Cairo gripped by the Maadi murder mystery
Posted: Friday, January 26, 2007 11:14 AM
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Cairo, Egypt
By Charlene Gubash, NBC News Producer
Maadi, a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Cairo, is known for its historic mansions, quiet tree-lined boulevards and American franchises like Gold's Gym and TGIF that cater to its large expatriate community.
But now, according to daily front-page headlines, the formerly peaceful suburb is in the "Grip of Terror."
Egyptians, unaccustomed to anonymous violent crime and especially serial violent crime, are alternately terrified and titillated by the "Maadi Murderer."
First of all, the "Maadi Murderer" (a translation of his Arabic epithet) is somewhat of a misnomer since the assailant has thankfully never succeeded in murdering anyone, but has stabbed a number of women in an area on the outskirts of Maadi. But that detail hasn’t done anything to dispel fears across the city.
Hanan Nasar, a housekeeper in Maadi, says her children and their baby-sitter are afraid to stay alone in their own apartment. Her employers now pay taxi fare so she doesn't have to take public transportation. Nasar's niece, afraid to leave her home, skipped her high school exams like many other teenage girls in the area. She and her siblings huddle in one bed with her mother at night.
The exact number of the "Maadi Murderer’s" victims is open to debate in the absence of official police figures, but the stabber's reputation has grown to mythic proportions, embellished by reports and rumors which suggest he has stabbed anywhere from four to 48 women in the past month.
In the beginning, people said he stabbed only young women in tight jeans. But that profile has changed. He reportedly knifed a woman hanging clothes on her roof. Crowds of people warned passers-by that the "murderer" had just stabbed a woman at a bus stop. Another panic was created in a second location, when a crowd claimed he struck a woman at home. Rumor even has him prowling the subway.
In a tabloid article entitled "The Maadi Murderer: Thrilling details Published For the First Time," two of the most credible victims, a nurse and a school supervisor, recounted in chilling and similar detail how they were each assaulted as they left their apartments for work. The stabber, lying in wait behind their doors, grabbed them as they stepped out and covered their cries with his hand.
However, in a rare instance where Westerners are specifically not being targeted, Maadi's expatriates are largely untroubled. Cheril Condrath, onsite service manager of the Community Service Association, which provides classes, field trips and services to Maadi's expatriate community, said her family received one message from the U.S. Embassy reminding people to stay on alert, "but it's not affecting anyone's life."
And even if the police haven't succeeded in arresting the "Maadi Murderer," it isn't for lack of trying. Police checkpoints are scanning traffic throughout Maadi, and undercover police are scouring the streets for possible assailants, further unsettling some young ladies by surreptitiously following them around. One woman reportedly screamed, and passers-by who rushed to her aid beat up the "murderer" who turned out to be an undercover cop.
The police, in the midst of a torture scandal, have been embarrassed by their failure to capture the man. One newspaper quoted a police source as saying the arrest was hours away. The same claim a week later rang hollow.
Although the streets and shops are emptier than usual as many take refuge behind locked doors, some women have embraced a more proactive form of self-defense. On the front page of an opposition newspaper, a Maadi teen smiled confidently as she held up her box-cutter. Nasar said she has heard many other women are following suit.
