DENVER, Colorado, 29 October 2003 — A Saudi Arabian student has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2001 killing of a Saudi oilman’s son. Naif Al-Yousif, 25, was convicted Monday of killing Abdulaziz Al-Kohaji. Al-Yousif faces a mandatory life term without the possibility of parole at his sentencing hearing on Jan. 5.
He was convicted of first-degree murder during commission of a felony and of robbery, theft by receiving, accessory after the fact and concealing a death. He was acquitted on separate charges of first-degree murder after deliberation and of conspiracy to commit murder.
Both men were students at the Community College of Denver when Al-Kohaji, a 20-year-old engineering student, was reported missing Jan. 18, 2001. His body was found in a landfill in Erie, 24 kilometers north of Denver, on Feb. 8, 2001. Police said they believe he was killed by three acquaintances in a robbery plot.
The other two other suspects, Mishal Al-Suwaidi and Tariq Al-Dossary, fled to Saudi Arabia, where they were arrested. Police said all three were acquaintances of Al-Kohaji.
Friends reported Al-Kohaji missing after he didn’t show up for classes. Police said he had been taped to a chair and strangled before his body was thrown into a trash bin.
Al-Yousif confessed to the slaying, but a district judge threw out the statement. The judge said police read him his rights so quickly, and his English was so poor, that the process was meaningless.
The Colorado Supreme Court reinstated the confession.
