Left inset: Mohamed Adan (Multnomah County District Attorney). Right inset: Racheal Abraham (KOIN/YouTube). Background: Oregon police at the apartment where Racheal Abraham was murdered by her boyfriend (KOIN/YouTube).
An Oregon man who had his bail lowered and paid for by a Portland activist group slaughtered his girlfriend just five days later, stabbing her in the face and strangling her, after she begged a judge to “please hold him,” prosecutors say.
Mohamed Adan, 36, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the August 2022 slaying of his partner, Racheal Abraham, at the home they shared, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this week, with prosecutors blasting the decision to lower his bail and have it paid for by the Portland Freedom Fund in a press release.
“This case is an absolute tragedy that never should have happened,” said Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero in a statement.
“The warning signs were there and Racheal Abraham did everything in her power to protect herself,” the prosecutor explained. “Mohamed Adan should have never been out of custody. Those who believed they knew better than the professionals tasked with ensuring safety, including Racheal herself, were wrong. And it cost her life.”
Marrero added, “Racheal deserved better. Her children deserved better. She should be here with us today.”
Adan was arrested multiple times in 2022 before he butchered Abraham in August that year.
On May 2, 2022, Racheal told police that Adan punched her in the head twice while she was on the couch inside their home. She said he was “intoxicated and angry that he”d found a text message between Racheal and a female friend,” according to prosecutors.
On June 23, 2022, officers were sent to the same apartment after Racheal took out a restraining order against Adan and reported that one of the children mistakenly let him into their apartment. “He refused to leave and broke her phone so she could not call for help,” the DA office’s release says. “She said he strangled her multiple times while saying things like ‘I’m going to put you to sleep’ and ‘I should kill you.'”
Authorities who spoke to Abraham allegedly observed that she had a black eye and her left cheek was swollen. At Adan’s arraignment, Abraham begged the court to keep him behind bars and not be lenient with him, saying: “Judge please hold him. I’m concerned for my [safety] and … strangulation cases lead to homicide and I don’t want to be a victim to this,” according to prosecutors.
Adan was released with GPS supervision and other conditions, which didn’t stop him from allegedly cutting off his GPS monitor and returning to the couple’s address in July 2022. Police were called less than a month later on Aug. 11, 2022, after Adan locked Abraham out of the home following a beating with prayer beads, the DA’s office says.
“Adan was arrested and held in custody,” according to prosecutors. “He asked that his bail be lowered and over the state’s vehement objection, the court lowered bail and set it at $20,000.”
The Portland Freedom Fund reportedly stepped in and paid his bail, and Adan was released on Aug. 22, 2022. He cut off his GPS monitor just five days later and returned to the apartment “where he brutally murdered” Abraham, prosecutors say.
“The murder was horrific, with Racheal suffering catastrophic knife wounds to her face and other parts of her body,” the DA’s office reports. “The Medical Examiner concluded that she died by strangulation, and opined that the strangulation occurred after suffering the knife wounds. The three young children were present in the home at the time of the assault and murder.”
Adan was also convicted of felony strangulation, domestic violence, contempt of court for violating a no-contact order, felon in possession of a firearm, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and felony fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer for crimes committed separately from the murder.
Describing the decision by the Portland Freedom Fund to bail Adan five days before the Aug. 27, 2022, murder, Marrero said at his sentencing Tuesday that “it cost her her life,” according to The Oregonian.
“I wish I could bring her back, even taking my own life if I had to,” Adan told the court. “I pray for her every day.”
Prosecutors say in their press release that the murder case involved multiple risk factors that are studied, known and understood by experts in the field of domestic violence to represent a significant risk of homicide when present. The allegations that Adan faced “clearly” mirror the lethality factors.
“By bailing out Defendant, the Portland Freedom Fund ignored those risk factors,” the DA’s office concluded. “Which led to her death.”
