An Illinois landlord convicted of murdering his six-year-old Palestinian-American tenant in a violent hate crime has died in custody.
Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars in May for the murder of Wadea al-Fayoume as well as the severe wounding and attempted murder of his mother Hanaan Shaheen in 2023.
Police say the landlord targeted the pair for their Islamic faith shortly after the start of the Israel-Gaza war. He died at the Illinois Department of Corrections on Thursday, according to the Will County Sheriff's Office.
Czuba had served less than three months of his decades-long sentence when he died of a currently unknown cause at the age of 73.
The family had been renting rooms from Czuba in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64km) from Chicago, when the attack took place. Police say Czuba stabbed al-Fayoume 26 times. The boy later died in hospital.
