Latest / Crime Night / The $11,000 Debt and the Unsettling Pride: Unmasking the Asyut Murderers

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The $11,000 Debt and the Unsettling Pride: Unmasking the Asyut Murderers · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I imagine this scene in the middle of the day
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: in albert aresute. The ear's warm, you know, thick with
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: that earthy smell of the poultry he just dropped off.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Thirty year old commis sitting there. They've offered him a drink,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: this really syrupy sweet juice. He's just there for a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: simple task, albeit a frustrating one, collect a debt that's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: been outstanding for way too long. So he drinks. But
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: underneath that sweetness there's this faint bitterness, pharmaceutical almost, but
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: he doesn't really register it, not immediately. Then, maybe fifteen
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: minutes later, the room starts to shift. The faces. He
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: knows Latifa, her daughter's Shama Mona. They start to blur
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a little. This sudden, heavy disorientation just washes over him.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Kamis tries to get up, you know, shake off this
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: weird lethargy, but his body just isn't responding right, his
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: visions swimming. But he looks up one last time at
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the three women. He later recalled their expressions fixed, deeply, unsettling, cold,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and in that sickening moment, it hits him he wasn't
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: there to collect money. He'd walk straight into a trap.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just the ultimate betrayal, and it's rooted in
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: this really terri verifying contradiction. You have. Commis, this guy
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: everyone liked, trusted, He spent a whole decade building his
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: business purely on credit, on good faith, and yet he's
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: executed brutally, premeditated by the very clients he trusted most.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And not ever some big business dispute. No, it was
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: over wounded pride. Basically, the price tag on his life
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: just eleven thousand Egyptian pounds.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's really unpack this. Then, this is the deep
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: dive into the ascute murders, a truly chilling story about
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: how three women put perceived status, this misplaced pride ahead
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of a man's life, all for eleven thousand egp. So Commis,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: he was thirty, an itinerant vendor working hard in the
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Albadari Center, sold a bit of everything, closed appliance's poultry ducks,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: all on installment plants. People knew he was incredibly kind.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: He was supporting his wife, his daughter, his eldly parents
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: all through this business that relied on flexibility. His whole
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: system was built on trust. He kept meticulous records. You know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: every payment every debt in this big ledger book at.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Home, right, and then you have Latifah and her two daughters,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Shama and Mona. Latifa was the head of the household
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: since her husband died a couple of years back. Now,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: outwardly to the village, she was just another customer, maybe
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: a bit difficult, but still but there was this hitting
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: truth about her finances. Her husband had worked in Saudi
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Arabia for years, right, and he left her quite well off,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: a big plot of land, a house with multiple floors,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: and crucially, a bank transfer of two million Egyptian pounds.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Let's be clear, that's a lot of money. They were
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: financially secure. Despite all this, Latifa was Comz's most problematic client,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: always delaying payment on this eleven thousand EGP debt for
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: seven years. She dragged it out, always claiming she had
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: no money.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Seven years. That's an incredibly long time to carry a
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: debt like that, especially when it's your working capital needed
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to support your own family. So eventually Commies had to
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: do something. He needed to protect his business. He had
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: to make it more formal. With Latifa. He took a
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: step that was purely professional really, he had her sign
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a promisory note. It's called the wazle Amana.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: There exactly, And this is where things really changed legally
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: and emotionally. How weslamana isn't just some casual iou under
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Egyptian law, It's serious. It's a receipt of trust. If
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: you default on it, a civil debt can instantly become
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: a criminal matter. It basically meant Latifa formally acknowledged that
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: eleven thousand EGP wasn't just something she owed, it was
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: a legal obligation she couldn't just ignore.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Okay. And here's where it gets well, really mind boggling.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Despite pleading poverty, despite dodging this now serious legal note,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Commies finds out just how hypocritical Latifa was being. He
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: discovers she's actually building a third floor under her house,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: a project costing something like two hundred thousand EGP. Wait
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: a minute, two hundred thousand EGP for construction. While refusing
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: for seven years to pay eleven thousand, they risked, well,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: they committed murder over what was essentially pocket change for them.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Precisely, that's the core of it. The refusal wasn't about
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: the money itself, not about lacking funds it was about pride,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: all about control, about not being dictated to by a vendor.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: This huge disparity spending a fortune on the house while
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: stonewalling on a minor, legally binding debt, that's what sparks
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: the final fatal confrontation.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: So Comis goes straight to her house and the argument.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It wasn't quiet, it was heated, loud, public. Basically, he
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: confronts Latifah, calls her out on the construction project, demands
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: she finally settle up. She refuses, so he does what
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: he probably felt he had no choice but to do.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: He threatens to take that Wizomanana straight to the police.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: The very next day. And the crucial detail here, neighbors
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: heard it, the whole loud argument, and both daughters, Shama
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: and Mona, they were right there watching Commis apparently with
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: this really cold, silent intensity and.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: That public argument, his loud voice being heard outside their house.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: That became their justification, at least the one they gave. Later,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: the three women get together right after Kami's leaves. Their rationale,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: which came out in their testimonies, was all about how
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Kamis had dishonored them because he was loud, because neighbors heard.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: It was perceived as this huge slight against the family status,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: their reputation in the village.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I still find that hard to swallow, though loud voice
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: is the sole reason. It feels like there must have
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: been this deeper resentment festering over those seven years of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: dodging the debt.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, the seven years laid the groundwork, No doubt
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: that constant pressure, the evasion it built resentment on both sides,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I imagine, But the public confrontation that was a tipping point,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: The immediate unforgivable offense in their eyes, for a family
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: that seems to have been wealthy but maybe trying to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: project even more status, being publicly shamed by a vendor
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: over a small debt intolerable. They couldn't just pay him
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: then that would almost validate his challenge to their authority,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: their image. So instead, the decision was made Kamis must
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: be taught a lesson. He had to disappear completely. The
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: murder was about protecting that facade, that reputation, far more
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: than it was about the eleven thousand EGP itself.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: The planning that followed who it was just so meticulous,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: so cold. Exactly one week After the argument, Shaima calls Kamis.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: She sounds friendly, apparently tells them they're finally ready to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: pay the whole debt. The lure was simple, bring some poultry.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: She asked this key bring the promisory note so she
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: could tear it up once he was paid.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Right. And while Shema's making that call, the others are
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: getting things ready. Mona, the younger daughter, is out in
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the garden digging a hole, a large hole sized for
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: a man. Shemah prepares the juice, laces it heavily with
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: sleeping pills, sedatives, and Latifa the mother, the matriarch. She's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: finalizing the logistics, making sure everything's in place for what's
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: about to happen.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So Commie's arrives on his motorcycle, completely unsuspecting. He didn't
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: tell anyone where he was going specifically, and the first
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: thing Shama does is tell him to bring the motorcycle
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: inside their compound, say she's worried about it being stolen,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a totally false concerned, of course, but it gets him
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: and his bike completely inside trapped.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: He drinks the juice they offer him, and then about
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: fifteen minutes later, as the drugs start taking hold, he
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: has that awful moment of clarity, he realizes what they've done,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: what's happening. Even as he's slipping into unconsciousness, Latifa is
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: apparently still focused purely on the money, pressing him about
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: where the promise note is.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: He tries to fight it, tries desperately to stand up
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to get out of there, even as the drugs are
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: paralyzing him, but he's too slow, too weak. Before he
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: can even take a step, Shamma attacks him with a
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: big club or a heavy stick, hits him over the head,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: on his back, again and again until he just collapses
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: onto the floor, unconscious. And the really horrifying part confirmed
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: later by the medical examiner. Even after that savage beating,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Comis was still alive.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is where it moves from a brutal
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: assault into something else, something deeply disturbing. It's like a
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: post mortem preparation, but on a living person. Latifa goes
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: and gets supplies. They had already prepared, a big roll
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: of rope, two large sacks, adhesive tape. They work fast, efficiently.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: They bind the unconscious comedies completely head to toe, secure
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: him tightly with the rope. Then they pull the two
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: sacks over his entire body, tape his mouth shut and
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: reinforce all the bindings, just completely packaged.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: But they weren't taking any chances. They needed to be
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: absolutely sure. Latifa, the leader here it seems, performs the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: final act herself. She strangles the already bound, unconscious Commis,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: making certain he was dead before they moved on to
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the burial.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: The cleanup afterwards shows just how terrifyingly planted this was.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: The three of them carry the body out to the
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: hole Mona had dug earlier. They bury him, cover the
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: grave with stones to make it look undisturbed. Shima immediately
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: takes Coami's's mobile phone, drives to the nearest canal and
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: throws it in, gets rid of the main way he
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: could be tracked. Meanwhile, Mona hides the motorcycle in their
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: chicken farm area gathers tools. The plan is to dismantle
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: it piece by piece and dispose of it later, probably
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: in the same canal.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: The psychological detachment needed for what happens next is well,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: it's staggering. All of this, the murder, the binding, the burial.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: It's finished by about one point zero PM, and the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: switch back to normal life is instantaneous. Mona just goes
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: off to our afternoon lesson, like nothing happened. Latifa and
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Schama stay home, prepare lunch, eat lunch, as if they
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: just spent the morning doing chores. One minute, they're burying
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: a man they just murdered it in their garden, the
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: next they're making sandwiches. It suggests this terrifying ability to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: just compartmentalize, or maybe a complete lack of empathy.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: That evening, around ten zero pm, Kamisi's family knows something
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: is seriously wrong. They report him missing. They stress to
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the police this is completely unlike him, his phone being off,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: not contacting anyone, unheard of. They emphasize who was reliable, punctual,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: He didn't have any known enemies, no ongoing conflicts they
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: were aware of. There were certain something terrible had happened.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: The police start investigating. They begin at Commi's house looking
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: for clues, and they find the key pretty quickly. That
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: meticulous financial ledger he kept. The agenda leads him through
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: his clients, his debts, and appoints him to the last
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: active debtor who owed a significant sum a woman listed
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: as Imed owing eleven thousand EGP. A quick check identifies
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: aghmed It's Latifa.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: So three days after Kammi's disappeared, the police show up
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: at Latifa's house, and the women's reaction is described as unnerving.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: They're calm, cool, collected. They stick rigidly to the story
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: they'd obviously rehearsed. Yes, Kamye came by, he collected his money,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: left the poultry he brought. He left around one point
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: zero pm, end of story. But the police officers felt
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: something was off, something wasn't right. They specifically noted the
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: daughter's stairs difficult, suspicious, maybe that same unsettling intensity Commis
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: himself saw in his final moments.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: The real breakthrough comes when the investigators dig a bit
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: deeper in the community and learn about that loud public
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: argument Kami's had with the family just a week before
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: he vanished that raises serious red flags. They get a
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: search warrant and go back for a thorough inspection. The
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: main house is clean, nothing seems out of place, but
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: then they moved to check the poultry farm area on
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the property, and that's where they find it damning evidence,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: remnants of a motorcycle, tools specifically for dismantling machinery, and
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: in that exact moment watching the police find these items monopanics.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Her reaction is visible, undeniable. It confirms their suspicions on
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the spot, and.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Once they're confronted with this evidence, the United Friend just
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: crumbles instantly. It becomes a blame game. Tifa is charged.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Sima immediately confesses, but maybe trying to shield her mother,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: she claims she did it all herself, acted entirely alone.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Latifah and Mona initially go along with that, pointing the
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: finger only at Shoma, but under more intense questioning, Shama breaks.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Maybe she realizes she was about to take the fall
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: for everyone. She changes her story and implicates all three
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: of them.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: The police then excavate the garden recover Kami's body from
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: that shallow grave. The medical examiner's report confirms the grim
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: sequence of events, high levels of sedatives found in his system,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: multiple bruises, contusions all over his body from the beating,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a severe blow to the head that fractured his skull,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: and the ultimate cause of death, strangulation.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: But the forensics revealed something else, a detail even more
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: unsettling in a way than the murder itself. The medical
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: examiner specifically noted the method used for binding the body,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: the knots, the way the rope and sacks were applied.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: It wasn't clumsy and not panicked work by first timers.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: It was professional, meticulous. It required a specific kind of knowledge,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a practice technique. The report suggested that this method indicated
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: they were likely not first time killers.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: That detail is just chilling. It implies a skill set.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: You don't just pick up knowledge of not spinding techniques.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: It suggests something more, maybe military background, medical training, or disturbingly,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: a history of dealing with bodies before exactly.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: It completely shifts how you see them, doesn't it. It
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: elevates them from seemingly desperate debtors lashing out over pride
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: to something more like organized, proficient operators, and their complete
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: lack of remorse during their testimonies seems to back that up.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: They genuinely appeared to believe Kami's deserved what he got
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: because he dared to challenge them, dared to threaten the
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: pride of this wealthy, apparently untouchable family. Latifa even tried
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: one last, absolutely desperate and repulsive lie to the police,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: claiming Kami's had tried to assault her. A final attempt
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: to justify the unjustifiable.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: That stark contrast really is the heart of this whole
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: tragic story, isn't it? A truly heinous, meticulously planned murder, drugging, beating, strangling,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: burying a man who was, by all accounts a decent
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: member of his community, all committed to avoid paying eleven
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: thousand EGP, an amount that was trivial to them given
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: their actual wealth. They killed to protect a reputation that
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: was itself built on a lie of needing that money.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: For these crimes, Latifa, Shayama and modapt, the women now
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: known as the as You Debt murderers, were convicted. They
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: were sentenced to death in twenty seventeen.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: But it leaves you with this really disturbing question, doesn't it,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: especially given that level of coordination, the careful planning of
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: the disposal, and particularly that very specific professional binding technique.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: The examiner noted, what else might this family have done?
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Is it possible Kamis wasn't the first? Were there other secrets,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: other acts of violence hidden beneath that quiet, respectable, well
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: off facade, or did they simply possess skills that point
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: to a much darker, perhaps unrelated history. Something for you
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: to definitely mull over