Kabary Salem, a 56-year-old former Olympic boxer known as the “Egyptian Magician,” pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of killing his own daughter.
Salem made the plea during his first official arraignment in Lebanon County on Thursday.
Salem, a resident of Staten Island, allegedly strangled and killed his 25-year-old daughter, Ola Salem, in Palmyra in October 2019.
When first investigated by New York City police, Salem stated that he took Ola to Central Pennsylvania to help paint a restaurant he planned to operate in Palmyra. However, he said she was constantly on the phone, which led to a violent altercation, according to the police report.
Later that night, Salem stated that his daughter drove recklessly and appeared crazy, and that he had to hold her neck to remove her from the car, according to police.
He informed the police that she had fled in an unknown black automobile.
On Staten Island, a park yielded the body of Salem’s daughter.
A New York medical examiner found strangling injuries and brutal force trauma to her head and body.
Police discovered evidence that Salem drove his daughter’s body from Central Pennsylvania to New York in a rental automobile.
Salem allegedly escaped to Kuwait after Ola died but was extradited and arrested in New York City in 2020.
CBS 21’s Chiu-yi Lin questioned Salem’s public defender about the lengthy court hearings.
The public attorney said that because Salem’s “incident” supposedly occurred in Lebanon County, he had to be transferred from Rikers Island to Lebanon this year, despite having already been arraigned in New York during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Salem is currently in Lebanon County’s jail without bond, awaiting his next hearing.
Salem competed as a boxer for Egypt at the Olympics in 1992 and 1996.
