Shivangi Sinha
In August 2017, it was Aya Altantawi who discovered the remains of her mother, Nada Huranieh, on the patio of their home in Farmington Hills, Michigan. She immediately called 911, hoping her mother could still be saved, but Nada had already passed away. When her brother, Muhammad Altantawi, was arrested and charged with murder, Aya initially believed there had been a mistake. However, as time went on, she came to accept that his involvement was indeed real. In NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Shadow in the Window,’ Aya reflects on her family, their history, and offers insight into her mother’s life.
Aya Altantawi Had Trouble Believing That Her Brother Killed Their Mother
Aya Altantawi grew up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, with her two siblings, her older brother, Muhammad Altantawi, and her younger sister, Sidra Altantawi. She and her parents, Bassel Altantawi and Nada Huranieh, lived a comfortable and affluent life, with Bassel working as a physician. Despite alleged challenges at home, Aya performed well in school. In February 2016, her mother filed a domestic abuse complaint against her father, leading to his removal from the home. Divorce proceedings began the following month, but Aya continued to stay strong. She stayed focused on her studies and remained a source of support for her mother.
On August 21, 2017, Aya woke up with an immediate sense that something was wrong. Her mother hadn’t come to wake her as she always did. It was a familiar routine in their home, so the change instantly unsettled her. When she stepped outside, she saw her mother lying on the patio. Panicked, Aya ran back inside to alert her older brother, Muhammad, and immediately dialed 911. The dispatcher instructed them to perform CPR until emergency responders arrived, but by the time help reached the home, Nada was pronounced dead. For Aya, the moment felt surreal and unbearable.
In the days that followed, Aya was stunned when Muhammad was arrested and charged with their mother’s murder. At first, she believed he had done nothing wrong, but that changed once she saw the evidence against him. She also questioned whether her father, Bassel, might have been involved; however, no evidence ever supported that claim, and he was never charged. Aya said that over the years she waited for justice, even as Muhammad’s legal team filed multiple appeals. In September 2022, during his sentencing, she was asked to leave the courtroom after interrupting her father’s victim impact statement when he began defending Muhammad. Aya later delivered her own statement, speaking openly about the pain of losing her mother and the toll the entire ordeal had taken on her life.
Aya Altantawi is a Graduate in Criminal Justice and Psychology
When her father, Bassel Altantawi, attempted to regain custody in the aftermath, Aya Altantawi made a firm and courageous decision: she refused to return to his home and instead placed herself into the foster care system. Aya entered one kinship placement and two foster homes over the next few years. She remained committed to her education and her healing. When she turned eighteen, instead of immediately leaving the system, she chose to stay in voluntary extended foster care, recognizing that the support and structure it offered would help her transition into adulthood. In May 2020, she graduated from International Academy, proudly earning her high school diploma despite the upheaval she had faced at home.
Later that year, Aya continued her studies at Michigan State University. She pursued a Bachelor of Arts with dual majors in Criminal Justice and Psychology, along with a minor in Law, Justice, and Public Policy. Her academic performance was exceptional, and she made the Dean’s List every term before graduating a full year early, in May 2023, with honors. Her education became both an anchor and a tool, allowing her to understand the systems she had once navigated as a vulnerable child. During college, Aya also built a robust portfolio of work and advocacy experience.
At Affinity Health, where she interned from 2018 to 2020, she assisted with business development tracking, created project files, compiled physician biographies, and completed various data-driven tasks that strengthened her organizational and research skills. In 2021, as a FosterClub intern, she began leaning into youth advocacy on a national scale. She conducted leadership training for foster youth transitioning out of care and participated in conferences, town hall meetings, and congressional sessions, using her voice to shift perceptions around foster youth and influence policy conversations.
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Aya Altantawi is Using Her Experiences to Help Other Kids Today
Aya Altantawi further expanded her involvement by serving as President of the Michigan Statewide Youth Advisory Board from May 2021 to May 2022. She was also selected as a Young Fellow with the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative from 2021 to 2024, participating in national dialogues on inequities within the child welfare system and proposing strategies for systemic reform. From January to May 2022, she served as Outreach Chair for Students Organize for Syria. In 2022, Aya also gained legal experience through an internship with Okemos Legal Group, drafting legal documents, issuing subpoenas, and conducting intake for pro-bono women’s clinic cases.
To support herself, she worked as a hostess, expeditor, and waitress at Lucky’s Steakhouse during 2022 and 2023, all while maintaining her academic commitments with distinction. After graduating, she briefly worked as an emergency dispatcher in Ingham County from May to July 2023. There, she learned to manage multi-agency crisis calls and make rapid, high-stakes decisions. Since September 2023, Aya has been working as a Behavior Assistant with Positive Behavior Supports Corp., providing one-on-one behavioral services for children with autism and implementing treatment plans to help them develop essential skills. In April 2024, she also joined the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services as a Youth Champion.
In this role, she mentors foster youth, prepares them for court proceedings, teaches them about voluntary care and independent living, and ensures they have access to educational and transitional resources. Aya has accumulated a wide set of skills, including mentoring, conflict resolution, verbal de-escalation, problem-solving, and applied behavior analysis. She is also certified in CPR/AED, First Aid, and Bloodborne Pathogens through the American Red Cross. Today, Aya uses her past not as a burden but as a source of purpose. She shares her experiences openly, advocates for foster youth, volunteers in community-focused programs, and works in roles centered on safety, care, and justice. She continues to give back to the systems she once depended on, striving to ensure that no child faces what she did alone.
