Post by Scumhunter on Sept 15, 2015 9:50:25 GMT -5
(Above: Sketch of possible suspect in case, additional photos of Taima family can be found on patch.com link at bottom of this posting)
The case of the murders of the Taima Family in Fairfax County, Virginia was aired on the July 10th, 1999 episode of America's Most Wanted. As far as I know, the killer is still at large. Below is a news article on the case:
A 1999 triple murder at a home not far from McLean High and Kent Gardens Elementary schools sent shock waves through the community. Although a dim memory now, the investigating detective con9tinues to work the cold case.
Fairfax County Police Det. Robert J. Murphy was the lead detective investigating the May 26, 1999, murders of Fuad Khazi Taima, 63, a businessman; his wife, Dorothy Mae Taima, 54, an English teacher who ran referee assignments for the McLean Youth Soccer Association, and their son, Leith, 16, a student at McLean High School.
They died of gunshot wounds at their home at 6808 Broyhill St., and were found three days later after police received a tip from anonymous caller.
Detectives have followed many leads, he said. They still don’t have a suspect.
"We do have ballistic evidence. We have fingerprints and some DNA evidence, none of which have led us to a perpetrator," Murphy told the McLean Patch.
But authorities do have a composite sketch based on information from a family friend who saw the visitor before leaving the home. Murphy dug the sketch out of police records and sent it our way.
This much is known about Fuad Khazi Taima, according to Murphy: He was an Iraqi national and a U.S. citizen. He would travel back and forth to Iraq on business deals. He would be the broker between American businessmen and Iraqi businesses. His family was well-connected to the Iraqi government. And there were pictures of him with Saddam Hussein at his home.
The investigation turned to examining Taima’s business affairs, including scores of documents and computer files they took from his home shortly after the killing.
At the time, investigators were unable to pursue leads in Iraq because of the Iraqi dictatorship. Since Iraq fell and Saddam was executed, Murphy said investigators have been invited into the country to look at documents and search for clues.
"There was a lot of speculation whether this could be an Iraqi-sanctioned thing," Murphy said. "We haven't found anything to document or prove that it was an Iraqi-government hit."
But the search for a murder suspect has been "mindboggling," Murphy said.
"What I think happened is that the murders were financial in nature," he added. "His business deals had really dried up. He was desperate to make a deal. He had borrowed a lot of money from a lot of people. The popular theory is that he had the deal of a lifetime, and someone had come to collect the money he was owed."
Chances are the case will never be solved although John Walsh from America's Most Wanted ran a segment on it. Murphy is now assigned to cold cases in the Fairfax County police department and remembers the cold-blooded murders well.
And some of us still remember the flowers laid at a makeshift memorial outside McLean High School for an innocent boy named Lieth.
Thoughts? This reminds me a bit of the 2014 unsolved murder of the Sun family in Houston, Texas. Obviously unrelated cases, but similar circumstances, entire family is killed, no one seemed to hear the gunshots (or at least I'm assuming this is the case since the Taimas' deaths went unreported for three days), and the father's international business dealings is thought to be a potential lead in the case.
Admin Note #1: Based on news articles, anyone with leads on this case should contact: Detective Robert J. Murphy, Fairfax County Police Department, CIB/ Cold Case Homicide Squad, 4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA 22030, (703) 246-7857
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
web.archive.org/web/20040210023750/http://www2.amw.com/site/archives/19990710/untaima.html
patch.com/virginia/mclean/mclean-triple-murder-case-still-alive-trail-cold
missing87975.yuku.com/topic/3179/UNSOLVED-CHILD-MURDER-LEITH-FUAD-TAIMA#.VfgwHvQYNOg
nypost.com/1999/05/31/saddam-eyed-in-execution-massacre-of-virginia-family/