Omid Barak
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Omid Barak | |
|---|---|
.jpg) On the way to his execution | |
| Born | 1986 |
| Died | 7 February 2011 (aged 24–25) Quds Square, Karaj, Iran |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Other names | "The Highway Killer" |
| Convictions | Murder × 10 Adultery ×8 Rape ×2 Receiving stolen property |
| Criminal penalty | Death (murders) 5 years (receiving stolen property) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 10 |
Span of crimes | 2006–2008 |
| Country | Iran |
| States | Gilan, Alborz |
Date apprehended | 10 July 2008 |
Omid Barak (1986 – 7 February 2011), known as The Highway Killer (Persian: قاتل بزرگراه), was an Iranian serial killer who strangled ten women from 2006 to 2008. Most of his killings occurred in the city of Karaj and the surrounding areas.
Barak was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the killings, and was subsequently executed in 2011.
Barak was born in 1986 in Qazvin. He was one of four children born to a labourer and a nurse's aide. According to later interviews, Barak claimed that his parents fought so often that they rarely paid attention to either him or his siblings.[1]
Due to the family's difficult financial situation, Barak dropped out of school at age 13 and lived on the streets for the following five years before being drafted into the Army. After serving two years, he quit and moved to Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh, where he found a job as a labourer.
In 2005, Barak married a local woman. He would eventually start working as a taxi driver. He was arrested after a woman accused him of attempted kidnapping.[1]
Murders
The first two murders occurred in the cities of Langarud and Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh in 2006, after which Barak and his wife moved to Karaj. For the first several months of his residence there, he decided to attempt to live a normal life for the sake of his wife, but eventually returned to his old habits because killing made him "feel calm".[1]
In February 2008, the body of a 35-year-old woman was discovered near a highway in Kamal Shahr.[2] A police unit was quickly dispatched to the crime scene, with one of the investigators determining that she had been strangled with a cloth, likely at another location, before being dumped at the crime scene. About a month later, the body of another woman was found in similar circumstances, followed by a third victim in April, who was found strangled with her own headscarf near Qezel Hesar. The belief that a serial killer was operating in the area was cemented with the discovery of a fourth victim in May, with an autopsy determining that she had suffocated to death.[2]
On 29 June, the body of the fifth victim was found near the Payam International Airport in Karaj, with criminal investigators again determining that she had likely been killed at another location.[2] About two days later, authorities found the body of a 24-year-old woman in Kamal Shahr, who had recently been declared missing after failing to return home from shopping. Like the previous victims, she had been strangled with her own headscarf. Just a few days later, the body of yet another victim was found on an isolated road near Qezel Hesar.[2]