Tips sought in unsolved slayings of two Sterling Heights men a year ago
By Norb Franz, nfranz@digitalfirstmedia.com and @NorbFranz on Twitter Dec 16, 2018 Comments


Laith's Candy Land murders Crime Stoppers flier
Crime Stoppers flier posted at the Sterling Height Police Department

MITCH HOTTS -- THE MACOMB DAILY
Norb Franz


Laith's Candy Land surveillance image
This image from a surveillance camera shows two individuals and a dark-colored crossover-type vehicle outside Laith's Candy Land on Dec. 2, 2018.

PHOTO FROM STERLING HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT
Norb Franz
Vital evidence.

A key clue.

One single breakthrough.

That’s what determined Sterling Heights detectives continue to search and hope for, a year after two local men were brutally slain just days apart inside the business they operated.

“Somebody out there knows something that’s going to help us,” said Capt. Jeffrey Bonner of 2018 shooting deaths of Sufian “Samuel” Saba and Laith Anki.

The body of Saba, 51, was found by Anki on Nov. 27, 2017 inside Laith’s Candy Land, located in an office strip on Mound Road, north of 15 Mile Road. Following the wake after Saba’s funeral on Dec. 1, Anki left in the early evening to get cigarettes, police said.

When he didn’t return home, worried family members phoned police. Officers went to the business and found Anki, 26, dead before dawn on Dec. 2. Like Saba, he had been shot to death.

Sterling Heights police said both men were gunned down inside the facility. A security camera outside a neighboring business captured images of two individuals believed to be males arriving in a dark, crossover-style vehicle during the time Anki was away from home. Both individuals wore hooded sweatshirts with hoods up and drawstrings pulled tight.

Saba and Anki were shot multiple times, and there was no sign of a struggle in either incident, police said.

“(These were) highly irregular and highly violent homicides,” Bonner told The Macomb Daily.


Rewards offered in Sterling Heights slayings
Laith Anki
Digital First Media
For several days after the killings, police worked around the clock in the effort to determine suspects. During the first three weeks of the investigation, 16 detectives were on-call throughout each day although eight worked on the case extensively for the first four weeks, officials said.

The multi-agency investigation has included assistance from the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force in metropolitan Detroit, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S. Marshall and the Macomb Auto Theft Squad. Those four agencies have been involved primarily because of the resources and expertise they can provide, including computer and other electronic forensic and data analysis, some of which is painstaking work.

By the end of January, law enforcers interviewed more than 100 people. Since then, all have been re-interviewed, Bonner said.

Although they weren’t directly related, Anki felt Saba was like an uncle. Family members of both men have been accessible to police during the investigation and have cooperated with investigators, police said.


No arrests yet in shooting deaths of two men in Sterling Heights candy facility
Sufian “Samuel” Saba
Laith’s Candy Land imported millions of dollars of Middle Eastern candy, tea and spices – most of it from Jordan and Syria -- for distribution primarily in metropolitan Detroit, part of which has the largest population in the U.S. of immigrants born in the Middle East and people of Middle Eastern descent.

All of Laith’s Candy Land’s competitors, other distributors and customers have been interviewed.

More than six dozen search warrants have executed, and over 200 pieces of evidence -- including more than 100 cellphones and other mobile devices -- have been examined. More than 60 seized items were sent in batches to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab for analysis.

Thus far, police say there is no known motive for the shooting deaths of Saba and Anki. Investigators are not aware of any threats or negative interaction that either man may have had with anyone.

“Which is part of the difficulty in the investigation,” Bonner said. “Somebody knows the answer to those things or can help us find them.”

Police officials have not divulged whether anything was stolen from inside the business but investigators have ruled out robbery as a motive in the homicides.

Since the early stages in the investigation, high-ranking police officials have said Saba and Anki were targeted. Officials feel other businesses should not worry about safety.

One year after the killings, police continue to work on the case daily with four detectives still assigned to it, Bonner said.


No arrests yet in shooting deaths of two men in Sterling Heights candy facility
Laith’s Candy Land, a wholesale distributor of candy and other dry goods from the Middle East, is shown here on Mound Road in Sterling Heights in 2017.

MACOMB DAILY FILE PHOTO
The slayings, so close in time, shocked a community touted for several years by elected Sterling Heights officials as one of the safest cities in the United States. Then on Dec. 9, 2017, 24-year-old Kiah Hopson, a licensed practical nurse, was shot to death in the parking lot of Parkside East Apartments, near Van Dyke Avenue and 18 ½ Mile Road. No arrests have been made in her death, and Crime Stoppers is offering a reward in that case, too.

“It really can happen anywhere,” Mayor Michael Taylor said Saturday. “It’s an anomaly to have a string of murders like this in close succession like this in Sterling Heights.”

Feeling very troubled by the incidents and the impact on the families of the victims, Taylor said he would be concerned about the safety of the community if a random violent crime spree occurred.

“This is still a very safe community,” the mayor said.


Laith's Candy Land persons of interest
Two individuals considered as persons of interest in the 2017 slayings of Sufian Saba and Laith Anki.

PHOTO FROM STERLING HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Laith's Candy Land vehicle of interest
A vehicle of interest captured by security cameras near Laith's Candy Land in Sterling Heights on Dec. 2, 2017.

PHOTO FROM STERLING HEIGHTS POLICE DEPARTMENT
Until November 2017, the city had no homicides that year. In 2016, Macomb County’s second most-populated community had one murder.

Meantime, Bonner said the thoughts of the Sterling Heights Police Department remain with the grieving families as they now endure a second holiday season without closure in the death of Saba and Anki and as law enforcers continue to search for answers. Saba was a married father. Anki was single and had no children.

“It’s been a very difficult case. Very, very time consuming,” said Bonner, a 23-year police veteran.

“We’re not going to stop,” he added.

“The truth will come.”

Law enforcement officials urge anyone with information that may be related -- however remote it may seem -- to the slayings of Saba and Anki to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP (1-800-773-2587) which is offering a $2,500 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case, or the Sterling Heights Police Department at 586-446-2800. Tipsters can remain anonymous.


Sterling Heights police Capt. Jeffrey Bonner & Police Chief Dale Dwojakowski
Sterling Heights Police Capt. Jeffrey Bonner, left, and Police Chief Dale Dwojakowski review police records involving the 2017 slayings of Sufian Saba and Laith Anki.

MITCH HOTTS -- THE MACOMB DAILY
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