The murder of Wadee Alfayoumi and attack on his mother stand as one of the worst hate crimes in the US since Gaza war began.
Published On 26 Jul 2025
A United States landlord who was jailed for decades for the horrific October 2023 stabbing death of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy, and for critically injuring his mother, has died in prison.
Joseph Czuba, 73, died on Thursday in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Saturday, citing the Will County Sheriff’s Office. The law enforcement agency did not return a call seeking comment on the death, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The murder of the boy, Wadee Alfayoumi, and the attack on his mother, Hanan Shaheen, was one of the earliest and worst hate crime incidents in the US since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Three months ago, Czuba was sentenced to 53 years in prison for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges for Alfayoumi’s death and for wounding Shaheen.
Czuba attacked them on October 14, 2023, because they were Muslims, and as a response to the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that “this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well”.
Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and a police video. Jurors deliberated for less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.
The family had been renti