Mother of Slain Texas Girls Had Fled Before Murders

Patricia Said, the mother of the two Texas girls murdered by their father, Yaser Abdel Said, had fled with the girls on Christmas after he discovered Sarah Said was dating a non-Muslim boy.

The story link details the timeline and notes the father had a history of domestic violence.

Meanwhile, the virtual blackout of national media coverage went on for a week until ABC News stumbled across the story Tuesday.

Authorities tell ABC News that the investigation so far has produced few solid leads as to Yaser Abdel Said's whereabouts, and they fear he may have fled the country, perhaps even to his native Egypt. Police say they believe Said, a taxi driver, was driving the cab that evening.

"As far as I know, there haven't been any sightings of him," Officer David Tull, spokesman for the Irving Police Department, told ABC News about the 50-year-old Said. "He's had a week now, so he could be pretty much anywhere."

Outside of the local media in Texas, The Washington Times and bloggers, national media hasn't gone near this story.

You can bet any amount were this an alleged hate crime perpertrated against Muslims, there'd be wall-to-wall coverage, with CAIR spokesthings appearing on every network around the clock.

Here's the latest from Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.

The killings of Amina and Sarah Said raises uncomfortable questions for the Islamic community in the United States, questions about the culture and mindset that people like Yaser Said bring to this country. Now that honor killing has come to Texas, Muslim spokesmen in the U.S. have an all the more urgent responsibility to end their denial and confront these cultural attitudes. If they don’t, and instead continue to glibly insist that religion has nothing to do with what happened to these poor girls, the murders of the Said sisters will only be the beginning of a new American phenomenon.