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Shafia family murders

SOLVED2009Kingston Mills locks, Rideau Canal, Kingston, Ontario, Canada3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026

Documents violence · domestic violence · crimes against children — written to inform, not to shock.

Illustrative

On June 30, 2009, a worker at the Kingston Mills locks on the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ontario, discovered a black Nissan Sentra with a broken taillight submerged in the water. Divers recovered four female bodies from inside the vehicle: sisters Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, along with Rona Muhammad Omar, 52, who was the first wife of the girls' father, Mohammad Shafia, in a polygamous household. The family, of Afghan origin, had reported the four as missing. Mohammad Shafia reported the disappearance to Kingston Police the same day the bodies were found.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992, lived briefly in Australia, then spent over a decade in the United Arab Emirates, where Mohammad Shafia became a multimillionaire through the used-car and real-estate businesses. In 2007 the family immigrated to Canada, settling in Saint-Léonard, Montreal, under a Quebec investor immigration program. Five months later, Shafia sponsored Rona's immigration, describing her to authorities as a cousin employed as a cook and housekeeper. According to family members interviewed in press accounts, Rona was in an unhappy marriage and feared for her life in the days before her death; the family was also reported to have withheld her identity documents. A family member also alleged that Zainab's relationship with a Pakistani boy had angered her father, who was said to have made threats against her.

Investigators initially treated the deaths as a "sudden death investigation," but became suspicious after learning that Hamed Shafia, the eldest son, had separately reported a collision involving the family's Lexus SUV in an empty Montreal parking lot the same morning the bodies were found. Comparing damage to the Lexus and the submerged Nissan, police theorized the Lexus had been used to push the Nissan into the canal lock. On July 23, 2009, Mohammad Shafia, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and their son Hamed were arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The trial began with jury selection on October 11, 2011, and formal proceedings on October 20, 2011, at the Frontenac County Court House before Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger. It was reportedly the first Canadian trial conducted in four languages: English, French, Dari, and Spanish. On January 29, 2012, after 15 hours of deliberation, the jury found all three defendants guilty on all four counts of first-degree murder, a verdict that under Canadian law carries an automatic sentence of life imprisonment without parole eligibility for 25 years.

The case drew extensive media coverage and public debate over whether the killings should be characterized as "honour killings" or as a form of domestic violence more broadly, with commentators, Muslim community organizations, and the Afghan Embassy in Ottawa all publicly condemning the murders.

Key facts

Victims
Rona Muhammad Omar, Geeti Shafia, Zainab Shafia, Sahar Shafia
Date
2009
Location
Kingston Mills locks, Rideau Canal, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1978

    Mohammad Shafia marries Rona Mohammed (Rona Muhammad Omar).

  2. 1988

    Mohammad Shafia takes Tooba Yahya as his second wife.

  3. 1992

    The Shafia family leaves Afghanistan.

  4. 2007

    Mohammad Shafia, Tooba Yahya, and their children immigrate to Canada, settling in Saint-Léonard, Montreal; Shafia later sponsors Rona's immigration.

  5. 2009-06-30

    Bodies of Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti Shafia and Rona Muhammad Omar are found in a submerged car at Kingston Mills locks, Kingston, Ontario.

  6. 2009-07-23

    Mohammad Shafia, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and Hamed Shafia are arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

  7. 2011-10-11

    Jury selection begins for the trial.

  8. 2011-10-20

    Trial formally begins at the Frontenac County Court House.

  9. 2012-01-29

    Jury finds Mohammad Shafia, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and Hamed Shafia guilty on all four counts of first-degree murder.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Rona Muhammad Omar

    VICTIM

    52-year-old first wife of Mohammad Shafia in a polygamous household, found dead in a submerged car on June 30, 2009.

    citation on file

  • Geeti Shafia

    VICTIM

    13-year-old daughter of Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, found dead in a submerged car on June 30, 2009.

    citation on file

  • Zainab Shafia

    VICTIM

    19-year-old daughter of Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, found dead in a submerged car on June 30, 2009.

    citation on file

  • Hamed Shafia

    CONVICTED

    Eldest son of Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 20 at the time; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

    citation on file

  • Mohammad Shafia

    CONVICTED

    Father of the three sisters and husband of Rona and Tooba; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

    citation on file

  • Sahar Shafia

    VICTIM

    17-year-old daughter of Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, found dead in a submerged car on June 30, 2009.

    citation on file

  • Tooba Mohammad Yahya

    CONVICTED

    Mother of the three sisters and second wife of Mohammad Shafia; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

    citation on file

Places

Kingston Mills locks, Rideau Canal, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

44.2930, -76.4418

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Four members of the Shafia family — sisters Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti, and their father's first wife Rona Muhammad Omar — were found dead in a submerged car in Kingston, Ontario, in June 2009. The father, mother, and eldest brother were later convicted of first-degree murder.
Where did the murders happen?
Kingston Mills locks, Rideau Canal, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Who was convicted?
Hamed Shafia (Eldest son of Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 20 at the time; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.), Mohammad Shafia (Father of the three sisters and husband of Rona and Tooba; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.), and Tooba Mohammad Yahya (Mother of the three sisters and second wife of Mohammad Shafia; convicted in January 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.

Sources

  1. Shafia family murderswikipedia · Wikipedia · 2026-07-07
  2. Contemporaneous coverage — CBC Newsnews · CBC News · 2026-07-07
  3. Contemporaneous coverage — CTV Newsnews · CTV News · 2026-07-07
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