Let the investigation continue in the Al-Awadi case

Update Thurs April 5, 2012
"...The documents also show the woman's 17-year-old daughter, Fatima Alhimidi, was distraught over her pending arranged marriage to a cousin..."

"...Records obtained at El Cajon Superior Court on Wednesday showed the victim's plans to leave her husband..."

"...Fatima also had a previous run-in with police last November when she was caught having sex with a 21-year-old man in a parked car, the search warrants stated.
After being picked up by her mother, Fatima jumped out of her mother's car going 35 mph, according to the search warrants. Fatima suffered a possible broken arm and was placed on a medical hold...."

Sunday April 1, 2002

Ok, now there were 3 'go back to your country' notes, one 5 days before the killing, one left at the scene and one at the hospital, according to this Al-Jazeera report.

4/5/12 update --
The sheriff's crime lab determined it was a copy, not the original, according the documents.

Sat Mar 31 2012 The reporters must be frustrated at how little information is being revealed by the investigators. Perhaps the investigators are frustrated with how little new information is being discovered? Anyway they have no "persons of interest" at this time.

Iraqi-American woman slain in US is buried in Iraq
By BUSHRA JUHI and HADI MIZBAN Associated Press
Posted: 03/31/2012 08:50:21 AM PDT

NAJAF, Iraq—An Iraqi-American woman found bludgeoned to death in her California home last week, with a threatening note left beside her body, was buried in her native Iraq on Saturday. Family members wept uncontrollably by her graveside and her father asked God to exact revenge on those responsible for her death....

5:30 p.m., March 28, 2012
Updated 10:35 p.m.
Update: Few answers in Iraqi woman's death

Hate crimes in El Cajon rare

(here is the statewide hate crimes report, I think the reporter mixed something up in her last paragraph

HATE CRIMES, 2010 ) Hey, where did that last paragrapgh go? lol.

Update: Police logs describe possible suspect in murder of El Cajon mother
Updated: Mar 28, 2012 5:50 PM PDT

Update: Family of murdered Iraqi-American woman recounts story of brutal attack
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Last Updated: Tue Mar 27, 2012 18:12 pm (KSA) 15:12 pm (GMT) Al Arabiya News

"...Hamidi said he and his wife are both from the city of al-Samawa in the governorate of al-Muthana in southern Iraq.

“We got married in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia.”
...

Where Are The Protests Against the Killing of Shaima Al Awadi?
A muslim mother of four gets beaten to death in her California home and left with the message "Go back to your country, you terrorist." But there won't be a million hijab march for her.
By NINA BURLEIGH | @ninaburleigh | March 28, 2012

I added Ms. Burleigh's TIME magazine article because there is a tiny bit of background information on Iraqi refugees in the US, but I don't believe that she has been following local news reports or neighbor's interviews on this particular case and frankly, her article belongs on the opinion page where I found it.
-------------

I don’t know why that no one has been arrested in in the case of Shaima Alawadi, but her body is being flown back to Iraq:

San Diego murder victim Shaima Alawadi to return to Iraq

A hate crime appears to be the most obvious answer because of the note (s), but I have alternate theories that may still pertain to the hateful note. It might have been smokescreen left there by the killer(s) and used by the police in order to continue their investigation.

Here are some other things to think about.

Even if the killer was a racist pig and/or a right-wing nut-job, methamphetimine use in El Cajon is well known, and the area is pretty well mixed as far as socioeconomic and educational levels go and racial make-up in the area is varied. (According to this, El Cajon is whiter than I thought, and thank you wikipedia for cluing me into the fact that there is a Chaldean mafia in bed with Mexican drugs cartels AND the Sicilian Mafia, because I didn't know about these arrests).

Also well known is that the Iraqi community in El Cajon has a majority of Chaldeans (kind of like Catholic Christians) and the Al Awadis are Shia and her “dream was to work and build bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities.”

"Redman said the ECPD (El Cajon Police Department) had never before recorded a hate crime against Iraqis or Chaldeans, tens of thousands of whom live in the East County."

The husband had worked for a US Army military contractor in San Diego as a cultural advisor to train US soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East, as did the brothers.

Yeah, sorry, but daughter’s dramatic skills are on display for the cameras here. I know that when I cry you can hear the stuffed up sinuses. Since the family came to the US in the early 90’s that kid was raised here, and most 17-year-olds do not consider their mother their best friend, even if the mother was very young when she started a family (15 in this case).

Common police procedure is to suspect the husband first, although he was taking some of his kids to school while his oldest daughter was sleeping upstairs and his wife was being hit in the head with a tire iron downstairs. Well some reports say she was sleeping upstairs and others say she came in the house and found her mother unconscious. The victim's father was a Shia cleric in Iraq. Neighbor interviewed by local tv station says it looked to her that the back slider door's glass shattered out, not in.

From what I can gather, the mother’s last name and the daughter’s last name are not the same, and the family lived in San Diego before and had very recently moved back.

So, those may be some factors in why nobody has been arrested in this case yet, or there just may not be any evidence that the killer(s) left, the labs haven’t finished processing any evidence or interrogations haven’t tripped anyone up yet. Obviously the killer(s) haven’t been caught.

Tragic Beating Death of Shaima Alawadi Feeds Into Trayvon Martin Race Debate
By Andre Tartar
Mar 25, 2012 NYmag

"We don't want to jump to any conclusions and say it's a hate crime when there is still a lot of investigation to be done," said Edgar Hopida, spokesman for CAIR in San Diego.

Update Tuesday March 27, 2012 7:45pm

Memorial Held For Slain Iraqi Woman

"...10News learned that the family mini-van was hauled away on a flat-bed tow truck for forensic examination, as police crime scene technicians combed the house and backyard in search of additional clues on Tuesday morning..."

Hmmmmm. Maybe there is a suspicion that the attacker was acquainted with the family well enough to leave clues in the van? The attacker came in the house through the garage and grabbed the tire iron the daughter mentioned on the way into the house? The coroner's report was sealed by the police at least 2 days ago.