WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Ziyad Abid, once charged in the murder-for-hire plot of a Warrensburg bar owner, left the United States on Monday.
Abid was charged with plotting to kill William Blaine Whitworth. Earlier this month, the prosecutor in Johnson County, Mo. announced that all charges against Abid have been dropped. According to Prosecutor Lynn Stoppy, evidence obtained from a critical witness changed. As a result, the state was forced to dismiss the charges against Abid.
Reginald Singletary admitted to shooting Whitworth outside his Warrensburg home almost a year ago, September 1, 2012. According to court records, Singletary told police he did it because his roommate, Abid, paid him.
But Abid’s defense attorney, Pat Peters, has said all along, that never happened.
While he was in jail, Abid’s student visa expired, so he was then required to appear in immigration court. Instead, he chose to leave to return home to Saudi Arabia to be with his family, according Peters. Peters said Abid could still return to the United States at some point, but he would first have to fill out the paperwork to clear up his immigration status, which he could do overseas.
