Elias Syriani

Elias Hanna Syriani (7 January 1938 – 18 November 2005) was a Palestinian immigrant to the United States, a former Jordanian soldier, and a convicted murderer, who was executed by the U.S. state of North Carolina by lethal injection. He was convicted of the 28 July 1990 murder of his wife, Teresa Yousef Syriani, in Charlotte. At 67, he was one of the oldest people executed in the United States since 1976.

Youth and marriage Syriani was born in Jerusalem, which at the time was part of the British Mandate of Palestine, into an Assyrian Christian family. When he was 12, his father was imprisoned by the at-the-time new nation of Israel, causing him to have a mental breakdown and become unstable, as well as later developing cancer. This forced Syriani, the eldest son, to leave school and go to work. The family moved to Amman, Jordan, where Syriani joined the Jordanian Armed Forces under the Jordanian Army for nine years. After his military service, he left and worked as a machinist for a company in Jordan, as well as for a radio station, singing in Arabic. In the mid-1970s, he decided that he had become financially able to marry. He met Teresa through a mutual friend. She had emigrated to the United States and they exchanged letters and photographs for about three months. She returned to Jordan only two or three weeks before the wedding.

They then moved to the United States together, living in Chicago, Illinois, where Teresa lived and dressed according to Middle Eastern tradition. But after moving in 1986 to Charlotte, North Carolina, she took a job at a gas station, dressed in a more American fashion and made friends. Syriani disapproved and the two argued over it.

Crime In 1990, Teresa had filed to divorce Syriani and received a protective order from a North Carolina court, requiring that Syriani move out of their home and stay away from her and their four children. Around 11:20 p.m., on 28 July 1990, Syriani drove to Teresa's house and found that Teresa was absent. He then waited in her driveway. When she returned from work, he blocked her access with his van. After getting out of his van, he went over to her car, where through an open window, he stabbed Teresa 28 times with a screwdriver, with their 10-year-old son, John, in the passenger seat. John tried to stop his father but was unable to.

John ran from the car and summoned help from his older sister, Rose. He then went to a friend's house and on returning, they found Syriani still in the car and still stabbing Teresa. She was still alive after Syriani stopped his attack, got into his van and left. He drove to a nearby fire station to receive medical attention for cuts and scratches. A fireman later testified in court that Syriani told him that Teresa had assaulted him.

An appeal for clemency was denied by the at-the-time North Carolinian Governor, Mike Easley on 17 November 2005, a day before Syriani's scheduled execution.

Execution On 18 November 2005, Syriani was to be executed by lethal injection in Central Prison. None of his children witnessed the execution, though they did meet him the previous day, leaving at about 11 p.m.. Despite this, two of Syriani's friends, detectives who worked on his case, and media reporters were present as witnesses. After Syriani was wheeled into the execution chamber on a gurney, he was hooked up to an IV line at 2 a.m.. Syriani was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m., after being injected by three unidentified executioners.