Illinois landlord convicted of killing 6-year-old Palestinian American boy dies in custody, sheriff says

William Tong, Rebecca Johnson, Chicago Tribune on Jul 26, 2025

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CHICAGO — The Plainfield man convicted of killing a Palestinian American boy in an October 2023 hate crime has died in state prison just weeks after his sentencing, the Will County sheriff’s office said Saturday.

Joseph Czuba, 73, died Thursday while in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, said Kevin Hedemark, sheriff’s office spokesperson. Hedemark said he couldn’t confirm Czuba’s cause of death. An IDOC spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Chicago, said in a statement that “this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well.”

“Wadee was stabbed to death 26 times for being Palestinian. Two years later, even as we speak, thousands of Gazan children are being shot, bombed and starved to death for being Palestinian,” Rehab said. “It’s the hate that must die.”

A jury found Czuba guilty of fatally stabbing 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and wounding the boy’s mother, Hanaan Shaheen. He was sentenced in May to 53 years in prison.

Authorities charged the attacks as hate crimes. Czuba, who was renting part of his house to Wadee and Shaheen, stabbed them after he became “heavily interested” in the Israel-Gaza war after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, prosecutors said. Shaheen testified during trial that Czuba grew angry with her because she was Muslim and from Jerusalem, telling her, “Muslims are not welcome here.”

George Lenard, Czuba’s attorney, said to his understanding, Czuba was held at Menard Correctional Center in downstate Illinois.

Plainfield community members unveiled a monument dedicated to Wadee in June.