The family of a pediatrician stabbed to death in Texas Saturday have spoken out about their heartbreak at the shocking and sudden loss of their loved one.
Dr. Talat Jehan Khan, 52, died from multiple stab wounds after she was attacked as she sat at a picnic table at her apartment complex in Conroe. Miles Joseph Fridrich, 24, has been charged with her murder.
A witness told KHOU that she heard Khan screaming at around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and later saw EMTs battling in vain to save her life. The witness added that Khan was talking on the phone and that her dog was nearby when a male assailant “came out of nowhere” and attacked her.
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Khan’s neighbor Matthew Amador said he too witnessed the attack and grabbed a katana sword before chasing after the suspect. Amador told ABC13 the man had an “evil look in his eyes,” and “when I got there, he was checking her pulse to make sure she was alive and then stabbed her three more times.”
Fridrich fled the scene but was apprehended soon after, according to reports. A delivery driver told ABC13 that Fridrich lived under an overpass around three miles from the apartment complex where Khan was killed.
Members of Khan’s family said they weren’t aware of any connection between their relative and her suspected killer. “This is an immeasurable loss for our family, completely unexpected,” Khan’s niece, Mahnoor Mangrio, told KHOU. “She’s a Muslim, strong in her faith, those are identifiable traits about her. She’s extremely loving, kind.”
Khan apparently moved from Seattle to Texas because of the climate. “She wanted to go somewhere it was sunny,” her oldest brother, Wajahat Nyaz, told Khou. “She moved out here and she liked it, liked the sun and the warm weather.”
“A murder like this shouldn’t go unpunished,” Nyaz added. “It’s bad for the community. It’s bad for the entire country, so we want your support to get justice for her.”
Fridrich has been charged with first-degree murder and was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Police have not released a possible motive for Khan’s killing. The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it is not sure if the attack “was a hate crime,” but it is “paying very close attention to the investigation” given “the tragic circumstances.”
Read it at KHOU
