DALLAS — The mother of two teen girls who were fatally shot more than a decade ago took the stand Thursday at the trial of her ex-husband accused of the killings.
Patricia Owens told jurors in a Dallas County courtroom that Yaser Said, a man roughly 15 years her senior, was abusive and controlling during their marriage and had threatened her.
Owens raised her arm and pointed at Said when prosecutors asked her to identify him in court.
“That devil there,” Owens said. Her face grew red and she pursed her lips.
Said is charged with capital murder in the deaths of Amina Said, 18, and Sarah Said, 17, who were found dead inside a taxi outside an Irving hotel on New Year’s Day 2008. If convicted, Said faces an automatic life sentence because the prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Said was on the lam for 12 years until he was arrested in August 2020 at a family house in Denton County. Said’s son, Islam Said, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for helping him hide. Said’s brother, Yassein Said, got 12 years for the same conviction.
Owens walked into the courtroom on the third day of testimony, eyes fixed straight ahead. Said, sitting across the room next to his lawyers and an interpreter, cocked his head to watch her.
Owens told jurors they had not spoken since she called him the night of the killings, when she believed he was taking the girls to dinner at a Denny’s. Said said he was getting gas and would return home, where Owens and Islam Said, their son, were waiting, she testified.
Two days before, the girls returned from Oklahoma where they’d fled with their boyfriends and mother because they feared for their lives.
Owens, after Said repeatedly called her, convinced the teens to return to North Texas to finish out the school year. Amina and Sarah, Lewisville High School honor students and athletes, have been described as smart, bubbly and spirited. The duo dreamed of becoming doctors.
Their boyfriends, who testified earlier in the trial, said the girls were scared their father would kill them if he found out they were dating.
Owens took Sarah with her back to Said, but dropped Amina off at her boyfriend’s house on Dec. 30. But on New Year’s Day, Said started chewing the inside of his cheek, which Owens said he habitually did when he was angry.
Owens retrieved Amina from her boyfriend’s house and took her home that evening.
Said hugged Amina when she returned, Owens said. He kissed her forehead and a tear trailed down his face, Owens said. Amina returned the embrace, she said.
Prosecutors asked Owens if she had any inclination of what would happen to the girls that evening. They were found shot multiple times inside a taxi parked outside the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas, part of Irving, about 8:30 p.m. Lawyers have said Amina was shot twice and Sarah was shot nine times.
Owens looked up at the ceiling before answering.
“Part of me did,” Owens said. “Part of me didn’t.”
She paused and looked at her lap.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
Amina said she was hungry, so Owens offered to heat up pizza. Said, instead, wanted to take the girls out for dinner. He did not invite Owens or Islam, Owens said.
Owens’ eyes shifted around the courtroom during the nearly two hours she was on the stand. She quickly glanced toward Said a few times. He leaned forward in his seat and watched her testify.
After the killings, Owens lived briefly with her son, Islam. But eventually, she got her own apartment and she said she believed Islam flew to Egypt. Owens said she has since been diagnosed with several medical conditions including severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Randall Johnson, the lead Irving police detective on the case until mid-2008, testified Thursday he sensed from talking with the mother and son that Islam was “controlling the situation more than Patricia.” Johnson, who has since retired, described Owens as reserved. Owens' demeanor in court Thursday was demure and she spoke softly.
Owens turned over a box of ammunition from their house, Johnson said. The bullets, 9 millimeter Lugers from the brands FC and Winchester, matched shell casings retrieved from the cab, Johnson said.
Defense attorneys have argued that police ignored the girls’ boyfriends as suspects and wrongly narrowed in on Said. But Johnson told jurors they did investigate the boyfriends.
”Initially we were looking at the two boyfriends and then we focused on the defendant,” he testified.
Owens had previously reported Said to law enforcement. Sarah and Amina accused their father of sexual abuse while the family lived in Hill County in 1998. The girls recanted a few months later. Said also faced a charge of retaliation after threatening Owens in Garland, prosecutors said. She later dropped the charge. Owens also petitioned for a restraining order for the girls against Said, but it was never completed, she testified.
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