A person accused of killing a younger mom in Reston, Virginia, went on the run, on the very day his homicide trial was supposed to start.
Police say the defendant just lately fled to Canada. Fairfax County prosecutors say it’s precisely what they warned would occur after a choose first let the person out on bond, then later let him take away his GPS monitor.
The sufferer, Maryam Ali Mohammed Al Jaberi, was the mom of two younger kids. She was in a relationship with Salim Ball, then 24.
On June 22, 2020, her landlord discovered her lifeless within the dwelling she rented in Reston. She was 29.
Per week later, Ball, her romantic associate, was arrested and charged in connection along with her loss of life.
Prosecutors say DNA and telephone information clearly pointed to Ball because the killer. However now, bringing Ball to justice all of the sudden is in limbo.
Fairfax County authorities discovered Friday that he had didn’t name in to court docket companies as required. They consider Ball, who’s from Sudan and nonetheless has household dwelling overseas, fled to Canada.
“Oh God, it’s disappointing. I felt actually unhealthy and I nonetheless really feel actually unhealthy for Maryam’s household,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Legal professional Steve Descano stated. “It is a younger mom who was murdered in her own residence; this occurred virtually 5 years in the past. We had been very a lot trying ahead to getting that accountability and getting closure.”
Descano says that is what prosecutors warned may occur each time protection attorneys requested Choose Richard Gardiner to provide Ball extra freedom whereas he awaited trial.
“I’ll let you know we had been apprehensive about this from the start,” Descano stated, “and we actually took each step that we presumably may, legally, to attempt to get this particular person in custody earlier than trial, as a result of we had been apprehensive about simply this.”
Right here’s what court docket information present:
- Ball was indicted in October 2020 on first-degree homicide and strangulation fees.
- In November, the choose granted bond.
- Prosecutors appealed, and the Court docket of Appeals of Virginia took their facet, rejecting bond.
- However, because the trial was delayed, protection attorneys requested once more for bond in August 2022.
- Once more, it was granted.
- That point, the commonwealth elected to not attraction.
“If we had a reputable avenue to try this, we might have accomplished it, however the legislation change at the moment meant we didn’t have that capacity,” Descano stated.
Ball gained much more freedom in February 2024. The choose allowed him to take away his GPS monitor. The one situation that remained was that he should name in every day to court docket companies. However Friday — a court docket doc exhibits — these calls stopped. Ball was gone.
The sufferer’s niece advised News4 the household had been preparing for the suspect’s trial, reserving flights and lodge rooms, taking time without work work and making ready emotionally.
She wrote in a press release: “However then got here the telephone name that broke us … Our hearts shattered as soon as extra. The anguish and anger in our household had been quick and overwhelming … How may this occur? How may somebody accused of such violence be allowed to stroll free? We firmly consider this might — and will — have been prevented. This was a failure within the justice system that has prompted our household immense and lasting ache.”
The choose who freed Ball has retired.
On Tuesday, a brand new choose issued a warrant for Ball on a failure-to-appear cost.
Fairfax County police inform News4 they’re working with federal companions, together with the U.S. Marshal Service, to attempt to discover Ball and have him returned to the USA.
“Our hope is that he’s picked up by Canadian authorities and we’ll do what it takes to undergo the extradition course of,” Descano stated.
Within the meantime, a household’s five-year anticipate justice is getting even longer and extra unsure.
