GUILTY AL - Kayla Fanaei, 20, UAB student, shot to death, Birmingham, 8 Oct 2007

I need to call my son in the morn and ask if he knew her. Same age and he knew a lot of people from where she went to high school.

She was a beautiful girl!

Picture at link

http://www.nbc13.com/gulfcoastwest/vtm/news.apx.-content-articles-VTM-2007-10-08-0019.html


I do hope no one thinks I'm trying to be ugly or blaming her in any way when I say, I don't understand why she was in that area at night. It's not a very safe area at all. In the middle of downtown on the North side, right off of two major freeways and near an industrial park. It's pretty empty at night too.

For those near Birmingham, that's near Norwood and Carraway Hospital too isn't it?

Makes you wonder if she was having car troubles or something. Esp to be parked at a school at night and on the phone.

I hope they find who killed her and quickly!
 
Detectives say they are following information they have on Kayla Fanaei’s death.
They continue to look for a dark-colored vehicle. They also say they do know where Fanaei was shortly before she got into her car.

The lead detective on the case told NBC13 he believes Fanaei was leaving a party. Detectives are less willing to share details such as if anything had been stolen from Fanaei’s car, like her purse or how many times she had been shot, fearing they might jeopardize the investigation.
Monday’s shooting happened just across from the UAB business and engineering complex. A Birmingham detective said students should be cautious, and that it's best to travel with someone.

http://www.nbc13.com/gulfcoastwest/vtm/news.apx.-content-articles-VTM-2007-10-10-0006.html
 
That poor girl.. I am sorry to hear of another person who has it together and has so much to live for being taken at the hands of someone who is just a waste of air...My heart goes out to her friends and family.. especially the one who was on the phone with her,, she is going to be haunted by this for a long tme.. I am sure that conversation and the gunshot will echo in her head and heart for a long time to come. I hope she can recover .. she will need counseling. My condolences to her family and friends. They are in my prayers like so many we read of here.
 
omgsh this is so sad, i just saw it on the news. She was gorgeous. But im confused! What was she doing in the parking lot in the first place?? Did she leave the party and then go park to talk on the phone before driving home OR did she park when the car behind her made her nervous or what?
 
I saw this on Greta's show last night. Tried to find the transcripts but cannot. From what I recall. Greta had a spokesperson on from one of the area news stations. Here is the story according to the spokesperson:

Kayla had just left a party and was on the phone with her best friend (a male I believe). She pulled over to safely talk on the phone. She was approached by a few men while she was on the phone. The friend was able to make out some of what was being said and it sounded like she was giving them directions and then they left. A few minutes later, Kayla said they were coming back. The friend then heard a very loud noise (I assume the gunshot, but that was not confirmed on the show) and the conversation ended. I don't believe they gave any indication about what if anything was stolen.

That's all I can remember right now. Hopefully a transcript will be up soon. If anyone else saw the show and remembers it differently, please feel free to correct me.
 
How sad and what a beautiful girl with so much going for her. I feel so bad for her family. I wonder if this was another thrill kill. Those seem to be popular now days. What a shame that the phone call didn't take place after she got home but who would have thought that someone would just come up to her car and shoot her! She did the right thing by not talking on the phone while driving..there are always those "if onlys."
 
3 men have been arrested and charged with capital murder. Robbery appears to have been the motive. Ages 19, 19, and 20 year olds. Police say they got a tip while working another unrelated attempted murder case.
 
That article said she had a BMW convertible, i would think the motive would be robbery.. that's such a waste.. my prayers for her family.. at least they caught the murderers..
 
That article said she had a BMW convertible, i would think the motive would be robbery.. that's such a waste.. my prayers for her family.. at least they caught the murderers..


Hmmm. Try finding a pic of the perps. This is being kept too quiet, possibly because it's really ugly, maybe a gang initiation, or possibly one of the perps is connected??

Crypto6
 
Hmmm. Try finding a pic of the perps. This is being kept too quiet, possibly because it's really ugly, maybe a gang initiation, or possibly one of the perps is connected??

Crypto6

The perps pic is on the front of the Birmingham News this morning, but there is no picture with the article at al.com. They are three black males. She was actually on the southside of Birmingham (not the northside as BhamMama thought), very near UAB where she went to school. This area is generally safer than the northside, because there are many students and UAB professionals in the area. Southside is also where the young have their nightlife. There are a number of upscale restaurants and clubs in the area. But crime does occur there because there are impoverished areas nearby.

Very sad for a beautiful young life to be snuffed out by three thugs....
 
It sounds pretty random, i doubt the perps knew her.. as for gang initiation; wouldn't it have to be against a rival gang or someone wearing their colors? I know in different places, a lot of gangs aren't showing their colors as much anymore. (i mean gang colors ex: Crips - blue; Bloods- red)..
I guess LE is trying to figure out if the perps went to school with her. From what it sounds like they just drove up and shot her while asking her for directions and she never had a chance to hit the gas, probably had her foot on the break, once they shot her, her car rolled into the sign. I don't recall reading anything was stolen. If they were going to steal something, they would have just held her up at gunpoint.. then stole something and left or stole something and killed her. Yet if nothing was missing, then maybe it was a gang initiation.. Do they have a gang task force there?
 
The perps pic is on the front of the Birmingham News this morning, but there is no picture with the article at al.com. They are three black males. She was actually on the southside of Birmingham (not the northside as BhamMama thought), very near UAB where she went to school. This area is generally safer than the northside, because there are many students and UAB professionals in the area. Southside is also where the young have their nightlife. There are a number of upscale restaurants and clubs in the area. But crime does occur there because there are impoverished areas nearby.

Very sad for a beautiful young life to be snuffed out by three thugs....
I can't remember where City Stages is held. It's been a while since we lived in B'ham area. Anyway, my stepson and his friends (another guy and two girls) were leaving City Stages, walking back to their car. A gang of black guys came out of nowhere and began fighting and kicking the crap out of the guys. The girls managed to run. My stepson was down on the ground being kicked everywhere, to include his head. He tried to cover himself and roll with the punches. Fortunately, the cops responded quickly. I don't know if the boys (high school age) would have been seriously injured or killed if they hadn't. This was deemed a gang initiation.

I'm not sure what this act was. They could have figured that she was on the cell phone to police and wanted to get out of the area. Perhaps, they didn't see a purse or anything that they could readily grab before they fled the scene. So, I guess that it could either have been a robbery gone bad or a thrill kill or a gang initiation.

All of Southside is not safe. I am familiar with the areas of which you speak. However, I would be leary of pulling over into a deserted area if I were alone at night (anywhere, really).

What a sad, sad situation.
 
The perps pic is on the front of the Birmingham News this morning, but there is no picture with the article at al.com. They are three black males. She was actually on the southside of Birmingham (not the northside as BhamMama thought), very near UAB where she went to school. This area is generally safer than the northside, because there are many students and UAB professionals in the area. Southside is also where the young have their nightlife. There are a number of upscale restaurants and clubs in the area. But crime does occur there because there are impoverished areas nearby.

Very sad for a beautiful young life to be snuffed out by three thugs....

Thanks. al.com is where I got sent gooling B'ham News. Also there were no pix that first day of arrest on Fox by googling the perps names.

My sorry face would be international if I did this. Why the difference, unless police needed to keep the pictures separate from the names while interviewing others?

I'll read on and see.

Crypto6
 
The perps pic is on the front of the Birmingham News this morning, but there is no picture with the article at al.com. They are three black males. She was actually on the southside of Birmingham (not the northside as BhamMama thought), very near UAB where she went to school. This area is generally safer than the northside, because there are many students and UAB professionals in the area. Southside is also where the young have their nightlife. There are a number of upscale restaurants and clubs in the area. But crime does occur there because there are impoverished areas nearby.

Very sad for a beautiful young life to be snuffed out by three thugs....

Thanks! I couldn't for the live of me imagine why she'd be there on the Northside. I lived in Birmingham for 29 years and downtown on the northside was one place you just don't go at night. More for the fact it's so isolated than anything else. And that's saying a lot cause I lived in Roebuck, near Gate City...aka gang territory, aka the ghetto for 9 years.

I hope they give them the strongest sentence they can. Why they thought they could harm her and not get caught is mind boggling. As well as why they thought to harm her in the first place.

I don't miss many areas of Birmingham and am very happy to not be where I use to live.
 
From June 2010:

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/birmingham_man_sentenced_to_li_2.html

Maurice McCarty was sentenced to life in prison today for the 2007 shooting death of University of Alabama at Birmingham student Kayla Fanaei...

McCarty, 21, was tried three times -- including two mistrials -- on capital murder charges, but was convicted in May of the lesser charge of felony murder. The life term imposed today carries the possibility of parole...

[Greg] Hill, 23, pleaded guilty to felony murder last year and got a 25-year sentence in exchange for his testimony.

From October 2010:

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/10/last_of_three_men_convicted_in.html

Three years to the day after UAB student Kayla Fanaei was gunned down, a Jefferson County judge gave a 50-year sentence today to the last of three defendants convicted in the robbery attempt that turned deadly.

Alfred Marina, 22, was convicted in August of felony murder in the Oct. 8, 2007, slaying of the 20-year-old psychology major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
 

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