An Illinois man was convicted of beating his 17-year-old daughter to death during an argument after he told her that she was not allowed to go to the prom.
A jury found Mohammed Almaru, 42, guilty of first-degree murder on Friday after prosecutors portrayed him as a father who believed that his daughter Mia Maro was hiding secrets from him and that she no longer loved him before he beat her to death in 2022, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Maro, who was a senior at Andrew High School, initially got permission from her father to attend the prom on April 29, 2022. But then he changed his mind, prosecutors said.
The next day, Almaru’s sister, who was also one of his wife’s caregivers, became concerned after not hearing from them and drove by the home on 167th Street where she noticed the blinds were closed. She thought that was odd because Maro usually opened the blinds in the morning, the filing noted.
When she returned on May 1, 2022, her brother answered the door and he “appeared to be disheveled.” He asked her to sit with his wife so that he could do some paperwork. But after an unknown amount of time, the sister went to her brother’s room and said she “began to hear gurgling.”
That’s when she found her niece’s body on the floor, covered with a blanket. Almaru was on the floor next to her with an arm draped over her body.
Maro was “covered in numerous bruises” including injuries to her head, arms, legs and feet, according to court documents obtained by The Chicago Tribune. She had suffered “extensive hemorrhaging and bleeding” of the brain, and evidence suggests her father used “multiple objects” to inflict the wounds.
In the minutes before responders arrived at the house, Almaru texted his son a photo of himself holding a letter in which he blamed his incapacitated wife for leading their daughter to believe her father no longer loved her, according to the filing.
He explained that he went through his daughter’s phone and discovered she was lying to him, causing him to get “out of control” and “beat the information out of her.”
Almaru went on to say that he had beaten Maro and “accidental hit her in the head and then I laid down with her was unconscious and woke up to her ‘cold body,’” according to the document.
“I (fouled) up big time I’m sorry,” he added.
First responders found Almaru with superficial wounds to his wrists and neck. He had also taken several narcotic pills.
A box cutter, along with a bent metal pole and a mallet, both covered in blood and hair, were found in the home, according to the filing.
Tinley Park police said they had no prior calls to the home except a medical call involving Maro’s mother, who suffered a medical emergency in spring 2019, which required her to have round-the-clock care, according to court documents. Almaru’s two sisters were the primary caregivers.
Almaru, who has been in custody since his arrest, is expected to be back in court on October 7 when post-trial motions will be reviewed. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
