Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Suspect had ties to Tacoma victim (Sniper MUHAMMAD)
Seattle Times ^ | October 26th, 2002 | Steve Miletich and Christine Clarridge

Posted on 10/26/2002 12:36:03 PM PDT by Sabertooth

Saturday, October 26, 2002 - 12:30 a.m. Pacific

Suspect had ties to Tacoma victim

By Steve Miletich and Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporters

KING-TV / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Keenya Cook, 21, was shot to death Feb. 16, when she opened the door of her Tacoma home to the gunman.

E-mail E-mail this article
Print Print this article
Print Search web archive

Related stories
How did Muhammad get the rifle?
Murder charges filed in Maryland

0

John Allen Muhammad, one of two people charged in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks, is also being investigated in an 8-month-old killing that had baffled Tacoma police, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

Using ballistics evidence and DNA, investigators are trying to link Muhammad, 41, to the slaying of Keenya Cook, 21, who was shot once in the face Feb. 16, when she opened the door of her Tacoma home.

Police also are investigating whether Muhammad and his companion, Lee Boyd Malvo, 17, are connected to the unsolved shooting death of a nurse in Redmond over the summer, though a police source cited no specific evidence connecting them to the case.

In Tacoma, Cook lived at the house with her aunt, Isa Nichols, who had worked as the bookkeeper for a car-repair business Muhammad operated in the mid-1990s.

Nichols had a falling out with Muhammad when she supported Muhammad's ex-wife Mildred Williams, who also lived in Tacoma, in a divorce and child-custody action that began in 1998, Tacoma police spokesman Jim Mattheis said yesterday.

Muhammad is "clearly a person of interest" in Cook's slaying, Mattheis said.

Cook apparently was shot as she opened the door, and police are looking at the possibility that Nichols was the intended target, said a federal law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Only Cook and her 6-month-old daughter were at home at the time of the shooting. Ballistic tests will be done to see if Muhammad can be linked to the handgun used in Cook's death, said Barbara Cory-Boulet, a senior Pierce County prosecutor.

The bullet will be compared with a handgun seized from Muhammad after his arrest Thursday in the sniper case, said a federal law-enforcement official. Muhammad was arrested with Malvo, who also was charged in the sniper case.

Investigators also plan to compare a small amount of DNA found on a shell cartridge recovered in Cook's killing with Muhammad's DNA, Cory-Boulet said. The DNA is from human oil left on the cartridge.

Tacoma police initially suspected Cook's boyfriend or the father of her daughter in her death but ruled them out.

The case remained without a suspect until Nichols saw Muhammad's picture on television after his arrest early Thursday in the sniper case, Mattheis said.

Nichols' mother-in-law called Tacoma police to report the family's newfound suspicions about Muhammad, Joseph Nichols, the husband of Isa Nichols, said last night.

When police began investigating, Isa Nichols told detectives about the falling out with Muhammad over the divorce and child-custody issues, Mattheis said. She had not previously thought of Muhammad as a suspect in Cook's killing.

Joseph Nichols, a staff sergeant at Fort Lewis, said last night that his wife had helped lead authorities to Muhammad when he took off with his children after his divorce from Williams in March 2000.

Muhammad was caught with his children in Bellingham in August 2001 when he applied for state aid. A state fraud investigator cross-checked his name with a report of missing children and reported Muhammad to the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office.

A sheriff's detective pulled the children out of school, served papers on Muhammad and arranged for the children to be returned to their mother.

The role Isa Nichols played in recovering the children remains unclear.

Isa Nichols told Tacoma police this week that before her dispute with Muhammad, she had worked for him for about two years as the bookkeeper for Express Car/Truck Mechanic Service, a business he had incorporated in 1995.

Her niece was shot to death about 8 p.m. on a Saturday, said John Reisch, a medical investigator with the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office.

"The aunt left to go shopping, came home and found (Cook) laying inside the front door," Reisch said.

Joseph Nichols said last night that he was shocked when Muhammad's photograph appeared on television after his arrest in the sniper case.

"I just didn't think John was capable of that," Nichols said.

Nichols recalled Muhammad, a former Fort Lewis soldier, as quiet, subdued and a strict disciplinarian with his children.

"To me, he was a little overboard there," Nichols said. "His kids just sat real quiet when he was there. When he wasn't around, they played like regular kids."

Cook's mother, Pamala Nichols, and Joseph Nichols' sister Linda said last night they feel betrayed by Muhammad because they had dinner with him many times, including last Thanksgiving.

"We fed him and everything," said Linda Nichols.

Meanwhile, in the Redmond case, police are working with federal agents to see if Muhammad or Malvo have any connection to the unsolved shooting death of Victoria Mardis, 49, a nurse killed the night of July 26. Police believe she had pulled her car over on the way home from work after she realized she left some papers on the car's roof. She was shot in the face at close range.

Redmond detectives had been building leads to suggest that the Mardis slaying was committed as part of a local gang initiation, a police source said. Many local gang members have been questioned, but no suspects have emerged.

"Until we heard of this sniper thing, that was our likely scenario," the source said.

Seattle Times reporters Duff Wilson and Mike Carter contributed to this story.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alfuqra; jamaatalfuqra; jihadinamerica; johnallenmuhammad; nationofislam; sniper
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last
To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Where is the excerpt from?

I linked it... Islam and the Internet




21 posted on 10/26/2002 3:46:26 PM PDT by Sabertooth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Marine Inspector
Check out post #17.

Are you aware of any traffic across the border at Nogales involving Black Muslims, Caribbeans, or Pakistanis?



22 posted on 10/26/2002 3:51:49 PM PDT by Sabertooth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
OK. thanks!
23 posted on 10/26/2002 3:52:13 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: KingKongCobra
Hey, any more on a connection to the September 14th shooting at Hillandale Liquor? Then did he go down and murder the woman and shoot another woman at the liquor store in Montgomery, Alabama?
24 posted on 10/26/2002 4:07:28 PM PDT by Jabba the Nutt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
I am most interested that the muder victim in Tacoma was the BOOKKEEPER for the car repair business!! If you will remember, I commented yesterday that I thought that business was unusual, since it had an unseen boss and Muhammad refused to do work for neighbors, even though the business was in his wife's name.

I believe the reason the woman was killed was not over the custody issue, but rather over the information she might have unknowingly had about the business.

Excellent sleuthing, Sabertooth! I have been gone all day, but will try and catch up on all of this tonight!

25 posted on 10/26/2002 4:28:03 PM PDT by Miss Marple
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
Khalifa was a black Muslim cleric, who according to Steven Emerson, "was preaching a variation of Islamic doctrine that was deemed heretical by fundamentalists."

From "American Jihad" by Steven Emerson:

"el-Hage had come to the United States in the late 1970's to attend school at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette."

From the Washington Post, 10/25/02:

"Muhammad grew up in Louisiana and graduated from Scotlandville High School in 1978, according to East Baton Rouge Parish school records. He enlisted in the Army National Guard of Louisiana that year, at 17, according to personnel documents released yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act."

26 posted on 10/26/2002 4:30:42 PM PDT by browardchad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Palladin
Why would Homeland Security get involved in a case of crime and murder across the country when it belongs with law enforcement? Or are you saying they have established a link between these two and Al-Queda or some other terrorist networks?
27 posted on 10/26/2002 4:33:07 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
Are you aware of any traffic across the border at Nogales involving Black Muslims, Caribbeans, or Pakistanis?

Yes.

Fiscal Year 2002 Apprehension Numbers

28 posted on 10/26/2002 5:23:35 PM PDT by Marine Inspector
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
What a complete scumbag! Of course, the ACLU and numerous demonRat lawyers will work pro bono to save him in the name of oppressed black people. God these people are a terrible joke. I believe that we need a civil war before we take on the muSSlimes!
29 posted on 10/26/2002 5:52:30 PM PDT by Righty1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
Other connections:

the phrases "I am God" and "Word is Bond" from the sniper messages, come from an offshoot of Nation of Islam called 5 percenters

Nation of Islam members were responsible for the Zebra Killings (14 to maybe 200 whites murdered in California in early 70's)

Farrakhan is buddies with Sadaam Hussein

It is the eve of our going in to Iraq

30 posted on 10/26/2002 5:59:56 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
Thanks for the heads up!
31 posted on 10/26/2002 9:06:30 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Grampa Dave
One of the interesting things about the Muslim religion is the use of 'private killers' to terminate problems within the local 'club'. I would guess that Muhammad was a private killer tht was used a great deal...and it eventually took him to a point where death meant nothing. If they start going back to Fuqra and the timeperiod....I think they will find more than a dozen executions that Muhammad was a part of. The entire Muslim community in the US needs to wake up and look at the big picture...if you want the image of a non-violent religion, then you have to actually act that way....otherwise, you are just another bunch of punks that need to be placed in prison.
32 posted on 10/26/2002 9:49:05 PM PDT by pepsionice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: gubamyster
bttt
33 posted on 10/26/2002 11:23:02 PM PDT by gubamyster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pepsionice; Sabertooth; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Shermy; Clovis_Skeptic; ladyinred; Travis McGee
I think that the al Fuqra friends in the media will try to avoid any connections that John Muhammad might have had with al Fuqra.

The history of al Fuqra over the past two decades shows just what you pointed out. Their private killers took care of problems and dissenters in local al Fuqra clubs.

I had not thought about Muhammed being a hit man for the al Fuqra division of the Nation of Islam. He may have doing internal hits for them for over a decades.

I'm pinging Sabertooth and a few other Freepers who have worked on this al Fuqra problem in America. John Muhammed is a very dangerous man and could have been the silencer of dissent and dangerous mouths in al Fuqra and the Nation of Islam. I find it very interesting that one of his hits in the DC was a recently very successful Black Businessman who was an activist. Maybe he was the orginal target and the others were just a diversion.

Sabertooth; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Shermy; Clovis_Skeptic; ladyinred; Travis McGee, pepsionince has an interesting theory that Muhammed may have been a internal hit man for al Fuqra and the Nation of Islam.
34 posted on 10/27/2002 5:44:19 AM PST by Grampa Dave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Grampa Dave
Locations of known Al-Fuqra compounds in North America

At least seven (six now)such communities are active today, in

1.Hancock, N.Y.; (Outside of Binghamton, believed to be North American HQ)

2. Red House, Va.; (Tulare county/Fresno/Baladullah residents migrated here)

3.Tulare County, Calif.; CLOSED!

4. Commerce, Ga.;

5. York, S.C.;

6. Dover, Tenn.;

7. Combermere, Canada.

I am not certain if all of these locations are still active. Freepers in these areas please contribute any info on these locations!

35 posted on 10/27/2002 7:08:34 AM PST by Clovis_Skeptic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: aristeides; thinden; honway; piasa
Think you might find this thread very interesting, especially all the replies. My guess is that alFuqra has smartened up- the compounds are mostly for show now. They've gone underground into cells like al-Q but have the advantage of knowing lots of others in other cities from their prison and or compound days...
36 posted on 10/29/2002 10:26:49 PM PST by Lion's Cub
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-36 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson