Officials with the Calgary Police Service have released details regarding the investigation into the March 25 death of a Calgary woman in a northeast neighbourhood and confirm the search for her killer ended with Adam Bettahar’s death west of Edmonton.
“Based on all the evidence we have, we are totally confident that Mr. Bettahar is responsible for Nadia’s murder,” said Staff Sergeant Colin Chisholm of the CPS homicide unit.
According to police, 22-year-old Nadia El-Dib left a downtown shisha bar with Abderrahmane ‘Adam’ Bettahar in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 25. El-Dib contacted a friend roughly an hour later stating the Bettahar was refusing to return her to her vehicle parked near the shisha bar.
CPS officials say Bettahar parked the vehicle he and El-Dib were driving in behind a home in the 1000 block of Maitland Drive N.E., in the community of Marlborough Park, and he proceed to stab her approximately 40 times before slitting her throat.
The injured woman exited the vehicle but Bettahar shot her and stopped her attempted escape. El-Dib collapsed in the backyard of a nearby home.
Police say a recording from a surveillance camera in the area captured two muzzle flashes and forensic evidence indicates the second shot was fired while El-Dib was on the ground.
Officers responded to the scene shortly after 9:30 a.m. after a member of the public spotted the body.
According to police, Bettahar legally purchased a semi-automatic rifle at an undisclosed location on Saturday, March 10.
Investigators believe Bettahar and El-Dib had been in a relationship in 2017 but they had parted ways prior to their meeting at the shisha bar.
Bettahar was identified as a suspect in El-Dib's murder and a Canada-wide warrant was issued.
On Thurday, March 29, RCMP spotted Bettahar at an undisclosed location near Edmonton and a police pursuit ended near the hamlet of Evansburg along the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16). Gunshots were exchanged between police and the suspect and Bettahar was fatally wounded.
Police have deemed El-Dib's death a domestic homicide but confirm the former-couple had no prior dealings with police.
Racha El-Dib, Nadia's sister, says Bettahar's actions have broken her family.
“A life was taken away too soon, my best friend and sister. at the hands of a disturbed young man who believed he had the right to murder her because she chose to exercise her right of taking ownership of her life, body and soul by saying no to a man who was persistent on being with her,” said El-Dib. “My sister Nadia made it clear that she would not giver herself to him in any way.”
“We know that because she fought until her last breath to get away from Abderrahmane ‘Adam’ Bettahar.”
El-Dib confirms Bettahar's second shot struck her sister in the head. "He, and he alone, was the cause of Nadia's death."
"The sole reason for my being here today is to speak for Nadia so that she doesn't become another nameless statistic," said El-Dib. "Women live in fear for their lives everyday of the reprecussions of refusing a man. We are taught to give fake numbers, to use the excuse of already having a significant other and other methods to refuse a man in case no just doesn't mean no."
"I'm here to use Nadia's voice to give strength to those who have been in similar situations, to those who are in mentally, physically or emotionally abusive situations, so that they can find the strength to reach out."
