[Music]
even before the attack on the World
Trade Center in New York intelligence
agencies were watching a number of
suspected t*rror1st cells throughout the
United States the FBI uncovered evidence
of a terrible crime by some individuals
using the cover of a st. Louis grocery
store but it took a forensic autopsy and
a tape to reveal the entire story
[Music]
sixteen year old Tina Issa was a kind of
daughter most parents dream of she was a
high school athlete popular straight-a
student and wanted to attend college and
become an airline pilot Tina wanted to
be American Tina wanted to be
independent she wanted to have a career
she wanted to travel she wanted to be
your own person her mother and father
Zane and Maria ista were immigrants from
Palestine and ran a small grocery store
in downtown st. Louis like most
immigrants the Palestinians went into
the food business that's a tradition in
America food service is one of the
easiest types of business to operate
what was especially appealing to the
ESA's and the relative is it was another
way to rip off America they could avoid
paying taxes they would play little
games with food stamp fraud grocery
coupons
I mean Dane even said he loved America
because there were so many ways to rip
it off on November 6 1989 tina was
working the night shift at a fast-food
restaurant
according to the ESA's Tina arrived home
around midnight and there was an
argument Tina said she wanted to live on
her own and demanded that her parents
give her five thousand dollars to
support herself when they refused they
said Tina pulled a knife from her
backpack and threatened them in the
tussle Zane said he turned the knife on
his daughter in self-defense
father was saying it was self-defense
and the wife a thing yes it was
self-defense I was standing there
watching so the only two witnesses to
the crime had the story's kind of get
together that that their daughter had
att*cked them and in defending them
themselves they the father had children
news of Tina ESA's death stunned her
friends and classmates just her charisma
her just her attitude overall period I
mean she was just too nice of a person
for anything we're just happy to see
when the studies on China's it's
terrible who's so fed Tina's classmates
told police that Tina often rebelled
against her parents and their old world
traditions they also said the ESA's
objected to Tina's choice of a boyfriend
he was an honor student he was very very
bright he was at the magnet schools
which means sophisticated programming
papers Public Schools he was an artist
he painted he drew he wrote homes I
don't think it was just that he was
black I think the real issue was that
she had a boyfriend and they could no
longer control her when the FBI heard
about Tina's death they called lead
investigator Harry Hagar with some
astonishing news US intelligence had
photographed Zane Issa attending a
meeting with known t*rrorists in Mexico
all had ties to the Palestine Liberation
Organization and international terror
broker Abu Nidal Abu Nidal means father
of warm Abu father Nidal w*r and he was
one of the most vicious t*rror1st round
he's responsible for simultaneous
bombings in Vienna Rome
over a two year period they Anissa
traveled overseas 14 times to Caracas
Athens London Israel Zurich and Madrid
the FBI among others were maintaining a
watch on middle-eastern families some
that might presumably have connections
with t*rror1st cells the ESA's were
maintaining what might have been a safe
house for one of the Middle Eastern
t*rror1st groups
so the ISA family were well known to US
intelligence if the federal undercover
said to me these people are as organized
as the Mafia not nearly as lovable
investigators now wondered whether there
was more to the story of Tina's death
and her mother and father were saying
Tina's parents insisted that her death
was in self-defense because she had
att*cked them with a knife
Tina's father was covered in blood and
had cuts on his hands which he said were
defensive wounds that resulted from his
daughter's knife attack when I reviewed
a little bit of history that I knew it's
time it sounded extremely vicious to me
medical examiner's have long referred to
the autopsy as the Silent Witness a way
for the victim to tell her story things
that the suspects in the crime usually
leave out at Tina's autopsy forensic
pathologist dr. Philip Burch started his
examination with a forensic technique
known as wound pattern analysis
I didn't look just at one wound in this
case I looked at all of the wounds as
whole Tina sustained six deep s*ab
wounds to the solar plexus all in close
proximity dr. Burch believed that any
one of them could have caused her death
the serious injuries to her oral tightly
clustered right around her lower central
chest and abdomen and I was told that
she was supposedly involved in a while
free for all type fight with a knife and
that seemed to be very odd that all of
the fatal injuries were very tightly
clustered within a specific area of the
body
that's because stabbing victims usually
moved during an attack I didn't feel
that she was involved in a fight where
she was able to move her extremities
freely that is either she stayed
Stockstill of her own volition for
whatever reason or she was unable to
move or she was actually restrained dr.
Burgess theory was supported by
paramedics who said Tina's arms were
above her head on the floor as if she
had been restrained
Zain couldn't have held her he was not a
big man his daughter was probably as big
or bigger than he he could not have
inflicted that kind of injury pattern on
her and held her at the same time
the only other person in the room esteem
is mother Maria Maria said she was on
the sofa when the fight occurred but the
forensic evidence indicated otherwise
there was body hair and blood from the
girl on the inside of a white sweater
that Maria had been wearing at the time
and that supported our theory that Maria
was holding her wild things banker went
beyond self-defense this was like driven
by anger or passion or some purpose
other than self-defense investigators
then took a closer look at the wounds on
st. Anne's wounds that he said were
defensive the story didn't match what we
saw was a small like I said with a paper
cut I think that in stabbing her his
hands were so bloody and slippery than
what really happened his hand slipped
down on the blade of the knife and cut
it cut it right across the outside of
his palm right below the little finger
this explains why Zane's blood was found
on the handle of the knife found beside
his daughter
but prosecutors had a problem would a
jury believe that a father and mother
would k*ll their own child simply
because she had an outside job and the
boyfriend sounds so aberrant so strange
I mean she was a model student we're
talking about absolute control vain ISA
filled mentally was listening to tapes
from circa 1945 in a Palestinian village
and that's the way he thought his
daughter should behave and the FBI
discovered secret information
the Tina ISA may have known some family
secrets her father didn't want reveal
[Music]
the forensic evidence clearly showed
that 16 year old Tina Issa had not been
k*lled in self-defense as her parents
claimed dr. Victor Levine is an expert
on the Middle East and says Tina's death
sounded tragically familiar saying ISA
comes from a small town in in Palestine
and he carried wizard that old baggage
every day there are dozens and even
hundreds of women who are in some
fashion k*lled for the commission of
some crime involving the sexual honor of
the family
although dating is common in the United
States
it's discouraged in parts of the Middle
East where arranged marriages are the
norm a man and his family have daughters
daughters are the purity of these women
of these daughters and guarantees a
marriage it's a and the delivery of the
girl intact virginal e intact which then
commands a higher dowry a girl who had
been piling does not command add our
fact may not be able to find a husband
Tina's death may have been part of an
old tradition the honor k*lling
she stained the family's honor and blood
Jane would say blood must cleanse what
in societies were honor killings are
common it is generally a k*lling done by
a male member of a family presumably to
avenge a depredation on the honor of a
female member of the family
she had a black boyfriend and this was
enough to cause the anger of her family
and her father to arise to the boiling
point where indeed he felt that the
family had been so shamed by her
indiscretion that the only way to avenge
it was to k*ll her prosecutors were
convinced she had been m*rder*d in cold
blood by her own parents but they knew a
conviction would be difficult it would
be the ESA's story of self-defense
against the opinion of the medical
examiner
soon investigators got an unexpected
break the FBI admitted they had wiretaps
the ESA's home because of Zain suspected
ties to known t*rrorists wiretaps were
put in under a Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act known as FISA FISA
allows the FBI to pass you wiretaps
that run reel-to-reel 24 hours a day
seven days a week
visa was not considered important enough
to monitor these wiretaps 24 hours a day
so the FBI wasn't sure what was on them
and they would need to be translated
since the ESA's spoke Arabic fortunately
the FBI used the best listening devices
available diverse of the top of the line
they could pick up a whisper of 50 feet
some of these things at their place
properly placement of any listening
device is crucial after breaking into
the ISA apartment agents did not have
much time to plant the bug they needed
not only a place to hide the device but
also a power source a battery operated
device is the easiest to plant but with
a long-term surveillance the battery
would need to be replaced periodically
get in there once if you're lucky to get
in there twice you're even luckier in
the third time you could come to get
caught the FBI had been able to connect
the devices to electric inside ESA's
apartment
and prosecutors learned that the wiretap
clearly picked up the altercation
between Tina and her parents but the FBI
was concerned about releasing the tapes
for a public trial
fearing they would compromise their
electronic surveillance of others
suspected t*rrorists altom Utley the
Attorney General of the United States at
the time Richard Thornberg decided to
release them it was the most chilling
and cold-blooded horrifying thing ever
or ever probably will hear you don't
have to have a translator you don't have
to turn the volume up in fact at several
times you want to turn the volume down
but would the tape reveal whether Tina
Issa was k*lled in self-defense or
m*rder*d in cold blood
prosecutors now had something almost
unheard of in the history of American
justice an audio recording of the events
before during and after Dana 'yes' death
[Music]
several weeks before the m*rder the FBI
surveillance recorded this telephone
conversation between Zane and his
relatives in which they discussed ways
to make Tina's death look like an
accident as you said she threatened me
and I k*lled her she threatened me and
I'll put the knife in her hand after she
falls leave the story to me five hours
before
Tina's death Zane called his daughter
from a previous marriage
one can fight the whole world but who
wants to fight an enemy in your own
house when the news comes to me I will
put on my best dress and go out my
worries will be gone forever
in the middlee shame is something which
is felt collectively by a family it is a
discovery of the act you've done
something bad the community knows about
it your entire family is shape
the tapes reveal the ESA's were angry
Tina took a job at a fast-food
restaurant without their approval and
they were all so upset she continued to
date her boyfriend when Tina arrived
home this was the welcome from her
mother that's going to be the last time
she's ever going to leave that apart
[Music]
Zayn and Maria then confronted Tina
about her boyfriend
[Music]
[Music]
the argument escalated
intimately evidence suggests lane went
into the kitchen and grabbed a knife
penis then screams pleading with her
mother to help penis cleaning mother
please help me mother can't you make him
stop and then he said die my daughter
died when she was done
Maria held Tina while Jane stabbed her
to death and the telltale signs was the
mother's response what help No
shut up no we're on the tape at Tina's
demand $5,000 and there was no reference
to Tina having a knife
the tape also reveals the ESA's waited
for close to 30 minutes to call police
after the m*rder
brain and Maria visa were both charged
with first-degree m*rder sir what does
your brother say to you you know with
all the things I do it fix the news
media but I think you're overdoing it
authorities speculated that the ESA's
were afraid of what Tina might reveal to
others had there been a permanent risk
in the family
the indictment alleges there were other
reasons because of her knowledge of
their terror spective and airplanes to
talk about exactly they're concerned
that she might possibly Ellen Harris
wrote a book about this case called
guarding the secrets the prosecution
offered Zane a deal that if he pled
guilty to m*rder in the first degree
they would go lighter on Maria and he
refused to do so so he had no interest
in saving his own life after hearing the
tapes and the medical examiner's report
the jury found Shane and Maria Issa
guilty they were both sentenced to death
Zane died in prison of natural causes
in 1998 before his execution could be
carried out
Maria's death sentence was later
reversed on a technicality but she will
spend the rest of her life in prison
without parole
as for Tina ISA those who knew her are
left to mourn
Tina was a natural born leader she would
have done great things for this
community and the Arab community had she
moved it had not been for Zane ISA
suspected ties to terrorism the
prosecutors theory about what happened
the Tina and ISA would have been just
then but the audio tape proved what many
jurors could have found difficult to
accept you can hear in her voice
preparing for a margarita there's not a
whole lot you can say it's just as I
said earlier the most horrifying thing I
ever hope to hear and and it's been
conferring
it's the kind of thing that once you
hear it you cannot forget it and once
you hear it you don't want to hear it
again
the medical examiner did not hear the
audio tape until sometime after the
trial but he wasn't surprised by what it
revealed I was able to parallel the
information that was provided on the
tape with information that I simply saw
with my own eyes looking at the dead
body
on the morning that I did the autopsy as
far as I'm concerned an intentional
homicide
08x38 - Honor thy Father
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Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.
Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.