Latest / Crime Night / Sacrificing a Zouhry Child for Treasure

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Sacrificing a Zouhry Child for Treasure · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, so picture this. The sun is setting over a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: small village near Bishar in Algeria. It's October twenty sixteen,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and it's Ashura exactly asure, so it's supposed to be
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a day of noise and joy. The whole scene is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: this beautiful golden hour light fading into dusk. The air
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is getting cool, and the streets are just alive with children,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the running door to door, pockets full of candy, laughing, shouting.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: It's that kind of beautiful, chaotic.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Happiness, the kind you only get in a really tight
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: knit community.
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  Speaker 1: And right in the middle of it all is Darya Yasin.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: He's ten years old, he's with his friends, and he
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: is just having the time of his life.
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  Speaker 2: It's the absolute picture of safety. Everyone knows everyone, You've
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: got neighbors sharing food. It's the last place on Earth
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: you'd expect something horrible to happen.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But then the sun dips below the horizon, the light
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: goes from gray to black, and the other kids they
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: start heading home. The door's closed, the noise just dies down,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: but Yessin's door doesn't open, he doesn't come home, and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: in just a few minutes, that whole celebratory feeling in
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  Speaker 1: the village just shifts to this suffocating silence. His mother's waiting,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and that weight turns to real panic when she realizes
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: every other child is home. Everyone but hers, Everyone but hers.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: That silence is the most terrifying part of the entire file.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: It's the moment a holiday becomes a crime scene. Yeah,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: this is the deep dive today. We're not just recounting
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: a kidnapping. We've pulled together court transcripts, police reports, local archives.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: We're examining the case of.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Doya Yasin, and our mission here is really to understand this,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: this terrifying collision between innocence and a really dark, ancient superstition.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're looking at what happens when desperation meets this
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: lethal belief in something called the Zouri child.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: It's a heavy one to process. We're looking at a
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  Speaker 2: situation where a belief system just completely overrides basic humanity.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: The sources we have paint a picture of a transaction,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: not just a murder.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It forces you to ask, how does that happen? How
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: does a superstition turn your neighbor into a monster.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, So let's get into the sources the police reports,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: they detail the immediate aftermath. Yasin's mother.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: She doesn't wait, no twenty four hour rule here, she
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  Speaker 2: knows her son.
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  Speaker 1: She hits the streets immediately, and to the community's credit,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the response is instant. Within an hour. You've got neighbors, police,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: even police dogs combing the area. They're turning that village
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: upside down.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: And that intensity it tells you something. This wasn't a
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: he wandered off kind of fear. No, the community was
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: on high alert because of the specific day Ashura and
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: because of who this boy was. There was this undercurrent
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: of fear that this was something else.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And that brings us to the Zowi concept.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I spent a lot of time digging into this because
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: it's so central to the motive.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: It's everything to you or me.
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  Speaker 1: He hasn't looks like any other ten year old boy,
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  Speaker 1: but to certain people, he was marked. He had a
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  Speaker 1: specific physical trait, a.
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  Speaker 2: Single, straight, unbroken line running right across the palm of
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: his hand.
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  Speaker 1: What is that In medical terms?
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  Speaker 2: Uh, It's often called a semi increase. It's pretty rare
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  Speaker 2: but totally harmless. In the folklore of that region, though
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  Speaker 2: especially for people involved in sorcery. That line is a sign,
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  Speaker 2: a sign of what. It marks the child as having
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  Speaker 2: tsary blood.
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  Speaker 1: And the sources are so disturbing on this. It's not
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  Speaker 1: seen as a deformity or anything. It's seen as a resource.
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  Speaker 2: A resource, that's the perfect word. The belief is that
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  Speaker 2: this specific blood allows a sorcerer to communicate with gin,
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  Speaker 2: with spirits.
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  Speaker 1: Or more specifically, to find buried treasure. They see these
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  Speaker 1: kids as literal keys to unlock wealth.
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  Speaker 2: That is the critical horrifying this connect to his mom,
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  Speaker 2: he's her son. To the people who took him, he's
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  Speaker 2: a tool. The superstition says that the gin guarding pressure
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  Speaker 2: craves the blood of these children.
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  Speaker 1: So Yahsin wasn't just missing, he was being hunted for
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  Speaker 1: his biology exactly. I read some reports that in places
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  Speaker 1: where this belief is strong, parents will literally make their
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  Speaker 1: kids keep their hands in their pockets or wear gloves
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  Speaker 1: in pup like wow, yeah, just so they're not spotted
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  Speaker 1: by these so called treasure hunters. The level of paranoia
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  Speaker 1: is yeah, it's just hard to imagine.
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  Speaker 2: It totally changes the nature of the crime. This wasn't
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  Speaker 2: a crime of passion, It's not random, it's premeditated, it's targeted,
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  Speaker 2: and it's driven by what's essentially a market demand for
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  Speaker 2: this type of victim.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so back to the timeline. Three days pass, the
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  Speaker 1: search is absolutely frantic, but nothing total bit end. Then
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  Speaker 1: the scene shifts. We're at a construction site on the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: edge of the village. It's an unfinished building, you know,
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  Speaker 1: exposed brick, dust everywhere. A worker walks in and he
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: sees something that just feels wrong. Yeah, there's a plastic
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  Speaker 1: bag sitting there and it has bloodstains on the outside. Oh.
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  Speaker 2: You can just feel the dread in that moment. A
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  Speaker 2: bag in an abandoned building during a search like this,
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  Speaker 2: it's never good news.
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  Speaker 1: He calls the police. Forensics arrive and this is where
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  Speaker 1: the documents get really, really difficult to read the condition
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  Speaker 1: of the body inside that bag. It was catastrophic. The
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  Speaker 1: report says. The body was bisected, cut completely in half,
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  Speaker 1: cut in half, and the face was mutilated so badly
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  Speaker 1: that visual identification was impossible. They had to use DNA
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  Speaker 1: to confirm it was yes.
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  Speaker 2: And the mutilation. It serves a couple of purposes. Part
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  Speaker 2: of it is practical trying to get a body into
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  Speaker 2: a bag. Part of it is to erase his identity, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: but there was a specific part of the mutilation that
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  Speaker 2: told the medical examiner this was something else.
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  Speaker 1: His right hand and his right foot were missing on
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  Speaker 1: not in the bag, and the autopsy it revealed a
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  Speaker 1: detail that just it honestly made me sick. His skull
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was fractured, yess yeah, but the medical examiner determined that
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  Speaker 1: his hand it was severed, well, yes, it was still alive.
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  Speaker 2: And that right there, that is the signature of the ritual.
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  Speaker 1: The cruelty isn't a byproduct, it's a requirement.
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  Speaker 2: The belief system says that the pain, the fear, the
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  Speaker 2: blood being drawn from a living victim, that's what activates
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  Speaker 2: the magic, that's what controls the gin.
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  Speaker 1: So they were methodical.
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  Speaker 2: They didn't just kill her, they harvested him.
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  Speaker 1: It's just chilling. So the police now they have a brutal,
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  Speaker 1: ritualistic murder on their hands. They bring in fifteen suspects,
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  Speaker 1: they're grilling everybody, but nothing.
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  Speaker 2: No DNA matches, no witnesses. The case is right on
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  Speaker 2: the edge of going cold.
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  Speaker 1: And in cases like this it's so common. The people
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  Speaker 1: who do this, they think they're doing serious works. They're careful,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: but there's usually a loose thread, always a loose thread. Here.
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  Speaker 1: It unravels right at the crime scene. It's almost cinematic.
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  Speaker 1: The police are still processing the building. A crowd has
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  Speaker 1: gathered and a security officer notices a young girl, Louisa.
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  Speaker 2: And what's she doing?
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  Speaker 1: She's just staring at the bag? Yeah, but not with curiosity.
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  Speaker 1: She looks wrong, confused, erratic.
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  Speaker 2: And the police dogs pick up on her too, right,
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  Speaker 2: they start reacting to her.
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  Speaker 1: They do. Now. Louisa is a key figure. The reports
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: say she suffered from pretty significant mental challenges. She wasn't
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  Speaker 1: processing the situation like everyone else, so.
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  Speaker 2: She wouldn't have the same guard up right.
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  Speaker 1: So the officer walks over to her. He asked a
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: simple question, do you know who was in that bag?
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  Speaker 1: And Luisa just she crumples. She panics hotly, not making
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: full sentences, just muttered names. It's a Leah Malika Bakay.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the breakthrough. She's not giving a story yet,
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  Speaker 2: but she's giving them a roster.
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  Speaker 1: Of names exactly. They take her in now. Interrogating her
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  Speaker 1: is delicate, but they press her on Yasin and that's
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  Speaker 1: when she tells them about the candy.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, this part is just heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 1: She admits she was the lore. She was watching Yasin
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  Speaker 1: play during Ashura. She waited till the games were ending,
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  Speaker 1: and she walked up to him, someone he knew from
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  Speaker 1: the neighborhood, of course, and she told him she knew
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  Speaker 1: a house nearby that had sweets.
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  Speaker 2: It's the oldest trick in the book, but it worked
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  Speaker 2: because it was so close. She didn't lead him into
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  Speaker 2: the woods or some dark alley, you know, she.
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  Speaker 1: Led him to a house just a few doors down
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  Speaker 1: from his own.
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  Speaker 2: That trust is what they exploited. They used Louisa because
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  Speaker 2: she seemed harmless. She was a tool, just like Yasin
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  Speaker 2: was a tool to them.
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  Speaker 1: So Luisa leads the police to the quote house of sweets,
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  Speaker 1: and you're expecting, I don't know, a den of criminals, right,
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  Speaker 1: But who's in the house. It's a family, three sisters,
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  Speaker 1: a brother, two in laws, a family of six just
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  Speaker 1: living there.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the banality of evil. You mentioned. These weren't
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  Speaker 2: monsters living in a cave. They were the neighbors.
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  Speaker 1: But the investigation into the family shows the cracks. They
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  Speaker 1: were a household in crisis.
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  Speaker 2: A total crisis. The documents listed all out in fertility,
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  Speaker 2: marriage problems, major financial trouble.
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  Speaker 1: They were desperate, and this is where the Zouri superstition
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  Speaker 1: finds its hook. They didn't see kidnapping a child as
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  Speaker 1: a crime. They saw it as a solution.
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  Speaker 2: Malika, the eldest sister, she's identified as the ringleader. She
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  Speaker 2: was the one who was deep into dark magic. She
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  Speaker 2: convinced her own family that all their problems were spiritual.
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  Speaker 1: Curses, and she told them the only way to break the.
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  Speaker 2: Curses was the blood of zoury child.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, just think about that psychology. You have adults,
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  Speaker 1: people who pay taxes, who go shopping, convinced that butchering
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  Speaker 1: a ten year old boy is a reasonable way to
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  Speaker 1: get pregnant or pay off their debts.
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  Speaker 2: Desperation just bypasses logic. When you feel that helpless and
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  Speaker 2: a charismatic figure like Malika offers a guaranteed fix, your
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  Speaker 2: moral compass just shuts down. They dehumanized him. Yasin became
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  Speaker 2: an ingredient.
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  Speaker 1: So police raid the house based on what Louisa told them,
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  Speaker 1: and the evidence is overwhelming. They find bloodstains on the.
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  Speaker 2: Floor, They find a large rock on a wall in
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  Speaker 2: the courtyard, covered in blood. Yeah, that was the weapon
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  Speaker 2: they used to knock him out, and in the kitchen
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  Speaker 2: a knife. All of it matched Yasson's DNA.
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  Speaker 1: The confession, the details are just harrowing. As soon as
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: he walked in expecting candy, they threw a cover over
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  Speaker 1: his head. They hit him with the rock, and then
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the family member, thence the uncles. They held him down.
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  Speaker 2: They held him down while Malika took his hand.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, because they needed the blood flow while his heart
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: was still beating.
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  Speaker 2: That was the ritual, right And everything after that, cutting
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: up the body, smashing his face, that was just panic.
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  Speaker 2: That wasn't realizing the magic didn't make the body disappear,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and that the entire country was now looking for this
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  Speaker 2: little boy.
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  Speaker 1: It just completely dismantles any idea that this was some
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: crime of insanity. The disposal, the lure, it was all calculated.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: The only insane part was the motive.
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  Speaker 2: Which brings us to the trial. The public outrage was.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Massive, Yeah, crowds were surrounding the courthouse. They wanted blood
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: for blood, and.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: The justice system didn't really hesitate. After a year, the
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: verdict came down. All the family members directly involved in
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: the murder were sentenced to death, and Luisa, because of
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: her mental state and because she was clearly manipulated, she
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: received a ten year sentence.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: It's the maximum penalty. During the trial, a detail comes
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: out that suggests the real architect of this whole thing
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: wasn't even in the room.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Malika's testimony.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, she admits she organized the family, but she claimed
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: she was just following instructions. She talks about a master sorcerer.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: A charlatan she'd been consulting.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: She even named him. She said this man told her
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Zuri blood was the key. He gave the instructions, He
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: validated the whole thing.
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  Speaker 2: And did they ever find him.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: No, vanished, never arrested.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: And that's the part that haunts me. The family, the
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: hands that did the work, they were caught, they were punished,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: but the voice that whispered the idea into their ear,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: he just walked away. It leaves you with a really
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: uneasy feeling. We have a verdict, but do we actually
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: have resolution, Do we have safety? Not?
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  Speaker 1: Really, because that master sorcerer, he represents an entire industry.
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  Speaker 1: He's basically a consultant. He sells hope to desperate people,
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  Speaker 1: and the price is someone else's child, and.
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  Speaker 2: As long as there are people desperate enough to buy
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: that lie, there will be a market for Czai children.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: That's the thought that really sticks with me. We focus
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: on the killers, the ones that get their hands dirty,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: but there's this whole other layer of consultants out there,
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  Speaker 1: men and women who monetize this superstition. They identify the targets,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: they sell the.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Rituals, all while keeping their own hands perfectly clean.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: How many of them are out there right now, whispring
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: into the ear of another desperate family.
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  Speaker 2: It forces you to look at the whole community differently.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: The superstition is the virus and the sorcerers. They're the
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: ones spreading it. Until you stop the idea from spreading,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: you can't ever truly protect the children.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: A terrifying thought. That's it for this deep dive into
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: the case of Dari Yasin. It's a dark one, but
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: understanding these mechanisms is the only way to confront them.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: Stay safe,