A former property supervisor in San Diego has spoken publicly about her interactions with Omar al-Bayoumi, the Saudi nationwide accused of serving to two of the 9/11 hijackers earlier than the assaults.
Holly Ratchford managed Parkwood Flats in San Diego within the late Nineteen Nineties. Bayoumi moved into the complicated together with his household in September 1999 and shortly turned a well-recognized face there. Ratchford remembers him as pleasant and sociable. “He was all the time so bubbly and smiling and simply very, very pleasant,” she informed the BBC.
However months later, Bayoumi introduced two males to her workplace who had been searching for an house. They had been Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who would later grow to be two of the 19 males who hijacked 4 planes throughout the September 11, 2001, assaults.
Ratchford stated she noticed the 2 males repeatedly after they moved in. She stated she even had tea and cookies with them and described them as pleasant. She additionally informed the FBI that Bayoumi paid their hire once they fell behind on funds.
The connection solely turned clear to Ratchford after the September 11 assaults. About 16 months after the hijackers had moved out, a girl contacted her asking for a rental reference. Ratchford later discovered that the lady was a journalist who informed her that Hazmi and Mihdhar had been among the many males concerned within the assault on the Pentagon.
The FBI subsequently interviewed Ratchford. She handed over Bayoumi’s lease paperwork, which turned a part of the investigation into his relationship with the hijackers.
In line with retired FBI investigator Richard Lambert, investigators later discovered that folks related to Bayoumi helped the 2 males receive California driver’s licences, apply to flight colleges, obtain cash transfers and organize dental therapy. Lambert described Bayoumi as being on the centre of a community related to the hijackers.
Throughout questioning within the UK after the assaults, Bayoumi initially denied figuring out the hijackers. He later admitted serving to two males named Nawaf and Khalid however claimed his contact with them was restricted.
He stated he had met them in Los Angeles and later helped them discover lodging in San Diego. He additionally claimed that he largely averted them after they moved into the house. Nonetheless, Ratchford rejects this model, saying that Bayoumi had been actively concerned in serving to them and continued to work together with them.
Later, FBI investigators discovered that Bayoumi obtained about $90,000 a 12 months from firms linked to the Saudi Defence Ministry. His pay reportedly elevated after Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in San Diego and fell after they left the US.
Investigators additionally discovered paperwork and writings linked to Bayoumi that they believed confirmed anti-American and jihadist views. Nonetheless, he was by no means prosecuted in reference to the 9/11 assaults.
Bayoumi was arrested in Birmingham, UK, shortly after 9/11 however was launched after seven days. The US Division of Justice determined to not search his extradition. He later returned to Saudi Arabia.
In an August 2025 ruling, US District Decide George B Daniels stated he denied that Bayoumi was merely an harmless one that occurred to assist the hijackers. In 1999, he filmed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, from a number of angles. Through the recording, he referred to a “plan”. Attorneys representing the 9/11 households have argued that the video may present that he was surveilling a possible goal.
“All of the Court docket can conclude from the video is that Bayoumi visited Washington DC and that he filmed town,” the decide dominated.
The decide stated there was an affordable inference that the help Bayoumi supplied to the hijackers in reference to their house was not merely an act of kindness and should have been carried out on directions from the Saudi authorities.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied that Bayoumi was a Saudi agent or that he knew in regards to the 9/11 assault beforehand. They’ve additionally stated the footage was merely a vacationer video. In its August 2025 judgment, nonetheless, the New York courtroom stated the video itself solely established that Bayoumi had visited Washington and filmed town.
The case is now with the US Court docket of Appeals, which is able to hear oral arguments in October.
