enough to suggest the victim was female,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and oddly, fragments of a left foot seems it somehow
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: resisted the fire a bit more.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: But nothing else no idea, no phone, nothing.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: No documents, no personal items, a completely blank slate. That
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: was clearly the intention.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: But the scene did tell a story in another way,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: didn't it the ground itself?
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Ah? Yes, the footprints that was key. Forensic experts noticed
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: them right away, deep prints in the sand leading to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: where the body was found.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Deep prints meaning.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Meaning someone was carrying something heavy, very heavy. These weren't
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: just walking tracks. This suggested the body was carried there.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: So not a suicide. Definitely murder concealment.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Precisely, and the medical examiner's report, which came back quickly
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: because of the urgency, confirmed it.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: What did it say cause of death?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Not the fire, strangulation, probably with a wire or rope.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: They found fractures in the neck vertebrae.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: And the timing that was critical too, wasn't it chill critical?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: The body was burned within an hour of death. This
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: wasn't planned disposal days later. This was immediate, a frantic
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: effort to destroy evidence right after the murder, and the
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: victim a woman in her twenties. That much they could tell.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, So female victim twenties, strangled, burned shortly after death,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: body carried to the location that's a specific profile, right.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: So the police started digging through missing persons reports, young
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: women twenties recently vanished, and.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: One report just clickedn't it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: It jumped right out, filed only twenty four hours before
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the body was found for a twenty year old Iraqi
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: model and blogger nor.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Al do Leamy nor El Dulamy. She was already famous, right.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Her disappearance would have made noise.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Huge noise. He was all over social media, thousands of followers,
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  Speaker 2: worried headlines, already appearing. She was well known, but confirming.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: It was her with the body in that state how.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: An immense challenge. Yeah, visual idea was impossible. Her family
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: was brought in but well you can imagine, there was
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: nothing recognizable, so DNA the only way. They needed a
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: sample from the family to compare that weight.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Must have been excruciating for the family, for the investigators.
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  Speaker 2: Agonizing holding onto that tiny sliver of hope maybe it
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: wasn't her, But the results came back and it was
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: it was her. The confirmation was devastating. Her family was
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: in profound shock grief. They described her as kind, someone
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: with good relationships, couldn't agin who would do.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: This, and looking back at the crime scene. With that confirmation,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: it speaks volumes about the killer, doesn't it. Oh?
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, the precision is chilling. The body burned, yes, but
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: also no documents, no personal items anywhere nearby, a total wipe.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Even her car was gone, her distinctive.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Red car, though when everyone knew from her posts vanished,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: not at the scene, not at her home, nowhere. This
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  Speaker 2: was an impulsive This was planned meticulously to leave nothing.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: So who was nor l delaymy? But before the fame,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: before this horrific end.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Let's go back a bit. She was born in Baghdad,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: youngest child, quite a gap between her and her siblings actually.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: And she had big dreams early.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: On, always dreamed of being famous, an actress, a model.
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  Speaker 2: She saw people blowing up on social media. I thought
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I can do that too, real ambition from a young age.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: But her family background was quite different, very different, quite
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: conservative values, especially before round twenty sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: Her aspirations, her actions, they often clashed with the family's expectations,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: created tension, a.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Real struggle between her dreams and tradition. What changed in
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, That was.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: The pivotal moment. She moved from Baghdad to Erbel went
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: to live with her older sister, Shams.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Shams was much older.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Ten years older. Shams had pretty much raised her. The
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: parents agreed to the move, but only if Noorr promised
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: regular visits back home.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: So Rbel was a chance for a fresh start, more freedom.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Exactly, and an irbyl Nor just blossomed. She was described
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  Speaker 2: as cheerful, funny, great, a can acting with people, made
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: friends easily.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: That personality must have helped.
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  Speaker 2: Her Online absolutely fueled her rise. She started making video
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  Speaker 2: skincare advice, fashion tips. Her passion just shown through. People
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  Speaker 2: loved it. She built a massive following.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: She was finally getting that fame she wanted totally.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't always smooth. Some of her content, while helpful,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: was seen as a bit bold by her family's standards,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: led to.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Arguments how did her sister Shams handle that?
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Shams defended her. She saw Nora's success, saw how independent
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: she was becoming. Nora became a well known model, doing
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: big ad campaigns, earning good money.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: She bought her own car.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: By seventeen, had her own car, financial independence. Her fame
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: just kept growing.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: The dream was real, so outwardly everything was perfect, successful, famous, independent.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: But there was another.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Side, a hidden side, a secret life that even Shams,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: her closest sister, knew nothing about.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: What did that involve?
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: It came out later, multiple romantic relationships, apparently some were
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: tangled up with professional or financial interests. It seems he
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: was part of the hidden price of fame for her complex.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Which brings us back to that day in February twenty
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: twenty five. How did it start normally enough?
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Nor told Sham she had a photoshoot, said she'd be
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: back early, but then silence. Her phone went off uncharacteristically early.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Shams tried calling, texting, no answer, which wasn't like Nor
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: at all. She usually kept in touch even if she
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: was running late.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Shams must have been frantic.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Increasingly anxious that gnawing feeling something was wrong. When she
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: still couldn't reach her, she went straight to the police,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: filed the missing person report.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: And the news spread fast online.
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  Speaker 2: Like wildfire, especially because her last video, posted just before
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: she vanished, was totally normal, lighthearted. No sign of trouble
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: made her disappearance even more jarring.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: So the police have a confirmed murder victim. Nor Al
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: delaymy famous influencer, But the crime scene is wiped clean,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: no suspects, no clear motive. Where did they even start?
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: It was baffling. The killer's place lanning was impressive in
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: a grim way. How do they transport the body unseen?
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: How did they leave zero trace?
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Did they check surveillance cameras everywhere.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: All the roads around that desert area, hours and hours
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: of footage and nothing? It was like the killer in
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: the car is evaporated. Total dead end.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Immensely. They were up against someone who knew exactly what
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: they were doing.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: So if the roads give them nothing, the focus had.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: To shift the car right, Nora's missing red car, that
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: distinctive red car, unique plates. Everyone knew it. It was their best,
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  Speaker 2: maybe only lead. They put out an alert description said
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: to every patrol a long shot maybe, but they had
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: to try.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Just hoping for a lucky break. And then they got one.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Not luck, but technology exactly.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: The slip up CCTV from a gas.
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  Speaker 1: Station on the day of the crime.
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  Speaker 2: The very day footage shows Nora's red car pulling in,
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  Speaker 2: but it's not her driving.
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  Speaker 1: Who was it?
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  Speaker 2: A young man? He gets out, takes a jerry can
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  Speaker 2: from the trunk, fills up with gapin then just drives off,
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  Speaker 2: completely oblivious. He's just been recorded a.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Face finally a lead. Did the family recognize him?
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: No, they showed the video to shams, to others.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Nobody knew him, So how did they find him?
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: They circulated the image. It took three days, but patrols
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: finally located Nor's car and driving it the same young
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: man from the gas station video.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: They had him. Who was he?
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: His name was Mohammed, a nineteen year old Syrian national.
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  Speaker 1: Inside the car, they found.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Nor's things, her bag, her phone, money, jewelry, everything missing
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  Speaker 2: from the scene.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Did he confess right away? Not?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: At first, he denied everything, said he didn't know Nor,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: just borrow the car from a friend. Standard denial. But
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the video exactly when they showed in the gas station
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: footage that irrefutable proof he broke He confessed.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: What was his story? How did he know Nor?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: He derived in a rock in twenty twenty three, settled
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: in Or met Nor through mutual friends. They started hanging
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: out and it developed into a strong romantic relationship.
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  Speaker 1: Part of that secret life.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: You meant yes, And crucially, Mohammed confirmed Nor was involved
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: with others too. At the time, sometimes for professional or
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: financial reasons. It adds a layer of complexity to their dynamic.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: So what happened on the day she died.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: According to Mohammad's confession, he Nor and another friend, a
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Syrian woman, met up. Eventually the friend left, leaving Mohammed
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: and Noor alone.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Where did they go to?
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: A hotel? Apparently they had an arrangement with the owner
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: allowing them to get a room without the official marriage
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: documents usually required. They went to the room and they
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: started drinking heavily.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: And then things went terribly wrong.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Horribly wrong. Mohammed wanted intimacy, Nor refused, an argument erupted,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it got physical.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: She tried to defend herself.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Yes, desperate to get out of the locker room, she
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: grabbed pepper sprayed from her bag and sprayed it in
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: his face. His reaction rage, blind rage. He grabbed the
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: nearest thing, a mobile phone charger cable, and he strangled
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: her with it, just like that, just like that, killed her.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: And then he just sat there with her body for
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: a full hour, paralyzed by what he'd done.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: An hour and then the planning started, the.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Chilling calculator plan. To cover it up, he turned off
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: her phone, Yeah, wrapped her body in a sheet from
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the hotel, bed, checked the hallway was clear.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Carried her down to her own car, Yes.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Put her body in the trunk. Then came the decision
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: to burn her, to destroy everything. That's what led him
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: to the gas station for the gasoline.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Not realizing he was being filmed.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Completely unaware, he drove out to that desolate road, dumped
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: her body and set it on fire, thinking he'd erased
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: his crime. But the camera had already sealed his fate.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So Mohammed faced trial.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: What happened. He was brought before the court, faced justice
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: for the murder, and the hotel the one that bent
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the rules for them, Yeah, they also faced legal consequences
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: for enabling that situation.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Such a tragic end for Nora el Delamy. Her dream
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: of fame pursued so hard.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: It ultimately led her into a world with hidden dangers,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: secrets that intertwined with her ambition in the most devastating way,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: a path none of her family could have foreseen.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Her story really is a stark reminder, isn't it that
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the pursuit of fame, the public face we create, can
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: sometimes hide a much darker, more perilous reality beneath the surface.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it makes you think, doesn't it. What does
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: this deep dive into Nora's life and death make you,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: our listener, consider about the lines between our public personas
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: and our private lives, and what is the true cost
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: of ambition when it becomes entangled with secrets.