Zein and Maria Isa Kill Their Child for Being American in the U.S.
(“Honor Thy Father,” Forensic Files)
For some parents, having a rebellious teenage daughter means she’s smoking marijuana and dating an ex-con with a neck tattoo.
In the case of one St. Louis couple, it meant that she snagged a part-time job at Wendy’s and went to the prom with a nice young man.
Matchmaker dad. Palestina “Tina” Isa’s mother and father didn’t take pride in their daughter despite that she wanted to earn her own spending money, got good grades, and secured a college scholarship so she could study aeronautical engineering.
Her parents wanted her to work at the family business, marry a Palestinian boy of Zein’s choosing, and move to the West Bank village of Beitin.
Tina’s rejection of the Isas’ cultural traditions upset them so much that they murdered her to save face, in a so-called honor killing.
Catch It If You Can. For this week, I looked around for more background on the family and what happened to Zein and Maria Isa between the murder and their own deaths.
“Honor Thy Father” is hard to catch on TV and unavailable on streaming services but, like the best Forensic Files episodes, it sticks with you after one viewing.
So let’s get going on a recap, along with some added facts drawn from internet research:
Do as I say not as I do. Zein, 60, was a Muslim Palestinian grocery store owner who became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Maria, 48, was also a naturalized citizen but originally from Brazil, where the couple met and married.
Maria was Roman Catholic but had agreed to bring up the children as Muslims.
It’s not clear why it was okay for Tina’s dad to hitch up with someone from a different background but unacceptable for Tina to do the same. (And there was also the little matter of Zein marrying Maria despite that he already had a wife and three kids back on the West Bank.)
Spoiled the party. The Isas were frustrated with Tina, 16, because she lived outside the boundaries of their culture.
The couple, who moved to the U.S. in 1985, objected to her joining the tennis and soccer teams and trying out for cheerleading.
After Tina stole away to the prom with 18-year-old Clifford Walker (media accounts vary as to whether they were dating or just good friends), her mother, sisters, and at least one male relative showed up at the dance, ambushed her in the women’s bathroom, and made her go home, according to a People magazine account from Jan. 20, 1992.
Witnessing evil. Zein and Maria began proceedings to withdraw Tina from school in her senior year. Her sister referred to her as a whore during a guidance counselor’s meeting, the New York Daily News recounted. She also said Tina deserved to die.
The threat worried guidance counselor Pamela Fournier, who reminded the family they’d end up in prison if they acted upon it, according to the book Guarding the Secrets: Palestinian Terrorism and a Father’s Murder of His Too-American Daughter by Ellen Harris.
But the family wasn’t taking advice from any public school professionals.
On the evening of Nov. 6, 1989, the Isas called 911 to report Tina’s death.
Bloodbath at home. Tina had come home late that night and demanded $5,000, then attacked Zein with a knife when he refused, he explained to first responders.
Out of fear for his life, Zein grabbed the weapon from Tina and stabbed her eight times, he said.
But the medical examiner determined that the number of defensive wounds on Tina’s body refuted her parents’ story that she was the attacker.
Prosecutor’s godsend. Her friends from Roosevelt High School told police that Tina was terrified of Zein and Maria and had said if anything bad happened to her, they should tell police that her parents did it.
But the most explosive piece of evidence came as a surprise, and from the federal government no less.
The FBI had planted recording devices in the Isas’ apartment at 3759 Delor Street because they suspected Zein belonged to Abu Nidal, a terrorist group allegedly planning to blow up the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.
Disturbing recording. In what St. Louis homicide detective Mike Guzy called a “once in a lifetime evidential gold mine,” the FBI provided a seven-minute audiotape of the murder. (The federal agents couldn’t rescue Tina because no one was monitoring the recording in real time.)
According to “Family Dishonor,” an episode of TV series Arrest & Trial, the first translators who started listening to the tape, which featured a mix of English, Arabic, and Portuguese, were too horrified by Tina’s screams to continue.
The recording revealed that the confrontation started with Maria arguing with Tina about her lifestyle, followed by Zein announcing that “tonight you are going to die” and stabbing her with a seven-inch deboning knife while the 200-pound Maria held her down.
Tina begged her mother for help during the attack. Maria told her to shut up.
Contrary to the Isas’ claim, Tina never demanded $5,000.
Shaky story. In the run-up to the ensuing trial, the defense strenuously argued that the judge should bar the tape from the courtroom.
That process ate up about a year but didn’t win any concessions.
The Isas’ explanation for what happened to Tina could be summed up as “here’s why she deserved to die, but we didn’t really murder her.”
First assistant circuit attorney Dee Joyce-Hayes, who Forensic Files watchers may remember from “Slippery Motives,” led the prosecution.
Sisters not protective. In addition to the murder tape, Joyce-Hayes had FBI phone recordings of Zein speaking to his older, married daughters, who encouraged the brutality.
Tina’s sister Soraia Salem, 24, suggested chaining the teenager in the basement and hiring a hit man, while another sister, Fatima Abdeljabbar, said that God should make Tina “sleep and not get up,” according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch account.
Fatima would later say in court she didn’t remember any such conversation.
The newspaper mentioned that the family owned some assets on the West Bank, so it’s possible Tina’s sisters wanted to get rid of her instead of share. Or perhaps Tina’s freedom made them jealous as they were trapped in drudgery-filled marriages, as Guarding the Secrets implies.
‘She’s the violent one.’ Whatever the case, the defense stuck to its story that Zein’s taunts of “Die, my daughter, die” were retorts in response to Tina’s knife attack upon him.
Defense lawyer Dan Reardon contended that on past occasions, Tina had attacked Zein with a meat cleaver and kicked him in his bad leg, the AP reported.
More doublespeak. Maria’s lawyer argued that Maria tried to protect Tina and was guilty of nothing but “being married to Zein Isa.”
At the same time, Maria told the judge that her daughter was disrespectful and that she and her husband “should not have to pay with our lives for something [Tina] did.”
Joyce-Hayes was careful to avoid stoking Islamaphobia as part of the prosecution’s case, according to a St. Louis Post Dispatch account:
“‘Many bad things have been done in the name of the Christian religion and in the name of Islam. We are not here to blame Islam or Islamic culture. We’re here to blame these people,’ said Joyce-Hayes, gesturing toward the defendants.”
Diabolical doings. The jury deliberated for just under four hours before returning with guilty verdicts.
Judge Charles Shaw gave Zein and Maria Isa sentences of death by lethal injection.
In 1993, Zein Isa briefly faced another indictment on racketeering charges for plotting the terrorist attack. (In fact, an alternative theory about Tina’s murder conjectures that Zein’s primary motive was to silence his youngest daughter because she knew too much about his activities in Abu Nidal.)
Goodbye to you. The feds decided to drop the terrorism charges against Zein because he already had virtually no chance of getting out of prison.
And fortunately, the state of Missouri didn’t have to pay for Zein’s three hots and a cot for very long.
His health deteriorated on death row. In 1997, authorities moved him to Boone Hospital Center with corrections officers guarding him 24 hours a day.
Mom gets a break. He died of diabetes and other complications a week later, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch and a New York Daily News retrospective from Nov. 10, 2013.
In 1997, Maria’s capital punishment sentence was reduced to LWOP because a court ruled her brutality should be considered separately from her husband’s, according to the NY Daily News.
Her son-in-law Azizz Hamed called Maria “a victim of her husband, and society here,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on May 17, 1997.
Inappropriate terminology? Maria died of natural causes at age 70 on April 30, 2014, in the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic, and Correctional Center, commonly known as the Vandalia.
Good riddance.
Finally, it should be pointed out that some observers believe that categorizing deaths like Tina Isa’s as “honor killings” is to falsely normalize them, because they’re aberrations that most Islamic peoples find horrifying. And they are caused by sexism, not Islam.
Or as one YouTube commenter summed it up, “This isn’t Islam, it’s Hislam.”
That’s all for this post, until next time, cheers. — RR
Any word on what happened to Tina Isa’s Sisters?
No epilogues for them available, unfortunately. But I’m thinking they led miserable lives.
Yikes, so much tragedy in one family.
Nope, one of them is my dad’s coworker and she’s still living a life with her daughter who absolutely despises her.
What about her husband?
And which sister is that exactly?
Oh wow. Are they still in St louis?
Fake news
Tina you will always be loved and remembered!!!!!?
It’s not Forensic Files but still worth a watch: https://youtu.be/6hgadE_L1Aw
It’s a show I’d never heard of called “Arrest &a Trial” hosted by Brian Dennehy! Episode goes for less than 20 minutes.
Just recently discovered this one, too. I have a feeling that particular episode might exit YouTube soon — video content about the Isas is fleeting.
I just realised it’s mentioned in your article. I usually get distracted and go off doing research. I’m so sorry RR! Yes it’s odd that not much is online about them.
What a horrible story. I never understand why people leave a strict, controlling, war torn hell-hole to come to beautiful new country abounding in freedoms but continue with their previous extremist beliefs. The exact same thing happens here in Australia. I respect other religions but not those that break our laws obviously. Glad they’re dead. World is better off with people like that six feet under.
No worries — I’m the queen of getting distracted and going off on a Google tangent.
Their practices and beliefs of FAILURE that doomed the lands they left they want to bring here and destroy our country with.
Wow, I haven’t seen this episode in a while but as you said, it’s one of those that you never forget—the term “honor killing” reminds me of John List. The wire tap recording was so chilling, I understand why the court could not get through the entire thing. I do wonder how the case would’ve gone if the recording never existed. I can’t remember how much forensics played a role in this episode. Any input on that?
I think the blood evidence and wound placement were the only solid forensics. (Good point about John List — same fanaticism, different religion.)
While there’s some parallel with List, I think he was mentally disturbed. He was a sole operator, whose behaviour was strange before the killings – not being able to hold jobs down; pretending to leave for work for months when he had none; successful in such extreme duplicity throughout his life as to suggest schizoidism – whereas the Isa’s were part of a whole family bent on the murder of a daughter/sister, encouraging each-other. And of course List was a mass-murderer. List’s mental state was in question at trial, but the answer to the pertinent question – did he know what he was doing was wrong? – had to be ‘yes’, as even if HE thought it was somehow right, he knew ‘society’ thought it wrong, as murder (ditto the Isa’s).
I suspect List’s religious fanaticism was an effect – a characteristic – of his mental disturbance rather than the ’cause’ of the murders – not that it was sufficient to reach the threshold of exculpation. The Isas, on the other hand, seem very much of a kind with other Muslim families who’ve conspired to murder a ‘dishonourable’ child. List seems more of a one-off lunatic.
Thanks, Rebecca. The parents and at least some of the siblings were pure evil, yet in their Wonderland morality, that was reversed. Why people voluntarily relocate to a different place and culture, then insist on trying to impose their own culture on it is perplexing. Seems they wanted to have their cake and eat it: enjoy the relative wealth and freedom of the US (including to practice an alien religion) but deny it to their daughter, while criticising their host culture as ‘corrupt’. ‘Go back, then,’ one wants to shout (stronger language comes to mind…) Zein was absurd in his hypocrisy, as well as dangerous, and the appalling wife apparently accepting, if not agreeing. It’s just a shame the US has to have the siblings: I’d have deprived them of US citizenry (assuming they had it).
As you say, good riddance to bad rubbish.
Good point — they wanted it all.
Also, for all we know, people back in their homeland might not have liked the Isas either.
Right on, Marcus.
Very good comment Marcus. I totally agree.
This is an episode I remember. I research as well several years ago. I felt so bad for Tina.
Tina’s only “crime” was that she became much too Americanized for her parents’ liking. Her parents moved to America but wanted their children to still live as if they were in Palestine.
Clayton and Bilko: Thanks. The issue of relating to one’s host culture on its terms, not one’s own – ‘when in Rome…’ – is, of course, topical and contentious both in the US and here in the UK viz immigration. Politically it falls somewhere between left and right politically. The left identifies ‘diversity’ as a good (immigrants relatively free to express culturally conflicting values); the right, conformity to the host culture. I know where I stand… These evil parents seems to’ve despised their host culture – one, ironically, which, because it values freedom of expression (thankfully!), tolerated dissent. I value tolerance of ‘difference’ highly… except when it presents danger to the host.
What constitutes danger, and what to do about it, is in issue in the UK and USA. If I had my way I’d be happy to oblige those who think other regimes and cultures are preferable to ours (the UK and US are allies in so many respects) with a free suitcase and one-way ticket. And they can take the PC brigade with them if they don’t like it!
Great read, thanks RR. Unfortunately for Tina, it seems that Zein grew up in a society where men dominate and women have no say. If the family had stayed in Palestine maybe Tina marries a Palestinian man and lives a miserable life. Instead she aimed for a good life and was killed for it because of her parents beliefs. I remember the part of the episode where the prosecutor says Zein was still listening to extremist tapes circa ’40’s and ’50’s (or something along those lines). I’m sure that made him even less inclined to change to more modern ways of thinking.
Thank you again RR, you do a great job!
Thanks much, Tim — so glad you’re enjoying the blog!
For me, the only comfort in the Tina Isa story is that she at least got to have a bit of fun and enjoy some forbidden pleasures in her short life.
Some interesting info here about one of the sisters: http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/116027
I hadn’t seen this — thanks much for sending. Good to know one of her sisters was, at least for a while, on Tina’s side.
The thing about the ties between honor killing and the Islamic religion is that they are not, and *are*, at the same time.The Islamic holy texts (Qur’an and Hadith) to my knowledge do NOT permit a father to unilaterally kill a daughter for sexual offenses. I believe there would have to be a trial of some kind: an unmarried woman in illegal sexual relations (Tina) would be whipped, and a married woman in the same would be stoned, but that requires witnesses testifying. *HOWEVER* people *perceive* honor killings as a part of the religion, and *that* does make it part of the religion anyway. John Dolan, who is known as Gary Brecher and War Nerd, wrote about this aspect in Islamic cultures, comparing the similar phenomenon in conservative rural America where people see, “God, Guns, and Country” as part of the Christian religion even if there’s no support in the holy books.
RE: “It’s not clear why it was okay for Tina’s dad to hitch up with someone from a different background but unacceptable for Tina to do the same. (And there was also the little matter of Zein marrying Maria despite that he already had a wife and three kids back on the West Bank.)” — It’s because under Islamic law a man can marry more than one woman (up to four) but a woman is restricted to one husband. And (I am not sure of the scriptural support of this) several cultures argue a Muslim man may marry a Christian or Jewish woman, but a Muslim woman must marry a Muslim man (a Christian or Jew would have to convert first).
Sam: I don’t think people are confused about the supposed basis of ‘honour killing’. They associate it less with Islam than Islamic *culture*, understanding that the two are distinct (and possibly that the culture is a perversion of the religion). The perception that this culture is relatively patriarchal, however, is seemingly correct – and that explains your comment “RE…”: the author isn’t enquiring: she’s pointing up a dual standard of permissibility between male and female in Islamic culture. Indeed, this unspeakable father seemed quite content to indulge his own desires, but extracted terrible punishment on the daughter who sought hers (very reasonable, in the West). Both parents are unspeakable.
As I state in earlier post, Muslims who hold this view living in the likes of Europe and the US want to have their cake and eat it -choosing to live in the – from their perspective, corrupt – West for their own benefit, yet seeking to impose on others (not JUST their families) intolerant views anathematic to their host culture. There’a one-word solution: LEAVE!
Yeah, Tina Isa’s parents deserved everything they got (and frankly they should have suffered more). People immigrating from the Middle East and South Asia must know that honor killings are not allowed. Sadly it seems the best way to make that impression is to humiliate honor killers and seize businesses/money, causing financial ruin and torment for the supposed beneficiaries back home.
Re: “from their perspective, corrupt – West for their own benefit, yet seeking to impose on others” this is absolutely the case with “wonderful” people like Anjem “Andy” Chaudhary (thankfully in prison) and the likes of honor killers. Having them work in servitude on American-style prison farms would be a good antidote to that.
BTW: “illegal sexual relations (Tina)” I meant to write “illegal sexual relations” (**Zina**) as that is the Arabic word… but it seems people care more about what women do than what men do 🙁
Slike lijepih djevojaka
That’s the thing about Honor Thy Father. The story is so compelling that we forget that forensics make up about 3% of the episode, and in light of the tape, forensics are completely unnecessary. It’s still a good watch though – if you can find a copy!
My friend used to live around the corner from the store that the Isas owned. We went there all the time to get drinks and snacks. Another friend lives down the street from the apartments the Isas lived in. It’s so weird to see familiar places on TV.
Glad that there are good memories along with the bad. The murder must have been quite sensation in the neighborhood.
“deaths like Tina Isa’s as “honor killings” is to falsely normalize them, because they’re aberrations that most Islamic peoples find horrifying. And they are caused by sexism, not Islam.”
Nevertheless, honor kilings are almost always done by people who practice Islam. One has to wonder why.