A Somali national who fled the country after kidnapping a Missouri woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase had pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Mahamud Tooxoow Mahamed, 43, was living in Missouri in July 2019 when he kidnapped 25-year-old Jessica McCormack and her three children. McCormack's body was found on July 29, stuffed in a suitcase near Highway 59 between Lanagan and Noel, Missouri. Her legs were sticking out of it and were seen by a passerby, prosecutors said.
Mahamed pled guilty to one count of kidnapping resulting in death.
Federal prosecutors said that McCormack was last seen alive on July 16 when she called 911. She told officers that Mahamed had held her at knifepoint and tried to force her to have sex with him. In the 911 call, McCormack also said that she feared Mahamed would harm her three children, aged four, two, and six months.
McCormack and her children were reported missing the next day. In late July, Mahamed called a cousin in Minnesota and told the cousin he was bringing McCormack's children to her. Federal prosecutors said that when he was asked why he was doing that, Mahamed replied that "something bad had happened and he could be in trouble."
Mahamed ended up going to a home of someone he knew in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 5. That person reported to police that they woke up on Aug. 8 to discover that Mahamed had left, abandoning the children there, prosecutors said. Mahamed then fled the country and was considered a fugitive.
Mahamed was taken into custody in July 2021 after being expelled from Guatemala. Mahamed faces a potential sentence of life in prison.
Originally published on Lawyer Herald
