Images of Jafar Almaarej and his vehicle (Millcreek Township Police Department).
A Michigan man who had been disallowed from seeing his daughter turned himself into police after he was accused of kidnapping her from Pennsylvania and making terroristic threats.
Jafar Almaarej, 39, had been on the run after police said he visited his ex-wife in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Sunday for a custody visit with their 7-year-old daughter. Millcreek Township Police Detective Adam Hardner told WJBK, a Detroit-based Fox affiliate, that while the mother was at work that afternoon, she received a text message from Almaarej that said he was leaving with their little girl.
Hardner told WJBK that Almaarej also allegedly told his ex-wife that if she called the police, “they would have to search for their bones.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Millcreek Township Police Chief Carter Mook told Law&Crime that Almaarej turned himself into police at around 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. He confirmed that the girl was safe and being reunited with her mother. Almaarej is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday.
Hardner stated that Almaarej”s ex-wife has sole custody of their daughter as well as a protection from abuse order that forbids him from contacting both of them.
Despite that order, Hardner told WJBK that the mother apparently voluntarily left the 7-year-old girl with her father while she went to work on Sunday.
More from Law &Crime: ‘We’ve never done anything that was unsafe’: Dad begged court for more time with 3 daughters he is now accused of killing
Police had been searching in Pennsylvania’s Erie County and the surrounding areas within the state, but expanded their search to Dearborn, Michigan, where Almaarej is a resident. Hardner advised that it was possible that Almaarej swapped license plates on his black Jeep Wrangler while he was still on the run.
