FAIRFAX, Va. — Editor's Note: The video above originally aired in January 2022.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is teaming up with the family of a man missing for nearly four months to call on the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) to relaunch their search efforts.
Ahmed Ebrahim, 20, of Alexandria was reported missing by his family on Jan. 17. Detectives arrested 20-year-old Joel Antonio Sarabia of Fairfax and an unnamed 17-year-old boy, in connection with Ebrahim's death. Sarabia faces charges for first-degree murder, robbery resulting in death and the concealment of a dead body. The teen faces charges for robbery resulting in death and concealment of a dead body.
In a video statement published Wednesday by FCPD, Chief Kevin Davis said the two confessed that they dumped Ebrahim’s body in a dumpster in Lincolnia on Jan. 17.
At a news conference outside Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters on Thursday, Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director of CAIR — an organization that advocates for Muslim civil rights — announced that police have ended the investigation searching for Ebrahim's body. Hooper said the family still has questions about if the search was adequate.
“The Fairfax County Police Department seeks justice no matter the obstacles," Davis said in his video response. "This commitment was exemplified in the case of … Ebrahim.”
FCPD released an additional statement Thursday responding to the CAIR press conference, which said efforts to recover Ebrahim’s body began on Feb. 25 at a landfill located in King George, Va. and lasted six weeks. Ahead of the search, police say the King George landfill paused more waste from accumulating in the area where the body was believed to have been located.
FCPD says the chances of recovering human remains at a landfill is 3%, according to experts they consulted from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other landfill experts.
Hasheem Ebrahim, the father of Ahmed Ebrahim, told reporters that he was informed by detectives that investigators had a total of 1,400 tons of trash to go through in April — trash that was believed to be covering the body of his son.
According to Hasheem Ebrahim, investigators only went through a total of 500 tons of trash.
This first phase of the search, which lasted until March 9, aimed to remove trash that was likely added atop Ebrahim’s body after it was delivered. During this phase, FCPD said police crews removed 28,000 tons of material from the landfill.
The FCPD statement says that a second search phase ensued from March 28 to April 8.
"Approximately 50 police officers and retired police officers per day worked 4,000 plus hours throughout hours of daylight carefully raking and examining 6,663 tons of landfill material in search for Kareem," FCPD's statement said of the second search phase.
While Hasheem Ebrahim said he is thankful for the efforts of detectives, he was told that the investigation to find his son's body ended because FCPD did not have enough resources. Hasheem Ebrahim believes this was a decision made by top leaders in the police department.
Mohamed Seifeldein, the attorney representing the Ebrahim family, said the family is asking for better communication from the police. The attorney also called on elected officials to demand that the investigation be reopened.
The statement from FCPD says search efforts have been completely “exhausted.”
“We searched the area where we had a 3% chance of recovering Kareem," the statement said. "There are no other areas to be searched. We left no space unexamined in the area where we had the slim possibility of locating Kareem.”
Omer Reshid, a community advocate and friend of the family, said searching for Ahmed Ebrahim's body has been agonizing for the family, and asked police to "provide the closure that this family deserves."
"This Muslim community deserves better," Reshid said. "It begs the question if perhaps this is a declaration for how a young, black Muslim man would be treated by this police department."
Seifeldein said the family's goal is to get police to find a way forward to continue the investigation, adding if the reason it ended was a lack of resources, the family and community could raise the necessary funds for it to proceed.
The police statement says the “financial expenditures” committed to the recovery efforts surpassed $350,000.
According to Seifeldein, the landfill, run by waste management, says they will only allow for the investigation to continue with permission from police. To force the investigation to resume without cooperation of either police or waste management, the family would need to go through the courts.
Seifeldein said there is a legal avenue for privately filing a civil claim, but added, "it is a long shot ... and it is a costly one as well." The family would prefer to reach an agreement with FCPD.
“The King George landfill’s cooperation on their private property was great but compelled by the existence of a search warrant," FCPD said. "That search warrant expired on April 8, 2022. We will not seek to renew it because the area where we had a chance (3%) to find our victim has been searched thoroughly.”
Hasheem Ebrahim had a plea for waste management and asked them "to help us out and not to add more trash to where my son could be."
The grieving father said he spoke to some staff members who've agreed to this plea, but he's not sure how long the promise can last.
FCPD’s statement says their detectives are continuing to work with the Ebrahim family and the department “will be with them throughout the upcoming criminal prosecution of Kareem’s killer and his accomplice.”
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