Murder suspect brought back to region
Man charged in stabbing death of Melinda Vasilije in court here Monday after extradition from Texas
KITCHENER — Ager Hasan will appear in court Monday morning facing charges of second-degree murder and breach of recognizance in the stabbing death last April of 23-year-old Melinda Vasilije.
Two Waterloo Regional Police officers escorted Hasan, 24, back to Kitchener on Friday from a prison in San Antonio, Texas. He is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice, courtroom 102, Monday morning.
The Hamilton resident had been held in a Texas jail since the United States Secret Service arrested him in July. It has taken more than five months to secure his extradition back to Canada.
“Waterloo Regional Police, along with our local Crown Attorney’s office and the Ministry of the Attorney General, have been working with our U.S. law enforcement partners, and the U.S. Department of Justice to facilitate the return of Mr. Hassan to Waterloo Region through the extradition process,” said a statement issued by regional police Saturday.
Hasan and Vasilije knew each
other, police say. Hasan was under a court order to stay out of Waterloo Region, and to not contact Vasilije.
The breach of recognizance charges result from a break and enter and assaults at Vasilije’s apartment April 3. About three weeks later, she was dead.
Hasan fled to the U.S. A camera at a border crossing clicked his picture. He was driving a black Honda H-RV. Hasan was in email contact with the Waterloo Regional Police, and investigators repeatedly urged Hasan to turn himself in.
Hasan was spotted in Pennsylvania and later Tennessee.
In a bizarre twist, Hasan’s picture turned up on social media, along with a post: “I’m coming home. It’s time to end the dark path I’ve been travelling and give people the closure they deserve.” That was in July.
In May, a post on Reddit by someone claiming to be Hasan alleged that Hasan stabbed Vasilije in self-defence.
It went into details about what allegedly happened the night Vasilije died.
That message was removed shortly after it was posted.
A short time later Hasan turned up in an investigation about counterfeit money.
In July, the United States Secret Service heard about a man allegedly in possession of counterfeit American money, or about take delivery of counterfeit currency. The Secret Service did not know the man, and had a phonetic spelling of his first name — Ager.
The Secret Service contacted local police in San Antonio, asking them to stop a black 2016 Honda HR-V.
Hasan was in the passenger seat. Another man was driving.