JOLIET, Ill. — (AP) — Photos of a child's bloody body, a black knife holder and other crime scene evidence took center stage Wednesday at the murder and hate crime trial for an Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in 2023.
Joseph Czuba, 73, faces first-degree murder, attempted murder and hate crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen, in October 2023 in suburban Chicago. Authorities allege that Czuba — who was renting rooms to the mother and son in his house — targeted them because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted days earlier.
Police officers, firefighters and medical workers who responded on Oct. 14, 2023, testified on the second day of the trial, including Plainfield firefighter and paramedic Brandon Vainowski. He found Wadee in a bedroom and without a pulse. The child was naked with a knife still lodged in his side.
“The amount of blood that was on this child I couldn’t even count how many stab wounds," Vainowski said, describing how he wrapped the knife with gauze instead of removing it to prevent further injury.
Jurors were shown photos of the child and his wounded mother, who offered harrowing testimony a day earlier about hiding in a bathroom to call 911 after she said Czuba attacked her and moved on to her son. Prosecutors allege Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times.
The photos were put up on a television screen turned toward jurors and away from public seating, which included Wadee's father and reporters. His father, Odai Alfayoumi, is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them at the house. Pictures of close-up bloody wounds were briefly visible as prosecutors held up the photos to defense attorneys to admit for evidence.
Czuba has pleaded not guilty. He wore a tan suit and tie Wednesday, with his greying hair falling past his shoulders. He occasionally scribbled on a sheet of paper as he watched.
His defense attorneys have tried to poke holes in the case, saying key evidence connecting Czuba to the crimes is missing.
Several deputies with the Will County sheriff's office testified about how they found Shaheen and Czuba as prosecutors showed footage taken from their body-worn cameras.
“I observed a female subject, bleeding profusely from the face,” Matthew Starcevich, a sheriff's deputy, said of Shaheen. After that he said he went outside and saw Czuba lying on the ground near the single-family home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago.
Czuba sat up when he encountered officers, the video showed. Three pocket knives were nearby and officers removed a knife holder that Czuba was wearing. The black sheath attached to a belt was removed from a sealed evidence bag during court and held up for jurors. Defense attorneys repeated the process Wednesday afternoon with other crime scene evidence including clothes.
The family was renting two rooms from Czuba and his then-wife, who also lived at home. They shared a kitchen and living room. Shaheen has said they didn't have any issues previously in the two years they had rented from the Czubas.
His ex-wife, who now goes by Mary Connor, testified that they had a good relationship with Shaheen, who paid them $300 a month in rent and volunteered to pay the electricity bill.
Connor said things changed in the days after the war, describing Czuba as withdrawn and wanting Shaheen and her son to move immediately. The couple, married 30 years, disagreed. Mary said they needed to at least give the family a 30-day written notice.
“He felt that our lives might be in danger,” she said.
Connor was not home during the attack and was not questioned about it by attorneys. She said it wasn't unusual for Czuba to carry knives because he was handy around the home.
Shaheen testified a day earlier that Czuba told her they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. She urged him to “Pray for peace.” Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth, she testified in court.
A physician's assistant who treated Shaheen, who was checked into the hospital under the pseudonym "Sally Smith" to protect her privacy, testified about her wounds. Shaheen had multiple lacerations, including five to her face. Her recovery took weeks.
The attack, which generated headlines worldwide, has renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area's large and established Palestinian community. The proceedings also come amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
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