Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I imagine this scene in the middle of the day
in albert aresute. The ear's warm, you know, thick with
that earthy smell of the poultry he just dropped off.
Thirty year old commis sitting there. They've offered him a drink,
this really syrupy sweet juice. He's just there for a
simple task, albeit a frustrating one, collect a debt that's
been outstanding for way too long. So he drinks. But
(00:20):
underneath that sweetness there's this faint bitterness, pharmaceutical almost, but
he doesn't really register it, not immediately. Then, maybe fifteen
minutes later, the room starts to shift. The faces. He
knows Latifa, her daughter's Shama Mona. They start to blur
a little. This sudden, heavy disorientation just washes over him.
Kamis tries to get up, you know, shake off this
weird lethargy, but his body just isn't responding right, his
(00:42):
visions swimming. But he looks up one last time at
the three women. He later recalled their expressions fixed, deeply, unsettling, cold,
and in that sickening moment, it hits him he wasn't
there to collect money. He'd walk straight into a trap.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, it's just the ultimate betrayal, and it's rooted in
this really terri verifying contradiction. You have. Commis, this guy
everyone liked, trusted, He spent a whole decade building his
business purely on credit, on good faith, and yet he's
executed brutally, premeditated by the very clients he trusted most.
And not ever some big business dispute. No, it was
over wounded pride. Basically, the price tag on his life
(01:18):
just eleven thousand Egyptian pounds.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Okay, let's really unpack this. Then, this is the deep
dive into the ascute murders, a truly chilling story about
how three women put perceived status, this misplaced pride ahead
of a man's life, all for eleven thousand egp. So Commis,
he was thirty, an itinerant vendor working hard in the
Albadari Center, sold a bit of everything, closed appliance's poultry ducks,
(01:41):
all on installment plants. People knew he was incredibly kind.
He was supporting his wife, his daughter, his eldly parents
all through this business that relied on flexibility. His whole
system was built on trust. He kept meticulous records. You know,
every payment every debt in this big ledger book at.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Home, right, and then you have Latifah and her two daughters,
Shama and Mona. Latifa was the head of the household
since her husband died a couple of years back. Now,
outwardly to the village, she was just another customer, maybe
a bit difficult, but still but there was this hitting
truth about her finances. Her husband had worked in Saudi
Arabia for years, right, and he left her quite well off,
(02:16):
a big plot of land, a house with multiple floors,
and crucially, a bank transfer of two million Egyptian pounds.
Let's be clear, that's a lot of money. They were
financially secure. Despite all this, Latifa was Comz's most problematic client,
always delaying payment on this eleven thousand EGP debt for
seven years. She dragged it out, always claiming she had
(02:37):
no money.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Seven years. That's an incredibly long time to carry a
debt like that, especially when it's your working capital needed
to support your own family. So eventually Commies had to
do something. He needed to protect his business. He had
to make it more formal. With Latifa. He took a
step that was purely professional really, he had her sign
a promisory note. It's called the wazle Amana.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
There exactly, And this is where things really changed legally
and emotionally. How weslamana isn't just some casual iou under
Egyptian law, It's serious. It's a receipt of trust. If
you default on it, a civil debt can instantly become
a criminal matter. It basically meant Latifa formally acknowledged that
eleven thousand EGP wasn't just something she owed, it was
(03:16):
a legal obligation she couldn't just ignore.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay. And here's where it gets well, really mind boggling.
Despite pleading poverty, despite dodging this now serious legal note,
Commies finds out just how hypocritical Latifa was being. He
discovers she's actually building a third floor under her house,
a project costing something like two hundred thousand EGP. Wait
a minute, two hundred thousand EGP for construction. While refusing
(03:39):
for seven years to pay eleven thousand, they risked, well,
they committed murder over what was essentially pocket change for them.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Precisely, that's the core of it. The refusal wasn't about
the money itself, not about lacking funds it was about pride,
all about control, about not being dictated to by a vendor.
This huge disparity spending a fortune on the house while
stonewalling on a minor, legally binding debt, that's what sparks
the final fatal confrontation.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So Comis goes straight to her house and the argument.
It wasn't quiet, it was heated, loud, public. Basically, he
confronts Latifah, calls her out on the construction project, demands
she finally settle up. She refuses, so he does what
he probably felt he had no choice but to do.
He threatens to take that Wizomanana straight to the police.
The very next day. And the crucial detail here, neighbors
(04:27):
heard it, the whole loud argument, and both daughters, Shama
and Mona, they were right there watching Commis apparently with
this really cold, silent intensity and.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
That public argument, his loud voice being heard outside their house.
That became their justification, at least the one they gave. Later,
the three women get together right after Kami's leaves. Their rationale,
which came out in their testimonies, was all about how
Kamis had dishonored them because he was loud, because neighbors heard.
It was perceived as this huge slight against the family status,
their reputation in the village.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I still find that hard to swallow, though loud voice
is the sole reason. It feels like there must have
been this deeper resentment festering over those seven years of
dodging the debt.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Oh. Absolutely, the seven years laid the groundwork, No doubt
that constant pressure, the evasion it built resentment on both sides,
I imagine, But the public confrontation that was a tipping point,
The immediate unforgivable offense in their eyes, for a family
that seems to have been wealthy but maybe trying to
project even more status, being publicly shamed by a vendor
(05:27):
over a small debt intolerable. They couldn't just pay him
then that would almost validate his challenge to their authority,
their image. So instead, the decision was made Kamis must
be taught a lesson. He had to disappear completely. The
murder was about protecting that facade, that reputation, far more
than it was about the eleven thousand EGP itself.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
The planning that followed who it was just so meticulous,
so cold. Exactly one week After the argument, Shaima calls Kamis.
She sounds friendly, apparently tells them they're finally ready to
pay the whole debt. The lure was simple, bring some poultry.
She asked this key bring the promisory note so she
could tear it up once he was paid.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right. And while Shema's making that call, the others are
getting things ready. Mona, the younger daughter, is out in
the garden digging a hole, a large hole sized for
a man. Shemah prepares the juice, laces it heavily with
sleeping pills, sedatives, and Latifa the mother, the matriarch. She's
finalizing the logistics, making sure everything's in place for what's
(06:23):
about to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
So Commie's arrives on his motorcycle, completely unsuspecting. He didn't
tell anyone where he was going specifically, and the first
thing Shama does is tell him to bring the motorcycle
inside their compound, say she's worried about it being stolen,
a totally false concerned, of course, but it gets him
and his bike completely inside trapped.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
He drinks the juice they offer him, and then about
fifteen minutes later, as the drugs start taking hold, he
has that awful moment of clarity, he realizes what they've done,
what's happening. Even as he's slipping into unconsciousness, Latifa is
apparently still focused purely on the money, pressing him about
where the promise note is.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
He tries to fight it, tries desperately to stand up
to get out of there, even as the drugs are
paralyzing him, but he's too slow, too weak. Before he
can even take a step, Shamma attacks him with a
big club or a heavy stick, hits him over the head,
on his back, again and again until he just collapses
onto the floor, unconscious. And the really horrifying part confirmed
(07:21):
later by the medical examiner. Even after that savage beating,
Comis was still alive.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, and this is where it moves from a brutal
assault into something else, something deeply disturbing. It's like a
post mortem preparation, but on a living person. Latifa goes
and gets supplies. They had already prepared, a big roll
of rope, two large sacks, adhesive tape. They work fast, efficiently.
They bind the unconscious comedies completely head to toe, secure
him tightly with the rope. Then they pull the two
(07:46):
sacks over his entire body, tape his mouth shut and
reinforce all the bindings, just completely packaged.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
But they weren't taking any chances. They needed to be
absolutely sure. Latifa, the leader here it seems, performs the
final act herself. She strangles the already bound, unconscious Commis,
making certain he was dead before they moved on to
the burial.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
The cleanup afterwards shows just how terrifyingly planted this was.
The three of them carry the body out to the
hole Mona had dug earlier. They bury him, cover the
grave with stones to make it look undisturbed. Shima immediately
takes Coami's's mobile phone, drives to the nearest canal and
throws it in, gets rid of the main way he
could be tracked. Meanwhile, Mona hides the motorcycle in their
(08:26):
chicken farm area gathers tools. The plan is to dismantle
it piece by piece and dispose of it later, probably
in the same canal.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
The psychological detachment needed for what happens next is well,
it's staggering. All of this, the murder, the binding, the burial.
It's finished by about one point zero PM, and the
switch back to normal life is instantaneous. Mona just goes
off to our afternoon lesson, like nothing happened. Latifa and
Schama stay home, prepare lunch, eat lunch, as if they
just spent the morning doing chores. One minute, they're burying
(08:56):
a man they just murdered it in their garden, the
next they're making sandwiches. It suggests this terrifying ability to
just compartmentalize, or maybe a complete lack of empathy.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That evening, around ten zero pm, Kamisi's family knows something
is seriously wrong. They report him missing. They stress to
the police this is completely unlike him, his phone being off,
not contacting anyone, unheard of. They emphasize who was reliable, punctual,
He didn't have any known enemies, no ongoing conflicts they
were aware of. There were certain something terrible had happened.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
The police start investigating. They begin at Commi's house looking
for clues, and they find the key pretty quickly. That
meticulous financial ledger he kept. The agenda leads him through
his clients, his debts, and appoints him to the last
active debtor who owed a significant sum a woman listed
as Imed owing eleven thousand EGP. A quick check identifies
aghmed It's Latifa.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So three days after Kammi's disappeared, the police show up
at Latifa's house, and the women's reaction is described as unnerving.
They're calm, cool, collected. They stick rigidly to the story
they'd obviously rehearsed. Yes, Kamye came by, he collected his money,
left the poultry he brought. He left around one point
zero pm, end of story. But the police officers felt
something was off, something wasn't right. They specifically noted the
(10:10):
daughter's stairs difficult, suspicious, maybe that same unsettling intensity Commis
himself saw in his final moments.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
The real breakthrough comes when the investigators dig a bit
deeper in the community and learn about that loud public
argument Kami's had with the family just a week before
he vanished that raises serious red flags. They get a
search warrant and go back for a thorough inspection. The
main house is clean, nothing seems out of place, but
then they moved to check the poultry farm area on
the property, and that's where they find it damning evidence,
(10:41):
remnants of a motorcycle, tools specifically for dismantling machinery, and
in that exact moment watching the police find these items monopanics.
Her reaction is visible, undeniable. It confirms their suspicions on
the spot, and.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Once they're confronted with this evidence, the United Friend just
crumbles instantly. It becomes a blame game. Tifa is charged.
Sima immediately confesses, but maybe trying to shield her mother,
she claims she did it all herself, acted entirely alone.
Latifah and Mona initially go along with that, pointing the
finger only at Shoma, but under more intense questioning, Shama breaks.
Maybe she realizes she was about to take the fall
(11:16):
for everyone. She changes her story and implicates all three
of them.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
The police then excavate the garden recover Kami's body from
that shallow grave. The medical examiner's report confirms the grim
sequence of events, high levels of sedatives found in his system,
multiple bruises, contusions all over his body from the beating,
a severe blow to the head that fractured his skull,
and the ultimate cause of death, strangulation.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
But the forensics revealed something else, a detail even more
unsettling in a way than the murder itself. The medical
examiner specifically noted the method used for binding the body,
the knots, the way the rope and sacks were applied.
It wasn't clumsy and not panicked work by first timers.
It was professional, meticulous. It required a specific kind of knowledge,
a practice technique. The report suggested that this method indicated
(12:02):
they were likely not first time killers.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
That detail is just chilling. It implies a skill set.
You don't just pick up knowledge of not spinding techniques.
It suggests something more, maybe military background, medical training, or disturbingly,
a history of dealing with bodies before exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It completely shifts how you see them, doesn't it. It
elevates them from seemingly desperate debtors lashing out over pride
to something more like organized, proficient operators, and their complete
lack of remorse during their testimonies seems to back that up.
They genuinely appeared to believe Kami's deserved what he got
because he dared to challenge them, dared to threaten the
pride of this wealthy, apparently untouchable family. Latifa even tried
(12:42):
one last, absolutely desperate and repulsive lie to the police,
claiming Kami's had tried to assault her. A final attempt
to justify the unjustifiable.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That stark contrast really is the heart of this whole
tragic story, isn't it? A truly heinous, meticulously planned murder, drugging, beating, strangling,
burying a man who was, by all accounts a decent
member of his community, all committed to avoid paying eleven
thousand EGP, an amount that was trivial to them given
their actual wealth. They killed to protect a reputation that
was itself built on a lie of needing that money.
(13:14):
For these crimes, Latifa, Shayama and modapt, the women now
known as the as You Debt murderers, were convicted. They
were sentenced to death in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
But it leaves you with this really disturbing question, doesn't it,
especially given that level of coordination, the careful planning of
the disposal, and particularly that very specific professional binding technique.
The examiner noted, what else might this family have done?
Is it possible Kamis wasn't the first? Were there other secrets,
other acts of violence hidden beneath that quiet, respectable, well
(13:43):
off facade, or did they simply possess skills that point
to a much darker, perhaps unrelated history. Something for you
to definitely mull over