The Chatham County case moved through searches, autopsy findings and sentencing.
PITTSBORO, N.C. — A 2023 body discovery at Jordan Lake became a murder conviction nearly three years later when Omar Matthew Ibrahim Drabick admitted killing his wife, Hadeel Ghadhanfer Hikmat, and concealing her death.
The case began Aug. 29, 2023, when a boater called the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office after seeing a body near the Farrington Point Boat Ramp on Farrington Point Road. Fingerprints identified the woman as Hikmat, 34, of Apex. Investigators first said her death was not accidental and not self-inflicted. By May 2026, Drabick, 37, had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and concealment of death. He received 25 to 31 years for murder and six to nine more years for concealment.
The first phase centered on identification and scene work. Deputies, medical personnel and investigators treated the lake area as a suspicious death scene after the body was found in shallow water. Authorities later connected a nearby bridge to the case after blood, shell casings and jewelry were found there. The location mattered because it suggested Hikmat had not simply ended up in the lake. Investigators believed she had been shot, then thrown from the bridge into the water. The lake discovery was the visible start of the case, but the bridge became the place where prosecutors said the killing happened.
The next step came through family contacts and property searches. Hikmat’s brother, Firas Hikmat, who lived in Turkey, said he last spoke with her on Aug. 28 and contacted police after he could not reach her. He later said the family was grieving and wanted justice. Deputies searched two Wake County properties on Sept. 8, 2023, including the Apex home tied to Hikmat and Drabick and another location she was known to frequent. Those searches came before any arrest. They signaled that investigators had moved beyond the lake and were collecting evidence from the couple’s daily life.
On Sept. 19, 2023, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Drabick. He was charged with first-degree murder and concealment of an unnatural death. Sheriff Mike Roberson said at the time that the office’s thoughts and efforts were with Hikmat’s family and others who had contacted authorities about missing loved ones. He described the case as part of the broader tragedy of domestic violence and said it caused immeasurable pain. Drabick was held without bond as the prosecution began. The original charge exposed him to a trial on first-degree murder before the plea agreement changed the case’s legal track.
The autopsy, released publicly later, answered one of the largest early questions. Hikmat had a gunshot wound in the middle of her upper back. The medical examiner said the wound was so serious that she likely died before submersion could significantly contribute. The report left open the possibility that drowning played some role, but said there were no clear signs of it at autopsy. Hikmat also had bruises on her arm and ankle and a cut on her back. Her toxicology report was negative for alcohol. The medical findings supported investigators’ conclusion that her death was a homicide, not an accident at the water.
Prosecutors later added a fuller account of the last hours. Hikmat worked at Walmart, and Drabick picked her up after her shift. They went to Denny’s for a late-night meal. After that, according to the state’s case, he drove her toward Jordan Lake shortly after 2:30 a.m. and shot her in the back at or near the bridge. Drabick later told a friend a different story. He claimed he and Hikmat met an Iraqi man in a van at a park after dinner and that she left with the man because he had money. The friend told investigators the story did not make sense.
Other evidence placed pressure on Drabick’s account. Investigators said he had recently bought the gun used to kill Hikmat. They said searches on his phone related to getting away with murder. They also found Hikmat’s blood on his shoes and in the trunk of his vehicle, according to later accounts of the case. Prosecutors said Drabick wanted to leave the marriage. A warrant said he had wished Hikmat would run away with a rich man. Hikmat had moved to the United States from Iraq about a year before she was killed after Drabick’s mother helped arrange the marriage.
The sentencing hearing brought family, motive and responsibility into one room. Prosecutor Marci Trageser said the situation between Drabick and Hikmat spiraled out of control. Drabick’s mother expressed guilt for arranging the marriage, but the judge told her she should not blame herself for what her son did. Defense attorneys said Drabick had autism and lacked the social skills to end the marriage peacefully. Drabick addressed the court with a brief apology. “From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry,” he said. The judge then imposed consecutive sentences, making the concealment punishment separate from the murder term.
The plea left no trial testimony for jurors to weigh, but it created a final judgment. Drabick admitted guilt to second-degree murder and concealment of death, along with an aggravating factor based on his close relationship with Hikmat. The state avoided the uncertainty of a first-degree murder trial, while Hikmat’s family received a conviction and a long sentence. Firas Hikmat said after Drabick’s arrest that Hadeel had many relatives who loved her and welcomed justice for her. His comments remained a public voice for a family grieving far from the North Carolina courtroom.
As of June 18, 2026, Drabick’s prison sentence is the final court action in the case. The record traces a clear line from a boater’s call at Jordan Lake to a guilty plea built on scene evidence, autopsy findings, phone searches and the account of the couple’s last night.
Author note: Last updated June 18, 2026.