Jury selection is to begin Monday in the trial of a Plainfield landlord accused of attacking a Palestinian American woman and killing her 6-year-old son after prosecutors say he was radicalized by conservative commentary around the war in Gaza.
The landlord allegedly stabbed his tenant, Hanan Shaheen, and her 6-year-old son, Wadee Al Fayoumi, in a case that drew national attention with the young boy becoming a symbol of anti-Palestinian violence.
Joseph Czuba, 73, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of committing a hate crime. Czuba was ordered to remain in Will County Jail while awaiting trial.
On Thursday, a judge ruled prosecutors may use statements Czuba made to a Will County sheriff’s deputy that “would incriminate him on the charges of hate crime or at the very least provide evidence of motive for the crimes he did allegedly commit,” according to the state’s filing.
In October 2023, Czuba became increasingly paranoid about the war in Gaza after listening to commentary on conservative talk radio, according to Will County prosecutors.
His wife told detectives that Czuba “believed he was in danger and [his tenant, Shaheen] was going to call Palestinian friends to come and harm them,” prosecutors said in earlier hearings.
He was also worried about a “national day of jihad” on Oct. 13 and allegedly told his wife that if nothing happened that day it would happen the next, without any further specifications, according to prosecutors.
On the morning of Oct. 14, 2023, Czuba allegedly knocked on the door to the family’s unit and began arguing with Shaheen about the Middle East, according to prosecutors.
Czuba allegedly stabbed Shaheen in the head and body.
Shaheen locked herself in a bathroom with a phone, according to prosecutors, but was unable to bring her son with her. She called 911 and told a dispatcher that “the landlord is killing her baby with a knife,” prosecutors said.
Officers arrived and found the boy lying shirtless on a bed, prosecutors said.
He had been stabbed 26 times, according to the Will County sheriff’s office.
In the days that followed, thousands attended services and vigils to honor Wadee. Family and community members gathered again in October 2024, for a remembrance ceremony, one year after the attack.
“They were picked almost randomly to represent all of us, and so in that sense we were all stabbed, we were all wounded, we were all killed that day,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said during the ceremony.
Last month, Shaheen met with President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss her grief, anti-Palestinian hate and dehumanizing political rhetoric.
In addition to the criminal case, Wadee’s family has also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Czuba, his wife, his brother and their property management companies.