ROSE HILL, Va. — The three brothers of a man charged with murdering his father are convinced Fairfax County Police have made a huge mistake. They say Samy Hassanein is innocent and that the death of their father, 82-year-old Talat Hassanein, was simply an accident.
"Losing my father, I lost myself," said Sharif Hassanein Monday, outside the Rose Hill house where he found his father last Wednesday, collapsed in a pool of blood at the bottom of the basement stairs. "The man meant everything to me."
Sharif and his brother, Tarik, say their father has been suffering fainting spells in the last few months, and may have blacked out before falling down the stairs and hitting his head on the concrete floor.
Police have charged 36-year-old Samy Hasssanein with second-degree murder. Investigators say the upper body trauma they found on Talat Hassanein was not consistent with a fall down the stairs. They also say interviews helped convince them of Samy Hassenein's culpability, but they declined to offer any details of those interviews.
But Samy Hassenein's brothers insist police are wrong.
"I saw Samy's reaction when he saw my father's body -- he was in shock," Sharif Hassanein said. "He wasn't acting. It was sincere."
"I can't see anything that says anything other than an 82-year-old man fell down the stairs," Tarik Hassanein added. "He unfortunately landed on hard concrete."
Fairfax County Lt. Dan Spital insisted detectives have more than enough evidence to prove Talat Hassanein's death was no accident, and that the murder charges are justified.
Sharif and Samy Hassanein both lived in the house with their dad; Sharif said he heard nothing.
"Samy would have yelled, Samy would have screamed; my father would have yelled, my father would have screamed," Sharif Hassanein said.
Sharif said he was asleep in his bedroom.
"Here I was no more than 15 feet away, and it's impossible for me to believe they were fighting in a whispering tone," he said.
The brothers admit Samy Hassanein has struggled for decades with mental illness, and that their family has struggled to get the county to help him. They say they've called police multiple times over the years for help getting him hospitalized, but say doctors never hold him for more than 72 hours. In the past, the brothers said Samy Hassanein has left clear evidence of his anger when he's in trouble, but this time the only blood found was their father's at the bottom of the stairs.
"He absolutely loved his dad and my dad loved him," Tarik Hassanein said. "He was his youngest child, his baby."
The brothers said they've lost two people now -- their father and their little brother. Tarik Hassanein said he's retiring and selling his home in Tacoma, Washington, to fight to free his brother.
A Fairfax County judge ordered Samy Hassanein held without bond until his next hearing on Oct. 28.