The Brutal Case of Shayla Peveler—The Savage Parents Who Shocked Everyone
In June 2010, Amber Pavelea was living with her parents, Michael and Debra Needle. She had her two young daughters with her. The youngest, Shayla, had been born just 5 months earlier in January 2010. Her older sister, LP, was 2 years older, born in 2008. The family lived together in what seemed like a stable household with Amber’s parents providing support and care for their daughter and granddaughters.
Amber had recently separated from her husband, Chad Pavelea. The separation came after a troubling incident when Amber returned home from work one day and discovered a bunch of pills on the floor of their home. The pill had fallen from Chad’s pocket and this discovery revealed a bad problem. Chad had developed a dependency on pain medication and for Amber, this was an unacceptable risk.
Now, in this story, you have the darkest of darkest twists at the end, so make sure you stay tuned. Now, with two small children who spend most of their time on the floor, the danger of these pills was clear. One of the girls could have easily picked them up and put it in their mouth. Amber made the difficult decision to ask Chad to leave the home.
At the time of their separation, Amber had built a solid career at Walmart in Hendersonville, Tennessee. She had worked there for approximately 7 years and had worked her way up to become the store’s customer manager. It was a position that came with the responsibility and decent pay and Amber took pride in her work. She was known as a dedicated employee who showed up on time and did her job well.
And it was at Walmart that Amber first met Randall Beatty. They became friends in March 2010, just a couple of months after Shayla was born. At first, their relationship was platonic. Randal was just another co-worker, someone to chat with during breaks and shifts. But after Amber’s separation from Chad, she found herself spending more time with Randal.
He seemed understanding about her situation, and she appreciated having someone to talk to during this difficult period in her life. In September 2010, their relationship changed. Randal called Amber one day and asked if she would be his girlfriend. Wow, when’s the last time you heard that? It was like back in the ’90s where you’d say, “Will you be my girlfriend?” Now the dynamics have changed so much.
You know what I mean? Amber said yes. To those around them, Randal seemed like he was good with children. Amber stated he was kind to her daughters, taking them to the park and playing with them. He appeared to be a positive presence in their lives during a time where their father was absent.
But there were troubling signs beneath the surface. Amber began doing things for Randal that went beyond a normal relationship. She cleaned his apartment, washed his clothes, and gave him money. Not just small amounts, but quite a bit of money on a regular basis. For someone who was a single mother working to support her children, this was a significant financial burden.
The situation became more complicated when it came to light that Randal had his own struggles with substances. See, he had been in rehab in 2010, just a month before he and Amber officially became a couple. Amber began giving him Lortab pills from her own prescription, which she had for back pain.
Randal told her he needed the pills for knee pain, but he later admitted to Amber that he had developed a dependency on these pills. By October 2010, Amber had begun purchasing pills for Randal from a man named Marlon Thompson. She knew Thompson through a co-worker, a Walmart. What made the situation even more concerning was that Amber would take Shayla and LP with her on multiple occasions to buy these pills.
The children were present during these transactions, exposed to situations that no child should witness. Now, October 2010, Amber’s life began to unravel further. Now, while she was at work, her parents and grandmother would care for Shayla and LP. But, Amber was spending more and more time with Randal. On one occasion, she and the children spent the night at Randal’s apartment.
It was around this time in October that Amber noticed marks on Shayla’s body, including on her neck. Despite making good money at Walmart and living rent-free with her parents, Amber began experiencing financial difficulties. The reason was simple. She was giving so much money to Randal, but she couldn’t keep up with her own expenses.
The situation reached a crisis point when Amber began taking money from Walmart. Wow, she stole from her own employer. She was eventually caught, and on Monday, October 25th, 2010, she lost her job and was taken into custody for theft. Even after losing her source of income, Amber continued giving money to Randal.
The final days of October 2010 would prove to be the most tragic of all. On October 26th, Amber and her two daughters spent time at Randal’s apartment. They remained there for most of the next day, Wednesday, October 27th. Now, later that evening, Amber and the children met Amber’s mother, Deborah. They went to dinner at Pizza Hut.
During this time, there were two incidents involving Shayla that Amber would mention. See, Randal, he slipped and fell while carrying Shayla to the car. Shayla’s upper lip hit Randall’s collarbone and was bleeding. There was another incident where Shayla fell off the couch and hit the back of her head. However, to Amber, nothing serious happened after following these events.
Shayla seemed fine, acting normally and playing as usual. On Thursday, October 28th, Amber, Shayla, and LP spent most of the day with Randall again. That evening, they met Deborah for dinner again. During dinner, Shayla became sick and threw up. Amber thought that Shayla might have had a french fry stuck in her throat.
But later that evening, when Amber and her mother were giving the girls a bath, Shayla was acting normally, splashing around playing with the toys. Amber didn’t notice any concerning effects from the earlier incident. However, when Deborah took Shayla out of the bathtub, she noticed a whole bunch of marks on her behind.
What the hell is going on? So, Friday, October 29th, 2010, it started like any other day. 12:30 in the afternoon, Amber was putting Shayla and LP down for a nap. This is when Randall called. Randall said, “Can you go to Marlon Thompson and buy me some more pills?” Randall explained that he was going to sell the pills to make money so he could pay Amber back.
Amber needed the money to make her car payment, so she agreed to get the pills. Amber called Thompson and arranged to meet him at Walmart. So, as the day went on, Amber and the children fell asleep during naptime. They woke up around 3:30. Randall kept calling her saying, “When are you going to leave? I need the pills.
” So, then Amber takes the kids and they go to Randall’s house. And this is where Randall meets her at the truck and he gave her $80 to purchase the pills. He asked her, “Could LP stay with me while Amber goes with you to see Thompson, but LP didn’t want to stay. Randall then asked, “Can Shayla stay with me instead?” Amber agreed.
Randall took Shayla out of the truck, still in her infant carrier, and brought her inside the apartment. The baby was awake at the time, and Amber was talking to her before she left. This would be the last time Amber saw her daughter alive. Amber drove to the Walmart to meet Thompson. He walked up to her car window, and she explained that she didn’t have enough money to purchase the eight pills as originally requested.
She wanted to purchase six instead. Thompson spoke to LP through the car window and asked about Shayla. Amber told him that the baby was with Randall, and after completing the transaction, Amber called Randall and told him, “I’m on my way back.” So, when Amber arrives back at the apartment, Randall walked outside to help with LP and the diaper bag.
Amber goes into the apartment, and she saw Shayla sleeping in her infant carrier at the end of the couch. Everything to her seemed normal. Amber asked Randall to lay Shayla down in the back bedroom while she cooked some ramen noodles. Randall took Shayla out of the infant carrier and placed her in the back bedroom.
Amber then gave the pills to Randall and placed them in a cellophane cigarette package. Now, while Amber was feeding LP, Randall was on the phone. He then announced that they needed to meet someone to sell the pills. So, Amber thought, “Okay, well, if we’re going to leave, let me go get Shayla.” And then immediately she knew something was wrong.
When she went to the bed and saw the child, Shayla was positioned at an angle at the end of the bed lying on her back. See, Randall had placed a pillow on Shayla’s left side and another pillow over her head. He had also placed a blanket on her, but in in unusual way. The blanket was only up to her chest with her hands outside of it, positioned by her sides, rather than being fully covered as would be natural.
Amber tried to wake Shayla, but the baby didn’t respond. She opened Shayla’s eyelids and noticed that her pupils were dilated. She panics. Amber picked her daughter up, carried her into the hallway, telling Randall, “Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.” Randall looked at Shayla and walked into the kitchen to get a cup of water. He sprinkled some water on her face, but she did not move at all.
Amber placed Shayla on the floor, and Randall determined that she wasn’t breathing. He performed CPR on the baby. When Amber suggested they call for an ambulance, Randall said they would drive Shayla to the hospital instead. Amber picks up her daughter. They drive to the emergency room. When they arrived at the Hendersonville Medical Center, Randall dropped Amber and Shayla off at the emergency room entrance while he and LP parked the truck.
Amber rushed inside and told a staff member Shayla was unresponsive. The baby was taken to a treatment room. Then at some point, Randall walked into the room and began yelling and using profanity. His behavior was so disruptive that a nurse told him to calm down or he would have to leave. But what struck the medical staff was Randall’s demeanor.
See, the nurse would later testify that this moment, noting while parents of sick children are generally loud and upset, they’re always looking at their child asking what’s happened. But Randall never looked at Shayla. He screamed and yelled at the staff. The anger was there. There was no concern for the baby.
Amber and Randall went outside to smoke while Shayla was taken for a CT scan. It was during this time outside the hospital that Randall suggested they tell a specific story to authorities. According to his fabricated account, Amber had the girls the whole time. She never left Shayla with Randal. They were supposed to go get pizza, and that’s when Amber found Shayla unresponsive.
Amber was the one who put her down for a nap in this version of events. But, as I’m going to continue, the injuries that she suffered, which are so bad, completely nullified the story. Now, after Shayla returned from the CT scan, Amber asked Randal to leave because Chad, Shayla’s father, was arriving. It was then that Amber received the devastating news.
Shayla had bleeding on the left side of her brain and was having repeated episodes of uncontrolled movement. The baby would need to be transported to LifeFlight to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. So, they went to that hospital, and they were joined by Chad and other family members. Throughout this time, Amber was texting with Randal.
And as the evening progressed, the medical team explained to Amber and Chad how serious Shayla’s condition was. They performed additional tests, and a specialist examined Shayla’s eyes and found that her retinas were detached. What the hell? There was no eye movement. There was bleeding behind the eyes.
When they temporarily removed Shayla from the breathing machine, she stopped breathing on her own. They had to reconnect her to keep her alive. But then, at 1:00 in the morning, Sunday, October 31st, 2010, the doctor pronounced Shayla dead. So, what happened to this baby? What were all the injuries that caused her death? Now, I’m going to go into what the doctors described and the testimony of everyone else describing what they saw.
We start with Dr. Amy Fleming, a pediatrician and an expert in child maltreatment. She evaluated Shayla at Vanderbilt. Now, when the baby arrived at the hospital, she was in cardiac and respiratory failure. The medical team worked desperately to save her using a ventilator to breathe for her, giving her fluids, and administering medicine to try to decrease the pressure in her brain.
They even placed a monitor directly into her brain to measure the pressure. Now, neurosurgeons and pediatric surgeons evaluated her, but there was no surgical options available. You see, the CT scans revealed that Shayla had a subdural hematoma, which is a blood collection on the outside of the brain caused by physical force. Her brain was swollen.
Shayla underwent examinations for brain activity, and she was declared brain inactive. A second examination that followed the next day, Dr. Fleming’s professional opinion was that Shayla had suffered abusive head injury. She specifically stated that a fall from a couch, as had been mentioned in previous version of events, would not have caused this injury.
The most likely mechanism for all of Shayla’s injuries was some combination of shaking and impact of her head against a hard surface. When Dr. Fleming spoke with Amber as part of her evaluation, Amber told her that Shayla had been acting normally on the morning of the incident and had been playing with her older sister.
According to this account, they went to Randall’s home, and Amber was trying to push Shayla to sleep. She had the baby laying on her chest and then went to put her down in the back bedroom. About 20 minutes later, when she went back to get Shayla, the baby wouldn’t wake up. She was limp and not responding. Randall had tried to find a pulse and couldn’t.
He tried to perform CPR, and he tried splashing water. Nothing worked. So, they got in their truck and drove to the emergency room. Dr. Fleming noted that Shayla had multiple marks on her body, including her face, back area, and in her lower extremities. Why are there marks on her lower extremities? What did they do to this child? There were also injuries on her chest and her inner thigh and on her knees.
The findings from the eye examinations were particularly concerning. As I mentioned, they were both bleeding and part of the retina was actually torn off the back of the inside of the eye. This injury, Dr. Fleming testified, is almost never seen in anything other than really, really bad head incidents. And regarding the time frame of when the injuries occurred, Dr.
Fleming explained that it was difficult to give a specific time, but the child would not have been acting normally after this happened. The fact that Amber said Shayla was acting normally means that the injury happened after that point. They were recent. While there can be a wide range of symptoms after such an incident from fussiness to losing consciousness, a child isn’t going to have such rapid progression without it being developing beforehand. Now, Dr.
Fleming estimated that the injuries happened within the day, probably within 12 to 18 hours at most before Shayla came to the hospital. The doctor described the injury as a violent inflicted injury most likely related to shaking. And the shaking caused the brain to move back and forth and tears tiny veins that sit between the brain and extend out from it.
Ooh, that just sounds so cruel. Additionally, based on the examiner’s evaluation, Shayla had more than one impact to her head against the surface. So, that was the doctor at the hospital, but then you had another medical examiner who actually performed the autopsy, Dr. Bridget Utenia. She determined that the cause of passing was blunt force injuries to the head and the manner was homicide.
You see, Shayla was declared dead at 1:00 a.m. October 31st, but her bodily functions were continued until after 4:00 a.m. on November 1st, when her organs were collected for donation. Dr. Bridget’s examination revealed multiple areas of discoloration of Shayla’s head. There were marks on the back left side of her head, on the right side of her head, and on both sides of her jaw.
These marks were indicative of force being applied, of impact to the head. A third area of discoloration was discovered on the back of Shayla’s head. Inside her scalp, the doctor separate areas of bleeding. One was 7 cm on the right back side of her head. There was a second 7 cm area in the middle of her head, and a third area measuring 10 cm.
This was closer to the front left side of her head. Three separate areas that deep. Wow. In addition to the damage to Shayla’s brain, the doctor found bleeding in the spinal cord. She also found bleeding in the optic nerve sheets and in the retinas of the eyes. There were also injuries to Shayla’s torso. While these didn’t cause her passing, they were an indication of physical force being applied.
However, medical records and photographs from the hospital confirmed the presence of marks on the jaw. There was also an abrasion on the left upper area of Shayla’s torso and three marks on her backside. The doctor explained that the injuries to the head didn’t fracture her skull because children have very thin, pliable skulls.
They’re not as thick and calcified as adult skulls, so they absorb force differently. The doctor estimated that the injuries that caused Shayla’s passing were inflicted two to three days before her organs were collected. She testified that Shayla’s injuries were consistent with a fall from a third-floor window, and that the baby would not have acted normally after.
So, now police get involved and the investigation revealed some troubling details about the hours and days leading up to Shayla’s injuries. Now, Marlon Thompson, he was questioned. He’s the man that sold pills to Amber. He testified that he met with her on October 29th in the Walmart parking lot. He saw Amber’s older daughter LP in the back of the truck, but Shayla was not there.
Thompson had previously asked Amber, “Don’t bring your children when you’re buying these pills.” But in that moment, Amber purchased eight pills, though she was $4 short of the agreed price. Thompson also testified that Randall called him again asking to buy pills, but Thompson refused. You also had Rebecca Wire, who was Amber’s friend and former co-worker at Walmart.
She testified about the phone call she received from Amber. Amber asked if Wire would lie for her and say that Amber had come to meet her at Walmart to get gas money. Instead of saying she got pills, she wanted an alibi to say, “No, it wasn’t pills. She was getting gas money.” However, Wire refused to provide this false alibi.
And despite the terrible situation, Wire testified that Amber had always been a great mother who was good with her children. Now, you also had Randall’s cousin, Philip Miscelli. He testified he and Randall frequently spent time together and used substances together. Miscelli sometimes held Shayla while she was at the apartment.
He noted that on one occasion, Amber went outside to her vehicle and left Shayla alone with him and Randall. Miscelli also testified that Amber gave Randall money regularly, sometimes 60 to $100 a day. Police also spoke with Amber’s parents, Michael and Deborah Needle. Both testified about their daughter and granddaughters.
Michael testified that Amber was a good mother who was patient with the children. He never saw her physically discipline them. He had never noticed any unexplained injuries on Shayla. He also never saw Amber act angrily towards Shayla or lay a hand on the child. See, Michael at the time had been on a business trip to Colorado during the week that the injuries occurred.
And it was a week or so before the family noticed marks under Shayla’s chin. There was a discussion about where these marks came from, but Michael suspected that Deborah’s mother, whom they called Granny Rose, might have caused them. He had previously seen Granny Rose grab one of the children she cared for when they said something inappropriate.
Now, on October 28th, while Michael was still in Colorado, Deborah called him to say there were marks on Shayla’s backside. So, they decided to discuss the matter further when he returned home. But, of course, Michael never got the chance to have that meeting. And it was during a layover in Dallas where his sister-in-law called to inform him that Shayla was being taken to the hospital and that it was very serious.
When Michael arrived back, a friend drove him directly to Vanderbilt Hospital. As for Deborah Needle, she testified that she and Amber were the primary caregivers for Shayla and LP. In October 2010, Amber was going to Randall’s apartment on a regular basis. Deborah noticed there were marks on Shayla’s face around the time of Amber’s birthday on October 21st, 2010.
When she discussed this with her husband, he suggested that Deborah’s mother might have caused them. Deborah saw Amber and the girls on Wednesday, October 27th. This is when they met for Pizza Hut after dinner. Deborah went to church. Sometime after she got home, Shayla fell off the couch at their home. Deborah didn’t notice any injuries from the fall.
Now, the next day, Thursday, October 28th, Deborah met Amber and the girls again for dinner. While they were at the restaurant, Shayla threw up. And when they went home, Deborah helped Amber give the girls a bath. This is when they were in the tub. They were playing normally, but when Deborah took Shayla out of the tub, she discovered all the marks on the baby’s bottom.
Amber seemed surprised and said she had no idea where they came from. Deborah told her husband about the marks and he said they would discuss it when he got home on Friday. On that Friday, Deborah was at a church retreat when a friend arrived and told her Sheila had been hurt. Deborah then went to the Vanderbilt Hospital. She testified that Amber was extremely upset when she was informed of the seriousness of Sheila’s injuries and that the baby probably wasn’t going to survive.
Deborah recalled that the term shaken baby was mentioned at the hospital. She also testified that Amber never physically disciplined the girls. She only spoke to them when correcting their behavior. Deborah never noticed any unexplained marks on LP. She also hadn’t noticed unexplained marks on Sheila until Amber began spending more time with Randall.
Now, you also had Chad Pavila, Sheila’s father. He testified that he and Amber had separated in June 2010 because of his dependency on narcotics following knee surgery. He was living with his parents when he received the call Sheila had been hurt. He then rushes to the hospital and the doctors told him that Sheila’s condition was bad.
The baby was later declared brain inactive and her organs were donated. Chad testified at the time of Sheila’s passing he hadn’t seen her or LP since August 2010, so for a couple of months. And as the police investigated further, they found significant inconsistencies in the stories told by both Amber and Randall. Detective Jim Buckman was contacted about the case on the night of October 29th.
When he first interviewed Amber at the hospital, she told him that she came from Randall’s apartment from Hendersonville Hospital. During that conversation, she began telling him without being asked that Randall had never been left alone with the children. He didn’t bathe them, didn’t change the diapers. But the police found these statements suspicious.
Why is she talking about diapers and bathing when the police never asked her? It was a bit random. See, to them, Amber’s story seemed rehearsed. She wasn’t being truthful. Initially, she told the same story, but then she changed them, saying that she left Randall’s apartment to get money from her friend, Rebecca Wired.
But then Amber told the truth. She had been contacted by Randall when she was at home and came to his apartment with the girls. She got money from Randall, left Shayla there with him, then went to Walmart, met Marlon Thompson to buy pills, then drove back to the apartment. So police then interviewed Randall.
Now Randall’s account was that Amber and the girls came over to his apartment and that they had not left the apartment until they left to go to the hospital. According to Randall, Amber had never left until they went to the hospital with Shayla, claiming Amber was there the whole time. He said that when Amber discovered Shayla unresponsive, they planned to get pizza.
But then police realized that his story is the same version of Amber’s first story, knowing it was false. See, Randall at the time was unemployed and he actually had his own children in a different relationship. He didn’t like living at the apartment with his roommate because it wasn’t clean. He was also seeing different women at the time and this is what the police uncovered.
Eventually though, Randall changed his story and he said that Amber had left the apartment to buy pills. He also provided a written statement. This is what he said. He wrote, “Amber and the kids got here sometime in the afternoon. We decided we wanted pizza. She went to get the baby from sleeping and the baby was limp.
the kids in the truck and I rushed us to the hospital. Sometime this week, Amber had said Shayla fell off the bed and had a knot on the back of her head. However, when police looked at cell phone records, they noticed that Amber’s phone moved from the area around Randall’s apartment to the area of Walmart that very night.
Exactly as she eventually claimed. The records also showed that Amber and Randall were in contact with each other while police were interviewing them on October 30th. In fact, text messages from Randall to Amber painted a disturbing picture. Remember when they went to the Vanderbilt Hospital? Randall left because Chad was there with Shayla.
But while they’re there, Randall is texting her. This is what he kept saying, “I’ve been praying so much. It’s a shame that it took this to happen to make me propose to you.” What the hell? “I hope you tell Chad that I’m your fiance. I love you.” He’s basically proposing to her on text. At 7:41 p.m. that same evening, Randall sent another message.
“Baby, how’s she doing? Answer me.” He kept texting saying, “Hey babe, are you busy? I hope you’re still coming over. Can you call me, please? Why are you acting like this? Just because you’re with Chad, you’re going to call me back? Please, I miss you.” These messages revealed Randall’s priorities and state of mind. Even as a 9-month-old lay in critical condition, he was focused on his relationship with Amber.
Police then discovered a woman by the name of Ashley Gillespie. She was dating Randall at the time. Randall’s nickname for her was Smash. She observed Randall use substances, which he would either snort or inject. Randall told Ashley that Amber was his roommate’s wife. He told Ashley that Amber was providing him with substances and a lot of money.
Randall and Ashley had plans to meet on the evening of October 29th. In fact, Ashley was already on her way to Randall’s apartment when he called her to come to get him from the hospital instead. When Ashley arrived at the hospital, she briefly saw Randall and Amber outside, but never spoke with Amber. After Randall and Ashley left the hospital, they returned to Randall’s apartment.
They got food and watched a movie. So, then police went back to the timeline and they figured that there was a 40-minute window from when Amber left the apartment to get the pills and when she came back. And Randall was alone with Shayla. During that time, something terrible happened to the baby and the medical evidence was clear.
She suffered violent shaking and multiple impacts. The injuries were so severe that they caused massive bleeding in her brain, tearing of her retinas and ultimately her death. The aftermath of Shayla’s passing left the family shattered. Remember Chad? He lost his daughter. And Chad did something just as sinister and I’m coming to that.
Michael and Deborah, the grandparents, lost their granddaughter. LP lost her baby sister. The family also had to make the difficult decision to donate her organs, hoping that some good could come from this tragedy. For Amber, the consequences of her choices were devastating. She lost her job, been taken into custody for theft, lost her daughter, and now faced the reality that her decisions contributed to all of this.
Remember, she left Shayla alone to go buy pills. She then agreed to lie to police. She had prioritized her relationship with Randall and his substance needs over the safety of her children. So, to conclude on this story, Randall was charged with the murder and he was sentenced to 10 years for reckless homicide. However, he was released in 2014.
I’m not too sure why, but the dark twist I mentioned, in 2016, police in Sumner County, they found the bodies of two people in an apparent self-deletion. Officers found the bodies of 39-year-old Chad Paviola and Amber Paviola in a home on Yale Street. What a bizarre, bizarre, insane, crazy story.
I mean, think about the timeline. Amber worked her way up, became manager, made good money, supported her children as a single mom, right? She then meets this guy at work. He has an addiction, started to steal to get him pills. Eventually, she moves into his house. She didn’t really move in, but she was there most of the time. She goes out to buy him pills, and then he takes the life of her daughter.
And then, the father and her end up dead. There’s not much details on why that happened, the self-deletion. Maybe they couldn’t cope with the loss, but it was reported that Amber was throttled, and then after Chad died. Maybe it was Chad’s idea, I don’t know. But why don’t you comment? Tell me what you think.
Friends, I came across a an honor killing case that recently took place in the Netherlands, and as a practicing Muslim myself, it’s my job to call this out and to explain the nuances to you. So, this is the story of Rayaan Al Najjar. Uh she was 18 years old. Her life was taken by her family in the name of honor.
In this video, I’m going to touch upon themes of culture and immigration. Some of you may not like what I have to say, but that’s okay. I’m going to give you the full context. It’s up to you to take what you want from it. So, looking at her background, we go back to 2014. A lot of you know about the Syrian Civil War that took place.
Cities were reduced to rubble. Families were fleeing for their lives. Bombs were being dropped in Syria. One side, Russia and Iran. The other side, Turkey, Israel, and other countries. This led to a huge wave of immigrants coming to Europe. You had it prior with the invasion of Iraq, with the bombing of Afghanistan. Afghanistan was actually a little bit earlier, you know, when the Russians invaded? A lot of Afghans went to America.
When you had the Iranian Revolution, a lot of them went into Western Europe. I’m telling you this because this is how the family ended up in the Netherlands. And the thing I need you guys to understand is that this mass-murdering tyrant, Bashar al-Assad, who do you think put him in power? Yes, it was the British.
How do you think the Iranian Revolution happened? Yes, the United States overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran. How did the Iraqis and the Afghans end up in Europe? Yes, it’s cuz they were illegally invaded. So, the next time a lot of you complain about immigration, because your complaints are valid, look at where the bombs have been dropped, then turn to your corrupt politicians on the left and the right, and tell them to stop.
One of the families that fled to Europe was the al-Najar family. Khaled al-Najar, his wife, and their children, included young Ryan, who was just 8 years old at the time. They settled into Dutch society, receiving support to help them integrate into their new home. For the children, including Ryan, the Netherlands wasn’t just a temporary refuge, it became a home.
They attended Dutch schools, learned the language, and began to absorb the culture around them. But while the children were adapting to their new environment, not all family members were embracing the values of their adopted country. For Ryan’s parents, particularly her father, Khaled, the move to the Netherlands may have been a physical relocation, but mentally and culturally, they remained rooted in the most conservative interpretations of their traditions.
The freedoms that Dutch society offered, especially to women and girls, were not freedoms they intended to extend to their own daughter. As Ryan grew from a child into a teenager, she found herself navigating two different worlds. Amongst her friends, she was around Dutch teenagers. They chose their own clothes, they were dating, they used social media, making their own decisions about their appearance and their future.
At home, she faced strict expectations rooted in her family’s interpretation of honor and tradition. Ryan, by all accounts, was a typical teenage girl trying to fit in. So, what she was going through was a clash. In the Muslim world, relatively conservative, I mean, they’re not all conservative. Some places are. I wouldn’t say liberal, but there’s a mix between conservatism and liberalism, if that’s the right way to put it.
But importantly, this family came from the strict tradition. But she wanted to wear makeup like her classmates. She wanted to dress in contemporary Western clothing. She then refused to wear the headscarf, asserting her right to choose how she presented herself to the world. So, let me explain this, and this is why I’m making the video, so I can explain the nuance, right? The headscarf in Islam, some kind of headscarf is mandatory.
In Turkey, you have one. In Pakistan, you have another. In Indonesia, you have another. Whether you agree or disagree, the point here is a woman shouldn’t be forced to wear this. That’s your argument, right? And I agree. What her father should have done is told her daughter, “Look, we believe in modesty.
God has asked you to put some kind of head covering on. I mean, even the Virgin Mary can only be seen with some kind of head covering.” That’s all he should have done. And if his daughter didn’t want to wear it, no problem. “Okay, that’s between you and God.” That’s how you deal with the situation. Like with my daughter, I will tell her, “Look, there’s one God.
You’re on this earth to worship him. And then after that, it’s up to you.” You give your kids a moral baseline in whichever way you want to do it. But then after that, all you can do is just help them navigate. And if something goes wrong, you show them all the love in the world, and you be there for them. But you never, ever, under any circumstance, you never force anything on them. That’s not your role.
The vast majority of the Muslim world has this idea that look, we’ll give them a baseline of what we believe, but after that they can do what they want. Of course, you get idiots like Khalid who take it to another level. This is not all of us, otherwise we’d all be doing it. So Rayaan decided to assert her right to choose how she presented herself to the world.
She was active on social media, particularly TikTok, where she could express herself and connect with friends. Unlike many teenagers, she fell in love. She had a boyfriend, a relationship that represented her desire for the same romantic experiences her friends were having. As she moved through her teenage years, the conflict between her desire for autonomy and family expectations intensified.
Her parents, particularly her father, became more controlling and more vocal about the disapproval of her lifestyle. And her brothers, Mohamed and Muhannad, were in their early 20s. They also played a role in policing Rayaan’s behavior. Now, these two morons, right? There’s no image of Khalid anywhere, and I’m going to explain to you in a second why, but this is the only image of the brothers um from the the court case.
But these two had every opportunity to fix the situation. All they had to do was talk to the father and tell him, “Look, your daughter’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with her. Let her live the life she wants to live. Just be there for her, make sure she’s not in any trouble, and her choices are between her and God.
” That’s actually how you deal with it. Doesn’t matter what religion you are, I’m telling you this is how you deal with it. So by 2023, the situation became dangerous. Rayaan knew her life was at risk. She ran from her home barefoot, terrified and desperate. She fled to her neighbor’s house, and when they opened the door, they were confronted with a teenage girl.
Her words were, “My father wants to kill me.” The Dutch authorities took this seriously. She was placed under police protection. For a time, Ryan was safe. She was removed from the immediate danger of her family, given space to breathe, and live without the constant fear that had become her daily reality. But, police protection is expensive and resource-intensive.
It cannot continue indefinitely without ongoing evidence of a threat. So, then they realized she’s not in danger anymore, and it was safe for her protection to end. She was left vulnerable once again. The very people who had threatened her life now had access to her. Now, some of you, or in the media, I hear a lot about you need to integrate.
You need to integrate. You need to integrate into Western society. You need to understand we have. I am a Pakistani Muslim, right? I’m from England, and now live in America. Do you know what my daily routine consists of? My favorite breakfast is egg, toast, and beans. I love soccer, or football, which is the biggest thing in British culture.
Only Fools and Horses, or Blackadder, are my favorite TV shows ever. Bruce Springsteen, to me, is the greatest artist ever. My favorite designer is Louis Vuitton, and all the clothes that I wear are of European brands. I am as fully integrated into Western society as you could ever be. This is 99.9% of Muslims in Europe. Reyhan was going through that phase.
Her brothers and her father didn’t want that to happen, but it wasn’t because of religion. It was because they’re a bunch of idiots. Because they cared more about what people thought of their daughter than the sanctity and the happiness of their daughter. Oh, your daughter is dating a white boy? Shame on you. That’s what they were thinking.
That’s why they were so angry. But, because they knew others knew she was dating a white man, or whatever, that’s why they were angry. Cuz others knew. You see the pride and the ego involved? It’s stupid. There’s no words to describe it. I’ve made videos like these so many times where I’ve explained it.
That’s why these honor killings happen. It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m ashamed as as a Muslim myself. I am ashamed when I see these stories because it puts us in a bad light. But because of the media narrative and everything you guys hear, it’s incumbent upon me and my fellow Muslims to show you guys, “Hey, we’re just like you.
” Actors and beans or in America, um waffle and eggs. We have an extra emphasis to show you, “Look, we are good people and we love you.” And then you get like this. But you know what? It gets worse for him. Khaled, it gets worse. Just wait for a second. So, with all of this, by May 2024, her family made their decision.
The messages they exchanged between each other would later be recovered by investigators and it showed this was not a crime of passion or a spontaneous act of violence. This was planned, discussed, and carried out with chilling premeditation. So, on May 22nd, 2024, her brothers, Mohammed and Muhannad, picked her up from Rotterdam.
Rianne got into the vehicle with her brothers. She was driven away from the city to an isolated location. Her brothers bound her up with 18 m of tape. They gagged her, silencing her screams, and then they took her to a swamp and they drowned her. The forensic evidence told police she fought for her life with everything she had, but her brothers were there.
You also had her father’s DNA under her fingernails. She had scratched and clawed at her attacker trying desperately to survive. The tape that bound her also contained her father’s DNA, placing him at the scene and directly involved. In the aftermath of her murder, investigators recovered WhatsApp messages that revealed the nature of the crime, the premeditated nature.
See, 12 days before her murder, one of her brothers sent a text message saying, “If she is lying and causing us to lose even more face, she must be punished.” And that language is quite telling. Must be punished. Instead of, “You know what? Let me go talk to her.” Instead of, “We should set boundaries and let her know, but you know what? We’ll support her and ensure she’s happy.
” And then what about the mother? The mother said, “Thankfully, we will now see her wrapped in a shroud. She is a disgrace to the family and deserves to die.” I think you guys know I’ve covered many cases, but I think cases like these makes me extra angry cuz I’ve got images in my head, all right? Of I can picture the scene, all right? Cuz I’ve been around Muslims my whole life.
Of course, my family is Muslim. So, I know what kind of how the conversation would have been. How dare you desecrate your daughter’s name like that? This provides you a mindset into her family. This wasn’t about love or religious conviction. It was about control, about power, about a family’s belief that they had the right to end their daughter’s life because she had made choices they didn’t like.
It’s okay if she made those choices. She’s an adult. Let her do it. It’s not your job to police her decisions. The greatest gift we have as human beings, the miracle of life, is consciousness itself. Free will. It’s not your job to police that. So, in the trial, after Rayaan’s mother, her father, Khalid, he fled.
First, he went to Turkey, then he went back to Syria. Ironically, he fled a war and because he created a situation for himself, he then went back. What a classless bastard. The Netherlands gave you a refuge, right? It gave you a home. It gave you a second chance in life and you repaid that by doing this.
Have you no dignity? You know what makes it worse? He fled back to Syria. This bastard got married again and I think out of some guilt, he wrote to the Dutch newspapers saying, “Yes, I did this to my daughter.” He currently remains in Syria because there’s no treaty between Syria and the Netherlands for extradition.
As for her brothers, they were arrested. They could not escape justice. Their trial was scheduled for November 2025. The prosecutors made it clear they were seeking 20 years each, and the father to be tried in absentia since he remained a fugitive. And in January of 2026, literally this week, the brothers were sentenced to 20 years each.
I believe in the last 10 years or so in Europe there’s been around 100 honor killings. That’s 100 too much. And yes, I believe the entire refugee issue in Europe is all to do with the wars that have been waged on that part of the world by Western corporate interests. However, that does not mean Khalid can don’t go do what he did.
You see my point? Both can be true, right? Stop dropping bombs. At the same time, stop acting like a idiot. And as a father myself who has a precious, precious daughter, who would do anything for my daughter, and my sons, of course, and I will be there every step of the way cuz my job is not to police. My job is to safeguard.
And it’s stories like this that make me so angry. Sorry for the cursing.
