A Michigan man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for first-degree murder in a brutal 2022 killing near the Santa Monica Pier, concluding what officials said was a complex investigation that spanned multiple states.
Mohamed Abou-Arabi, 25, was convicted in September 2024 for the murder of Mujtaba Anwer Al Ashoor, whose body was discovered on November 2, 2022, by a parking attendant at Lot 1 North near the beach. The victim was found motionless in the driver's seat, having been fatally stabbed.
The Santa Monica Police Department used forensic evidence collected from the crime scene including hundreds of DNA swabs, latent fingerprints, and over a thousand photographs to help identify the killer.
Officers identified Al Ashoor as a Dearborn, Michigan resident who had recently purchased the vehicle from a private party in Southern California. Detectives worked closely with the Dearborn Police Department to track Abou-Arabi's movements from California back to Michigan following the attack.
In January 2023, SMPD detectives traveled to Michigan and arrested Abou-Arabi, booking him into the Santa Monica Jail on January 18, 2023. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed a single count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for using a knife during the fatal attack. Abou-Arabi was convicted of first-degree murder. The sentencing on January 13, 2025, included a one-year enhancement for weapon use, bringing the total sentence to 26 years to life in state prison.
Abou-Arabi's criminal history includes two prior misdemeanor weapons offenses in Michigan but he has remained silent about the motive behind the killing.
