In December 2016, in the US state of Springfield, Virginia, two people named Henok Yohannes and Kedest Simeneh, both 22, were found shot to death. Their bodies were found in two separate homes. A man named Yohannes Nessibu who police say fled to his native Ethiopia more than two years ago after the killing of the young couple has been arrested and charged with their murders just this week.
Even though American authorities have long said they were confident that Ato Yohannes Nessibu committed the killings, the case had been stalled because Ethiopia bars the extradition of its citizens. But it has been reported that the Ethiopian Federal Attorney General decided to hand over the suspect after verifying that the suspect is charged in a court in Fairfax County, Virginia. According to the federal attorney, the suspect is a US citizen, a factor that led to the decision to extradite him.
Yohannes was arrested by Ethiopian authorities in February 2019, and on May 3 the unusual decision to allow U.S. authorities to extradite Yohannes back to the U.S. was made. After a brief appearance Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Yohannes was taken to Fairfax, where he’ll stand trial. Authorities did not discuss a motive but said Yohannes knew the victims.
