Omar and Noor’s Web of Finances

Posted on by Thor

There is some sensitive content and disturbing details included
within. If you feel you may be affected, please do not read this post.

 In the morning, Nemo‘s mother took the stand. She could not be sketched. FBI agent Jeff Etter is a computer forensic examiner. He graduated from Troy University and works out of the Miami Fort Lauderdale area. He analyzed the computers inside the home of Omar Mateen and Noor Salman. Both computers showed activity of a program called Sea Cleaner which removes data. Even if data had been removed there would still be artifacts until the data was overwritten by something new. Another way data could be hidden is via Chrome Incognito Mode. Omar’s password was Ocean1986.

Etter testified the date on one of the
computers was modified to reflect all of its context were dated a day
behind. It was established that much of the Internet browsing was
done in “incognito mode,” so that the Internet history wasn’t recorded,
but many visits to radical websites were recorded. If Omar was trying to hide his tracks, he was lazy about it. The endless searched to Jihadi web sites were conducted late at night by Mateen.

Exhibit 14 was submitted into evidence. It was a photo of Omar Mateen and Noor Salman  smiling together at a shooting range. The photograph was recovered from the couples apartment.

Shelly M. Morgan was a witness who was the assistant bracnch manager at PNC Bank on the day Omar Mateen and Noor Salman went in to put her as the beneficiary of his checking and savings account in case of his death. She described her meeting with the couple. There was some discussion of having Noor as the joint account holder, but her outstanding college loans would have put the account in jeopardy. This action by the couple implied that there was a premeditated attempt to take care of Noor after Omar committed his violent act of Jihad in Orlando.

Rose Von Brezel a Kay Jewelers manager, helped sell Omar and Noor an engagement ring and a diamond wedding band for $8,623 on June 6, 2016 just 6 days before the deadly shooting. Rose remembered seeing tears in Noor’s eyes. She couldn’t tell if this was sadness or happiness. Salman seemed focused on buying just the right ring in the style she likes while Mateen seemed agitated. A store surveillance video showed the couple at the counter and their son Zac took a step back and then another step back as they discussed the purchase. He then ran off into the mall and Omar had to chase him down. Despite the serious nature of the testimony it was hard not to laugh at their son’s antics.

Later in the trial a photo was shown of Noor from Facebook showing that she already had a diamond wedding ring. These purchases therefor seemed to further support the idea that Omar was arranging items that Noor could later sell to help survive after he was killed in his act of Jihad.

T.J. Sypniewski was the Special Agent who assisted Ricardo Enriques in the interrogation of Noor Salman. He has been with the FBI for 22 years and does polygraph interrogations. About 8:45 AM on June 12, 2016 he started his interview with Noor Salman at the FBI headquarters. He didn’t notice Noor sleeping on the floor which had been noticed by FBI agent Enriquez. T.J. introduced himself and decided that he would break the news that Noor’s Husband Omar Mateen was dead. She looked away and didn’t say anything. She didn’t ask questions.

He began asking questions. She had attended  college, but didn’t graduate. She brought up religion saying that she and Mateen were not extremist but somewhere in the middle. he noted that she was actively listening understanding what he was saying what he said. Her son was getting restless so the agent suggested that she have a relative pick him up.Mustafa picked up her son and she remained to answer questions.

Noor explained that her husband could not have died in a violent act because he had just paid the bills. he also had just purchased air plane tickets to San Francisco. She could not have known what he was going to do because she had just bought him a fathers day present. She denied going to a shooting range, but when told that the FBI would be going to all the shooting ranges in the area, she lowered her head and admitted that she had gone once. She also indicated that she was never physically abused by her husband.

Three statements were read, and Salman said they were true. “I brought ammunition with my husband one time for the handgun.” she said. The interview ended at 10:15AM on June 12, 2016. She did not ask to go home according to the agent. At 10:30 Am Noor signed the consent forms which stated her Miranda rights. The defense wanted to imply that agent Enriquez had been interviewing Noor for two hours before she was given Miranda forms to sign. The fact that the interviews were not recorded was covered by the defense. The agent stated that it was common practice to only record interviews after someone has been arrested. Since Noor was not under arrest, they could not record the interview. He has never recorded an interview outside of arrest. It isn’t the FBI’s policy to do so.

Agent T.J. Sypniewski was not a case agent in the Pulse Nightclub massacre. After this day, he had no other involvement. It was established that Noor was eating lunch, Jimmy Johns between the two interviews.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent Duel Valentine has worked in the Counter Terrorism unit for 7 years. He sat in with Special Agent Getz and Noor Salman of a short time on the morning of June 12, 2016. He was just there to sit with them. Noor approached him and wanted to get her husbands death certificate. With the certificate she felt she could get certain debts waved. She said she tried to stop him. She was concerned that she couldn’t get a job after the attack and that she would have to raise her son alone. She didn’t know what to tell her son about what his father had done.

Agent Ricardo Enriquez testified about early interviews with Noor Salman

Posted on by Thor

There is some sensitive content and disturbing details included
within. If you feel you may be affected, please do not read this post.

 Ricardo Enriquez is a polygraph expert for the FBI. He never actually did a polygraph on Noor Salman although she had agreed to have one done. The defense argued that since the polygraph wasn’t done, the testimony would be irrelevant. They felt that just the prejudicial effect would be enormous on the jury but Judge Byron allowed the testimony.

Special Agent Mayo said that Noor wanted to go home at one point, but her home was being searched. At 11 AM on June 12, 2016 Noor was found sleeping on the floor of the FBI interrogation room. She didn’t say that she wanted to go anywhere else. Her uncle came to pick up her son Zack. When the uncle asked if she could come home, he was told that there were additional questions that the FBI wanted to ask her. She agreed to stay. She asked agent Enriquez, “What will happen to my son?” He said, “It isn’t up to me.” Enriquez asked Noor questions and then memorialized her responses by writing what she said and then having her read what he write an then initial the start end end of each sentence. By doing this each sentence would be confirmed as being true and it would not be possible to add anything to the statements since they were initialed. She would dictate and he would write. She said that she was too nervous to write the statements herself.

Omar asked Noor, “Where would the next terrorist attack make a big splash?” What I find odd is that no one asked Noor what her response was to her husbands outlandish statements. “Omar bought a gun 4 days ago and put it in the trunk of the car. He said it was for work.” She made quite a few statements about Omar’s spending, to summarize, in the last days he spent a lot of money for instance buying her a $7000 wedding ring although she already had a ring. He spent $300 on clothing and brought a lot of toys for their son. He also spent money on take out and restaurant food in the final weeks. He sent $80 on ammo in Vero Beach. He withdrew $1000 from his PNC Bank account and gave it to her. Omar also made her a beneficiary on his checking and savings account. Because of this she thought he was considering a violent act. “I often worry he was going to commit an act of violence or terrorism.” she said.

Driving around City Place, he said, “How bad would it be if City Place got attacked?” Later testimony from a digital forensic expert however indicated that there was no time for this “Staking” of City Place. Omar Mateen asked her, “What would make people more upset, an attack on Disney, or an attack on a club?” “I knew.” she said. For the last 2 years Omar had talked about doing Jihad. He said if he did jihad, everybody would know who he is. “How upset are people going to be when it gets attacked?” She mentioned driving around Pulse for 20 minutes with the windows down, but again digital forensics proved that this staking of Pulse was not possible in the time allotted. Agents interviewing Noor claimed that she had not been told about Pulse or prompted in any way. But this shifting story indicated she might have been fed statements by agents.

Noor said that on June 10, 2016 late at night, Omar was looking at a website for the Pulse Nightclub and when she saw what he was looking at he said, “This is my target.” She knew that the time of the

attack on the cub was close. Digital forensic disproved that this exchange about viewing the Pulse website actually happened. On Saturday June 11, 2016 before Omar left their apartment he asked her if he looked Spanish. He was pumped up. He had his ammunition backpack and gun. She asked the agent an odd question at the end of their interview. She said, “When do I get my money?”

The defense pointed out that on June 12, 2016 at about 1:30PM the Sentinel reported that Omar Mateen was a terrorist. It is possible that the FBI agents saw this report on they morning they interviewed Noor. The defense asked what time Agent Ricardo got up that morning. He could not remember the exact time but they narrowed it down to between 8 AM and 9 AM. That morning he looked at the news on his computer perhaps Fox News or ABC. Then her drove to the FBI headquarters to interview Noor. No one asked if she approved of the purchase of a rifle. She dis complain that she didn’t want it in the back of the family car when she took her driving test.

She said in a written statement that Omar Mateen was driving to City Place and got there around 1 AM. She was a passenger. They drove around with the windows down for about 45 minutes. He was driving around slowly looking at the clubs at City Place. While driving, he said, “How bad would it be if a club got attacked?” Defense attorney Charles Swift asked the impotent question, “What was her response?” Why didn’t agents ask if she agreed or disagreed with the statement by her husband? So many of her written comments were confessions of knowledge of her husbands long standing extremist views but they were not confessions of participation. Did she encourage her husbands actions that resulted in 49 lives lost in Orlando? This is what the jury will ultimately have to decide.

Noor decided to hand write a statement on her own at the end of the long night of questioning. She wrote, “I’m sorry for not truthful in the start about what Omar was planning.” The grammar and diction of this written statement is very different that what agents wrote for her. It is standard FBI practice that interviews are not recorded unless the person has been charged with a crime. So the agents were not authorized to record Noor’s statements