Alexandria Man Sentenced To 4 Life Terms For Double Murder

ALEXANDRIA, VA — An Alexandria man was sentenced Thursday to four consecutive life sentences for the first degree murders of two people and carjacking, and an additional 18 year-sentence was given for related firearm offenses.

Mohamed Aly pleaded guilty in Halifax Circuit Court Thursday before the sentencing. According to prosecutors, Aly killed Joel Bianda, 21, of Alexandria, and Ayanna Maertens Griffin, 18, of Germantown, Maryland.

Family of the victims traveled from Alexandria to attend the court proceedings and were permitted to give statements about the impact of their loved ones' deaths.

"The Commonwealth has consulted closely with law enforcement and the families of the victims, which we do whenever possible," said Halifax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tracy Quackenbush Martin in a statement. "Most of the family members wanted to see Aly
spend the rest of his life in prison, and the Commonwealth agreed that multiple life sentences were appropriate to achieve justice in the case."

The killings happened on Feb. 8 after Bianda agreed to drive Aly from Alexandria to Danville in southern Virginia. Maertens Griffin, who was Bianda’s girlfriend, went along. Aly also told Bianda he needed a ride to Alexandria to pick up a friend.

Aly had picked up a firearm from what he described as a "marked location." He later told police he was holding the 9 mm gun while riding in the backseat from Alexandria. He told police during the ride he had been having doubts about college and home life.

The group stopped at one point for Aly to drive for about 100 miles. They switched back again in the early morning hours, likely in Halifax County one hour away from Danville. A few minutes later, Aly asked Bianda to pull over, knowing the gun was loaded and the safety was off. While Bianda was pulling over and the car was still moving, Aly pointed the gun.

"I pointed the gun at his head, without thinking, without saying anything, I pulled the trigger," he told police. A second later, he shot Maertens Griffin.

The car was still moving after the victims were shot, and Aly tried to stop it from the backseat. He was able to pull the car over in the median on Highway 58 near Melon Road. He pulled the two victims out and left their bodies in the grassy median before driving off to Danville.

Aly picked up a friend, who was then a juvenile, at or around Danville but remembered he left the gun at the scene. He and his friend returned to the scene, took the victim's cell phones and disposed of the phones in different locations. Aly left Bianda's wallet but took the gun and tried to drive off. In the attempt to escape, he lost control of the car and crashed into an embankment. He abandoned the car, and the two ran into the woods near Melon Road. They disposed of the gun and its two magazines in different locations.

Aly and his friend found a cab to pick them up at an empty residence on Highway 58 and went to Danville. The two cleaned up, and Aly disposed of his clothes in a dumpster. Another driver took them to Virginia State University, where Aly convinced a friend from Alexandria to pick them up. Aly told the friend he had been in a car accident, and they rode to Aly's home in Alexandria.

Law enforcement had started to investigate the deaths of the victims found in the median on Highway 58 near a crashed car. The victims were found with single gun shot wounds to the head, which were verified by the medical examiner. Blood was also found in Bianda's car.

Virginia State Police arrested Aly at T.C. Williams High School five days after the killings. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Prosecutors say physical evidence corroborated Aly's confession to police and statements made to others. Aly led police to the gun and two magazines that were disposed of in the woods. Police had found the victim's cell phones, which tracked their movements. Online cash transactions and statements from the three drivers who transported Aly corroborated his return to Alexandria. There were also a few recorded jail calls and statements to inmates dmitting to his role as the triggerman in the killings of the two victims.

According to prosecutors, a motive was not identified for the murders.