Kriti Mehrotra
It was on August 21, 2017, when everything turned upside down for the Altantawi-Huranieh family as their matriarch, Nada Huranieh, was found dead on the patio of their Farmington Hills, Detroit home. The truth is, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Shadow in the Window,’ it initially appears as if 35-year-old Nada Huranieh had accidentally passed away upon falling from her second-floor window. However, as investigations continued, it came to light that her 16-year-old son Muhammad Altantawi had deliberately killed her, shattering his young sister’s heart into a million pieces.
Aya Altantawi Was the One to Find Her Mother Dead
It was a normal morning for 14-year-old Aya Altantawi on August 21, 2017, after she had adjusted to her parents’ separation and ongoing divorce, until she found her mother lying unconscious on their patio. She, her 9-year-old younger sister, her elder brother, and their mother were the only ones supposed to be home, so she didn’t hesitate for even a moment before calling the authorities. Yet, it was the adrenaline that was working for her because she still vividly remembers feeling as if what was going on wasn’t real; she requested an ambulance, but nothing felt real.
Therefore, once the first responders declared Nada dead with no hope of resuscitation, despite rushing to the scene and making it within minutes, all she felt was pain. “I remember screaming but, it’s like in those movies where the character’s like, ‘Oh I screamed but I didn’t realize it was coming from me,'” she candidly said in the aforementioned show. Nevertheless, she managed to gather herself enough in the ensuing few hours to answer any questions investigators might have, only to find it weird when her brother said their mother was suicidal when that was not the case.
Aya Altantawi Doesn’t Support Her Brother in Any Way
Despite this, Aya never could have imagined her then 16-year-old brother Muhammad Altantawi would be behind their mother’s murder over her divorce from their father. She couldn’t do it when he was arrested, but the evidence spoke for itself, driving their family to become divided in a way no one could have ever expected. While Muhammad maintains his innocence and portrays himself as a victim, with their father standing by him every step of the way, she is with the rest of the family and is understandably angry.
In fact, even though Aya claimed in her victim impact statement that she hopes Muhammad thinks of him if he ever needs anything, she changed her mind by the end of his sentencing hearing. She actually had to be removed from the courtroom for a short while for shouting and cursing at her father as he defended his son in his statement, and she couldn’t stand how the convicted killer tried painting himself to be the victim. Therefore, once the hearing was over, she said, “He could die today, and I would not go to his funeral. I would throw a party instead. I don’t care about him… These past five years have been a lot. I’ve tried to sympathize. I’ve tried to be empathetic,” but not anymore.
Aya Altantawi is Trying to Move Forward in Her Life
While the dark cloud of her family’s past and her loss will, unfortunately, continue to hand over Aya’s head like a dark cloud, it appears as if she is still doing her best to lead a good, stable, happy life because she knows it’s what her mother would have wanted. So today, at the age of 21, she appears to be a Michigan State University 2023 graduate, where she majored in Criminal Justice and Psychology and minored in philosophy of law. As a result, this Detroit Metropolitan Area native has since been able to spread her wings and establish a career as a Behavior Assistant at Positive Behavior Supports Corp. Though previously, she did dabble as a Representative at Inter-American Children’s Institute, an employee at Affinity Health, as well as an Emergency Dispatcher for Ingham County.
