A Texas man reported missing by his family last month was found dead in a drainage ditch. The 22-year-old was forced to tattoo his girlfriend’s name before being shot in the neck.
According to officials from the Arlington and Euless police departments, the victim, Younis Hussain Alhassinyani, of Arlington, was reported missing on Feb. 2 by his mother after she failed to reach him on the phone.
"Mr. Alhassinyani’s personal identifying information was placed in a national computerized database based upon the missing person’s report," Arlington police officials said.
Two days later on Feb. 4, Texas Department of Transportation employees found his body in a culvert near a creek in the city of Euless.
The Tarrant County medical examiner confirmed that Alhassinyani died of a gunshot wound that he suffered to his neck.
Following an investigation, four people including Alhassinuani’s girlfriend were arrested for their involvement in the murder.
According to the court documents obtained by Star-Telegram, Alhassinyani, who was fighting drug addiction, had returned to Texas on Christmas day 2020 after he had traveled to his native, Kurdistan, to get clean of the drugs.
Alhassinyani met his girlfriend, Erika Perez, a short time later. According to the warrant, Perez introduced Alhassinyani to the drug, methamphetamine. Gradually he got addicted to the drug and began spending most of his time at Perez’s apartment in Arlington.
On Feb. 1, Alhassinyani showed up at Perez’s apartment after she did a Facebook live inviting people with money for a tattoo session at her home.
"There’s tats going on over here guys," Perez said in the video. "Whoever wants to get tatted up, my favorite and best tattoo artist is here, but you have to come with money."
The only people who showed up other than Alhassinyani were his alleged killers.
According to the tattoo artist who spoke to NBC 5, Alhassinyani and Perez got into an argument. At some point, Benjamin Delgadillo, one of the suspected killers, allegedly held Alhassinyani at gunpoint and began defacing an existing tattoo on his back with a tattoo gun that he snatched from the artist.
After the tattoo was defaced, Perez asked the tattoo artist to ink her name on Alhassinyani’s neck. Fearing his safety, the artist obliged, records stated.
Three more armed men showed up at Perez’s apartment, a short while later.
Around 1 a.m. on Feb. 2, Alhassinyani called his family to come and pick him up from Perez’s apartment. A relative who came to pick him up failed to locate him as he had not provided an address and was no longer answering phone calls and texts.
According to records, the four suspects allegedly forced Alhassinyani into a Dodge Challenger and drove away on the Texas 360 highway to Euless. The car stopped on the side of the highway. Alhassinyani initially refused to exit the car, but when he finally did, one of the suspects, Justin Jaxs Salinas, opened fire at him.
Perez was booked into the Tarrant County Jail last week on charges of aggravated kidnapping, making a false report, failing to report a felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Her bond was set at $32,000.
Delgadillo, Salinas, and the other suspect, Pedro Rodriguez, were also booked into the Tarrant County Jail in the past few weeks and are facing murder charges.
The police have identified the fifth person involved in the crime, but he was not in custody, KXAS-TV reported.
The warrant didn’t state a motive behind the killing, but Delgadillo told officers that Perez became upset with Alhassinyani after she found that he had clicked pictures of her credit cards and also that he was seeing other girls behind her back.
Hours before Alhassinyani was killed, his mother had sent him a text message, "Hi, call me, call me," according to the warrant.
The last message she received from her son was at 2:33 a.m. on Feb. 2 when he sent the message, "Bye."
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