Elias Abuelazam

A former Leesburg resident accused of a stabbing spree through three states was sentenced June 25 to life in prison for the murder of Arnold Minor, 49, who was killed in August 2010 in front of a motorcycle shop near Flint.

Elias Abuelazam, 35, began trial the week of April 30 in Genesee County, Mich. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder on May 22 after deliberating for about an hour, according to The Flint Journal.

Abuelazam is also charged with two other murders and six cases of assault with intent to murder for the Flint-area attacks, the newspaper reported. In addition, he’s accused of stabbing a church custodian in Toledo, Ohio.

According to prosecutors in Genesee County, it’s still up in the air as to whether Abuelazam will face another court date for the July 2010 killing of Frank Kellybrew, The Flint Journal reported.

“I have to decide to balance justice for the victim’s and their families vs. my fiduciary responsibility to the people of Genesee County,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton told the newspaper. “These trials are not inexpensive.”

Leyton, who estimated the full cost of the Minor trial at more than $100,000, said he will talk to victims and their families before he makes a decision.
Abuelazam was arrested Aug. 11, 2010, as he tried to board a flight from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta to Tel Aviv, Israel, his country of birth.

His capture came on the heels of a stabbing spree through Leesburg, where two men and a teenage boy were wounded.

During the first attack on Aug. 3 a 15-year-old boy, Anthony Kage, was stabbed in the back while jogging in the area of East Market and Plaza streets.

The second victim, a 67-year-old man, was stabbed at 6:15 a.m. Aug. 5 while sitting on the front step of his apartment complex on Edwards Ferry Road.

The last victim, a 19-year-old Hispanic man, was attacked in a parking lot on Catoctin Circle NE on Aug. 6. Police said the man was walking through a parking lot about 9:45 p.m. when a man in a Chevrolet Blazer approached him and asked for assistance with a vehicle problem.

As the man approached the vehicle to help, Abuelazam tried to hit him over the head with a hammer. The man was able to duck, receiving only a partial blow to the head before he ran for help.

Prosecutors in Loudoun have said they won’t charge Abuelazam here until he’s had his day in court in Michigan.

Leesburg Police also said in March they’re still investigating a possible link to Abuelazam and the March 2009 stabbing death of 44-year-old Jammie Lane.

Like many of the victims Abuelazam is accused of stabbing in Leesburg, Lane was an African-American man. Court records show Abuelazam lived at 113 Adams Drive from at least 2005 to 2006. Lane lived at 117 Adams Drive at the time of his death.