{"id":467,"date":"2026-05-18T18:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=467"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:36:45","slug":"husband-gets-prison-for-killing-wife-in-chatham-co-to-escape-arranged-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=467","title":{"rendered":"Husband gets prison for killing wife in Chatham Co. to escape arranged marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>An Apex man pleaded guilty Monday in Chatham County to killing his wife and dumping her body in Jordan Lake to escape an arranged marriage in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=465\">Duke softball advances to Super Regional. How the Blue Devils beat Arizona<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Omar Matthew Ibrahim Drabick, 37, was sentenced to 25 to 31 years in prison for the second-degree murder of 34-year-old Hadeel Ghadhanfer Hikmat.<\/p>\n<p>He was also sentenced to six to nine years for a second charge of concealing a death, with an option of leaving prison after three years if he avoids trouble and completes mental health and education requirements there, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour said.<\/p>\n<p>Drabick, who was a substitute teacher in Wake County Public Schools until June 2023, apologized when the judge asked if he wanted to say anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the bottom of my heart, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Drabick said.<\/p>\n<p>The couple married in 2022 after Drabick\u2019s mother, who knew Hikmat\u2019s family, arranged for her to travel to the United States from her home in Baghdad, Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>The Turkish native had a degree in chemical engineering and got a job at Walmart in Wake County after her marriage. She also helped at the Drabick family\u2019s dentist office.<\/p>\n<p>She \u201cwas a very special person,\u201d Assistant District Attorney Marci Trageser said. \u201cShe seemed full of life, and she certainly did not deserve a tragic ending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Drabick\u2019s mother \u201cthought she was doing what was best for everyone\u201d in arranging a marriage, but Drabick was not happy and tried to get out of it by leaving the state and twice trying to join the military, Trageser and defense attorney William Massengale said.<\/p>\n<p>While the facts of the case indicate the court should prosecute it as first-degree murder, the court also has to take into account Drabick\u2019s mental state, Trageser said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no one, I think, in this courtroom or even listening [that] could ever have predicted what would happen and why it would happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Search warrants and Chatham County Sheriff\u2019s Office news releases reveal that Drabick picked his wife up from her job at Walmart around 11 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>An anonymous witness who contacted investigators said Drabick told him that the couple had gone to Denny\u2019s for dinner, and Hikmat had asked her husband to go to Strickland Park in Raleigh. They got there just after 2 a.m., when a man from Iraq showed up in a van, the person said.<\/p>\n<p>Drabick told the person that the Iraqi man cursed at him in Arabic and told Hikmat she shouldn\u2019t be with \u201cthe man with nothing,\u201d the man told investigators. Drabick told him that Hikmat left the park with the Iraqi man, the person said.<\/p>\n<p>He also told investigators that Drabick shared a \u201cdaydream\u201d he\u2019d had a few months earlier in which Hikmat had left him for \u201ca rich man,\u201d search warrants say. The marriage was rocky and was never consummated, the man said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=464\">Pumps at 12+ Triangle gas stations were recently flagged for problems. Here\u2019s where<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A boater found Hikmat\u2019s body the next afternoon \u2014 Aug. 29, 2023 \u2014 near the Farrington Point Boat Ramp and called 911. Investigators confirmed Hikmat\u2019s identity about a week later.<\/p>\n<p>An autopsy showed she had been shot in the back and that drowning was not a factor in her death. Investigators also found two 9 mm casings on a nearby bridge, along with a large bloodstain and an earring that matched the pearl necklace Hikmat had been wearing.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation revealed Drabick\u2019s car was at a Refuel gas station near the lake around the same time, Trageser said.<\/p>\n<p>He had also bought a Smith &amp; Wesson 9 mm gun and box of ammunition from a Raleigh gun shop in 2022, she said, and on his cell phone, investigators found recent searches for ways to kill someone without getting caught and how to cover up a murder.<\/p>\n<p>His wife\u2019s blood was later found in Drabick\u2019s shoes and the trunk of his car.<\/p>\n<p>The case has been one of the most difficult in her 30 years as an attorney, Trageser said.<\/p>\n<p>Drabick was \u201ca gentle, kind, hardworking\u201d person, but \u201crequired structure,\u201d defense attorney William Massengale said. He worked hard to overcome learning issues and was diagnosed with autism. He studied at Wake Technical Community College and UNC-Greensboro, before getting an online degree, Massengale said.<\/p>\n<p>But Drabick lacked the maturity and social skills necessary to \u201cescape something that he found overwhelming,\u201d and fell into depression, Massengale said.<\/p>\n<p>Hikmat\u2019s brother Firas Hekmat, who lives in his family\u2019s native Turkey, appeared on a courtroom video screen Monday to make a brief statement and ask Drabick why he killed Hikmat, instead of divorcing her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou killed our sister, and without [us] saying goodbye,\u201d Firas Hekmat said. \u201cThere\u2019s no final scene, just disappearance. She disappeared from this world and left us with a tragic moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a fair question, but there may not be an answer, Baddour said.<\/p>\n<p>He also acknowledged the Drabick family\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n<p>Drabick\u2019s father and sister were in the courtroom for the hearing. His mother, who Trageser said thought of Hikmat as \u201canother daughter,\u201d left as the trial started.<\/p>\n<p>Drabick\u2019s mother does not bear any responsibility for Hikmat\u2019s death, Baddour said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t see that anyone goes into [arranged marriages] thinking of this as a result,\u201d he said. \u201cSo while I can appreciate the feeling of responsibility, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a burden that you should bear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=462\">Triangle concert guide: Roundup of the 2026 shows at Raleigh and Durham venues<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published <span class=\"inline-block\">May 18, 2026 at 1:42 PM<span>.<\/span><\/span><!-- --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apex substitute teacher admitted killing his wife after arranged marriage. Victim from Turkey was found near Jordan Lake boat ramp in Chatham County in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Husband gets prison for killing wife in Chatham Co. to escape arranged marriage - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=467\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Husband gets prison for killing wife in Chatham Co. to escape arranged marriage - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apex substitute teacher admitted killing his wife after arranged marriage. 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