John Ghobrial

Case record: John Ghobrial

Background

John Samuel Ghobrial was an Egyptian national and a panhandler in La Habra. He was one-armed and missing his right hand and forearm, and he did not have a job. Residents tried to help him because of his disability, and one family rented him a backyard shed.

Ghobrial became known in the neighborhood for giving candy to children. He befriended Juan Delgado, a Washington Middle School student who lived nearby.

Ghobrial told authorities he lost his arm when he was attacked by a mob of Muslim fundamentalists. Police said he may have befriended Juan at a Harbor Boulevard butcher’s shop near Juan’s house and persuaded the sixth-grader to go home with him voluntarily. The market owner, Imran Bholat, said Ghobrial often came in seeking money and a job. Juan was friendly with employees and sometimes carried shoppers’ bags to their cars for tips. Bholat and other employees said they had never seen Ghobrial and Juan together, and they described Juan positively.

A 10-year-old friend of Juan’s said Juan had complained to him about a man following him. The friend said, “Juan pulled me outside and told me that some guy kept bothering him. He said he was scared and the guy kept following him after school.”

Margarita Delgado said her son left home twice before for several days, turning up at the houses of friends, and when he did not come home, she did not worry. When Juan was still missing Thursday afternoon, Delgado called the police. Juan lived with his parents and five sisters and brothers.

Laura Johnson, who lived next door to Ghobrial, kept her daughter home from school and walked her son. She said, “It’s a terrible feeling,” and “I just pray to God that he will protect us because this can happen anywhere, any time.”

As the police investigation continued and afterward, La Habra residents left flowers, stuffed animals, and lighted votive candles near where Juan’s remains were found. The La Habra City School District administrators said their schools were cautioning students on safety, and at the middle school Juan attended, four psychologists and four counselors spoke with students.

Police have established the Juan Delgado Memorial Fund to assist the Delgado family at California State Bank, 441 W. Whittier Blvd., La Habra, CA 90631.

The offence

Juan Delgado was a 12-year-old La Habra boy who was last seen in March 1998, walking with a one-armed man who was carrying a basketball. After Juan disappeared, authorities alleged Ghobrial killed the boy and dismembered his body in a shed where he lived. Ghobrial was accused of carving up the boy with a meat cleaver.

Detectives found pornographic magazines in the shed, and the shed was described as strewn with sexually explicit magazines and children’s toys. Ghobrial’s shed contained children’s storybooks and children’s clothing. Another shelf was covered with a mannequin’s head heavily made up and smeared with red nail polish. Stuffed animals were strewn on the floor next to sexually explicit magazines.

Parts of Juan Delgado’s body were found Saturday, mainly in two concrete cylinders containing blood and human tissue. Investigators said Ghobrial encased some of Juan’s remains in concrete he mixed and poured in white paint buckets. Police believed Ghobrial asphyxiated and dismembered the boy in the shed, then encased some remains in concrete, rolled heavy cylinders into an upended shopping cart, rolled the cart into the street, and dumped the concrete cylinders on neighbors’ lawns.

Prosecutors and police statements described the boy’s genitals as removed. Police described that the boy’s pelvis was still missing, making it difficult to determine whether the boy had been sexually abused.

During closing arguments in the trial, the attorneys debated whether Ghobrial raped Juan. Deputy District Attorney David Brent said Ghobrial “had an unnatural desire” for the boy. Deputy Public Defender Denise Gragg argued that scientific tests did not conclusively prove that Juan was raped before being killed.

Investigation

Six people who lived in a house and trailer on the property where Juan Delgado was allegedly killed were released by police after being arrested earlier. Police alleged that Ghobrial killed the boy and dismembered his body while the other residents were away from home.

Police alleged that Ghobrial then encased some of the boy’s body parts in concrete blocks, one of which weighed 200 pounds, and dumped them on nearby lawns. Police were investigating the possibility of a sex crime and stated that they had yet to establish a motive for the killing.

Police said they believed Ghobrial used a shopping cart to move the concrete blocks. Investigators did not rule out the possibility that Ghobrial may have had some assistance from unknown people.

Police searched Ghobrial’s shed and recovered some of Juan Delgado’s clothes, a school detention slip, bags of concrete, and pornographic magazines. Detectives followed a trail of concrete blocks leaking blood to the shed where Ghobrial was living.

Police Capt. John Rees said: “It’s difficult, and we are wrestling with this all the time: How could one person, especially one person who doesn’t have two full arms and hands, accomplish this?” He also said, “But we haven’t been able to determine that one person couldn’t do it.”

Rees also said police had not established a motive for the killing and that they were investigating the possibility of a sex crime. Rees said the boy’s pelvis was still missing, making it difficult to determine whether the boy had been sexually abused.

Arrest

Police planned to charge the remaining suspect, John Samuel Ghobrial, with murder after arrests of other people on the property.

Trial

An Egyptian immigrant accused in the slaying of a 12-year-old La Habra boy was found guilty of molesting and killing the child and encasing his dismembered body in concrete. Juan Delgado’s family members sobbed quietly in a Santa Ana courtroom when jurors announced the first-degree murder conviction of John Samuel Ghobrial. The jury deliberated four hours.

Jurors announced a first-degree murder conviction on December 12, 2001. The sentencing phase began after the guilty verdict. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty.

During the two-week trial, defense attorneys acknowledged that Ghobrial played a role in Juan’s 1998 death but insisted the killing was not premeditated. Defense counsel argued that Ghobrial did not sexually assault the sixth-grader and that he had a “deformed brain” and suffered from schizophrenia. Prosecutors acknowledged that they expected jurors to hear for the first time during sentencing that Ghobrial was accused of a similar attack in Egypt.

Prosecutors said Ghobrial’s cousin would testify that Ghobrial molested him when he was 8 and attacked him with a penknife, repeatedly stabbing him in the chest and stomach. Prosecutors alleged Ghobrial fled Egypt after the assault. Three years later, he made his way to Texas, where he told federal officials he had been persecuted in Egypt because he was a Coptic Christian. An immigration judge granted him religious asylum. Eventually, Ghobrial moved to La Habra.

Deputy District Attorney David Brent said outside the courtroom: “He is very evil and is out for his own selfish desires.” He also described Ghobrial as “a pathetic figure.” Assistant Public Defender Denise Gragg could not be reached for comment.

During closing arguments, the debate included whether Ghobrial raped Juan:

• Deputy Dist. Atty. David Brent said Ghobrial “had an unnatural desire” for the boy.

Juror Richard Green of Fullerton said some panelists were so disgusted by evidence that they refused to look at some of the crime scene photos. Green said the jurors selected a group of people that he was “very proud to be a part of” and said, “I think we weighed it; that’s what you’re supposed to do. And I think we were fair about that.”

Sentencing

After a jury recommendation, Ghobrial was sentenced to death on April 2, 2002.

One juror said: “We all agreed on the penalty, but it’s hard to put someone to death,” and declined to give his name. The jury took less than five hours to decide, and several jurors wept as they left the courthouse.

Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan sentenced Ghobrial following the jury’s recommendation. Judge John J. Ryan said some jurors were so disgusted that they refused to look at some of the crime scene photos. Ghobrial stared ahead in court as each juror confirmed his or her vote in favor of the death sentence.

Jurors were expected to hear during sentencing about an accusation of a similar attack in Egypt.

Appeals

No appeals were included in the provided information.

Outcome

The jury recommended the death sentence for Ghobrial. He was sentenced to death on April 2, 2002, and he was still on Death Row.

Other details

Ghobrial molested and murdered Juan Delgado and dismembered his body, with some remains encased in concrete cylinders. Some of Juan Delgado’s remains were never found, and his genitals had been removed and were never found, according to news accounts.

Police said they had not ruled out possible assistance from unknown people.

The case included a report of Ghobrial’s cousin nearly suffering the same fate as Juan seven years earlier in Egypt when Ghobrial beat and stabbed him. The stabbing details included repeated stabbing in the chest and stomach with a penknife.