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Iowa City man charged with trying to kill woman on UI campus will get verdict next month
Ali Younes, who fled to Jordan after attack, faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted
Nov. 23, 2025 6:00 am
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IOWA CITY — Nearly five months after a bench trial, an Iowa City man, charged with robbing and trying to kill a 63-year-old woman on the University of Iowa campus in April 2022, will learn his fate next month.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Kevin McKeever, following a two-day non-jury trial in July, will announce his verdict Dec. 5 in Johnson County District Court. Ali Younes, 22, is charged with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree theft.
He is accused of following a woman on foot on April 25, 2022, tackling her near the UI Art Building West and choking her until she lost consciousness. He then stole her earrings valued at over $10,000, according to a criminal complaint.
Background
The trial had been continued a few times, but this case took years getting to court because Younes fled the country about a year after a judge reduced his bail in June 2022. Younes was allowed pretrial release, which included wearing an ankle monitor and home confinement with his parents, but he cut off the monitor May 5, 2023, and fled to Jordan.
Younes didn’t have a U.S.-issued passport because he had to surrender it as part of his pretrial conditions. But he used a Jordanian passport to board a flight May 6, 2023, from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, law enforcement officials said at the time.
Younes’ parents were both convicted of aiding and abetting him in his escape, and both served prison terms, with each receiving early parole in 2024.
The United States has no extradition agreement with Jordan, but Younes voluntarily returned to the country Aug. 27, 2024, and was taken into custody in Chicago. He went through a “self-surrender process,” UI police said.
He was then charged with escape from custody by a felon, a Class D felony. He also will plead to that charge and may also be sentenced after the verdict is announced in the other case next month.
Bench trial
During the trial in July, Anne Rizzo, 63, of Iowa City, testified she “sensed” someone was following her April 25, 2022, after walking across the Iowa Memorial Union pedestrian bridge. She was walking home late from her family business, Hands Jewelers. She tried to speed up, but the man, later identified as Younes, caught up to her quickly.
She tried to scream but nothing came out, Rizzo testified. Younes tackled her from behind “like a football player.” She fell and he was on top of her, moving her over on her back, “straddling me” and then he started “strangling” her.
“I will never forget him on top of me,” Rizzo testified.
Rizzo said Younes was too strong for her to push him off. She is 5-foot-3 and weighed about 110 pounds at the time.
She was in and out of consciousness, then the next thing she recalled was leaning against someone — a woman who found her after the attack.
Rizzo said she feared for her life. Her neck and throat hurt and she couldn’t speak and was confused. Rizzo had been wearing diamond earrings — a gift from her husband — valued at about $25,000, but she didn’t realize they were missing until she was in the emergency room.
She also didn’t remember being punched in the eye, but photos of Rizzo taken about 10 days after the attack showed the black eye. Rizzo also had red “finger” marks around her neck, and bruising and abrasions on the right side of her face and temporal area.
Witnesses
Two UI students testified about seeing a woman, later identified as Rizzo, unresponsive and lying on the ground and a man, later identified as Younes, standing over her.
Madeline Amos testified that when Younes saw her and her friend, Katherine Kavars, approaching, he pointed at Rizzo, saying she was walking and fell down. Younes told them he would call 911 and then ran off.
Amos said Rizzo was breathing but unconscious. Kavars called 911.
Amos said Rizzo was disoriented and had difficulty speaking.
Kavars said Rizzo told a paramedic she was “strangled.”
In other testimony, UI Police Detective Ian Mallory identified surveillance video taken from various cameras that showed Younes on campus that night after he left Burge Residence Hall at 9:56 p.m.
He walked west across the Hancher Auditorium footbridge, headed down Riverside Drive and seemed to be following a woman going across the Iowa Memorial Union footbridge. The video then showed Rizzo walking across the bridge in the opposite direction. After she passed Younes, he changed direction and started following Rizzo.
Younes started jogging behind Rizzo, about 94 feet from her, said Mallory, who measured and calculated the distance based on the footage. Rizzo cut off the bridge, and Younes was seen looking in her direction as he approached the area.
The video next picked up Younes leaving the area after the assault.
Mallory said after Younes fled to Jordan he stayed in contact with Younes through email and other communication apps. Mallory tried to talk Younes into coming back to Iowa on his own because there is no extradition treaty between the United States and Jordan.
The communications continued about a year before Younes agreed to self-surrender in Chicago in August 2024. He was then extradited back to Iowa.
Mallory testified that Younes, during an interview, confessed to the assault and robbery. Younes recalled the first woman he was following, but he wasn’t interested in her. He then saw Rizzo and attacked her. Younes admitted to putting his hands around her neck.
He told Mallory it wasn’t sexually based. He thought Rizzo had money. He saw her earrings but thought they were fake and said he was going to give them to his girlfriend.
Younes’ former girlfriend, Maria Ortiz, testified he also confessed the crime to her, saying he “choked her out,” in reference to Rizzo.
Younes’ friend, Abens Altidor, also testified that Younes told him on Snapchat he wanted to run away to Mexico in March 2022. Later, Younes told him in person that he wanted to kill someone and run away to Mexico.
The trial wrapped up without Younes testifying in his own defense.
If the judge convicts Younes on all charges, he faces up to 60 years in prison.
Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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