Father Charged With Killing Daughters

Father Charged With Killing Daughters

Sarah and Amina Said, were very close friends and did well in school.

On January 1, 2008, someone brutally murdered teenaged sisters Sarah and Amina Said. Police say the killer shot the girls to death in the back of a taxi cab and then fled. The murder shocked the town of Lewisville, Texas, where the girls were from. But when police revealed the identity of the suspected killer, it shocked the nation.

Police have charged the girls' father -- Yaser Said -- with capital murder as well as unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

"I just don't understand," said Connie Maggio, the girls' aunt. "Those girls were horrified -- they must have been -- to have their dad pointing a gun at them."

But the girls' family, like Maggio, say in order to understand the way the girls died, it's important to take a closer look at the way they lived.

On the outside, they were beautiful young women who lived with determination and grace. But on the inside, they hid a secret.

"He treats me like a whore," Sarah Said wrote in an instant message conversation wither her friend, Zohair Zaidi.

Family Secrets, Family Disaster

Before they were killed, Sarah and Amina Said told friends they had a difficult relationship with their father, Yaser.

At school, the girls were respected by their teachers and peers. They had good grades and made it clear they hoped to go to college, and then medical school. They were known for their signature smiles.

But at home, the girls confessed to friends that they shed tears more often than not, because of their difficult realtionship with their father.

In 1998, the girls filed a police report, alleging that their father sexually abused them, but they later recanted the story.

However, they did confess to a few friends that the abuse continued.

"He treats me like a whore," Sarah Said wrote in an instant message conversation wither her friend, Zohair Zaidi.

Zohair said that the girls told him they were rarely allowed to participate in after school activities and that their father controlled every move they made.

Yaser made it clear they were especially forbidden from developing relationships with boys. In fact, Zohair said Sarah had programmed his phone number in her phone as "Amanda" so her dad wouldn't be suspicious of their friendship.

Cops Charge Father With Murders
However, it's what Yaser Said learned on Dec. 26, 2007, that allegedly sent him over the edge. Patricia Said told AMW that on that day, her husband learned that Amina had a boyfriend. Yaser Said was so upset, he allegedly threatened his daughters with a handgun.

Later that night, after Yaser went to work, the girls convinced their mother to run away with them. But days later, the girls and their mother returned home after Yaser Said promised to change.

Upon returning, Yaser invited his daughters to go to dinner with him. As the girls got into his taxi cab, they made it known they feared for their lives. Zohair says he received a final and haunting text message.

Sarah sent him a text message saying that they were back home and that she was worried. Zohair said he had a terrible feeling something was going to happen so he sent her a passage from the Koran, which translates as, "We are from God and to him we shall return."

It was the last time he spoke to Sarah. Shortly after, the Irving Police Department recieved a 9-1-1 call from Sarah Said saying that her father had shot her, and that she was dying.

When police found the girls, they were dead.