The Murder and Disappearence of the 'Faruq Brothers

The 'Faruq Brothers

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban times

It was April 1990 and Basil Abdul 'Faruq and his brother, Jamal had just been dropped of at their mother's Richmond, Virginia home by their step-mother. The boys begged their mother, Tambar Ellis, to let them go outside to play.

After working a long third shift job at DuPont Factory, Ellis, an Army reservist, was too exhausted to play with them, but she wasn't worried about her sons playing outside alone as she took a quick nap.

Sadly, it would be the last time Ellis would ever see one of her little boys alive.

After a 30 minute nap, Ellis walked outside to call her sons in for dinner. She yelled for them, but got no response.

Immediately she began searching the apartment grounds and a nearby park with no luck. After 45 minutes had passed her panic set in and Ellis called the police.

"After about maybe four or five minutes of looking for your kids, you go through a wave of a different emotions," Ellis said. "You know they're not up in someones house, because they knew I wouldn't have allowed it. ... I couldn't believe they weren't within hearing distance."

Within an hour, police search dogs and volunteers canvassed the neighborhood along with helicopters. Even members of Ellis' Army Reserve unit had joined the search.

Their search continued through the night.

On day three of the frantic search, Ellis and her sons father, Everett Abdul 'Faruq received news no parent ever wants to get. The body of their eldest son, Basil, was found approximately 10 miles from their home in a trash landfill in Chesterfield. A truck driver noticed Basil's body in a torn plastic trash bag and called police.

Little Jamal has never been found.

Jamal 'Faruq

"I never saw Basil's body," recalled Tambar Ellis. "They recommended that I not see his body."

The medical examiner's report stated that Basil's skull had been fractured and that he had been stabbed twice in the back.

The autopsy showed that the fracture to Basil's skull occurred after his death from the stab wounds.

Basil's mouth had been gagged and his body bound with duct tape.

"It started off as a missing persons case with us," said Richmond Police Detective James P. Baynes, "and then became Chesterfield's murder case."

Today, a month shy of the 20th anniversary of the brothers disappearance and Basil's murder, Jamal 'Faruq remains missing and police have no clue to his whereabouts.

This is what Jamal may look like today, 19 years after he disappeared.

Click here to read the Americas Most Wanted: Missing Children article on their disappearance

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