Illinois landlord who killed 6-year-old Muslim boy in 2023 hate crime has died, police say

The Brief

• Joseph Czuba, the suburban landlord convicted of killing a Muslim boy in a 2023 hate crime, has died, police say.

• It was unclear exactly what led to Czuba’s death.

• He was convicted earlier this year of killing Wadea Al-Fayoume and attacking his mother in Will County.

Joseph Czuba, the Will County landlord who was convicted of murdering 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and attacking his mother in a 2023 hate crime, has died.

What we know

A Will County Sheriff’s official confirmed Czuba’s death and said they were notified by the Illinois Department of Corrections on behalf of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.

It was unclear exactly when or how the 73-year-old died.

The backstory

Czuba was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, and committing a hate crime in connection with the death of Al-Fayoume and the stabbing of his mother in October 2023.

Authorities said Czuba targeted the family because they were Muslim, and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on Israel.

The attack took place inside Czuba’s Plainfield Township home, where the victims had been his tenants for more than two years. Prosecutors said Czuba, influenced by inflammatory media and political rhetoric, turned violent just days after the Israel-Hamas war began and stabbed Al-Fayoume to death and seriously injured his mother.

“He told me, ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” Shaheen said during the trial, describing how Czuba attacked her with a knife and left her bloodied before she locked herself inside a bathroom and called 911 as her son screamed from another room.

During the trial, jurors watched a police video of Czuba who spoke unprompted about the attack.

“I was afraid they were going to do Jihad on me,” he said, later referring to Muslims as “infested rats.”

DNA evidence, witness testimony, and the recovery of the bloodied knife supported the prosecution’s case.

The crime garnered national headlines as hate crimes targeting Muslims and Jewish communities surged in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas and subsequent Israeli campaign in Gaza.

Just last month, community members in Plainfield unveiled a statue depicting Al-Fayoume’s silhouette at a park the boy used to play at.