Investigators tracked down and arrested a woman they say killed a 66-year-old local businessman in a brutal attack in his own home, and Thursday she showed in court that she isn’t afraid of making threats.
Sahara Tabriz Fakhir, 32, of River Run Drive in Douglasville, appeared before Douglas County Superior Court Judge Robert J. James in what was a bizarre initial appearance hearing. The hearing was to formally inform Fakhir of her rights and to read the charges against her – allegations that she stabbed Jerry Wheeler repeatedly and left him for dead June 18.
From the beginning of the hearing Fakhir was defiant, threatening, called the courthouse “cursed” and claimed that she was represented by “Allah.”
Fakhir, who is Muslim, demanded to be released. When James asked if she understood her rights and if she had an attorney, she responded “Allah is my lawyer right now and if you do not release me, Allah will have vengeance on you. Like he did in 2009 when he sent that flood – it is only going to get worse.”
But the display became even more bizarre.
Fakhir, who stands 6-2 and weighs in excess of 400 pounds, was referencing her 2009 brush with the law in her comment. In January of 2009, Fakhir was arrested for allegedly threatening to slit the throat of her probation officer. When deputies came the following day to arrest her, she threatened to kill a deputy. While in custody she allegedly destroyed property at the jail.
After attempting to fire her court-appointed attorney due to religious differences, Fakhir agreed to a guilty plea in a deal that gave her five years with 130 days to serve in June 2009.
“I mean what I said,” Fakhir said when told she would not be getting a bond Thursday. “If you don’t release me. I mean what I said. I better be released from that Masonic Courthouse in the name of Allah. ... If they disbelieve they better not proceed. ...Why can’t I get a bond today? Why?”
Before leaving she turned her attention to the media gathered in the jury box and picked out one news station camera in particular to unload on.
“Fox 5, really? Let the illuminati, reptilian news media in here, really?” Fakhir asked Judge James.
James tried to answer, “They are a member of the public and they have the right to be in the courthouse just like anyone else.”
But Fakhir interrupted.
“They are a member of the disbelieving public All you free masons and Illuminati members in the courthouse you all are going to burn,” Fakhir said while being lead out by deputies. “I love you mother.”
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade called Fakhir’s appearance “memorable.”
“I have been in a lot of first appearance hearings in my career,” McDade said. “It’s safe to say that this one makes the short list of the ones that I will always remember.”
McDade said a mental evaluation has not been done to his knowledge, but said in cases like this that is normally part of the regular procedures. He said that the case will likely be presented to the Douglas County Grand Jury in August.
Little is known about the specific evidence that lead to Fakhir becoming a suspect. The Sentinel has learned that investigators with the Major Case Unit arrested Fakhir on Tuesday afternoon on charges of giving a false name and felony violation of probation.
Investigators first talked to Fakhir on the day that Wheeler was discovered dead as they canvassed the neighborhood. Fakhir lives at a home that backs up to the woods behind Wheeler’s property. Officials recently learned that she had actually given them a false name that day. She had a warrant out for her arrest on a felony violation of probation charge, and officials suspect she hoped the fake name would allow her to avoid arrest.
When investigators learned that the name was fake in double checking all that they had done, they worked to find Fakhir and arrested her at her home Tuesday. Forensic evidence then linked her to the murder scene, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stan Copeland said.
To break the case, investigators and technicians spent several days at the scene gathering evidence and even brought in specially trained dogs to help locate evidence in a wooded area near the Wheeler home. A $10,000 reward was posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect in the case.
Until Fakhir’s arrest, little was known about what exactly happened. Copeland said that Michael Wheeler had stopped by the home at 3805 Chattahoochee Drive to check on his dad. That stop was at 2 p.m. June 18 and investigators were called to the scene immediately. The medical examiner confirmed the obvious June 19 – that Jerry Wheeler had been murdered.
“This is one that had bothered us, because outside of forensic evidence, we didn’t have a lot to go on,” Copeland said. “But every person who worked on this case didn’t stop. You hear it all the time, good, old-fashioned police work, but really that was it. They stayed out and beat the bushes and followed every lead. This arrest is a result of all of their hard work.”