Griffin Cuomo and Jonathan Bahm were roommates when prosecutors say a co-worker carried out a planned ambush.
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two young roommates who built a friendship at Chapman University were killed in an Anaheim apartment attack that ended with their killer sentenced to life without parole.
Griffin Robert Cuomo and Jonathan Andrew Bahm, both 23, were found dead April 19, 2022, after Anaheim police responded to a 911 call from their apartment at Stadium House in the 2100 block of Katella Avenue. Four years later, Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim, the co-worker prosecutors said targeted Cuomo, has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole. The case joined a personal story of two friends with a legal record of lying in wait, multiple murders and a rejected insanity defense.
Cuomo and Bahm became friends at Chapman University and continued living together after graduation. Their apartment was near State College Boulevard in a part of Anaheim known for heavy traffic, apartments, entertainment venues and early morning commuters. Cuomo worked at Pence Wealth Management, where he held a marketing and media role. Fahim, then a research associate at the same firm, had grown angry over work assignments and believed Cuomo was micromanaging him, prosecutors said.
The prosecution’s timeline began before sunrise. Fahim went to the apartment complex before the killings and was encountered by a security guard on the roof around midnight on April 18, 2022. He later was seen on the same floor as Cuomo and Bahm’s apartment. Prosecutors said he waited for hours. They said the wait mattered because it showed planning rather than a sudden break from reality. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Fahim calculated how to enter the building and waited until he had a chance to ambush Cuomo.
The attack began as Cuomo was leaving for work, prosecutors said. Fahim used a hunting dagger and stabbed Cuomo repeatedly. The struggle moved back into the apartment. Bahm, caught inside his own home, retreated into a bathroom and called 911. Prosecutors said Fahim pushed through the door and killed Bahm while he was on the phone with a dispatcher. Police arrived around 6:50 a.m. and found both men dead. Fahim remained inside the apartment and was later treated for minor injuries before his arrest.
Bahm’s call for help became one of the clearest markers in the case. Prosecutors treated his death not only as a second murder, but as a murder to avoid arrest because he was a witness and had reached emergency services. Fahim admitted that special circumstance allegation, along with multiple murders and lying in wait. He also admitted personal use of a deadly weapon. Those admissions came with his April 7 guilty plea to two counts of first-degree murder, entered before the case could proceed through a full murder trial.
The remaining trial question was Fahim’s sanity. He had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, which meant jurors still had to decide whether he was legally insane at the time of the killings. Prosecutors said evidence of planning, access, timing and concealment showed that he was sane under the law. The defense pointed to a history of mental illness and argued that it should affect how the court punished him. Jurors found Fahim sane, and the sentencing moved forward under the special circumstance murder findings.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary Paer imposed the sentence May 13. Defense attorney Marlin Stapleton Jr. asked for 52 years to life or concurrent life terms, saying Fahim’s mental health history deserved weight. Paer rejected the request and added two years for weapon enhancements. “This case warrants the most extreme punishment under the law and anything less would be an injustice,” Paer said. “There is no discount for killing two.” Fahim told the judge he felt bad, wished he could change what happened and was sorry.
Investigators and prosecutors also described evidence that suggested Fahim planned to hide or alter evidence after killing Cuomo. They said a tarp and shovel were found in his car. They said he had planned to cut off Cuomo’s head and bury it somewhere while leaving the rest of the body to be removed with trash. They also said his computer contained disturbing writings and searches about serial killers, including thoughts about choosing victims. Those details became part of the prosecution argument that the killings were deliberate.
The families’ loss remained central at sentencing. Tributes described Bahm as a person who lifted others with kindness and had a rare warmth in friendships. Cuomo was remembered for passion, curiosity and a drive to connect with people in school and work. Robert Cuomo, Griffin’s father, broke down while reading a victim impact statement and shook as he described hearing that his son was dead. The statements marked the human cost behind a case often discussed through legal terms and forensic details.
Spitzer said the verdict should not be seen as a rejection of the existence of mental illness, but as a finding that Fahim was legally accountable. He said the evidence showed Fahim knew how to gain entry, when to wait and why Bahm had to be silenced. Prosecutors said co-workers had been worried about Fahim’s behavior before the killings, but they argued that those concerns did not erase his planning or his awareness during the attack.
The sentence ends the Orange County prosecution with Fahim ordered to spend life in prison without parole for each victim. Cuomo and Bahm’s names remain attached to the legal record as more than victims in a workplace-motive case: two friends from Chapman, still roommates at 23, killed in the home they shared.
Author note: Last updated June 2, 2026.