U.S. Secret Service unaware Hasan was a suspect
Hamilton man wanted in death of Kitchener woman stopped in Texas on counterfeit money investigation
WATERLOO REGION — When Ager Mohsin Hasan was stopped by police in San Antonio, Texas, and arrested this week, they didn’t know he was wanted for murder.
“He was essentially an unknown person that was in possession of or receiving counterfeit U.S. currency,” said Paul Duran, a special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service in San Antonio.
Duran said police had information from a source that Hasan may be involved in an investigation involving counterfeit money.
“We only had the phonetic spelling of his first name,” Duran said in an interview on Thursday.
Duran said Hasan was arrested “without physical altercation.”
Hasan, a 24-year-old Hamilton resident, is charged with seconddegree murder in the death of Melinda Vasilije.
Vasilije, 23, of Kitchener was found dead of multiple stab wounds in her Country Hills apartment on April 28.
Duran said the U.S. Secret Service contacted local police in San Antonio and asked them to stop the black 2016 Honda HR-V on Tuesday afternoon in connection with a counterfeit money investigation.
He said Hasan was a passenger in the vehicle and another man was driving the SUV.
Police then realized the plates were stolen from Arkansas and found an outstanding warrant on second-degree murder in Canada, Duran said.
For now, Hasan isn’t facing any other charges related to counterfeit currency, but Texas police say there could be additional charges.
“From our standpoint, we are still conducting our investigation. We haven’t made any decisions on prosecution,” Duran said.
But he said counterfeit money charges “would not supersede the extradition.”
An extradition hearing needs to be held in court in Texas so he can return to Waterloo Region to face murder charges here.
Hasan reportedly crossed into the U.S. soon after Vasilije’s death, and was spotted at least twice — once in Pennsylvania in the parking lot of a Walmart where a man was seen stealing licence plates from another vehicle, and then in Tennessee on May 20.
Waterloo Regional Police have said they believed Hasan was on his way to the Mexican border.
Insp. Mike Haffner said this week that local investigators were in contact with Hasan via email and repeatedly told him to turn himself in to police.
Since entering the U.S., it is believed Hasan posted social media messages on Instagram. On Monday, an Instagram posting from a person claiming to be Hasan said he would turn himself in.
The post, accompanied by a photo, said: “I’m coming home. It’s time to end the dark path I’ve been travelling and give people the closure they deserve.”
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.