Nicole Abusharif

Nicole M. Abusharif (born September 14, 1980) is an American woman, convicted of the 2007 Villa Park, Illinois murder of her domestic partner, Rebecca "Becky" Klein. After being found guilty of first-degree murder in May 2009, Abusharif was sentenced to 50 years in prison at the Dwight Correctional Center in Nevada Township, Illinois. The case made national news because of the intrigue of a "lesbian love triangle" murder.

Victim Rebecca Lyn Klein (born April 4, 1974) was born in Chicago. She attended Streamwood High School, and graduated from Illinois State University.

Murder and investigation On March 17, 2007, the body of Klein was discovered in the trunk of her 1966 Ford Mustang, after Klein's domestic partner of seven years, Abusharif, reported her missing. Klein was found bound with duct tape, gagged with a bandana, blindfolded, and suffocated with a plastic bag over her head. Four days later, Abusharif was charged with first-degree murder and concealing of a homicide.

Villa Park police officers believe that Abusharif killed Klein on March 15, 2007, two days before her body was found. After Abusharif allegedly suffocated Klein to death, she went out with another woman, the 19-year-old Rose Sodaro, she met on the social networking site MySpace. That night, Abusharif and Sodaro went bowling in Tinley Park and returned to Abusharif's home. Rose believed that Klein was Abusharif's roommate, not her life partner. Abusharif, who was also an alcoholic, claimed to have liver cancer and told Sodaro that her alcoholism would lead to her death. Abusharif also took Sodaro to a funeral home, where she dramatically selected her own casket.

During the police's investigation into the murder of Klein, Abusharif's coworker at a Des Plaines security company, Robert L. Edwards, was charged with five counts of obstructing justice for allegedly lying about his whereabouts when Klein was believed to have been murdered. Police focused on Edwards during their initial investigation because he was at Abusharif and Klein's residence on March 16, 2007, during the search for Klein. He later admitted to police that he and Abusharif were "drug buddies who shared wild sex fantasies." Initially, Edwards was on a $1 million bail, which was later reduced to $500,000.

After being indicted on first-degree murder charges, Abusharif was held at the DuPage County Jail on $3 million bond, later lowered to $1 million. After bonding out of jail, Abusharif was put on home confinement in her Oak Lawn apartment. However, on April 25, 2008, Abusharif violated her bail by leaving her apartment to visit a family member's home next door.

Although, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Ruggiero applied to have Abusharif's bail revoked, her bail was only increased by $100,000. She returned to county jail but was back out on bail before her trial began.

Trials In November 2008, Edwards went to trial on charges of obstructing justice. Villa Park police still believed he was not involved in Becky Klein's murder,

Media Abusharif's case has been covered on various true crime television documentary programs. In 2021, it was featured on Deadly Women as the third case of the episode "Lethal Lies." It was also featured on Lifetime Movie Network's Wicked Wives. The story also appeared on Snapped, serving as the subject of the fifteenth episode of the show's ninth season.