Shivangi Sinha
In January 2018, Jholie Moussa told her twin sister that she was stepping out of the house for a few minutes and would return soon. The minutes turned into hours, and Jholie texted her sister, saying she was going to a party and would be home later. Sadly, that was the last time anyone heard from her. A couple of weeks later, her body was found in the woods of a park, dumped in a shallow grave and covered with leaves. The police quickly turned their attention to Jholie’s ex-boyfriend, Nebiyu Ebrahim, due to their troubled history. Hulu’s ‘How I Caught My Killer’ season 2 episode titled ‘She Was Hiding a Secret’ thoroughly examines Ebrahim’s confession to the police and the details of the heinous crime.
Nebiyu Ebrahim Physically Assaulted Jholie Moussa Many Times
Nebiyu Ebrahim and Jholie Moussa were students at Mount Vernon High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. They met in school and quickly fell for each other. Both young and carefree, they found a friend in each other, with Ebrahim also becoming Jholie’s confidant. However, it was only a short time before problems in the relationship started surfacing. Jholie’s twin sister, Zhane Moussa, mentioned that Ebrahim would often fly into rages and verbally abuse Jholie. Although he would later apologize and profess his love for her, these incidents shook her.
It wasn’t long after that the violence escalated beyond verbal abuse and became physically harmful for Jholie. In December 2018, Ebrahim allegedly choked her so severely that she lost consciousness, resulting in his arrest and subsequent conviction. He was ordered to stay away from her and sent to an alternate school for troubled teens, but his behavior did not improve. Just a few weeks later, he reportedly attacked her again, nearly fatally, although she never reported this incident to the police, confiding only in a friend. The family claimed that Ebrahim continued to harass Jholie, stalk her, and make her life difficult despite the legal orders against him.
Nebiyu Ebrahim Retured to the Spot Where He Buried Jholie
On the evening of January 12, 2018, Nebiyu Ebrahim and Jholie Moussa communicated via Snapchat. The following day, while at home with her siblings, Jholie informed them that she was stepping out for a few minutes to meet Ebrahim at Mount Vernon Park in Virginia. However, she never returned. Later that day, her sister received a text from Jholie stating she was going to a party in Norfolk, which raised concerns as it was a considerable distance from their home. As hours turned into days without any contact from Jholie, a missing person report was filed. Sadly, on January 25, her body was discovered in the park, buried in a shallow grave and concealed under leaves.
The police swiftly apprehended Ebrahim due to his turbulent history with Jholie. Under interrogation, Ebrahim eventually confessed to the crime, providing a detailed account of the events. He revealed that he had been struggling at the alternative school he was attending and blamed Jholie for his difficulties. On the evening of January 12, 2018, when she came to meet him at Mount Vernon Park, Ebrahim admitted that his anger escalated uncontrollably. He described using what he termed an “MMA-type chokehold” on her, which resulted in her death.
Ebrahim then disclosed that he moved her body into the woods and initially covered it with leaves. Later that night, he returned with a chef’s knife, dug a shallow grave, and buried her, concealing the grave once again with leaves. Upon further investigation, the police discovered that Ebrahim’s claim of uncontrollable rage was only part of the truth. Using his mother’s phone, he had researched how long it would take to kill a person by choking just hours before the crime. This premeditation contradicted his narrative of spontaneous anger. Ebrahim was subsequently charged with first-degree murder, and he did not put up a fight.
Nebiyu Ebrahim is Behind Bars Today
In June 2019, before his trial, Nebiyu Ebrahim pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree murder. During his sentencing in September 2019, the court played the video of his confession for the family. He also took the opportunity to apologize to all those who were present in the court. His defense team argued that he was only 17 years old at the time of the murder and that a life sentence would be unjust, citing the potential for growth and rehabilitation as a teenager.
Despite these arguments, the judge sentenced Ebrahim to 99 years in prison, which brought considerable relief to Jholie Moussa’s family. He is now 24 years old and is serving his sentence at the Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Oakwood, Virginia. The details of his parole are not publicly available, but it will be long before the question arises.
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