2023 year in review: Plainfield shaken by killing of Palestinian American boy

Plainfield — An international crisis brought horrifying repercussions to Plainfield in 2023 when landlord Joseph Czuba allegedly stabbed 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoumi to death Oct. 14 in what prosecutors have said was a hate crime motivated by the boy’s Palestinian heritage.

One week after a terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli communities left more than 1,200 people dead, 71-year-old Czuba allegedly was driven into a rage by far-right media reports and knocked at the door of his home’s attached apartment in Plainfield Township before allegedly attacking his tenants, Wadea and his mother, 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin, with a military-style knife.

The attack was reportedly motivated by Czuba’s fear that his Palestinian-born tenant would call her friends to harm him as part of the rumored “international day of jihad,” prosecutors said.

Although Shahin and her ex-husband, the boy’s father, both emigrated from Palestine, Wadea was born in the U.S.

Shahin told police that Czuba initially confronted her about what was going on in the Middle East.

Shahin was stabbed a dozen times across her body before escaping to the bathroom and calling the police, but she was unable to reach her son, police said.

She spent a week in the hospital recovering from her injuries, but Wadea, who was stabbed 26 times, died after reaching the hospital. An autopsy report confirmed that the medical examiners found the murder weapon still embedded in his abdomen.

The killing sparked an outpouring of support for the family and the local Muslim community, as well as national outcry and warnings against the growing dangers of Islamophobia, xenophobia and antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Palestine war.

Multiple vigils were held throughout Will County in the days after the attack, and thousands of people, including Gov. JB Pritzker, attended Wadea’s funeral.

President Joe Biden contacted the boy’s father, Odai Al-Fayoumi, in the days after the crime, and the Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Czuba to consider adding federal hate crime charges against him. That investigation is ongoing.

In Will County, Czuba has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty and has been held in jail since Oct. 14 in a medical unit because he is in poor health. His next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 3, which is when he is expected to appeal his continued detainment.

As the criminal prosecution proceeds, Wadea’s father has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Czuba, his wife Mary, and their business, Discerning Property Management.

Mary Czuba has cooperated with police in their investigation of the crime and filed for divorce from her husband shortly after the killing.

In the lawsuit, Al-Fayoumi accuses her of negligence in not keeping her husband away from Wadea and Shahin or appreciating the threat he posed to his tenants, who had lived in the home for two years before the attack.

The lawsuit is awaiting a further hearing after Al-Fayoumi petitioned to become special administrator of his son’s estate Nov. 30. Although Al-Fayoumi and Shahin have been divorced since 2021 and he did not live with them, Al-Fayoumi’s attorney has said both parents and their attorneys are “working together” on the lawsuit.