- [narrator] a harrowing hit and run in a suburb of phoenix.
- A silver-colored suv turned directly into these two women
And drove over at least one of these women.
- It was a nightmare unfolding before their eyes
- [narrator] reveals a family in turmoil.
- The victims, noor almaleki and amal khalaf
Were originally from iraq.
- Both families were forming a new community,
Creating a new family in the united states with each other.
- Noor definitely did fit into that
Average american teenager.
She just wanted to live life,
But it seemed like her dad always made the calls
Or the rules.
- Noor's father felt dishonoured by amal
And dishonoured by his daughter.
- It was a little bit of a romeo and juliet situation
- [narrator] until a father and mother lose their grip.
- There was real animosity between the two families.
We don't know if another family member
Would've gone to the hospital to finish the job.
- She didn't deserve it
And I'm sorry that she didn't get to experience
What it was like to be free.
- It was an incredible family feud
That just escalated into something unthinkable.
(suspenseful music)
- [narrator] on a sunny afternoon in a suburb of phoenix,
Police receive multiple 911 calls
Reporting an alarming incident.
- The callers stated that a silver-colored suv had struck
Two women in the parking lot
Of the department of economic security building.
- When officers responded to the parking lot of the des,
They found a woman who looked like she had been struck
By a vehicle and she got thrown quite a distance.
There was another younger female who was on the ground.
She was laying in the rocks near a tree.
She was face down and she had significant injuries,
But thankfully both victims were still alive.
- Officers shut down that parking lot
And paramedics arrived on scene
And treated both female victims
And transferred them immediately
To the closest trauma centre.
- Several people were trying to assist
Whatever way they could.
The witnesses were claiming
That the incident is most likely not an accident.
- That's when my squad, the violent crimes unit,
Were requested to respond to the scene.
- By the time chris and I got on scene,
The two females had already been transported
To the hospital, so, I was in possession of their purses.
I ended up looking at those to figure out
Basically who these women were.
We learned that it was
A 20-year-old female named noor almaleki,
And there was a 43-year-old woman named amal khalaf.
At this point in the investigation,
We have no idea how they're related to each other.
- [narrator] detectives also recover a cell phone
Among the victim's personal items,
Which they collect for further analysis,
Then begin processing the rest of the scene.
- As I'm looking towards where this incident occurred,
I see a couple things.
I see marks on the black asphalt
On the south side of the building.
I see tyre transfer marks on the raised median.
I also see a palo verde tree
That's been completely knocked down
And what appears to be marks in the gravel
Going towards the street.
So, there was a lot to see and a lot to digest.
And now, our main goal as investigators
Is to find out what happened and reconstruct that scene.
- First thing I needed to do is find out who saw it,
And I found some women that were working in a corner office
Basically right outside of where this happened.
- They observed a silver-colored suv
Come from the west side of the building
And drive in an accelerated pace
Towards where these two women were walking
And turned the vehicle directly into these two women,
And drove over at least one of these women.
- Then the vehicle went off a little bit to the side,
Stopped and then tore outta the scene.
- They said, "and it was just chaos and terror,"
And it was just a nightmare unfolding before their eyes.
- Witnesses described the vehicle as being a silver,
Possibly a jeep suv, possibly a couple years old,
But none of the witnesses or bystanders
Were able to obtain a licence plate on this vehicle.
- So, we had a vehicle, but the detectives
Are still confused as to why somebody would
Race through a parking lot and strike two women
And then leave.
We had to figure out who they were and why this happened.
(soft piano music) (timeline clicks)
- The victims, noor almaleki and amal khalaf
Were originally from iraq
- In the early '90s, amal khalaf and her family
Moved to the united states,
And then quite soon after the almalekis move in nearby
And made friend with amal and her family,
- Noor was the oldest in the family.
She had six younger siblings.
Her father, faleh almaleki had a job as a truck driver.
- Her mother, seham, works as an interpreter
For the military.
- The almalekis and the khalafs
Were forming a new community,
Creating a new family in the united states with each other.
- Amal at times would babysit for the family
And the relationship grew between amal and noor.
Even though there was quite a difference in age,
They had a relationship that blossomed between them.
Amal is raising her children in the western culture.
Faleh and seham try to raise their family
In the traditional iraqi culture,
Which is somewhat difficult and challenging
Given that they're living in peoria, arizona.
- I met noor at my junior year 2006.
Noor and I went to dysart high school.
We were really close and good friends.
Noor definitely did fit into that average american teenager.
Noor was really pretty.
She had really dark brown hair and her eyes were really big
And brown and beautiful.
- Her hair was always perfect.
She was always spraying her hair into perfection.
- I could see her definitely using all the hair spray.
She had a lot of hair.
Noor definitely wanted to be independent.
She couldn't wait to move out.
She couldn't wait to have her own apartment, her own house.
She just wanted to live life.
Times that I would go to her house,
I was never allowed to go upstairs or go to her room.
It seemed like her dad always made the calls or the rules.
Noor's brothers I felt like were treated with more respect.
Definitely her older brother, ali,
Was free to do things that she wasn't able to do
Because he was a boy and she was a girl.
So, he had more freedom than she did.
Every time we tried to hang out, she had to go back home.
There was always a time limit for her.
- Her father, faleh and her mother seham
Really relied on her to take care of the family
And they wanted her home
And that was the root of an incredible family feud
That just escalated into something unthinkable.
- [narrator] less than an hour after the incident,
Investigators are split.
Are they dealing with an accident or an intentional act?
- So, detectives at the scene call out
An accident reconstruction expert.
- The traffic team came up with some marks on the pavement
That made it look like this vehicle made an abrupt turn
And then went directly at like a tree.
- It was a direction where the victims were
When they were struck.
Officers estimated that the vehicle was travelling
Anywhere between 25 and 30 miles an hour
At the time of impact.
Based on that, it was becoming readily apparent
That this was not an accident,
That this was an intentional act.
There would be absolutely no reason for a driver
To steer their vehicle in that manner
To a raised median area where two individuals were walking.
We knew that we had a very serious case
And we were investigating this
As an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Our main goal as investigators is to locate the individual
That's responsible for this
And find out why these two women were severely injured
And run over by a vehicle.
- [narrator] while police finished processing the scene,
A pair of detectives head to the hospital
Where noor and amal are being assessed by doctors.
- Noor almaleki, she had several vertebrae that were broken,
Several internal injuries including brain injuries,
Which left her unconscious
And in critical condition fighting for her life.
Amal khalaf had suffered a broken pelvis, broken femur,
And other injuries which left her
In serious but stable condition.
- While at the hospital detectives spoke with
And interviewed amal's 19-year-old son marwan.
Marwan was tending to his mother, who was seriously injured,
And dealing with his friend noor being near death.
But he told us that there was a lot of animosity there
Between the khalaf family and the almaleki family
Going back several years,
And he specifically directed investigators
To look at the almaleki family.
- They didn't want her to talk to a boy,
They didn't want her to dress the way she was dressing,
They didn't want her to wear makeup.
They just want her to stop being so americanized.
- Investigators located text messages
That were found on noor's phone.
- [narrator] in the hours following a hit and run
That put amal khalaf and noor almaleki in the hospital,
Amal's son marwan makes the jaw-dropping accusation
That noor's family may have been involved somehow.
- Marwan told investigators that the problems
Probably began when noor decided
That she wanted to be her own person.
- Noor was doing well at school.
She was popular, she had friends.
She was thinking of a new future and adopting a new culture
And her father becomes disapproving.
Faleh was deciding to raise his children
With more conservative, traditional beliefs,
Where the collective good must be upheld,
Where male dominance, male control is status quo,
And the female that she must always act
In a way that's honourable.
In his mind, she is outta control.
- Anytime I went over to noor's house
They would be arguing all the time.
Her dad wanted her to live the way he wanted her to live.
They just want her to stop being so americanized.
- Noor was trying to balance the secret,
Double life at home.
The mother did not try to stop this.
I mean, she had grown up in that culture too.
- She didn't wanna disappoint her mom
And she did have siblings,
So, she knew that they looked up to her,
So, it was important for her to kind of
Follow the same traditions or ways.
So, it was a really hard balance.
- One thing in particular that faleh was very strict on
Was noor having any relationship of any type
With other males.
Certainly could not date them.
- He didn't want her talk to a boy.
He didn't want her to dress the way she was dressing.
He didn't want her to wear makeup.
- Marwan told investigators that faleh saw it as her being
Not true to the beliefs of the family
And that because of her actions,
She was bringing dishonour to the family.
- [narrator] according to marwan, as noor has struggled
To toe the line between the two worlds,
She found solace with his mother amal.
- She reached out to probably the one person
Who she felt she could reach out to and that was amal.
- In contrast to the way noor's parents treated her,
Amal treated her with love and respect.
And from what I gather, she felt safe there
And she felt like she could be herself
And she could live her life.
- Amal is raising her children in the western culture.
She has embraced it, which is totally opposite
Of what's happening in noor's family
And noor begins dating marwan, amal's son.
Noor was spending more and more time
Over at his family's house.
And so, it was young love.
- [narrator] as noor's relationship
With the khalaf family blossoms,
Her home life continues to deteriorate.
- Tensions rise between noor and faleh,
When faleh learned that noor was dating marwan,
- Investigators learned that faleh was incredibly frustrated
And angry with noor dating marwan.
It was a little bit of a romeo and juliet situation.
- And in February of 2009, months prior to the incident,
Noor gets into another bad argument with her parents,
But this time she gathers her belongings
And she really makes an effort to try
And establish herself away from her parents.
- She was in her early 20s.
She got an apartment with a friend.
She began going to community college in glendale, arizona,
And she got a job at a restaurant.
- Within a very short time, faleh and seham
Show up at the restaurant and harass noor,
Stating that she needs to be at home,
That she shouldn't be working.
Her actions are bringing dishonour to the family.
It got to the point where she has to quit her job.
- So, without any money or resources,
Noor returns back home with her parents.
Noor still feels dutiful toward them
And as a concession to them,
She vows not to see marwan anymore.
- Based on initial statements by marwan at the hospital
The night of the incident, this wasn't just an issue
Between noor and her dad or her mom.
This was an issue between the almalekis
And amal's family and her children.
Marwan believed that the almalekis
Were responsible for this.
But it was very difficult to understand
How a father could do this to his own daughter.
We need to investigate and find out what's going on.
- [narrator] the accusations give investigators pause
When it comes to notifying the almaleki family
Of this tragedy, as does the evidence
Found on the cell phones collected at the scene.
- One of the key pieces of evidence that we located
Was a text message noor had between herself
And a friend on the date and the time of the incident.
- At 1:18 p.M., noor sent to her friend the following.
- Her friend responds,
- To which noor replied,
- Noor continues to her friend,
That last text was at 1:27, so, approximately 35 minutes
Before somebody ran her over with a 4,000-pound suv.
- [narrator] now three hours into the investigation,
A pair of detectives head to the home of the almaleki family
To question noor's father faleh,
While the team at the hospital learn
One of the victims is able to speak.
- Detectives were able to speak to amal
Before she went into surgery.
We had to obtain a translator.
- And she says she saw who the driver was.
- [narrator] just hours after being attacked
In a hit and run, amal is miraculously
Ready to speak to detectives.
- We conducted a fairly extensive interview with her,
And before she goes into surgery
Amal was able to tell detectives
What actually happened in the minutes before the incident.
On the day of the incident,
Amal and noor had gone to the des building.
Noor had gone there to translate for amal.
Amal was there changing her address
'cause they had recently moved.
- They went inside.
While they're waiting, faleh happens to walk in.
That's when noor begins texting her friend,
A short time later, faleh leaves the building.
- Amal told us that noor was so scared.
She was scared to go outside.
So, amal told her, "hey, I'll go outside."
And she walks outside to scan the parking lot
To see if faleh's vehicle's there.
She didn't see it in the main parking lot,
And that's when she realised
That she had locked her keys in her car.
- They decide that they're going to
Walk across the parking lot to the restaurant,
So that they can wait for family to come out
And bring the other set of keys.
- As the two are walking across the parking lot,
Her attention is drawn to the revving of an engine
And she looks in that direction
And she sees a silver suv coming at her,
And she recognises who's driving that vehicle.
- Amal tells detectives that the driver
Was noor's father, faleh almaleki.
- She saw a look on his face that she described
As being angry, as being mean, as being focused.
Amal tells us that she puts her hands up
Motioning for him to stop.
He doesn't and he strikes amal,
Catapulting her about 25 feet in the air.
After hitting amal, he turns the vehicle further
And takes a bead on noor, who's directly in front of him.
And with that vehicle, he strikes her
With the front bumper and grille area.
She's forced underneath the vehicle
And he proceeds to run the entire vehicle over her body
Before exiting the parking lot.
- So, at this point in the investigation
We realised that faleh almaleki, which is noor's father,
Is our number one suspect.
We looked into some databases
And realised that there was a licence plate
To a jeep cherokee in his name.
- That vehicle was registered to him
At his residence in glendale, arizona.
This is our guy.
It's unfathomable for me as a father
That a parent would do this
To a beautiful 20-year-old female
That had her whole life in front of her.
And we gotta put him in jail as quickly as we can.
(dramatic music) (timeline clicks)
Several investigators responded to a home in glendale.
When we first got in the neighbourhood
Where the almalekis reside,
We conducted surveillance out there
To see if faleh was there.
If he's there, it totally changes the way we do things
From a tactical standpoint.
- [narrator] while detectives keep an eye on the home,
Faleh's phone records are pulled and analysed.
- Based on where his phone calls were being processed
By the cell towers, we know he stayed in that parking lot
For 46 minutes prior to this incident.
So, we know that he was laying in wait.
We know that he knew that our victims
Were inside that building,
And we know that faleh had called ali, the oldest son,
And his wife seham before and after
The incident at the des building.
- [narrator] armed with this information,
Detectives decide to make a move on the almaleki home.
- We didn't see any movement,
But time is not really on our side at this point.
So, we knocked on the door
And we made contact with noor's brother ali.
- Ali's demeanour was, I would say, guarded.
Noor's mother seham was not at home.
We learned that she was working out of town at her job.
We were already armed with some information
And we knew that he had made several phone calls to ali
Before and after the incident.
So, one of the first questions is, "hey, ali,
When's the last time you heard from your dad?"
Ali said he hadn't talked to his dad
Since early in the morning
And ali said he hadn't heard from him since.
So, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing,
We know we're dealing with a liar here.
We're dealing with an individual
That's not gonna be forthcoming.
After we had our first conversation with ali,
We didn't leave.
At this point, we didn't know if faleh
Could be returning to the house.
So, we kept surveillance on the house.
In the meantime, we focused our efforts
On attempting to locate the suspect, faleh almaleki,
In that jeep cherokee.
- Now what we do is we contact the border patrol
Because here in phoenix we're not that far away
From the mexico border.
I created a bulletin that we can send out
And then we put something out on the media
To be on the lookout for this person.
- Police are still looking for almaleki.
He was last seen leaving this area.
He was in a 2000 grey or silver jeep cherokee.
And we do have a licence plate number
That you should be on the lookout for.
If you have any information,
Definitely contact peoria police.
- [narrator] while investigators get the word out
About faleh and his jeep,
The following day, they're able to get in touch with
Noor's mother, seham, by phone.
- She was returning from her work in california.
So, we've asked her about faleh, his location,
And she tells us that she didn't know where he was,
But she wanted to know the status
Of her daughter and where she was.
This phone call's being recorded
- We did not want the location of noor known
Until we figure out what's going on.
When we told seham that we were not disclosing
Where noor was, seham got incensed,
Began yelling and screaming.
Detectives tried to reason with her.
Basically telling her that
Your husband's responsible for this.
- We were all a little bit flabbergasted by the response.
In seham's eyes, amal khalaf had a lot to do with this
And that she was the reason why this happened.
- Seham tells detectives that this woman is dirty,
This family is dirty.
- She continued to be verbally abusive,
But she insisted on knowing where noor was.
- Detectives would not tell her
And ultimately ended up hanging up the phone.
Noor's still very much in danger at this point,
Not only from a medical standpoint,
But we don't know if her father or another family member
Or co-conspirator would've gone to the hospital
And tried to do her harm or to finish the job.
(dramatic music)
- We got a call from the mexican authorities
That they found the jeep.
- To find out that he got all the way down to mexico,
We were very concerned.
- The family was helping noor's father get away.
- [narrator] despite investigators best efforts,
Keeping noor's location a secret,
It's not enough to keep her family away.
- Ultimately, family members did determine
Where noor was being treated and word travels fast.
So, at some point everybody knew where noor and amal were
And the family members congregated there.
Based on the adverse context that we had
With the almaleki family,
I felt that noor was still in danger.
So, we decide to post our swat team members at her door.
- [narrator] with no clear evidence
Implicating noor's mother seham in the incident,
Investigators have no choice
But to let her see her daughter.
- When noor's mother went to see her in the hospital,
Noor's mother touched noor
And noor's heart started beating really fast,
(monitor beeps)
- Very, very, very telling sign.
It almost seems like she knew that she's possibly in danger.
- [narrator] noor's family continues to remain tight-lipped,
So, detectives follow up with marwan
To gain more insight into the family dynamics,
Particularly faleh's motive.
- Marwan told investigators that the biggest thing
For faleh that motivated him the most
Was a very serious incident that happened
When noor was about 17 or 18.
(dramatic music) (timeline clicks)
- In 2007, her father pulled her out of high school,
She was a senior, and he told her
She needed to go to iraq to visit a sick relative.
So, off noor went, and when she got there,
She realised she'd been tricked,
That he had arranged a marriage for her there
And she was supposed to go through with it.
- There's accounts of her having to make a choice
Between five older men.
I believe they were faleh's male relatives.
(dramatic music)
- Noor had told me that her dad forced her
To marry somebody.
She definitely did not wanna do that.
She wanted to be married to who she wanted to be married to.
Her dad just thought
That she was being too much like an american
And didn't want her to be like that.
- This happens when noor was 17,
A time when she was maturing
And we can only imagine the absolute fear
And trauma she felt knowing that she didn't have a passport.
She's in a different country.
She has no control.
- [narrator] marwan tells detectives
Noor never revealed how the marriage ended,
But she returned to the united states a few months later
And in the aftermath her relationship with her father
Continued to break down
- Make no mistake, he would've seen this
As absolute dishonour and shameful behaviour
That she had decided to leave the marriage
That he had forced her into.
- In June, 2009, the family had the final blowout
And noor left and went and slept in the van
Of a long time family friend, amal khalaf.
And amal woke up to find noor in the van
And noor said her father had hit her.
So, amal's family took her in
And noor's family didn't approve of that.
- Amal by providing that solace and comfort
Was undermining how they thought noor should be treated,
Which was with disrespect and contempt.
- Noor begins seeing marwan again and faleh
And seham find out.
- As far as he was concerned, this was the ultimate insult.
Noor's father now was not only at war with his daughter,
But with amal's family.
He threatened noor that if she didn't leave that house
Something bad was going to happen.
- About two months prior to this incident,
Faleh and seham arrived at amal's house
At approximately one o'clock in the morning,
Demanding that noor come home,
Pounding on the door, making such a disturbance
That the police are called.
- Police arrive and they confront faleh
Right there at the doorway of amal's house.
He said, "I'm here to bring my daughter back."
- Faleh began telling the officer
That the western united states laws don't pertain to him
And he would spend the rest of his life in jail
To have his daughter not live with this family.
- [narrator] chilling words only months prior
To the hit and run.
And as of now, still on the run,
Faleh has managed to avoid the law.
- Law enforcement continued to conduct surveillance
And we learned that almaleki
Was an insulin-dependent diabetic.
And we figured that perhaps he may have tried
To get a prescription prior to leaving.
We had to reach out and notify the pharmacy,
"hey, if somebody comes in here, please notify the police."
Two days after the incident, October 22nd,
We received just that information.
- Somebody picked up a prescription in noor's father's name
But it wasn't him.
- The description of the people
Who picked up the prescription matched the description
Of ali and seham.
- It seemed like they were trying to connect with him
To give him his medication, which meant to me
That he was probably gonna be
Going someplace on a long trip.
- The family was helping noor's father get away.
- [narrator] detectives are disturbed by this revelation
And question why the family of the victim
Appears to be aiding their main suspect.
- I had never investigated a case like this before,
But I had previously read articles on honour violence
And honour killings, and I saw so many similarities.
- The un estimated 5,000 women in the world
Are killed each year in so-called honour killings.
They're typically associated with countries in south asia
And arab cultures, but they also occur across europe
And across north america.
Victims of honor-based violence and honour killings
Are being told that their behaviour is shameful
And it's not one perpetrator,
But it's a collective of people
Trying to bring them back into line by using verbal abuse,
Coercive control, physical force.
- It's a predetermined, premeditated action,
But it's also something that's usually agreed upon,
Not only by the perpetrator,
But perhaps the perpetrator's spouse,
Or immediate family members.
- [narrator] before detectives can confront noor's mother
And oldest brother about their role
In the potential honour killing,
The case has a major breakthrough.
- So, we got a call from the mexican authorities
That they found the jeep.
- The vehicle was in proper operating order,
And there was vegetation consistent
With the type of vegetation at the scene
And some human tissue on the undercarriage of the vehicle.
- We had the forensic evidence tested
That we found underneath the jeep.
It came back as a positive match to noor.
- It was apparent we had faleh's vehicle,
But we still didn't know where this person was.
And I was frustrated beyond frustrated to find out
That he got all the way down to mexico.
We were very concerned he was gonna try to get to baghdad
And if he got back to iraq,
We'd never get him back in the united states.
That was our biggest fear that we were not gonna be able to
Bring justice to amal and noor.
- [narrator] a week ha
In the manhunt for faleh almaleki.
He's wanted for the hit and run that put his daughter noor
And family friend amal in the hospital.
- On October 27th, we get a phone call
From british customs from gatwick international airport
In london, England, saying, "we got almaleki.
We've got him detained."
And we learned that he had flown from mexico city
Directly to london gatwick.
Upon getting off the plane, he was met by british customs
And they put him on the first plane
Back to the united states, which happened to be a flight
The following morning to atlanta, georgia.
- Chris and I flew to atlanta.
We were gonna rush to get there
So we could be there when he got off the plane.
- When faleh comes off the plane,
We escort him to the customs office there at the airport
And we started an interview with him.
- One of the main questions was, why did you do it?
- Initially, almaleki told us, "I didn't mean to do that.
It was totally an accident.
I lost control of the vehicle."
Well, detective balson and I both know,
Based on that scene reconstruction, this is no accident.
So, we checked him on that a little bit
And he goes from, "oh, it was an accident,"
To, "oh, I wanted to drive close to them and spit on them.
I wanted to scare them, but I didn't wanna hurt 'em.
I didn't wanna kill 'em."
- Faleh never really showed any type of concern for noor.
He wasn't asking how she was doing,
What her condition was.
And to be honest with you, I don't even know
If he knew at that point whether or not
She was dead or alive.
At one point it seemed like he was gonna show some remorse,
But when he saw that that wasn't gonna work
With two guys like us,
He went right into basically slamming noor
And saying all these negative things about her
And how she was the reason why this happened.
- At one point he said basically, if you have a house
And a small portion of that house is on fire,
You have to put that small fire out
Or it's gonna burn the whole house down.
Detective balson and I both looked at each other
And had that kind of that aha moment like,
"is noor the fire?"
And he agreed that she was.
- What this is telling us is that her place
As an individual is not as important
As the collective, the family.
And he had to show essentially everybody that he disapproved
And the murder is justified.
She did it. She's to blame. It's her fault.
- Finally, after quite some time and some discussion,
He admits that it was his intent to hurt
And run both of them over.
But he goes back to saying, "I lost control. I snapped.
It wasn't something that I planned."
You know, it was all these excuses instead of saying,
"yeah, I did it and I meant to do it."
- Following his interview with detectives,
The defendant is placed under arrest.
He then waives extradition is transported back to arizona
Where he is charged.
- I was happy that he was apprehended
And he would be facing justice for what he did to noor.
She didn't deserve that.
No one deserves that at all.
- [narrator] investigators finally have faleh,
But the good news is short-lived
As noor's health takes a sharp decline
- Between the time of the incident on October 20th
And November 2nd, 2009, noor never regained consciousness.
She deteriorated to a state
Where there was no further brain activity.
- They did have to talk to noor's mom
And ask her whether or not she thought that
Noor should be removed from life support.
- And on November 2nd, at about 11:54 hours in the morning,
Doctors disconnected noor from life support
And she subsequently died.
She was 20 years old.
(dramatic music)
- When she died, she now becomes another crime scene for us
And that we need to use that information.
- Detective balson and I responded to the hospital
Immediately, knowing that there's probably
Gonna be some issues.
In some muslim traditions, they do not,
Or will not allow an autopsy
To be conducted on the dead body.
So, detective balson and I get to the icu
And we're met with a lot of people
That are not very happy to see us,
Including members of the almaleki family, to include ali,
Who basically told me that we were not
Taking his sister anywhere.
We knew that that was not an option,
That we have to have an autopsy because
If the doc don't say she died because of this
And it was homicide, we don't have a case.
- Noor almaleki had been
And it was believed to have been an honour killing.
- After she died we're gonna do an autopsy on her body
To find out exactly what happened to her
And that created an issue inside the hospital.
Family members started showing up
Because they did not want an autopsy on the body.
They started to try to block us from going in the room.
- I called some patrol officers here to assist us,
Basically telling the almaleki family,
If they do anything to noor we're taking everybody to jail.
Everybody's going.
There was real concerns that there may be an attempt
To try to take her body from us by family members.
So, we locked ourselves in the morgue
And waited until the medical examiner's van got there.
- [narrator] noor's body is secured
And taken back to the examiner's office,
Where investigators take a closer look.
- They found that blunt force trauma caused the injuries,
Which caused the blood clots,
And then all of her organs ultimately shut down
When an infection spread throughout her body.
- All of those medical maladies
Were a result of what faleh did to her.
The official medical examiner's report says,
The cause of death was blunt force trauma
And the manner was homicide.
- Faleh was charged with first-degree, premeditated murder
And aggravated assault and leaving the scene.
Seham and ali are not charged with any crimes,
Although there was certainly evidence
Tending to implicate them in at least
Assisting in faleh's escape.
It was the assessment of the county attorney's office
That there was insufficient evidence
That we could prove their participation
Beyond a reasonable doubt.
- [narrator] focusing their case against faleh,
Attorneys prepare for the closely-watched trial,
But find noor's own family
Continuing to work against their case.
- The entire family backed the father
And no one from the family came in support of noor.
Trial proceeded on January 24th, 2011,
Almost two years since noor's passing.
It was the first honour killing
To be tried in the state of arizona.
Faleh almaleki pleads not guilty.
- One family friend does agree to testify for noor,
Faleh's second target, amal khalaf herself.
- Amal had to face faleh in the courtroom,
But she could not even look at him.
- After over three weeks in trial,
The case was given to the jury for deliberations
And after four days of deliberations
They returned a verdict.
The verdict was on count one,
Pre-meditated murder, not guilty.
But they did find the lesser offence
Of guilty on second degree murder,
Which means non-premeditated murder.
- [reporter] the emotion raw from noor's boyfriend,
Who shouted out during the proceedings
And was led out in tears.
- The defendant was ultimately sentenced
To 34 1/2 years in the department of corrections.
(faleh speaks a foreign language)
- I'm sorry, noor.
I'm very sorry.
- From working this case, I learned a lot about this culture
And I've learned to love a lot about this culture too.
And for him to do this,
I think it gives this culture a bad name
When it really shouldn't because we're talking about
A complete extreme end of his culture.
(dramatic music)
- It makes me really sad.
I'm sorry that she didn't get to experience
What it was like to be free.
He took my best friend away from me,
But away from her just living her life
When she just wanted to be happy.
- The feud between the families all came down to
Faleh felt dishonoured by amal
And dishonoured by his daughter.
And that's why now you have a beautiful young girl
Who no longer walks the face of this earth
And another lovely lady who will forever be physically
And emotionally harmed.
(soft piano music) - I think about noor
All the time.
There's not a day that I don't think about her.
She was a very strong woman.
And nobody should have to be hurt
Or killed for wanting to be happy and live their life.