News Track: International manhunt continues for Iowa City man accused of trying to kill, rob woman

Last month, a Johnson County District Court case led to an international manhunt when an Iowa City man, about a week before his trial for attempting to kill and rob a woman on the University of Iowa campus in 2022, cut off his ankle monitor and fled to Jordan.

Ali Younes, 20, appeared for a pretrial hearing May 5, but then cut off his court-ordered GPS monitor the next day, according to investigators.

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Younes, who was charged exactly one year before he fled, had received a reduced bail ruling from 6th Judicial District Judge Christopher Bruns during a contested hearing in June 2022. His bail was reduced from $350,000 to $125,000, and the judge released him on several conditions — including wearing a GPS monitor and being under home confinement with his family in Northwest Iowa’s O'Brien County pending trial.

Last month, on May 6, the Iowa State Patrol’s tactical team obtained a search warrant for the family’s home in Sutherland, where UI police had found Younes’ ankle monitor left in the kitchen and SIM cards missing from his phones, court documents show.

Younes’ U.S.-issued passport had been surrendered, as part of his bail requirements. But he used a Jordanian passport to board a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight May 6 from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith and law enforcement officials said last month.

His parents, Alfred Younes and Lima Khairi Mohammad Younes, both of Sutherland, were then charged with escape from custody-felon. Each are accused of aiding and abetting their son to intentionally escape the house arrest.

Alfred Younes was arrested May 9 by the Omaha Police Department’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit and the Omaha Airport Authority while he was attempting to board a flight in Omaha, according to court documents. He was headed to Amman, Jordan. He will be extradited back to Johnson County to face charge.

Lima Younes, 45, was arrested May 9, by UI police on a warrant with the assistance of the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office. She was brought back to Johnson County by officers May 10 and formally charged May 11.

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A criminal complaint filed in Lima Younes’ case revealed she and her husband misled authorities on the whereabouts of their son while helping him escape the country. They sold one of their vehicles for $20,000 on May 3 and then rented a Chrysler Pacifica minivan to take him to O’Hare so he could fly to Jordan.

On May 6, Lima left her phone at home and her husband turned off his phone after they rented the Pacifica, the complaint stated. A probation officer attempted to make contact with Ali Younes and then his parents, but couldn’t reach them.

After his parents — along with their teen daughter and a female relative, Wafe Najim — drove in the rented minivan to O’Hare, Ali Younes’ probation officer was told by his mother they were driving back home from Davenport and said her son was at their Sutherland home. But the geolocation on Alfred Younes’ phone indicated he was on Highway 20 traveling from Chicago to Dubuque, the complaint stated.

Dubuque police stopped the van, and Alfred Younes told police they were coming back from O’Hare after dropping off Najim for a flight to Canada. At the time, investigators knew Najim didn’t go to Canada and had boarded a flight to Jordan instead.

On May 8, federal investigators received information that Ali Younes and Najim had both flown to Amman from O’Hare at 8:20 p.m. May 6, the complaint stated. Younes, who paid for his ticket in cash, sat next to Najim, investigators told UI police.

What’s happened since

Federal and international law enforcement started a manhunt for Ali Younes and he remains a fugitive. The primary federal agency for tracking and extraditing fugitives in foreign countries wanted for prosecution here is the U.S. Marshals Service.

Supervisor Deputy U.S. Marshal Phil Hartung, who oversees the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force, said he could explain the process generally of fugitive apprehension but couldn’t comment on the Younes case specifically because it’s an active case and is being handled by the FBI and marshals in the southern district.

Hartung, who has been a marshal for 17 years, said in any situation involving a fugitive, a regional fugitive task force starts working once a warrant has been issued with local, state and federal partners to get as much information as possible about the wanted person to help them in their track. If a fugitive is believed to have left the country, they engage the marshal’s Office of International Operations. That office has foreign field contacts who also work with Interpol to conduct investigations and find suspects.

Hartung, who has been involved in two foreign extraditions — in Italy and Russia — during his career, said there are many steps involved to ensure a smooth process. It varies how long the process takes, including the extradition and court proceedings after an arrest has been made.

It there’s an issue with citizenship or if the person has duel citizenship, an additional provisional warrant may be needed if there’s a flight risk, so that may take more time, Hartung noted.

The marshals’ northern district usually arrest a total of about 300 to 400 fugitives a year, Hartung said. This year, so far, marshals have arrested about 200 on state and federal warrants.

His parents

A judge initially ordered a $20,000 bail for Lima Younes, but that was increased to $150,000 cash-only and she pleaded not guilty to the felony charge.

Her trial is set for Aug. 1 in Johnson County District Court. If convicted, she faces five years in prison.

Zimmermann Smith said this week that a governor’s warrant has been issued for Alfred Younes to extradite him from Nebraska. A criminal complaint hasn’t been filed because he hasn’t been formally charged in Johnson County.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com