Serial stabbing suspect arrogant, smirks during mugshot
A special transportation operation brought Elias Abuelazam back to Genesee County.
/ Rob Herman
Detectives from the Flint Michigan State Police Task Force that investigated the serial killings and stabbings met at 5:30 in the morning before flying to Atlanta on board a Michigan Department of Transportation plane.
The twin engine King Air craft arrived in Atlanta around 8 a.m. Detectives headed straight to the Fulton County Jail and picked up their suspect.
After leaving the jail, Elias Abuelazam was never in the custody of anyone other than the Michigan State Police detectives who led the investigation into Genesee County’s 14 stabbings, five of which were deadly.
This is a rare situation. Usually law enforcement agencies pay a private extradition service to bring fugitives to Michigan to face charges, but Abuelazam is no usual fugitive.
There are several reasons for this special transport operation.
Police say due to Abuelazam’s alleged violent tendencies, they wanted to keep him isolated and under their control. He was surrounded by four detectives and chained during transport.
Police also say due to the high-profile nature of the case they wanted to protect Abuelazam from any form of revenge attack. They kept their arrival times and route confidential until the last minute, when they walked him before NBC25’s camera. Abuelazam also wore a bullet-proof vest.
A Flint Police transport van escorted by Michigan State Police took the suspect straight to the Genesee County Jail from the airport.
There inmates expecting to be released were held in a bullpen, while deputies armed with Tasers booked Abuelazam.
“There was like seven police behind this big guy,” said Dean Campbell, a former inmate who witnessed Abuelazam’s booking. “They had him in a bullet proof vest.”
Campbell says Abuelazam acted with arrogance, smirking during his mugshot.
Campbell says inmates jeered at the suspected serial killer through it all, but Abuelazam’s defense attorney says his client told him he felt he was being treated with professionalism.
“I asked about the plane ride,” says defense attorney Brian Morely. “He said it was fine, professional. I asked him how jail was. He said there have been no problems. No backlash.”
