The Mississippi couple who are accused of trying to join ISIS had been together for “months, not years,” according to a lawyer for one of the families.
Dennis Harmon, an attorney from Columbus, is representing Oda and Lisa Dakhlalla, the parents of Muhammad Dakhlalla.
Muhammad Oda Dakhalla, 22, and his fiance, Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, were arrested by the FBI Saturday at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus for allegedly attempting to join ISIS. They were charged with “attempting and conspiring to knowingly provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization,” according to a press release issued by The Department of Justice.
The release said Young and Dakhlalla confessed to FBI agents. In a letter Young wrote to her family that she thought they would get after the couple had fled the country, she allegedly admitted that she was the mastermind of the plan and had established the contacts and made the arrangements for the couple to go to Syria.
Young reportedly told agents that she and Dakhlalla planned to marry in Turkey before crossing the border in Syria.
Young, a Vicksburg native, is a “recent convert” and the daughter of a Vicksburg police officer, Leon Young, who is also a reservist with the armed forces, Harmon said. Her mother, Benita Young, is listed as principal of Madison Middle School in the Madison Parish School District in Louisiana.
An SUV with police lettering sits parked at the home of Young’s parents, Leon and Benita Young. The next door neighbor said the family was “fantastic neighbors” but declined to elaborate, citing respect for the family.
Chad Fhealy, superintendent of the Warren School District where Jaelyn Young attended high school said, “We were sorry to hear about the allegations surrounding” Young’s arrest but declined to comment further.
Paige Fowler was a year ahead of Young at Warren Central, and was on the homecoming court with her. She said Young was always popular, but she was always a little different as well.
“She seemed like she always had her own views on things,” Fowler said.
Young was smart and her family was well-respected, Fowler said.
“She always had a big smile on her face,” Fowler said. “She was always a cheerleader, always involved in everything.”
Iris Ragan’s daughter, Vanecia Ragan, has been friends with Young since kindergarten. Iris Ragan said her daughter was overcome with emotion when she heard the news of her lifelong friend.
Speaking of Young, Iris Ragan said, “Her personal life, it exuded who she was, a nice young lady who was very smart. This is just so out of character.”
A former cheerleader with a constant smile, Ragan described Young as a “really nice kid” who grew up with “good, reputable parents.”
“She had some very good parents and I know she came up in a home where they were taught right and wrong,” Ragan said.
Referencing her father’s role as a police officer and military service, Ragan said, “You wanna go serve in ISIS and you’re an American, really? How could they get into your mind to make you give allegiance? This is a young lady in trouble in a lot of different ways.”
Harmon, who has been a family friend of the Dakhlalla’s for “15 years of more,” said he had not met Young, noting the couple had been together for a short time.
“They’ve been together months, not years,” Harmon said Tuesday. However, Harmon said the relationship was serious and called the engagement a “public commitment.”
“They were engaged and, under Muslim standards, engagement is more of a commitment than it is for you or I but it’s not a wedding,” he said. “It’s not just an announcement and show of the ring on Facebook.”
Oda and Lisa Dakhlalla were “surprised” and “shocked” to learn of the charges against their son, Harmon said.
“They’re acting like they got a two-by-four right between the eyes. Mo was supposed to start grad school Monday. That’s where they were expecting him to go.”
Dakhlalla, a graduate of Mississippi State hoping to earn his master’s degree in psychology, lived at home with his parents in Starkville, Harmon said.
The Dakhlalla’s learned of their son’s arrest through the FBI. The federal agency has since conducted a search of Dakhlalla’s bedroom.
“The FBI came by and requested to search Mo’s room and they were completely willing to do so because they trusted and do trust the FBI to do their research, get their facts straight and come to the proper conclusion on this case,” Harmon said.
The youngest of three boys, Harmon described Dakhlalla as a “very smart, very quiet, very thoughtful person” who took martial arts training as a child.
Speaking of the martial arts training, Harmon said, “It was the mental discipline more than the self defense part. I’ve never heard of him ever being in a fight.”
Doug Bedsaul was one of Muhammad Dakhlalla’s martial arts instructors throughout his life. He said the eventual blackbelt in Taekwondo and Judo was always a good athlete and a peaceful person. In the teachings of martial arts, the mindset is to be defensive rather than offensive, Bedsaul said.
“I was shocked. From what I know of him and his family, that doesn’t seem to fit his character at all to be militant, to be a quiet person in general and to be so nice and pleasant and helpful, it just didn’t fit his personality,” Bedsaul said. “In a martial arts setting, that’s obviously not what we teach. We teach self defense skills, not to go attack others.”
“I can’t recall a single instance of having to get on to him or get him back in a line. He was always very quiet and well-behaved,” Bedsaul said.
The Dakhlalla family was always supportive of the school as well, Bedsaul said. Members of the martial arts school would eat at the restaurant that the Dakhlallas ran, and the Dakhlallas would bring food to the school from time to time.
Bedsaul said he hopes his former student will be able to find some direction in this experience, and offered him these words of advice:
“As hard as it may be, have trust in your family and in the system, and allow things to work through,” Bedsaul said. “And continue to improve yourself.”
Oda Dakhlalla was born in Bethlehem. Lisa Dakhlalla is from New Jersey. The family has been in Mississippi “for decades,” Harmon said.
“They’re some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Oda is very devout, both of them are devout but we’re not talking about, they’re not confrontational with Christians. That’s why I’m a family friend. It is the idea of Islam as a religion of peace for Oda and Lisa. That’s the way Mo and his brothers were raised.”
Fowler also knew Muhammad Dakhlalla, as she received chemistry tutoring from his Oda Dakhlalla. She said when they would take breaks from studying, Oda Dakhlalla would tell her about his family. He was very proud of his three sons, Fowler said.
Oda and Lisa Dakhlalla would cook for her when she was there sometimes, and were hospitable.
She said Muhammad Dakhlalla was smart, and at one point changed his major from engineering to psychology.
“It didn’t seem like he was like that,” Fowler said of Muhammad Dakhlalla and whether she was surprised when she head the news about he and Young.
The couple appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander of the Northern District of Mississippi Tuesday morning for preliminary and detention hearings, according to the DOJ. Young and Dakhlalla were denied bond and remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service.