Suspected Serial Killer Extradited To Michigan

09/01/10

Elias Abuelazam was detained on August 11 at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where he attempted to get on a Delta Airlines flight to Israel. Abuelazam was caught carrying an expired Israeli passport when Atlanta authorities had him paged and taken into custody on behalf of Flint, Michigan police. Two days later, on August 13, Abuelazam waived his extradition.


Abuelazam is an Israeli citizen with ties to Leesburg, Virginia, which is 33 miles outside of Washington D.C. Abuelazam lived in Leesburg at one point, and still has family in the area. He is alleged to have fatally attacked five different men, all within a month. Three of the five fatalities are said to have occurred in Leesburg.

The Genesee County Prosecuting Attorney, David S. Leyton, says he is ''very, very confident'' that the suspect is a serial offender. Abuelazam is charged in one stabbing case in Michigan. ''We will convict him and we will lock him up for the rest of his life,'' Leyton said. ''His victims deserve nothing less.''

In spite of Leyton's certainty that Abuelazam is, in fact, a serial offender, the Leesburg police have yet to file charges against the suspect. ''We continue to devote lots of time and resources to build and strengthen our cases,'' said Leesburg Police Chief Joseph R. Price. ''And also to build and strengthen the cases that Michigan has brought against him.''

The Leesburg police are looking into a possible connection between Abuelazam and a 2009 homicide in the townhouse complex where he had once lived. They are working on a timeline of the suspect's movements, having searched a car that he once drove.

Currently, Abuelazam is tied to a series of stabbings beginning in May of this year, the last of which happened only days before he was detained. The majority of Abuelazam's victims were in Flint. Three of the 18 stabbings occurred in Leesburg, Va., and one in Toledo, Ohio.

Most of the victims were black, leading authorities in Virginia to believe that the attacks were racially-motivated. Authorities in the other two states where the stabbings occurred did not offer speculation.

Abuelazam's green SUV, which was caught on a surveillance video, was used to link him to the stabbings, according to police.

According to victims who survived the attacks, their attacker asked for directions, or for help with a broken-down vehicle. Then the attacker would suddenly pull a knife out and stab them just before driving away.