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The Twin Who Poisoned the Tea · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So I want to take you back to twenty thirteen.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: We're in Upper Egypt, in a small village in the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Suit Governorate. And if you know anything about these villages,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you know that, well, privacy isn't really a thing, right.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: It's a place where silence is actually louder than noise.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: People know each other's routine.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Exactly, they know your whole rhythm. And hadj Muhammad Tafik Sadik.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: He was a prominent figure, a wealthy merchant, very well
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: respected kind of man. It was like clockwork, totally greeted
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: everyone every morning. But then the greeting stopped. Day one
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: passes day two.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: By day five, people are not just curious anymore, they're worried, agitated.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't the silence that finally made them pick
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: up the phone.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Yoh, it was the smell. The smell starts to seep
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: out from under the door and in that kind of heat,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: five days, you know what that means.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So families called police arrive and they're all standing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in this hallway right outside the apartment.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: And this is where the mystery really starts before they
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: even open.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: The door, because it's like, and we're not just talking
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: about a simple wooden door. There's a heavy steel gate
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: in front.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Of it, super common for security in Egypt.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Right, And when the police check it out, there's not
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: a scratch on the walk, no sign of forced entry
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: at all, none.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: The gate wasn't broken, the door wasn't kicked in.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Which means one of two things, right.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Either the killer had a key or they were welcomed in.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: It just shrinks the entire list of suspects down to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: almost nothing.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: You immediately pivot from a random burglary gone wrong to
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: a deep personal betrayal.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: So they finally have to break the door down, and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the scene inside is confusing.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: It's not the chaos you'd expect. It's strangely orderly for
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: such a violent crime.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: We have haj Mohammed in the living room on the sofa.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: It's gruesome because of the time that's passed, but he
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: looks like he was just resting. His throat was split,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: but there are no defensive wounds.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: He didn't fight back. He either didn't see it coming
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: or just couldn't.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Then you go into the other room, Yeah, and you find.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: His wife, and that's a completely different story.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Night and day. She's on the floor, she's been stabbed.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Heart and neck, and unlike her husband, the area around
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: her shows clear signs of a struggle. She was fighting
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: for her life, her jewelry. It was literally ripped from
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: her ears, from her hands.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: See that part screams robbery, But when investigators look closer,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the whole robbery theory got complicated.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It was too neat, too specific, a typical burglar panics.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: They just ransacked the place, dump everything on the floor
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: right here. The wardrobe was opened and very specific things
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: were gone. The gold, yes, the cash from its hiding spot,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: but they also took the jewelry receipts.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: The receipts. Why would you take the receipts?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: That's what's so chilling. I mean, if you try to
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: sell stolen gold at a jeweler in Egypt, they're going
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: to ask for proof of ownership, the receipt exactly. Taking
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: the paperwork means this wasn't just a theft, It was
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: a liquidation plan. This person planned to walk into a
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: shop and sell it like it was their own, so.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Quick A locked door, a targeted theft by someone who
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: knows the house. The police have to be looking at
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the inner circle.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, but by all accounts This couple was beloved. They
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: didn't have enemies. They were just the kind elderly couple
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: everyone knew.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: So where does the break come from.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: It comes from the coffee table, from two little cups
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: of tea tea cups MM. Forensic science finds two cups
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: near the bodies, one by the husband, one by the wife.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Standard hospitality. Someone came over for a visit.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Right, But it's the contents, or the lack thereof, that
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: tell the story. The husband's cup was completely empty, bone dry,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: r The wife's cup was only half full.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: So what maybe he was just thirsty than she was.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Does it matter? Oh?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: It matters. It matters a lot because the lab report
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: comes back and they find a massive dose of a
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: powerful sedative in the tea. Oh wow, a sleeping agent.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, that changes everything. This wasn't just an attack, It
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was an ambush.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: It's a trojan horse, right. The killer didn't just show
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: up with a knife. They came with a sedative. They
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: sat down with this couple.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: They probably watched them pour the tea or poured.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: It themselves, and then they just waited, made small talk
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: while knowing that with every single sip hadj Mohammed was
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: becoming helpless.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: That's a different level of cold. You have to look
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: someone in the eye while you're poisoning them.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: And it perfectly explains the two different crime scenes. Hajj
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Mohammed drank the whole dose. He would have been deeply unconscious.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Which is why he couldn't fight back exactly.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: But his wife, she only drank half, so she was
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: drowsy but still awake, sedated, sluggish but aware, awake enough
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: to know something was wrong, awake enough to feel it,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: but too weak to stop it. She was a witness
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: to her own murder.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: So now the police know for sure they're looking for
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: a guest, someone trusted. They go back to the neighbors,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: who did you see visiting? And this time they get
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a hit.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: A witness comes forward and says they saw the wife's
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: nephew going into the building right around the time the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: murders must.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Have happened, and there it is family member had access.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Witness puts him at the scene.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: You'd think it's case closed, but this is where the
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: investigation just hits a brick wall. They bring in the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: nephew and his profile is just wrong. He's a student,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: a good one, he has a spotless record.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: The Golden Child totally, and in.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: The interrogation he's calm, he's not defensive. He says, yeah,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: I was there. I visited my aunt and uncle, but
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: my mom and my aunt were having some sort of
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: argument and I left early. I didn't want to get
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: in the middle of it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, that sounds plausible, but he's their only real lead,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: but it just doesn't fit.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: The detectives are looking at this polite kid and trying
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: to imagine him slitting his own uncle's throat. The psychology
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: is all off, so they're stuck. They are. They almost
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: let him go, but you know, good police work means
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: you check every single box, So they run a full
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: background check on the entire family tree just in case.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: What do they find.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: They find a little detail in the public records that
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: blows the case wide open. The good few. No, he
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: wasn't an only child. He had a brother, an identical twin. Brother.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Wait, an identical twin. How did the witness not.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: They look exactly the same. The witness saw a face
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: and assumed it was the nephew. They knew they saw
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the nephew because they literally share a face.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: But I'm guessing they didn't share a personality.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Oh night and day. The twins name is Mustafa. While
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: his brother was studying. Mustapha was an engineering student on paper,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: but a drug addict in reality. He was in debt,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: always fighting with his father for money.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: And there's the motive addiction.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: You have, the motor, you have the means, you have
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: this real life evil twin scenario. The police pick up
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Mustafa and his demeanor is totally different. He's erratic, nervous, synthesis,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: he cracks. He admits he was there, but he says
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: he wasn't alone. Oh no, he had help. He recruited
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: two friends, one named Haytham who was a sports student
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: the muscle and a seventeen year old high school kid
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: to be the lookout.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I just I want to walk through that night again
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: knowing who was really there.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: The betrayal is just it's almost impossible to comprehend. Mustafa
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: goes up alone, first knocks on the door, and of
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: course they're happy to see him.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Mustafa come in.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: They make tea and he has a sedative and he
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: slips it in when they aren't looking.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: It just sits there with him, just.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Sits in, chats plays the part of the loving nephew,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: watching them drink, counting the minutes until his own family
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: is helpless. The level of psychopathy required for that is
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: it's off the charts.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: So his uncle finally passes out on the sofa.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And that's the signal. Mustapha gets up, walks downstairs, and
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: he unlocks that big steel gate for his friend Haytham.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: He opens the door for the killer.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Haytham comes up. He sees Haaj Muhammad on the sofa asleep.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: He just walks over and slits his throat, no hesitation.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: It was a pure execution.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: But Aunt, she's in the other room. She only had
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: half the tea.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: She hears something, a thud, footsteps. She stumbles out of
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the bedroom all groggy, and she sees two men in
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: her living room.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: A stranger over her husband and her nephew, Mustapha.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: And this is the most horrific part of the whole thing.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: She sees her nephew and thinks, thank God, Mustafa is
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: here to help me.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Oh my god.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: She screams his name, Mustapha. Help he's killing her uncle.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Help me. She thinks, hate them is the intruder and
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Mustapha is her savior.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: And what does he do.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: He runs towards her, not to save her. He tackles her.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: He puts his hand over her mouth to stop her
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: from screaming, and holds his aunt down on the floor.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: He yelled her down, He.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: Pinned her down while she was begging him for help.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: So his friend could kill her. Hatham walked over and
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: stabbed her in the heart and then the neck. She
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: died looking at the face of the boy she trusted that.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I don't even have a word for that. It's just monstrous.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: It is the absolute erasure of humanity in that moment.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: She wasn't his aunt, she wasn't family. She was just
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: an obstacle, an obstacle between him and his next fix.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: So after all that, they have to get out of there. Yeah,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: but Hatham is covered in blood.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: It's a slaughterhouse. So he goes into the dead man's bedroom,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: opens his wardrobe and puts on one of Hajj Mohammad's
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: own Gulibia's over his bloody clothes.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Wearing the dead man's clothes to escape.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable. And they grab the cash, the gold, the receipts,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: and they leave.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Where do they go?
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: They meet the lookout go to his house to divide
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: it all up, about six thousand Egyptian pounds in cash
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: plus the gold. And what is the very first thing
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: they do with that money.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: They go buy drugs.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: Instantly before they even properly wash the blood off. The
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: mission wasn't the money. The money was just a means
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: to an end. The mission was the high.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: It just brings you back to the tragedy of the
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: inside job. You know, Haaj Mohammed bought a steel gate,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: he had locks, But none of it matters.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: None of it matters when the threat has your own
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: blood and you open the door for it yourself. We're
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: so afraid of the stranger in the dark. But security
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: is just an illusion when you're betrayed by trust.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: And the tea cup is the perfect symbol of that hospitality, safety,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Come in, have a drink exactly.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: The empty cup is a forensic artifact of truck and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: that half full cup, that's the artifact of betrayal.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: What happened to them, Mustapha and the others.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: The Egyptian courts don't take kindly to this kind of
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: premeditated familial murder. The evidence was crushing. They were all
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: tried and all three were sentenced to death.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: It's just I can't thought thinking about the parents of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: those twins. You raise two boys identical DNA, same house.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: One becomes a good kid, the other a month.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: It's every parent's worst nightmare. And it's so much more
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: than nature versus nurture. I think it's about the corrosive
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: power of addiction. It just it hallows you out. It
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: takes away everything that makes you human until you can
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: hold your own screaming aunt down while she's being murdered.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: It's a heavy one to sit with. The mystery isn't
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: really who donit. The mystery is how could they do it?
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: How does a person switch off that part of their brain?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And that's the question forensics can never answer. We can
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: find the poison, but we can't map the darkness and
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: the human heart that allows it to be used.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: We'll leave it there for this deep dive, a grim
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: reminder that the real dangers are sometimes the ones we
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: invite inside. Stay safe, We'll see you next time.