When police arrived at the unincorporated Plainfield home on Oct. 14, 2023, they found a slain kindergartner in a bed, his severely injured mother, and their landlord lying in the backyard, according to video played in court.
The gruesome scene would later make international headlines, with prosecutors accusing the landlord of murdering 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and attacking his mother, Hanan Shaheen, because they were Palestinian.
Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of committing a hate crime. Authorities say he attacked the family because he blamed Muslims – and Palestinian Muslims, specifically – for the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Currently on trial in Will County, Czuba has pleaded not guilty.
If convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.
During the second day of Czuba’s murder trial Wednesday, Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Starcevich testified he was dispatched to an unincorporated Plainfield home based on a 911 call that a landlord was killing a child with a knife.
According to his body camera recording, Starcevich initially found Shaheen, who was “bleeding profusely from the face.” He then came across the body of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, who had been attacked in a bedroom and showed no signs of life.
An autopsy would later show the boy suffered 26 stab wounds.
Starcevich testified he was searching the kitchen for the attacker when he spotted Czuba in the backyard.
“I’ve got someone in the back. Outside. Outside,” he said in the recording.
Starcevich’s body camera video showed him approaching Czuba, who was lying in the grass outside the Lincoln Highway home where he lived. Shaheen, who was divorced from Wadee’s father, rented two bedrooms there from Czuba and his wife.
As the deputy approached the landlord, Czuba sat up.
“He had blood all over his body, on his hands,” Starcevich told the jury. “He was sweating profusely.”
Starcevich asked Czuba if he was the landlord and Czuba nodded in confirmation.
Starcevich was working that Saturday morning with his partner Riguberto Cisneros, who also testified about the events that unfolded that day.
The two Will County sheriff’s deputies said they saw a knife holster on Czuba’s waistline along with several pocket knives in the area.
When they approached Czuba outside, Cisneros said he had his gun pointed down in a low, ready position. He walked fast, but wasn’t running, Cisneros said.
Starcevich said he approached Czuba with his gun drawn because he believed he was the individual who had attacked Shaheen and Wadee.
Czuba’s defense attorney George Lenard said that when the deputies approached him, the landlord sat up and placed his hands behind him, but not in a way that he assumed he would be handcuffed. Starcevich didn’t put in his police report that he observed Czuba sweating, Lenard said.
The Plainfield Fire Department arrived on the scene and removed the knife holster from Czuba’s waist, handing it to a Plainfield officer, who handed it to Starcevich.
Starcevich followed the ambulance to AdventHealth Hospital in Bolingbrook where Czuba was treated for injuries. Authorities say he sustained the wounds when Shaheen fought back against him.
Shaheen was treated at Ascension Saint Joseph Hospital in Joliet under an alias for her protection, according to court testimony.
Alan Favela, a physician assistant at Saint Joseph’s, told the jury he treated laceration wounds to Shaheen’s face, scalp and right hand.
Shaheen required 19 stitches on her face for cuts ranging from one to four centimeters, Favela said. She also needed two stitches on her right hand and two staples where her scalp meets her neck, he said.
Plainfield Fire Protection District Lt. Brandon Vainowski said his crews rendered as much aid to Wadee as possible in the house and in the ambulance while notifying hospital officials at Saint Joseph’s to have their trauma crew on standby.
They began CPR and stabilized the knife so it would not cause additional damage and tried to jumpstart Wadee’s heart, the lieutenant testified.
“I couldn’t really count how many stab wounds,” he said.
At the hospital, emergency room physician Nikolai Arendovich testified they did what they could to bring Wadee back, but he had no cardiac activity. At no point were they able to find a pulse, he said.
At 12:19 p.m. they pronounced him dead.