April 12--A man accused of fatally shooting his mother outside a Burr Ridge church confessed to his involvement in an immigration scam and intended to take his own life, according to a recently disclosed letter from the man found at the murder scene.
A DuPage County judge Tuesday gave prosecutors preliminary approval to use the letter in the case against Michael Zaky Bassaly. The former Downers Grove resident, 29, is scheduled to stand trial in September for the Aug. 29, 2013 murder of his mother, Yvonne Zaky Bassaly, 61.
Police recovered the typed, two-page letter in Bassaly's car after he called 911 to say he had shot his mother as they were parked in the lot of St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church. The letter was recently placed in the court file as potential evidence as the case moves toward trial.
In the letter, Bassaly confessed to falsifying information for more than 120 Egyptians who had sought him out for aid in attaining political asylum in the U.S. Federal authorities had opened an investigation into Bassaly's activities in the days before he allegedly shot his mother.
"If you are reading this letter it means I have killed my mother and myself," Bassaly wrote in the letter, which he addressed to local police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Chicago branch of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service asylum office.
"I killed my mother to protect her from the result of the investigation ... you will find I had no choice but to kill her," he continued.
"I know very well that what I have done is wrong, I am sorry for what I have done," Bassaly wrote.
He also implicated Chicago-area lawyer Robert DeKelaita, whom Bassaly said had created false information to help immigrants gain asylum. DeKelaita was arrested on federal fraud charges in 2014 for allegedly falsifying immigration documents. He is scheduled to stand trial starting Monday, according to federal court records.
DeKelaita, Bassaly said, helped him and his mother earn asylum in 2002 when they came to the U.S. from Egypt.
Basally falsified records in more than 100 cases of people who had sought his aid, he said. He had represented to asylum-seekers that he worked for the government, authorities said.
"Every asylum case I have done is fake, there is about 120 or 130 cases none of them really happened," he wrote.
"I got to the point where my conscious (sic) got the better of me and I could not stay silent," the letter read. "I had to report everything knowing full well that is most likely I will spend the rest of my life in a jail cell or get killed by someone in the Egyptian community, I decided to take my own life."
The note, which was typed, concluded with a handwritten postscript, "God Bless USA." Eight copies of it were in an express mailing envelope. The letter directed authorities where to look to find evidence of the immigration scheme, and contained a flash drive with information, prosecutors said.
At Tuesday's hearing, DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney Steve Knight said the letter should be admitted because it would provide important motive and context information for potential jurors. He said a Department of Homeland Security agent is expected to testify at trial about the investigation into Bassaly's immigration activities.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
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