Ohio man charged with murder after missing ex-wife found dead in container

CLEVELAND -- An Ohio man was indicted Thursday on aggravated murder and other charges after the remains of his ex-wife who'd been missing since October were found in a container outside Cleveland. 

Fahad Mohammed Saeed, 27, of Cleveland, also was charged in the indictment with kidnapping, felonious assault, aggravated burglary, stalking and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of 25-year-old Roaa Al-Dhannoon. She was last seen Oct. 16 at her Lakewood, Ohio, apartment and was reported missing by friends three days later.

Saeed was already in Cuyahoga County Jail after a Lakewood Municipal Court judge sentenced him to 180 days in jail in January for violating a protection order given to Al-Dhannoon. The couple divorced in September, and Al-Dhannoon was granted sole custody of their young son, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Blaise Thomas said. 

The container was found Monday after an extensive search buried near a ravine in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn, Thomas said. The prosecutor wouldn't say what led investigators from the Lakewood Police Department, county sheriff's office and the FBI to that particular area. A medical examiner identified Al-Dhannoon's remains using fingerprints, but hasn't yet determined how she died. Her death has been ruled a homicide.

A man described by Thomas as a friend of Saeed's, Ammar Sami, is scheduled for sentencing later this month on an obstructing justice conviction. Thomas said Sami falsely told investigators he didn't know Saeed and denied speaking with him on Oct. 16, the day Al-Dhannoon was killed. Sami pleaded guilty to the charge on May 1.

Court records don't indicate whether Saeed has an attorney. An attorney who represented him in the protection order case said Saeed is no longer his client. Saeed's arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday.

Saeed and Al-Dhannoon came to the U.S. about three years ago as refugees from Iraq, Thomas said. They initially lived in California before settling in the Cleveland area. Thomas said Saeed and Al-Dhannoon were in the process of obtaining residency status.