This story is so outrageous and yet it's being treated as just another local news story by the national media, at least so far. And it feels a bit more personal because this happened in the town where I grew up about 500 feet from my high school.
A man named Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda is an illegal immigrant who entered the country back in 2009. A decade later, in 2019, Toshpulodzoda was accused of murdering his landlord in Vienna, Virginia.
Around 8:30 a.m. police responded to a stabbing in the 2900 block of Edgelea Road in Vienna, Virginia. Police found 61-year-old Mohammed Hemmatian suffering from stab wounds to his upper body. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died. The medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine cause of death.
The suspect, 27-year-old Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda, stayed at the scene and was arrested and charged with murder. Toshpulodzoda was taken to the hospital for a routine evaluation, and while there he suffered a medical emergency. He is now stable.
So there was really no question what happened here. Hemmatian, the elderly man who died, was Toshpulodzoda's landlord. Toshpulodzoda was covered in his blood. But, likely because of the pandemic, his case seems to have dragged on until 2022 when he was judged not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services and wound up in a mental hospital in Falls Church, which is directly adjacent to the city where the crime happened.
And that really should have been the end of his story, at least for many, many years or decades. But of course that's not what happened. Instead, a judge made clear that Toshpulodzoda was not to be released, but it seems the hospital had the right to issue patients day and weekend passes and they appear to have just ignored the court's directions.
In June, a judge reaffirmed that Toshpulodzoda "shall not be released from custody and inpatient hospitalization without further order of this court."
However, Virginia law allows a mental health hospital to grant committed individuals, including those accused of murder, permission to leave the facility without an escort on day or weekend passes.
In 2024, Toshpulodzoda was allowed to leave Virginia last year to travel to Washington, D.C., to get a passport, a move supported by the Commonwealth's Attorney.
Why would Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano ask a murderer deemed insane to go and get a passport? Your guess is as good as mine.
Sean Kennedy is a victim’s rights advocate who says Descano and the State failed the victim and the victim’s family...
“The law in Virginia allows the psychiatrist, the same ones who are pushing for his release, to escort him to the courthouse and to issue these without a judge's ruling,” said Kennedy. “The passport was issued at the behest of the prosecutors. They asked that he go and get a passport. Why would an accused killer who's mentally insane need a passport? He's being indefinitely incarcerated by the state. Why does he need a passport? The judge, the prosecutor, even his own defense counsel crossed the line in allowing that. And the psychiatrists were totally derelict in their duty to help him do it.”...
Descano's office said it’s true that prosecutors did not oppose him taking an escorted visit to get his passport. But Descano’s office said prosecutors opposed his release and that he should remain in state custody.
If they didn't want him released, why would he possibly need a passport in a mental institution. It's hard to come up with a possible answer to that one but you have probably guessed by now what happened. Last month, Toshpulodzoda was given another weekend pass and this time he bought a plane ticket and fled the country.
According to court documents, on July 6, while out on a weekend pass, Toshpulodzoda went to Dulles Airport and boarded a one-way flight to Tajikistan via Istanbul.
Documents attached to the August 5 motion include a declaration from a Turkish Airlines employee verifying the ticket. The ticket, purchased by someone else in Toshpulodzoda's name, appeared to include a code for a window seat upgrade.
At this point I have many questions. Let's start with this one: Who bought him the ticket and why? Here's another: Was Toshpulodzoda actually insane or did he just fool everyone until he was able to escape. I mean, his actions post-murder seem pretty coherent. And obviously he's not acting like a lunatic at the airport or someone might notice and find out who he is.
Also, in the earlier story the claim is made that the prosecutors asked him to get a passport. Is that true or did they just allow him to get one? If they did ask him, we need to know why?
I'm going to speculate wildly because there don't seem to be any facts that can make much sense of all of this, but it seems that ICE had placed a detainer on Toshpulodzoda and was probably looking to arrest and deport him if he were ever released from the nut house. Fairfax County has rather famously refused to work with ICE and made a big point of it. Is it possible Descano or someone in his office tried to facilitate his escape so that he wouldn't be grabbed and deported?
Why would anyone in a legal position opposing his release do this? I don't know, but I do recall the case of Judge Hannah Dugan. She was convicted of federal felony obstruction after trying to help an illegal immigrant in her courtroom escape by the back stairs. Her plan failed but she definitely tried.
Anyway, the fact that a crazed murderer escaped justice under the nose of the prosecutor is either very, very embarrassing or a sign that someone is playing dirty pool. Normally, this is just the kind of story that would attract media attention beyond Northern Virginia, but in this case it hasn't so far, possibly because the national media doesn't really want to know the answers or to spread a story that seems like it could become a Trump talking point.
Let's wait and see if anyone picks this up later in the week.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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