Naman Shrestha
The rising sun on one tragic August morning in 2017 shed light on the body of 35-year-old mother of three, Nada Huranieh, lying right outside her luxurious house in Farmington Hills, Michigan. As a murder investigation was launched, some unsettling truths about her life surfaced, leading the detectives straight to the perpetrator. The entire murder case is explored in a detailed manner in the episode titled ‘The Shadow in the Window’ of NBC’s ‘Dateline.’ Besides showcasing the intricacies of the investigation, the episode also features insightful interviews with the victim’s loved ones, allowing the viewers to delve deeper into the case.
Nada Huranieh Was Found Dead on the Ground Outside Her House
The energetic ball of positivity, Nada Huranieh, was born on January 25, 1982, and grew up to be an ambitious and free-spirited woman. After completing her education with flying colors, Nada got into the fitness industry and began working as a personal trainer and group exercise instructor. Her drive and passion for her job made her successful and reputed. In the 1990s, she crossed paths with Bassel Altantawi and developed a strong romantic bond with him over time. After dating for a while, they tied the knot and made their relationship official in the eyes of the law in Syria in 1999.
Over the next few years, the couple welcomed three children, including Aya Altantawi and Muhammad Altantawi, into the world and entered parenthood. Raising her children in Farmington Hills, Nada was known to be a doting mother and a devoted wife. However, in the early morning hours of August 21, 2017, Aya Altantawi received the shock of her life right outside their house. She discovered her 35-year-old mother lying on the patio, unconscious. Immediately, she dialed 911 and informed them about the situation in a distressed tone, “We need an ambulance… Oh my God.”
The authorities rushed to the seven-bedroom Farmington Hills residence on Howard Road and began inspecting the body and the property for clues. Initially, the detectives were under the impression that she had accidentally fallen from the second-floor window. However, when the autopsy of the body revealed that Nada Huranieh had died of suffocation and blunt force trauma to the head, her death was ruled a homicide, and a murder investigation was launched.
Nada Huranieh’s Killer Was Her Own Blood
As part of their investigation, the detectives dug deeper into Nada Huranieh’s life and her relationship with her loved ones, only to discover that things weren’t ideal between the victim and her husband. The longtime married couple was in the middle of a divorce. On Valentine’s Day 2016, Bassell and Nada got into a heated argument that resulted in the former pushing her down a flight of stairs at home. Following the domestic violence incident, she filed for divorce in March 2016, and he was ordered out of the house. In the same year, he was also charged with Medicare fraud at his Urgent Care Clinic in Canton. Thus, he pleaded guilty to spousal abuse as well as two counts of both Medicare fraud false claims and healthcare fraud.
The main cause for the fights between the couple and the deterioration of their marriage was reportedly the fact that Nada was moving away from the traditional Syrian and Islamic customs and teaching two daughters the same. As for her son, Muhammad Altantawi, he was on the side of his father and had allegedly grown to resent her. Even after Bassel was ordered to have only supervised visitation with his children, Muhammad used to sneak out of the house to meet him multiple times, violating orders from the court. Upon being questioned by the investigators, Muhammad gave out inconsistent statements about his whereabouts on the morning before Nada was found dead. Upon checking out the security footage of the property, the detectives saw someone throw her body out of the window on the fateful morning.
The Perpetrator Was Brought to Justice Several Years After the Murder
In light of the circumstantial evidence against Muhammad Altantawi, the investigators arrested and charged him with the murder of his mother. According to them, in the early morning hours of August 21, 2017, the then-16-year-old boy used a toxin-doused cloth to suffocate Nada Huranieh in her makeup room before pushing her body out of the second-floor window of their Farmington Hills house. In order to make it look like she fell while cleaning the glass of the window and stage her death as an accidental fall, he kept a ladder and tile-cleaning solution near the window.
About five years after the death of the fitness trainer, her son was convicted of premeditated murder in March 2022. Several months later, on September 21, he represented himself and addressed the court before his sentencing. Claiming that he was wrongfully convicted, he stated, “I didn’t smother, asphyxiate, anesthetize, or otherwise kill my mother.” Muhammad Altantawi further added, “I don’t care if I’m sentenced to 40 years or 80,000 years. I don’t care…nothing I go through in life or have gone through in the last five years — nothing I go through will ever compare to what my mom went through.” Later, he received a sentence of 35 to 60 years in prison for killing his mother, Nada Huranieh.
Read More: Muhammad Altantawi: Where is the Killer Now?
