WI WI - Nahida Khatib, 31, Wauwatosa, 1 Oct 1976

The Doe Network:
Case File 2616DFWI

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2616dfwi.html

Nahida Khatib
Missing since October 1, 1976 from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Classification: Endangered Missing



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Vital Statistics
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 31 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance:
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. (Lebanese). Black hair; brown eyes.



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Circumstances of Disappearance
Nahida Khatib, a Muslim, Lebanese-born woman, vanished on October 1, 1976, from her home in the 4000 block of Menomonee River Parkway.
She left behind her purse, keys, shoes and clothes. Food, ready to be cooked, sat on the stove and meat was left thawing on the counter top. There was a half-empty cup of coffee. Her 2-year-old niece, whom she’d been babysitting, was unattended in a playpen.


The only items missing were Nahida's furry slippers and bathrobe.
After 10 years of marriage, Nahida was in the throes of a nasty divorce from her husband.
From the beginning detectives suspected foul play. Investigators believed that Khatib’s husband was involved in her disappearance. The husband died in 2001. Immediately after police started questioning the husband about the disappearance of Nahida, he retained a defense lawyer and questioning stopped. He was never charged with the crime; there was no evidence, no body or sign of struggle.

Nahida married the Palestinian man in 1966 after he asked Nahida's father for permission at her Lebanon home. He promised to bring her back to America to live with him. The couple quickly had their first child - a son.
Even after her son was born, Nahida met only a handful of people during her 10 years in the Wauwatosa area. Later as she came to know a few people, she told a neighbor that she feared her husband wanted to kill her.
That neighbor told officers that, before her disappearance, Nahida had mentioned that her husband tried to persuade her to move to Arizona to live with him, without marriage, as his maid. She declined his offer and told her sister she was afraid for her life.
After Nahida's disappearance, her husband was indicted for food stamp fraud and conspiracy, and possession of two unregistered, silencer-equipped pistols.
Over the years her family heard her body may have been placed in acid after she was taken from the home.


A suspicious car spotted in Nahida's driveway the morning of her disappearance was linked to a relative of her husband. The husband told police his soon-to-be ex-wife was caught up with a religious group and probably took off with them. Police never believed that because Nahida would not have opened the door for a stranger without her husband there. Investigators at the time believed Nahida opened the door that day for someone she knew well. One theory is that Nahida was overpowered and may have been knocked out by chloroform, then wrapped in a rug and placed in the trunk of a car that may have been pulled into the attached garage.

Eight years after her disappearance, a Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge declared Nahida Khatib legally dead because she had not been heard from in more than seven years.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Wauwatosa Police Department
414-471-8430

Source Information:
Wauwatosa Now
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/khatib_nahida.html

Not found to be listed in NamUs at this time.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=5487,2528998&dq=nahida-khatib&hl=en
1977

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=7087,2535405&dq=nahida-khatib&hl=en
1982

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=4909,1487322&dq=nahida-khatib&hl=en
1982

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAAIBAJ&pg=6933,928741&dq=nahida-khatib&hl=en
1984

http://www.wisn.com/r/16649039/detail.html
2008

NOTE: I see it notated on another missing persons website that the skull cap found was ruled out as belonging to Nahida, but I can't find an article for that information at this time.

Nahida has been missing almost 34 years. She left behind a Son. Come home soon.

Nahida has been missing for 35 years now.

this case is not on namus. Thank you for posting.

Kat said:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=7087,2535405&dq=nahida-khatib&hl=en
1982

Click to expand...

According to the article, Nahida's son, Eddie, was 16 in 1982 when his father went to prison on the fraud and gun charges, so he was about 11 years old when his mom went missing.

If I am reading these articles correctly, Fahmi Khatib's address is listed as 4086 Menomonee River Parkway -- did he move back into the house after his wife went missing? There is something very uncomfortable about that (IMO).

From the 2008 article, it sounds like her son, who is now living in California, submitted his DNA for comparison with the skull. I am assuming that LE will keep it on file to compare with other cases, or this isn't how it works?

Unidentified Skeletal Remains found in Wauwatosa: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-Skeletal-remains-at-construction-site-Jan-17

Demographics
Missing Age30 Years
Current Age73 Years
First NameNahida
Middle NameAhmed
Last NameKhatib
Nickname/AliasNahita Khatib

SexFemale
Height5' 2" - 5' 3" (62 - 63 Inches)
Weight125 lbs
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last ContactOctober 1, 1976
NamUs Case CreatedMarch 28, 2013
Last Known Location Map
LocationWauwatosa, Wisconsin
CountyMilwaukee County

Circumstances of DisappearanceNahita Khatib was last seen in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on October 1, 1976.
Physical Description
Hair ColorBrown
Head Hair Description--
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBrown
Right Eye ColorBrown
Eye Description--
Distinctive Physical Features
Item
Description
Piercing
Pierced ears

Scar/mark
Scar on abdomen; Scar on forehead

Clothing and Accessories
Item
Description
Clothing
Green robe

Footwear
Fur slippers

R/O



The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I ended up here due to a different case I am researching... I'm writing a script for my podcast and the next episode is about Jeffrey Lynn Hand, a serial killer from Indiana. He worked as both a postman and a delivery man, delivering albums to record stores across the midwest in the 70s. He murdered a woman in 1972 (Pam Milam), a man in 1973 (Jeffrey Wayne Thomas), and was shot to death trying to abduct and murder another woman in 1978.

He was locked up between the summer of 1973 and August of 1976, but free between August 1976 and January 1978. Police believe he may have abducted and murdered a woman named Ann Harmeier in September of 1977, and this link says he is suspected in the death of a Wisconsin woman in this same 1976-to-1978 time frame. The article does not name the woman, and I am trying to figure out who it is.

Nahita Khatib is mentioned in this thread and I'm wondering perhaps she's the woman Hand is suspected of murdering? Does anyone know any more about Nahita, or if there are other unsolved Wisconsin murders (female, between August 1976 and January 1978) that I should look into?

Bumping for Nahida, missing 44 years this month...

Newest article I could find 10/19/2022, still missing

• 
  
  

Nahida, circa 1976; Fahmi "Sam" Khatib, circa 1982

• Missing Since 10/01/1976
• Missing From Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 01/14/1946 (78)
• Age 30 years old
• Height and Weight 5'2 - 5'3, 125 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A green robe and fuzzy or fur slippers.
• 
  
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Nahida has pierced ears and scars on her forehead and abdomen.

Details of Disappearance​

Nahida was last seen at her home in the 4000 block of north Menomonee River Parkway in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on October 1, 1976. She was babysitting her two-year-old niece at the time.

Investigators found the child unattended in a playpen. Frozen meat was thawing in the kitchen, more food was on the stove, and a half-empty cup of coffee was found also. Nahida left behind her purse, keys, clothing and shoes; the only items missing were her robe and slippers. She has never been heard from again.

Nahida was born in Palestine and raised in Lebanon. She married Fahmi "Sam" Khatib in 1962 and moved to the United States with him. A photo of Fahmi is posted with this case summary. By 1976, the couple was in the middle of a contentious divorce; it was finalized in December 1977, fourteen months after her disappearance.

Fahmi raised their son alone and told the boy his mother had abandoned him, but authorities never believed Nahida left of her own accord. She is described as a devoted parent who would not have abandoned her son.

Nahida had been living in the Wauwatosa area for ten years prior to her disappearance, but she was socially isolated and didn't know many people. She was reportedly afraid of her husband, and she told her neighbors that Fahmi wanted to kill her.

During the divorce proceedings, Fahmi claimed his net worth was $150,000. Nahida asked the court to audit him, claiming he was actually worth ten times what he was saying. He had been arrested for receiving stolen equipment at his stereo store and for participating in a staged burglary at a friend's business.

After Nahida's disappearance, Fahmi he was indicted for food stamp fraud and conspiracy, and possession of two unregistered, silencer-equipped pistols. He eventually moved to Texas.

A suspicious car was seen in Nahida's driveway the day she disappeared; it was later linked to one of Fahmi's relatives. Nahida's sister said she would never have opened the door to someone she did not know. Fahmi died in 2001. He is still considered the prime and only suspect in Nahida's case.

Part of a human skull was found in the Menomonee River in April 2008. The river runs across the street from Nahida's house. Testing proved the skull was at least twenty years old and was that of a female who was in her thirties when she died, which would fit Nahida, but DNA testing performed in 2009 proved it wasn't hers.

Nahida was declared legally dead eight years after her disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

• Wauwatosa Police Department 414-471-8430

Source Information​

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• TMJ 4 Milwaukee
• Wauwatosa Now
• The Doe Network
• WDJT-TV
• NamUs

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated December 9, 2013; middle name, height and weight added, distinguishing characteristics, clothing/jewelry description and details of disappearance updated.