Lewisville High Mourns Deaths of Two Sisters

By Laurie Fox

Lewisville High School students returned from winter break on Thursday to mourn the deaths of two classmates whose bodies were found in a taxi cab on New Year's Day.

The bodies of Amina Yaser Said, 18, and Sarah Yaser Said, 17, were found in their father's taxi cab in Irving on Tuesday evening. Both teens had died from multiple gunshot wounds. A capital murder arrest warrant has been issued for their father Yaser Abdel Said, 50, who remained at large.

Their deaths have shocked students and staff.

"That wasn't a car accident, this was a violent crime," that claimed the girls' lives, said Dean Tackett, a spokesman for the Lewisville ISD. "It's almost too much to handle."

Amina, a senior, and Sarah, a junior, were both smart and well-liked, he said. The sisters were enrolled in Advanced Placement classes, involved with student government and played tennis and soccer, according to interviews with a school official and classmates.

"They were extremely smart – like geniuses," said Allison Villarreal, a senior at Lewisville High.

Liz Marines, secretary of the Lewisville High School Student Council, had classes with both of the sisters and also remembers their scholastic abilities. "Amina was very nice with everybody," she said.

The sisters had been students at Lewisville High for about two years, Mr. Tackett said. He did not know where the family had moved from.

Students wore pink clothing to school Thursday because it was the sisters' favorite color. Grief counselors were also available to assist classmates and teachers. “The teachers are as upset as the students," Mr. Tackett said.

A public vigil was to be held at 6 p.m. this evening at Lewisville High School.

Police provided no clues about the motive for the killings. "There are several things we're looking into," said Irving police Officer David Tull. He said there have been some "domestic issues" with the family, but he did not elaborate.

Police did say they are looking into the possibility that the father was upset with his daughters' dating activities.

"It's something well worth looking into," Officer Tull told WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Officer Tull said at a news conference that the mother of the victims is cooperating with police and that she and her 19-year-old son are in a safe place. He believes the couple is married, but he didn't know whether they had been living together.

Lewisville police responded to a call at the residence on Dec. 26 on a report of a missing person, Capt. Kevin Deaver said. He did not know who was reported missing or what action was taken to resolve the situation.

Mr. Said, who is from Egypt, has lived in the Dallas area since at least the mid-1980s, records indicate.

Officer Tull said police have received no tips about Mr. Said's whereabouts but said numerous law enforcement agencies are involved in the search. "There's a long investigation ahead of us," he said.

Source: The Dallas Morning News