A jury was quick to convict an Illinois father of beating his teen daughter to death over an argument triggered by her desire to attend senior prom.
On Friday, Mohammed Almaru, 42, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal slaying of his 17-year-old daughter, Mia Maro, according to prosecutors, WGN-TV, WLS-TV and the Chicago Tribune reported.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
Almaru was driven to fatally beat Mia with a metal pole and rubber mallet at their family's Tinley Park, Illinois home in May 2022, because he suspected the teen was keeping secrets from him and no longer loved him, prosecutors said in court.
Days before she was killed, Almaru had given Mia permission to attend her high school prom, but later rescinded the offer, prompting a disagreement between the father-daughter to escalate and turn deadly.
Mia was found dead by her aunt.
Almaru confessed to his son that he accidentally hit Mia in the head, "then I laid down with her, was unconscious and woke up to her cold body," court documents read, according to the Tribune. "I f— up big time I'm sorry," he said.
When police arrived, Almaru was found lying next to his daughter's dead body with his throat and wrists slashed from apparent self-inflicted box-cutter wounds. He had also taken narcotics, said authorities, but was stabilized later at the hospital.
Loved ones described Mia as a "beautiful soul and the light of our lives. She was a 17-year-old girl who had a thirst for life. Mia was an amazing daughter, niece, sister, granddaughter and the best friend anyone could encounter," according to a GoFundMe launched to help offset burial expenses.
The teen was also the primary caregiver of her disabled mother, family said.
