August 20, 2025 • 19 mins
The case tells the tragic story of Mecca, a five-year-old girl whose brutal murder shocked her community. After her disappearance from the village, police investigations led to the discovery of her dismembered body inside an apartment. Suspicion quickly fell on Menna, a 17-year-old girl, who eventually confessed to the killing. However, her statements were conflicting and inconsistent, fueling speculation about her motives. Theories emerged, ranging from black magic rituals to organ trafficking, though investigators dismissed the latter. Despite her conviction, the true reason behind the crime remains uncertain, leaving lingering questions about what drove such a horrific act and what lies ahead for Menna after her sentencing.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, deeply curious listener. Today we're descending into a case
that well, it's left investigators and frankly an entire community
grappling with some profound, chilling questions. He really has. It's
a story that feels ripped straight from the shadows, revealing
the terrifying extent of human darkness. And what truly makes
it unsettling isn't just the gruesome details, but that persistent why,
(00:24):
the why that remains just shrouded in mystery.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Precisely this deep dive, it's really going to challenge our
perceptions of good and evil. I think it forces us
to confront some truly uncomfortable truths about human nature, especially
you know when the perpetrators are the ones you least expect. Yeah,
picture this with us. It's the quiet morning of December
twenty twenty four, the airs, crisp sun rising over this
(00:49):
unassuming rural landscape in an Egyptian village. But beneath that
peaceful surface, a horrifying discovery is just about to be unearthed,
something that shatters the tranquility forever.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The first, those first shivers of dread, they didn't even
start in the village itself. They started about three kilometers
away in a small community called Wardown. It was a
local who first recorded it at chilling suspicion, human remains
in what was supposed to be an empty apartment. Wow.
The sheer unthinkable possibility of that discovery immediately pulled in everyone,
(01:21):
law enforcement, forensic teams, crime lab experts. They mobilized fast
with this urgent, grim purpose I can only imagine, and
as they arrived, the scene itself was just thick with anticipation.
A large crowd had already gathered below the apartment building.
You could hear hushed murmurs, but they were almost swallowed
(01:42):
by this oppressive silence that seemed to radiate from the
windows above. You could feel the collective dread, just this
palpable tension hanging heavy in the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Air, and stepping inside that apartment, the silence was even
more profound, almost suffocating. It felt strangely desolate, like life
had just been a roughtly sucked out, leaving only dust
and echoes behind. Empty basically pretty much apart from a
few discarded trinkets, the only things that really stood out
were these handful of cardboard boxes, just sort of haphazardly
strewn about the first box they opened immediately raised a
(02:13):
red flag, but maybe not in the way you'd expect.
Inside Nestled amidst the mundane were religious speeds, you know, sucky,
along with this pungent, lingering scent of incense bock hour.
And then a collection of photographs.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Not just family snaps.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
No, no, these weren't just family snapshots. They were covered
in these bizarre, intricate, magical talismans. It was an immediate
jarring sign black magic.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
WHOA okay, so that's weird from the.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Start, deeply unsettling. This detail found before the true horror.
It created this profound sense of unease. It painted a
disturbing picture of the kind of people who'd been in
this space.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
But that unsettling feeling was just the prelude. The real
horror was still waiting in another box. Oh man, what
they found there sent a jolt of ice through even
the most seasoned investigators. A child's rib cage, meticulously picked clown,
completely devoid of organs. Oh my god, it had been
expertly dismembered with this chilling precision that suggested not brute force,
(03:13):
but something far more calculated, almost surgical, unbelievable. And then
a human spinal column, chillingly, undeniably from the same small body.
You can only imagine the sheer terror, the visceral shock
of seeing something like that for the first time. I
can't even The forensic team's immediate grim confirmation was unequivocal.
(03:33):
These were, without a shadow of a doubt, human remains.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So the search continues.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
It continues, methodically, painstakingly. Under a bed tucked away, the
police uncovered a school bag inside textbooks, mundane innocent stuff,
and then a child's head, a little girl's head wearing
a single earring, just one. It was a detail, so specific,
(03:58):
so heartbreaking, felt like a silence.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That single earring. That was more than just a detail.
It was the devastating key the identification. So you see
Whali the father of five year old Mecca. He'd reported
his daughter missing some time before this. When questioned, he
described his daughter's unique habit. She only ever wore one
earring because the other had broken. That specific, almost intimate
(04:20):
detail confirmed the unspeakable. The remains were indeed Meccas.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
So that initial question, how did the villagers know about
this apartment?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It just took on this terrifying new dimension. The question
wasn't just how they knew, but who would do this?
How did Mecca, an innocent five year old, end up
dismembered in an empty apartment three kilometers from her home
under such unspeakable circumstances. It changed everything.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
To really grasp the horror of Mecca's end, we have
to rewind. We need to go back in time before
her disappearance, to the place she called home, A Tree's village.
It's nestled within the Giza Governorate, right. Imagine a place
where everyone knows everyone, where family lines intertwined, and this
close knit community thrives on familiarity. In the trees, you
(05:07):
don't just move in unnoticed. Every newcomer, every departure, it's observed, discussed,
very tight community, very and Mecca herself. She was the
youngest of her siblings, a bright, adored child cherished by everyone.
Her daily routine was simple, filled with childhood innocence, religious
institute than Quran memorization classes, just a typical, safe, familiar life.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And on the day she disappeared, it began like any
other ordinary day, unremarkable really in its quiet rhythm, totally normal.
Mecca's mother, after a small everyday negotiation like mothers and
daughters have had given her permission to play outside their house. Okay,
but only after Mecca recounted her day to her you
know the way little kids do, and promise to come
back quickly. They had a family visit planned. It was
(05:50):
just this moment of fleeting freedom for a small.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Child, the chilling part. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, that's all
it took for an ordinary day to twist into the
unimaginable nightmare. Mecca ran out to play, full of that
five year old energy. Her mother, after finishing her prayers
and a few household tasks, went to find her. But
Mecca was gone, just gone, just vanished. The immediate gut
(06:14):
wrenching panic that followed was palpable. Well lead Mecca's father.
He was called, and almost instantly the entire community mobilized,
the whole village, the whole village, searching everywhere. The air
was thick with their desperate pleas echoing from mosque loud speakers.
Surveillance cameras, limited as they were in this village, showed
Mecha playing one moment, then simply disappearing from sight. The
(06:38):
next Wow, the terrifying realization settled over them with this
cold dread. She hadn't left the village. She couldn't have.
No stranger could have taken her out unseen in this.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Fact that she just vanished from within their familiar, enclosed village.
That must have caused walid and the whole community just extreme,
almost unbearable distress.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Absolutely, how could a.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Child just disappear from a place where everyone knows each other,
where there are basically no strangers. Yeah, this unsettling reality.
It fueled their desperate search for answers. It forced them
to observe every single detail, every anomaly, because if she didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Leave, then the answer had to be inside a Trees exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It was this profound violation of their shared security, a
chilling crack in the foundation of their lives.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And observed they did, the sharp collective eyes of the community,
honed by generations of shared life. They picked up on
a crucial detail. The only thing that had left a
Tree's village around the time of Mecca's disappearance, this was
around five PM, was a tricycle. Tricycle not just any tricycle,
one heavily loaded with furniture, clearly moving someone out. And
(07:42):
more importantly, it was carrying a family known to them.
H this was the only anomaly in an otherwise eerily
still village, This one thread of deviation that snagged their
attention and.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
The family in question, this was Shumma known as m Husham.
That's the She was a tenant, which you said was
a bit unusual there only lived in the village for
about a year.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Right, most people are lifelong residents, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And she had four kids, Mohammed eighteen, Mena seventeen, who,
as will find out, becomes this crucial, terrifying figure, and
two younger children thirteen and six.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And that six year old was Mecca's playmate.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Right. So that connection, plus the weird timing of moving
their stuff and then being relatively new, it immediately put
the family under the community's quiet but very intense scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The hours just crawled by, each minute stretching out for
Mecca's family. Then at eight thirty pm, Shimar returned to
the trees. She'd moved some of her belongings to their
new place. Okay, Walid and his eldest son, just consumed
by worrying desperation, immediately confronted her, pleading for any information
about Mecca, and her reaction strange, evasive. She denied any
(08:53):
knowledge of Mecca, even pretended she didn't know who.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Mecca was white in that small village.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Bizarre, a really uns settling response, clearly designed to deflect
to create distance.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Walid desperate, he must have pushed back.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
He did. He tried to prompt her, suggesting, you know,
maybe Mecca had unknowingly climbed into the tricycle while playing
with Shima's daughter.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Like accidentally hitched a rise exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
But Chemo's denials were firm, agitated. She claims her daughter
wasn't playing with anyone. Then the tension was just palpable.
Her visible nervousness, the agitated way she spoke it immediately
raised a red flag for Walid and his son. It
cemented the community's suspicion.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And Walid's son also noticed something.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, he observed Schima's older children acting strangely too, clearly
hiding something, their faces tight with these unspoken secrets.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
So in that moment, Walid is probably thinking kidnapping.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That was his initial terrifying but maybe slightly hopeful theory.
Maybe Schima kidnapped Mecca for her gold earring and was
holding her captive somewhere, hopeful.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
In the sense that she might still be alive.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Exactly in that desperate hope, he sent his wife and
another woman to search Shama's apartment back in movie Trees,
thinking maybe she was hidden there. Oh, nothing, just more
empty boxes, reinforcing the idea that Shaimah really was moving
out completely. The community felt this crushing disappointment, that brief
flicker of hope was gone, but they were resolved to
(10:19):
find Mecca, to find the truth. It only got stronger.
Their eyes, now sharpened by grief and suspicion, turned to
the last known link, the tricycle driver. The tricycle driver,
he was the key, the only one who left the
village with that family, with their stuff at that crucial time.
Did Mecha ride with them?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They tracked him down.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They tracked him down. Their collective will was like this
silent force. Initially, he denied involvement, said he only moved boxes,
saw no kids.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
But they didn't believe him.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
They sensed more, sensed his apprehension. They persuaded him, probably
more like compelled him really to take them to the
new apartment in warden Wow. A desperate move, a desperate
leap of faith, a community driven act born out of pure,
unyielding determination.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So the group, including Mecca's older brother, they arrive at
the apartment in warden yes.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
The trescal driver. Suddenly realizing the gravity, he tries to flee,
but they hold him prevent his escape. They knock, repeatedly,
pounding on the silent door, no answer. Do they break
it down with a shared glance, knowing what might be inside.
They broke down the door and inside the same disturbing scene,
chilling disarray, the smell of incense, those unsettling black magic items,
(11:30):
then and then the chilling, undeniable discovery that made their
blood run cold. Mecca's remains, Oh God, her brother saw this.
Her brother saw this. Confronted with this unimaginable horror, he
immediately called his father will Lead. While Lead rushed to
the scene together, their voices strained with grief and shock,
they alerted the police, and the full extent of this
(11:52):
nightmare puzzle began to unravel.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
With the discovery grimly confirmed, Schima and her children were apprehended.
And here's where the story takes that shocking, unexpected turn,
a twist that just blindsided everyone. What happened seventeen year
old Mena Shimei's daughter. She confessed to the murder.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
The daughter confessed, not the mother, the daughter.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
This revelation completely upended the prevailing theory, given the precise,
almost professional dismemberment, The initial theory circulating among the community,
even early investigators had strongly pointed towards organ trafficking.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right, that makes a certain kind of horrible sense.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But Mena's confession dramatically shifted the narrative. It forced everyone
to reconsider the nature of the crime and the identity
of the monster.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
But the why that was still missing completely elusive.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Maddeningly so, Menna offered this series of shifting, often contradictory
explanations for the murder, like what First, she claimed it
was revenge on Mecca's father, Walid said he wanted them
to vacate their rented apartment. Okay, but Walid vehemently denied this,
stated clearly the apartment that actually belonged to his brother,
(13:01):
not him, and there'd.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Been no dispute, so that motive just crumbled.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Instantly, Yeah, exposed as a fabrication. Then Mena tried a
second explanation, revenge for supposed negative gossip about her mother
in the.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Village gossip in that type community exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This was also quickly refuted by villagers living so closely
they claimed no such gossip existed, making this motive equally unbelievable,
equally hollow. So what was lest Her final desperate attempt
at a motive was greed for Mecca's single gold earring?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But didn't you say?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Exactly? Even this was definitively disproven when the police found
the earring still on Mecca's head when her remains were discussed, but.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
None of her reasons held water none.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was clear she was grasping at straws, trying to
conjure any plausible reason for the utterly implausible. What does
it tell you when someone fabricates motive after motive and
each one just collapses under scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It points to something else, something Maybe she couldn't even
articulate or didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Perhaps a profound disconnect, maybe a chilling inability to articulate
the true, unspeakable reason, or even a deliberate attempt to
manipulate the narrative.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And the methods she confessed to.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Equally chilling in its simplicity. Mena lured Mecca into the
house while the five year old was playing innocently with
Mena's younger sister. Then she strangled her just like that,
and the cover up that followed was extensive, planned horrific.
Menna's family then helped her put Mecca's body in a
box they calmly called the tricycle driver, moved some belongings
(14:31):
to the new apartment in wardun and there in that
desolate space, they dismembered the body to hide the crime.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Whole family was involved in the cover up.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The evidence pointed that way. Some parts were left in
the boxes and school bag as tragically discovered. Others men
acclaimed were disposed of in the nile, though extensive searches
found nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
More and forensics confirmed strangulation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yes, the initial report from forensic medicine decisively confirmed strangulation
as the cause of death, completely rule out organ.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Trafficking because strangulation damages the.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Organs precisely, it renders organs unusable for transplants, and such
a complex procedure for harvesting would never happen in a crude,
empty village apartment anyway. Plus, crime lab experts found the
entire family's fingerprints all over the new apartment, indicating all
of them mother children were complicit in the cover up
and the horrific act of dismemberment.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It paints this chilling picture of collective depravity.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So we're left with this persistent, haunting question. It just
echoes long after the facts are laid bare. Why did
Menna kill Mecca? With all her stated motives totally debunked,
with no logical explanation emerging, the true reason remains agonizingly elusive.
It adds to the profoundly chilling nature of this case.
(15:49):
What truly drove a teenager to such an act of
unspeakable violence against an innocent child?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And that enduring mystery, that void where a rational explanation
should be. It led investigators down a nun path, another
layer of the investigation, delving into the darker currents flowing
beneath the surface of this family's life.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
What did they look into?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The focus shifted to a soam Mena's father, Shamazek's husband.
Witnesses came forward testifying to his known involvement in antiquities
dealing and more disturbingly, in black magic.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Black magic again, like the items in the.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Apartments, exactly These testimonies even suggested that Mena, who was
strangely referred to by some people as Shake Mena.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Shake Mena. What does that imply?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
It's unclear, but it hints at a perceived power or
a role within this darker, maybe occult world. It suggests
she assisted him in these activities. The items found, the talismans,
the incense, the photos with strange markings seemed to support
these claims, hinting at this deeply unsettling, darker undercurrent to
the family's beliefs and practices.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But did they connect him to Mecca's murder?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Ultimately, No, Despite these strong suspicions, despite the disturbing clues,
the police investigation cleared Esam of any direct, provable involvement
in Mecca's murder. There was simply a complete lack of
concrete evidence directly linking him to the crime itself, so that.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Trail went cold too, another unanswered question about the family's
true dynamics.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Exactly, leaving that layer of mystery intact.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So what was the final legal outcome?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The final verdict came down in March twenty twenty five.
It brought a close to the judicial proceedings, if not
the human questioning. Mena was sentenced to eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
In prison eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, fifteen years for the murder itself and an additional
three years for concealing the body. Her mother, shama Um Hashem,
and her son Mohammed. They were sentenced to one year
each for covering up the crime, just.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
One year for the cover up in Dismember midhelp.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
One year each. And the tricycle driver, the one who
unwittingly became part of this horrific narrative. He was acquitted
and released, deemed an innocent party just doing his job
moving furniture.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So the case is legally closed. The system rendered its judgment,
handed out sentences, but the profound terrifying why it remains unanswered,
hovering like a shadow over the whole story. As the
true horror of a five year old's innocent life brutally
taken by a teenage girl with no discernible logical motive,
it just continues to haunt. What kind of environment, what
(18:15):
kind of upbringing, what kind of unseen darkness could possibly
produce such a horrifying act? What does it mean when
the most critical piece of the puzzle, the motive, simply isn't.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
There that's precisely where the lingering unease lies. Where this
case goes beyond a typical true crime story and delves
into something far more disturbing. The lack of a clear
logical motive for Mena's actions leaves this case open ended
in the most unsettling way imaginable. It forces us to
look beyond the immediate facts and ponder the profound complexities
(18:43):
of human behavior, the terrifying possibility of darkness emerging from
places we least expect it, What deep seated issues, What
kind of psychological landscape, What unarticulated reasons could compel a
teenager to commit such a heinous act against an innocent
child she barely knew? Us to confront the uncomfortable truth
that sometimes sometimes the answers we seek most desperately are
(19:05):
simply not there.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
And as we close this deep dive, you're left with
a truly chilling thought. In eighteen years, Mena will walk free.
What will she be like then? Will she ever revealed
the truth? The real why that remains hidden? And what
does it mean? With the most terrifying answers, the true
motivations behind an act of pure evil remain buried, hidden
from the light, perhaps forever. This deep dive forces us
(19:27):
to confront the true horror of the unknown,
Welcome, deeply curious listener. Today we're descending into a case
that well, it's left investigators and frankly an entire community
grappling with some profound, chilling questions. He really has. It's
a story that feels ripped straight from the shadows, revealing
the terrifying extent of human darkness. And what truly makes
it unsettling isn't just the gruesome details, but that persistent why,
(00:24):
the why that remains just shrouded in mystery.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Precisely this deep dive, it's really going to challenge our
perceptions of good and evil. I think it forces us
to confront some truly uncomfortable truths about human nature, especially
you know when the perpetrators are the ones you least expect. Yeah,
picture this with us. It's the quiet morning of December
twenty twenty four, the airs, crisp sun rising over this
(00:49):
unassuming rural landscape in an Egyptian village. But beneath that
peaceful surface, a horrifying discovery is just about to be unearthed,
something that shatters the tranquility forever.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
The first, those first shivers of dread, they didn't even
start in the village itself. They started about three kilometers
away in a small community called Wardown. It was a
local who first recorded it at chilling suspicion, human remains
in what was supposed to be an empty apartment. Wow.
The sheer unthinkable possibility of that discovery immediately pulled in everyone,
(01:21):
law enforcement, forensic teams, crime lab experts. They mobilized fast
with this urgent, grim purpose I can only imagine, and
as they arrived, the scene itself was just thick with anticipation.
A large crowd had already gathered below the apartment building.
You could hear hushed murmurs, but they were almost swallowed
(01:42):
by this oppressive silence that seemed to radiate from the
windows above. You could feel the collective dread, just this
palpable tension hanging heavy in the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Air, and stepping inside that apartment, the silence was even
more profound, almost suffocating. It felt strangely desolate, like life
had just been a roughtly sucked out, leaving only dust
and echoes behind. Empty basically pretty much apart from a
few discarded trinkets, the only things that really stood out
were these handful of cardboard boxes, just sort of haphazardly
strewn about the first box they opened immediately raised a
(02:13):
red flag, but maybe not in the way you'd expect.
Inside Nestled amidst the mundane were religious speeds, you know, sucky,
along with this pungent, lingering scent of incense bock hour.
And then a collection of photographs.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Not just family snaps.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
No, no, these weren't just family snapshots. They were covered
in these bizarre, intricate, magical talismans. It was an immediate
jarring sign black magic.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
WHOA okay, so that's weird from the.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Start, deeply unsettling. This detail found before the true horror.
It created this profound sense of unease. It painted a
disturbing picture of the kind of people who'd been in
this space.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
But that unsettling feeling was just the prelude. The real
horror was still waiting in another box. Oh man, what
they found there sent a jolt of ice through even
the most seasoned investigators. A child's rib cage, meticulously picked clown,
completely devoid of organs. Oh my god, it had been
expertly dismembered with this chilling precision that suggested not brute force,
(03:13):
but something far more calculated, almost surgical, unbelievable. And then
a human spinal column, chillingly, undeniably from the same small body.
You can only imagine the sheer terror, the visceral shock
of seeing something like that for the first time. I
can't even The forensic team's immediate grim confirmation was unequivocal.
(03:33):
These were, without a shadow of a doubt, human remains.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So the search continues.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
It continues, methodically, painstakingly. Under a bed tucked away, the
police uncovered a school bag inside textbooks, mundane innocent stuff,
and then a child's head, a little girl's head wearing
a single earring, just one. It was a detail, so specific,
(03:58):
so heartbreaking, felt like a silence.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
That single earring. That was more than just a detail.
It was the devastating key the identification. So you see
Whali the father of five year old Mecca. He'd reported
his daughter missing some time before this. When questioned, he
described his daughter's unique habit. She only ever wore one
earring because the other had broken. That specific, almost intimate
(04:20):
detail confirmed the unspeakable. The remains were indeed Meccas.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
So that initial question, how did the villagers know about
this apartment?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It just took on this terrifying new dimension. The question
wasn't just how they knew, but who would do this?
How did Mecca, an innocent five year old, end up
dismembered in an empty apartment three kilometers from her home
under such unspeakable circumstances. It changed everything.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
To really grasp the horror of Mecca's end, we have
to rewind. We need to go back in time before
her disappearance, to the place she called home, A Tree's village.
It's nestled within the Giza Governorate, right. Imagine a place
where everyone knows everyone, where family lines intertwined, and this
close knit community thrives on familiarity. In the trees, you
(05:07):
don't just move in unnoticed. Every newcomer, every departure, it's observed, discussed,
very tight community, very and Mecca herself. She was the
youngest of her siblings, a bright, adored child cherished by everyone.
Her daily routine was simple, filled with childhood innocence, religious
institute than Quran memorization classes, just a typical, safe, familiar life.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
And on the day she disappeared, it began like any
other ordinary day, unremarkable really in its quiet rhythm, totally normal.
Mecca's mother, after a small everyday negotiation like mothers and
daughters have had given her permission to play outside their house. Okay,
but only after Mecca recounted her day to her you
know the way little kids do, and promise to come
back quickly. They had a family visit planned. It was
(05:50):
just this moment of fleeting freedom for a small.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Child, the chilling part. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, that's all
it took for an ordinary day to twist into the
unimaginable nightmare. Mecca ran out to play, full of that
five year old energy. Her mother, after finishing her prayers
and a few household tasks, went to find her. But
Mecca was gone, just gone, just vanished. The immediate gut
(06:14):
wrenching panic that followed was palpable. Well lead Mecca's father.
He was called, and almost instantly the entire community mobilized,
the whole village, the whole village, searching everywhere. The air
was thick with their desperate pleas echoing from mosque loud speakers.
Surveillance cameras, limited as they were in this village, showed
Mecha playing one moment, then simply disappearing from sight. The
(06:38):
next Wow, the terrifying realization settled over them with this
cold dread. She hadn't left the village. She couldn't have.
No stranger could have taken her out unseen in this.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Fact that she just vanished from within their familiar, enclosed village.
That must have caused walid and the whole community just extreme,
almost unbearable distress.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Absolutely, how could a.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Child just disappear from a place where everyone knows each other,
where there are basically no strangers. Yeah, this unsettling reality.
It fueled their desperate search for answers. It forced them
to observe every single detail, every anomaly, because if she didn't.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Leave, then the answer had to be inside a Trees exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
It was this profound violation of their shared security, a
chilling crack in the foundation of their lives.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And observed they did, the sharp collective eyes of the community,
honed by generations of shared life. They picked up on
a crucial detail. The only thing that had left a
Tree's village around the time of Mecca's disappearance, this was
around five PM, was a tricycle. Tricycle not just any tricycle,
one heavily loaded with furniture, clearly moving someone out. And
(07:42):
more importantly, it was carrying a family known to them.
H this was the only anomaly in an otherwise eerily
still village, This one thread of deviation that snagged their
attention and.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
The family in question, this was Shumma known as m Husham.
That's the She was a tenant, which you said was
a bit unusual there only lived in the village for
about a year.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Right, most people are lifelong residents, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And she had four kids, Mohammed eighteen, Mena seventeen, who,
as will find out, becomes this crucial, terrifying figure, and
two younger children thirteen and six.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And that six year old was Mecca's playmate.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Right. So that connection, plus the weird timing of moving
their stuff and then being relatively new, it immediately put
the family under the community's quiet but very intense scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The hours just crawled by, each minute stretching out for
Mecca's family. Then at eight thirty pm, Shimar returned to
the trees. She'd moved some of her belongings to their
new place. Okay, Walid and his eldest son, just consumed
by worrying desperation, immediately confronted her, pleading for any information
about Mecca, and her reaction strange, evasive. She denied any
(08:53):
knowledge of Mecca, even pretended she didn't know who.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Mecca was white in that small village.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Bizarre, a really uns settling response, clearly designed to deflect
to create distance.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Walid desperate, he must have pushed back.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
He did. He tried to prompt her, suggesting, you know,
maybe Mecca had unknowingly climbed into the tricycle while playing
with Shima's daughter.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Like accidentally hitched a rise exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
But Chemo's denials were firm, agitated. She claims her daughter
wasn't playing with anyone. Then the tension was just palpable.
Her visible nervousness, the agitated way she spoke it immediately
raised a red flag for Walid and his son. It
cemented the community's suspicion.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And Walid's son also noticed something.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, he observed Schima's older children acting strangely too, clearly
hiding something, their faces tight with these unspoken secrets.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
So in that moment, Walid is probably thinking kidnapping.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That was his initial terrifying but maybe slightly hopeful theory.
Maybe Schima kidnapped Mecca for her gold earring and was
holding her captive somewhere, hopeful.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
In the sense that she might still be alive.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Exactly in that desperate hope, he sent his wife and
another woman to search Shama's apartment back in movie Trees,
thinking maybe she was hidden there. Oh, nothing, just more
empty boxes, reinforcing the idea that Shaimah really was moving
out completely. The community felt this crushing disappointment, that brief
flicker of hope was gone, but they were resolved to
(10:19):
find Mecca, to find the truth. It only got stronger.
Their eyes, now sharpened by grief and suspicion, turned to
the last known link, the tricycle driver. The tricycle driver,
he was the key, the only one who left the
village with that family, with their stuff at that crucial time.
Did Mecha ride with them?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They tracked him down.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
They tracked him down. Their collective will was like this
silent force. Initially, he denied involvement, said he only moved boxes,
saw no kids.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
But they didn't believe him.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
They sensed more, sensed his apprehension. They persuaded him, probably
more like compelled him really to take them to the
new apartment in warden Wow. A desperate move, a desperate
leap of faith, a community driven act born out of pure,
unyielding determination.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So the group, including Mecca's older brother, they arrive at
the apartment in warden yes.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
The trescal driver. Suddenly realizing the gravity, he tries to flee,
but they hold him prevent his escape. They knock, repeatedly,
pounding on the silent door, no answer. Do they break
it down with a shared glance, knowing what might be inside.
They broke down the door and inside the same disturbing scene,
chilling disarray, the smell of incense, those unsettling black magic items,
(11:30):
then and then the chilling, undeniable discovery that made their
blood run cold. Mecca's remains, Oh God, her brother saw this.
Her brother saw this. Confronted with this unimaginable horror, he
immediately called his father will Lead. While Lead rushed to
the scene together, their voices strained with grief and shock,
they alerted the police, and the full extent of this
(11:52):
nightmare puzzle began to unravel.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
With the discovery grimly confirmed, Schima and her children were apprehended.
And here's where the story takes that shocking, unexpected turn,
a twist that just blindsided everyone. What happened seventeen year
old Mena Shimei's daughter. She confessed to the murder.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
The daughter confessed, not the mother, the daughter.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
This revelation completely upended the prevailing theory, given the precise,
almost professional dismemberment, The initial theory circulating among the community,
even early investigators had strongly pointed towards organ trafficking.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right, that makes a certain kind of horrible sense.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But Mena's confession dramatically shifted the narrative. It forced everyone
to reconsider the nature of the crime and the identity
of the monster.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
But the why that was still missing completely elusive.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Maddeningly so, Menna offered this series of shifting, often contradictory
explanations for the murder, like what First, she claimed it
was revenge on Mecca's father, Walid said he wanted them
to vacate their rented apartment. Okay, but Walid vehemently denied this,
stated clearly the apartment that actually belonged to his brother,
(13:01):
not him, and there'd.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Been no dispute, so that motive just crumbled.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Instantly, Yeah, exposed as a fabrication. Then Mena tried a
second explanation, revenge for supposed negative gossip about her mother
in the.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Village gossip in that type community exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
This was also quickly refuted by villagers living so closely
they claimed no such gossip existed, making this motive equally unbelievable,
equally hollow. So what was lest Her final desperate attempt
at a motive was greed for Mecca's single gold earring?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But didn't you say?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Exactly? Even this was definitively disproven when the police found
the earring still on Mecca's head when her remains were discussed, but.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
None of her reasons held water none.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It was clear she was grasping at straws, trying to
conjure any plausible reason for the utterly implausible. What does
it tell you when someone fabricates motive after motive and
each one just collapses under scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
It points to something else, something Maybe she couldn't even
articulate or didn't want to.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Perhaps a profound disconnect, maybe a chilling inability to articulate
the true, unspeakable reason, or even a deliberate attempt to
manipulate the narrative.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
And the methods she confessed to.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Equally chilling in its simplicity. Mena lured Mecca into the
house while the five year old was playing innocently with
Mena's younger sister. Then she strangled her just like that,
and the cover up that followed was extensive, planned horrific.
Menna's family then helped her put Mecca's body in a
box they calmly called the tricycle driver, moved some belongings
(14:31):
to the new apartment in wardun and there in that
desolate space, they dismembered the body to hide the crime.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Whole family was involved in the cover up.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
The evidence pointed that way. Some parts were left in
the boxes and school bag as tragically discovered. Others men
acclaimed were disposed of in the nile, though extensive searches
found nothing.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
More and forensics confirmed strangulation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yes, the initial report from forensic medicine decisively confirmed strangulation
as the cause of death, completely rule out organ.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Trafficking because strangulation damages the.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Organs precisely, it renders organs unusable for transplants, and such
a complex procedure for harvesting would never happen in a crude,
empty village apartment anyway. Plus, crime lab experts found the
entire family's fingerprints all over the new apartment, indicating all
of them mother children were complicit in the cover up
and the horrific act of dismemberment.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
It paints this chilling picture of collective depravity.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So we're left with this persistent, haunting question. It just
echoes long after the facts are laid bare. Why did
Menna kill Mecca? With all her stated motives totally debunked,
with no logical explanation emerging, the true reason remains agonizingly elusive.
It adds to the profoundly chilling nature of this case.
(15:49):
What truly drove a teenager to such an act of
unspeakable violence against an innocent child?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And that enduring mystery, that void where a rational explanation
should be. It led investigators down a nun path, another
layer of the investigation, delving into the darker currents flowing
beneath the surface of this family's life.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
What did they look into?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
The focus shifted to a soam Mena's father, Shamazek's husband.
Witnesses came forward testifying to his known involvement in antiquities
dealing and more disturbingly, in black magic.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Black magic again, like the items in the.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Apartments, exactly These testimonies even suggested that Mena, who was
strangely referred to by some people as Shake Mena.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Shake Mena. What does that imply?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
It's unclear, but it hints at a perceived power or
a role within this darker, maybe occult world. It suggests
she assisted him in these activities. The items found, the talismans,
the incense, the photos with strange markings seemed to support
these claims, hinting at this deeply unsettling, darker undercurrent to
the family's beliefs and practices.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But did they connect him to Mecca's murder?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Ultimately, No, Despite these strong suspicions, despite the disturbing clues,
the police investigation cleared Esam of any direct, provable involvement
in Mecca's murder. There was simply a complete lack of
concrete evidence directly linking him to the crime itself, so that.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Trail went cold too, another unanswered question about the family's
true dynamics.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Exactly, leaving that layer of mystery intact.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
So what was the final legal outcome?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
The final verdict came down in March twenty twenty five.
It brought a close to the judicial proceedings, if not
the human questioning. Mena was sentenced to eighteen years.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
In prison eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, fifteen years for the murder itself and an additional
three years for concealing the body. Her mother, shama Um Hashem,
and her son Mohammed. They were sentenced to one year
each for covering up the crime, just.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
One year for the cover up in Dismember midhelp.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
One year each. And the tricycle driver, the one who
unwittingly became part of this horrific narrative. He was acquitted
and released, deemed an innocent party just doing his job
moving furniture.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
So the case is legally closed. The system rendered its judgment,
handed out sentences, but the profound terrifying why it remains unanswered,
hovering like a shadow over the whole story. As the
true horror of a five year old's innocent life brutally
taken by a teenage girl with no discernible logical motive,
it just continues to haunt. What kind of environment, what
(18:15):
kind of upbringing, what kind of unseen darkness could possibly
produce such a horrifying act? What does it mean when
the most critical piece of the puzzle, the motive, simply isn't.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
There that's precisely where the lingering unease lies. Where this
case goes beyond a typical true crime story and delves
into something far more disturbing. The lack of a clear
logical motive for Mena's actions leaves this case open ended
in the most unsettling way imaginable. It forces us to
look beyond the immediate facts and ponder the profound complexities
(18:43):
of human behavior, the terrifying possibility of darkness emerging from
places we least expect it, What deep seated issues, What
kind of psychological landscape, What unarticulated reasons could compel a
teenager to commit such a heinous act against an innocent
child she barely knew? Us to confront the uncomfortable truth
that sometimes sometimes the answers we seek most desperately are
(19:05):
simply not there.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
And as we close this deep dive, you're left with
a truly chilling thought. In eighteen years, Mena will walk free.
What will she be like then? Will she ever revealed
the truth? The real why that remains hidden? And what
does it mean? With the most terrifying answers, the true
motivations behind an act of pure evil remain buried, hidden
from the light, perhaps forever. This deep dive forces us
(19:27):
to confront the true horror of the unknown,
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