Griffin Cuomo and Johnathan Bahm were killed as Bahm pleaded for help on a 911 call in April 2022
Credit: Ralph Schugar Funeral Chapel; Chapman University
NEED TO KNOW
- Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim was reportedly frustrated with co-worker Griffin Cuomo, and his erratic behavior had raised concern among others prior to the murders
- The investigation revealed Fahim had made chilling notes on his computer, including musings about if a person can scream with their throat slit
- Prosecutors alleged Fahim ambushed the victims in their Anaheim, Calif. apartment after waiting for hours on the building’s roof
A 30-year-old California man is set to be sentenced after a jury decided he was sane when he brutally killed his co-worker and the co-worker's roommate in 2022.
The victims, Griffin Cuomo and Johnathan Bahm, both 23, were killed on April 19, 2022, in their Anaheim, Calif. home, where Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim waited to ambush and fatally stab them.
Fahim, who was then Cuomo's co-worker at a wealth management firm, pleaded guilty to their murders last month, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.
Hours before the murders, per the statement, a building guard had seen Fahim on the roof; he was also seen on the floor of the victims' apartment on the morning of the murders.
Investigators learned Fahim lay in wait before he ambushed Cuomo in the apartment and fatally stabbed him. Bahm, who was on a call with 911 pleading for help, was also fatally stabbed after Fahim pushed through the door while Bahm was still on the call.
Fahim used what prosecutors said was a "hunting dagger" to carry out the killings, in which Cuomo alone was stabbed at least 40 times, The Orange County Register reported.
Fahim, a financial analyst, was reportedly frustrated by the amount of work Cuomo would assign him, and had claimed Cuomo was micromanaging him. Fahim's alleged erratic behavior had raised concerns among his co-workers, according to the outlet, which further reported Fahim had written chilling comments on his computer about how serial killers choose their victims and whether someone could scream with their throat slit.
“The violence carried out in that apartment was not an act of insanity," District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the statement. "[Fahim] carefully calculated how to gain access to his victims’ apartment building, waiting for hours on the roof until he had the perfect opportunity to ambush his victim and execute a witness in the hopes of getting away with all of it.”
Credit: Anaheim Police Department
Bahm and Cuomo were beloved members of the community, according to online obituaries and tributes.
"Jonathan elevated goodness and kindness to an art form, never had a bad word to say, and was described by his friends as 'the best of us,'" read an online obituary for Bahm soon after the murders.
"Griffin was the kind of student that showed up with passion, kindness, and a contagious curiosity," read a note from Cuomo's former professor on a tribute page set up by his Alma mater. "His persistence and passion for learning is a consistent motivator and reminder for me as an instructor that the relationships we build in the classroom matter."
Related: Man, 26, Charged After Allegedly Stabbing Wealth Management Co-worker and His Roommate to Death
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Fahim pleaded guilty last month to two counts of first-degree murder, further admitting to special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, multiple murders and murder to avoid arrest as it related to the killing of Jonathan Bahm, the district attorney's office said. He also admitted to a personal use of a deadly weapon enhancement.
While he had already pleaded guilty, it was up to the jurors to rule whether he was sane at the time of the killings. Now that he has been deemed sane by the jury, he will be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
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