A man who was serving a life sentence for an eastern Iowa murder has died in prison. Eighty-year-old Hani Khouri died Sunday in the Iowa Medical and Classification Center (IMCC) Hospice Care Unit.
A release from the Iowa Department of Corrections states Khouri died of natural causes due to complications from pneumonia. Khouri, who moved to Iowa from Syria, opened a restaurant in Cedar Rapids in 1975. According to court records, Khouri had dated Jackie Chacey many years, but the two separated sometime in 1990. On July 14, 1991, witnesses – including a police officer – reported seeing Khouri shoot Chacey several times inside a car. She was 47 years old.
A jury found Khouri guilty of first-degree murder and he began serving a sentence of life in prison in February 1992.