Actress Nargis Fakhri‘s sister Aliya has been arrested and indicted in the US on murder in the first degree and related charges for “deliberately setting a deadly fire” in a home’s garage on Nov 2 that killed her ex-boyfriend and his female friend in the Jamaica neighbourhood of New York City’s borough of Queens.
According to the charges and investigation, Aliya arrived at the two-storey detached garage at about 6.20am on Nov 2 and yelled, “You’re all going to die today” before setting the fire that turned into a “raging inferno” in which Edward Jacobs (35) and Anastasia Ettienne (33) died. The Queens district attorney’s office said Fakhri “allegedly set the fire near the entrance of the building, trapping the two inside with no exit”. The victims died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
Aliya Fakhri was trying to get back with ex after split: Jacobs’ mother
After the actress Nargis Fakhri’s sister Aliya was arrested and indicted in New York for the murder of her ex-boyfriend and his friend, their mother told the Daily News that her daughter was incapable of such a crime. “I don’t think she would be killing someone. She was a person caring for everybody. She tried to help everybody.” The mother also revealed, according to Daily News, that her daughter was struggling with an addiction to opioids.
Queens DA Melinda Katz said that Aliya Fakhri (43) “maliciously ended the lives of two people…” According to prosecutors, Anastasia Ettienne realised there was a fire and went downstairs but then returned upstairs, where Edward Jacobs was sleeping, to try and save him but perished along with him.
Fakhri was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of murder in the first, four counts of murder in the second, and one count each of arson in the first degree and arson in the second degree. She faces a potential maximum of life in prison if convicted of the top charge. Aliyah Fakhri must return to court on Dec 9.
Jacobs’ mother, Janet, said her son had broken up with Aliya Fakhri about a year ago but she was still trying to get back together, the New York Post reported. “Like any other person that is being rejected, he was letting her know like ‘Yo, I’m done with you. Get away from me’,” Janet was quoted as saying by New York Post. She added Aliya “wasn’t accepting the rejection”. The relationship between the victims, according to Jacobs’ mother, was platonic, the newspaper reported.