Twisted Texas love triangle: Couple allegedly plot ambush, kidnapping, murder of wife's alleged former lover — over dishonor
A Texas husband and wife allegedly attempted an ambush, kidnapping, and murder of the wife's alleged former lover over the weekend.
The victim — who did not want to be named due to fears for his life — allegedly had been having an affair with 35-year-old Hana Ahmad Alolaimi. Both the victim and Alolaimi reportedly were married to other people.
The victim said the angry husband told him he had to die because he had dishonored his wife.
Citing court records, KRIV-TV reported that the two would meet at a Chick-fil-A in West Houston and then would drive behind a nearby Target to be alone.
While court documents say the victim broke off the adulterous relationship three months ago after his wife found out, the victim and Alolaimi allegedly met Saturday in the parking lot at the same Chick-fil-A from their past meetings.
According to court documents, Alolaimi parked her vehicle and gestured to the victim to enter her vehicle.
When Alolaimi started to drive away, the victim — a 36-year-old DoorDash delivery driver — reportedly told her that he had to make a delivery and could not leave. She allegedly continued to drive from the Chick-fil-A.
The victim was unaware that 48-year-old Omar Mahmoud Bishtawi — the husband of Alolaimi — reportedly was hiding in the back seat of the vehicle.
"Your husband jumped out from under a curtain that was in the back seat of the vehicle, put the complaining witness in a chokehold, then pressed a firearm against the complaining witness' head," the prosecutor told Alolaimi at her hearing, according to KHOU.
The victim said the angry husband told him he had to die because he had dishonored his wife.
"With his left hand, he grabs me like this and says: 'You made fun of her,'" the victim told KHOU.
"I pulled the door handle, and thank God it opened in a matter of seconds," the victim said.
The prosecutor added, "The complaining witness tried to get away, and your husband shot the complaining witness two times."
The victim managed to get away, call for help, and then he was rushed to a hospital.
Court documents note that the victim was shot in the thigh and right foot, and he could have died from the shooting if he had not been taken to the hospital in time.
The victim told KHOU he still can't feel anything below one knee.
The suspects reportedly drove away but later surrendered to the Houston police who said Alolaimi and Bishtawi provided investigators with conflicting statements about the nearly fatal incident.
Bishtawi and Alolaimi are both charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.
Bishtawi's bond was set at $200,000 while Alolaimi's was set at $150,000.
Bishtawi and Alolaimi have three children ages 13, 10, and 7, according to court documents.
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Houston’s Ongoing Homelessness Crisis Is A Damning Indictment Of ‘Housing First’ Policy
The problem with the Housing First approach to homelessness is that it's a one-size-fits-all policy that ignores human nature.12-year-old girl's suspected murderers may be linked to bloodthirsty Tren de Aragua gang, warrant reveals
The two Venezuelan men accused of the brutal murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston are being investigated for possible links to the transnational criminal organization Tren da Aragua, according to search warrants obtained by KPRC-TV.
In June, 22-year-old Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos — both of whom were unlawfully in the United States — allegedly lured Nungaray under a bridge after she stopped at a convenience store. The males, who were charged with capital murder for her death, allegedly stripped her, bound her wrists and ankles, and sexually assaulted her for hours. The child was strangled to death, and her body was tossed in a bayou.
'It makes it seem more real that these people are monsters.'
Search warrants KPRC obtained revealed that Houston police and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the males for possible ties to TDA.
Authorities reportedly discovered that one of the males displayed emojis on his TikTok account bio frequently tied to TDA gang members. The emojis included a ninja, crossed swords, and a building.
According to KPRC, the search warrant read, “TdA will use certain slang and emojis in their communications with one another to identify themselves.”
Authorities also noted that the account included a Spanish message that they described as implying “TdA gang membership” and being “a call to members inside and outside the country.”
Investigators stated that additional indicators — including specific clothing, shoes, and hand signals — also were found on the account and also suggested TDA ties.
On a social media account believed to belong to Peña, law enforcement discovered a video of him with two star tattoos on his shoulders and a rose tattoo on his hands, both of which also are symbols frequently associated with the gang
Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, told KPRC, “It makes it seem more real that these people are monsters, and that these are evil people who do heinous things, don’t have a heart, who have no compassion for anybody.”
“We really have no business burying our kids, they’re supposed to bury us,” she continued. “This proves that these are very horrible people and … it wasn’t an accident that just went too far.”
“I needed to turn my pain into power and just make a difference,” she added. “I will use my last breath fighting for her.”
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Suspect in 'execution-style' murder of woman, 21, caught after tipster recognizes him from 'sugar daddy' website: Court docs
A Texas man is accused of committing an "execution-style" murder of a 21-year-old nursing student in her apartment last month. A tipster told Houston police she knew the murder suspect from a "sugar daddy" website in 2012 and "instantly" recognized him, according to court documents.
After receiving an anonymous tip, police found the body of Muna Pandey — who had attended Houston Community College — in her Houston apartment August 26, according to prosecutors. Paramedics pronounced Pandey dead at the crime scene, according to a press release from the Houston Police Department. Pandey was from Nepal.
When police arrested Shah several days after Pandey's death, the suspect was still wearing the same blood-stained clothing seen on surveillance video when leaving the victim's apartment.
Investigators said Muna was shot three times in the torso and once “execution style" in the back of the head, according to court documents.
On August 28, the Houston Police Department shared a surveillance camera image of the murder suspect and requested the public's help in identifying the male.
Citing the criminal complaint, People magazine reported that a tipster informed Houston Police that she knew the murder suspect from a "sugar daddy" website in 2012 and "instantly" recognized him.
Houston Police said they arrested 51-year-old Bobby Singh Shah during a traffic stop on the night of August 28.
Shah was charged with capital murder and booked into the Harris County Jail.
According to the criminal complaint, a neighbor told investigators he heard "loud thumping" noises from Pandey's apartment on August 24.
Prosecutors highlighted that when police arrested Shah several days after Pandey's death, the suspect was still wearing the same blood-stained clothing seen on surveillance video when leaving the victim's apartment.
Officers also discovered a gun in Shah's car, according to prosecutors.
Citing court documents, KHOU said Pandey's friend told investigators she previously had been stalked, and he helped her install a motion-activated camera above the entrance to her apartment. Video from that camera reportedly shows Shah holding Pandey at gunpoint while she was holding a shoe box, a shopping bag, a black jacket, and a purse. He reportedly is seen on video pushing her inside and leaving an hour later while holding Pandey's purse. Authorities believe Shah killed her just before leaving, KHOU said.
Investigators did not make it clear whether Shah and Pandey had a pre-existing relationship.
Prosecutor Rebecca Marshall said, “I can only imagine what Muna’s mother is going through being halfway across the world, so I wanted them to know what would happen in court, what they could expect."
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to financially assist Pandey's mother, Anita, to fly from Nepal to Houston to "say goodbye to her only child and give Muna the farewell she deserves."
At the time of publication, the crowdfunding campaign had raised more than $36,000.
Shah is being held without bond, according to online court records of the Harris County District Clerk's Office.
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Climate activist exposes apparent recycling deceit in Houston after dropping AirTags in plastics
A climate activist in the Houston area learned through a clever use of Apple AirTags that the recycling program in her city was not living up to its promises.
Brandy Deason was skeptical when she heard that "all plastic" — even plastic not usually considered recyclable — would be "accepted" in the recycling program sponsored by the city of Houston.
'We need a huge supply of plastics to get ready for startup here, and we want to start that now in order to get ahead of it.'
An avid recycler and a climate justice coordinator at Air Alliance Houston, Deason suspected that her plastic recyclables weren't making their way to a recycling facility and devised a strategy to test her suspicions. She dropped an Apple AirTag into a dozen different loads of plastic recyclables, leading CBS News reporter Ben Tracy to refer to her in jest as a "plastics spy."
Lo and behold, nine of the 12 AirTags, fully 75%, wound up at Wright Waste Management, a waste-processing facility located about 20 miles from downtown Houston, according to Newsweek.
Back in 2022, Houston officials touted a new, state-of-the-art program from Cyclyx International that would transform almost all plastics into pellets that could then be recycled. According to a LinkedIn profile believed to be associated with it, Cyclyx is a "consortium of companies with a mission to help increase the plastic recycling rate from 10% to 90%."
In under two years, Cyclyx and other companies involved in the Houston program have collected approximately 250 tons of plastics sorted for recycling. Unfortunately, almost none of those plastics have yet been recycled — and most Houstonians are likely none the wiser.
"I think that they've gotten the idea that it's being taken care of and being recycled," Deason told CBS News about her fellow Houston residents.
In fact, much of the supposedly recyclable plastics have been stacked in piles nearly 10 feet high at Wright, aerial drone footage from CBS News showed, waiting for a sorting facility that has yet to be completed.
Ryan Tebbets, a vice president at Cyclyx International, admitted to CBS News that the revolutionary plastics recycling program has never been tried at scale but insisted that most of the material at the waste facility would eventually be recycled.
"We need a huge supply of plastics to get ready for startup here, and we want to start that now in order to get ahead of it," Tebbets explained.
ExxonMobil, which helps fund Cyclyx, likewise insisted that "advanced recycling" is not a pipe dream but a present-day reality. "Advanced recycling is real. It's happening. We're doing it," said Ray Mastroleo, Exxon's global market development manager for advanced recycling.
Mark Wilfalk, the director of solid waste management in Houston, was less enthusiastic about the current state of the plastics recycling program. After viewing the drone footage of the Wright facility, Wilfalk acknowledged that "it's not the most desirable-looking site."
Still, Wilfalk believes that Wright is the right spot for the plastics — for now. "We're gonna stockpile it for now. We're gonna see what happens," he told Newsweek.
"This is not an issue of 'it's our fault,'" Deason told Newsweek. "This is an issue of overproduction of things that are known not to be recyclable in the plastics industry."
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been investigating ExxonMobil and Cyclyx's claims about recycling plastics and has openly suggested that some of the promises are largely illusionary, AppleInsider indicated.
Mastroleo of Exxon seemingly disagrees, telling CBS News that "this is just the starting point, and we are in it for the long haul."
Blaze News reached out to Deason for comment but did not receive a response. Newsweek reached out to Wright Waste Management and Houston's Resilience and Sustainability Office for comment as well.
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90-year-old Navy veteran fatally shot, run over during carjacking in retirement home parking lot, police say
A 90-year-old Navy veteran was fatally shot and run over during a carjacking outside a Houston retirement home over the weekend, police told KTRK-TV.
The victim has been identified as Nelson Beckett, the station said.
'I think the neighborhood would feel safer if there were police patrols instead of just when something bad happens.'
Police told KTRK that Beckett was in the parking lot of Lonestar Living on Westbrae Parkway around 12:45 p.m. Saturday when a man in his late 20s approached the victim and began talking to him.
Investigators told the station that surveillance video shows the suspect attacking Beckett before shooting him and getting into the victim's car. What's more, police told KTRK the suspect ran over Beckett during the getaway.
Beckett was pronounced dead at a hospital, and his car was found abandoned at an apartment complex less than three miles away, the station said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case:,
— (@)
The victim's son, Tim Beckett, told KTRK in a follow-up story that he hopes the suspect is caught and that he's "thankful" for the outpouring of support in the wake of his father's killing.
Tim Beckett added to the station that his dad leaves behind two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. He also told KTRK that his father attended Abilene Christian University, worked in sales after his naval service, and was active at Southwest Central Church.
"What a foolish, brutal act against the mildest of men, an act that makes absolutely no sense," Southwest Central senior minister Steve Sargent said during a Sunday service, according to the station.
Sargent also said Beckett attended a funeral at the church just days before he was killed, KTRK said.
Crime statistics from January until the end of June this year show at least 61 crime reports along Westbrae Parkway near where Beckett was killed, the station said, adding that 81 crime reports were filed for the same area over the entirety of 2023.
At least one neighbor who's lived in the area for two decades added to the station that safety is a growing concern: "I think the neighborhood would feel safer if there were police patrols instead of just when something bad happens."
Police asked anyone with information about Beckett's killing to call 713-308-3600, KTRK said.
You can view a video report here about the fatal carjacking.
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Woman says stranger made creepy comment to her at bar before her husband was drugged after finishing her drink
A Texas woman said she had a disturbing interaction with a stranger at a bar she and her husband frequent — and that a test indicates someone apparently tried to drug her, because her husband finished her drink and was adversely affected.
'He wanted to hurt my wife.'
Daniel Zuniga and his wife, Melissa, spoke to KPRC-TV about their alarming experience at Rudyard's Pub in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. They had been visiting the bar for about two decades.
“It was supposed to be just a normal night,” said Zuniga.
He said he went to pay their bar tab and left his wife sitting by herself.
“I had my drink right here in front of me,” said the wife. “And then I grabbed it, stirred it, drank it, set it down.”
She was texting her daughter when a strange man sat next to her and said hello to her.
She noted that after she said hello back, he responded, "It looks like you’re stuck with me tonight."
She said she thought that was creepy, so she said she grabbed her drink and told him she was going to go get her husband. Zuniga said he didn't want to waste her drink, so he consumed it in one gulp.
"I just swung it," he recalled. "I took a big swig."
By the time the couple got back home, their family said Zuniga was behaving violently and cursing.
“We had to drag him in. He was crawling on the floor," their daughter Natalia said. “We thought he had just been very drunk because we’d never seen him like this."
Zuniga said that when he woke up the next day, he didn't remember much of the night. He took an over-the-counter drug test, and it tested positive for drugs he had never ingested. They believe the stranger's intended target was his wife.
“It wasn’t even for me,” said Zuniga. “He wanted to hurt my wife, and that’s even more infuriating.”
The couple filed a report with the Houston Police Department, and the owner of the bar said employees would help in any way possible.
Surveillance video from the bar captured an image of the man police believe tried to drug Zuniga's wife. At one point, he even walked directly behind Zuniga as he waited to pay his bar tab.
The interview with the Zunigas as well as the surveillance video were posted on KPRC's YouTube page.
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