A man in Philadelphia is facing murder charges after police discovered his partner decapitated inside their home in Northeast Philadelphia this week.
On Tuesday, the 41-year-old woman was allegedly decapitated by her partner, Ahmad Shareef, 34. Shareef has been charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and abuse of a corpse, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. He is ineligible for bail.
NEW: Ahmad Shareef, 34, is charged with murder in the death of his partner Leila Al Raheel, 41. She was found decapitated in a home on Magee Avenue Tuesday afternoon.https://t.co/mVLRIXyO0J
— CBS Philadelphia (@CBSPhiladelphia) November 30, 2022
Police were dispatched to the home due to a report that a woman was stabbed with a knife and possibly dead, The Inquirer reported. Officers who arrived on the scene found the woman, Leila Al Raheel, deceased on the kitchen floor with her head severed and that a known man was believed to have committed the crime.
Neighbors claimed that Shareef tried to flee in his car covered in blood but was apprehended by police, according to multiple reports. The couple lived with several other family members and young children. Shareef was hiding nearby and was arrested. A knife was recovered from the scene.
One of Al Raheel’s neighbors, Tanya Richardson, told WPVI she was “the nicest person.”
The Inquirer spoke to a neighbor who said the family immigrated to the United States from Syria about seven years ago. The neighbor said that one year, the police responded to the house “a couple of dozen times.”
The @philadao confirms 34 y/o Ahmad Shareef, charged with murder ,abuse of corpse & poss of an instrument of a crime after police say he decapitated his partner in their NE Phila home. The 41 y/o female victim was found on the kitchen floor. https://t.co/qnvuUofO6W
— Annie McCormick (@6abcAnnie) November 30, 2022
Other neighbors who spoke to reporters indicated that Shareef had a history of domestic disturbances.
"The yellow house, it's the worst house on the block. Now it's like a house of horrors," neighbor Nyjha Richardson told CBS News, adding that the house had “constant drama.”
"The man is unhinged, and he's terrifying, and I'm very happy that now he's not around, but I'm disgusted it took this much," Richardson continued.
"The whole block is like, 'Wow,''" neighbor John Martinez told CBS. "It just makes us rethink about who your neighbor is, right? Like who are you living next to."
"Cops are always being called on them, a lot of domestic abuse,” Martinez told WPVI.
Neighbors who spoke to Fox 29 said that Shareef was “known for lewd, bizarre, and sometimes threatening behavior.”
"The older I got, the more I could see something was wrong in that house," neighbor Gabriel Ramirez said. "There are young girls in that house, and I don't know what they've had to endure their whole lives."
One neighbor, whose name was not published, told Fox 29 that "the adults in that house are completely unhinged" and “I feel bad for those children. It's devastating."