Acid attack case that scarred woman in Elmont, Long Island still unsolved after 4 years
NASSAU COUNTY, Long Island (WABC) -- It's been four years since someone threw acid into a young woman's face on Long Island, and yet, all this time later, the suspect has yet to be caught.
For the victim, Nafiah Ikram, every day marks a new challenge in her road to recovery. While she says she has made progress, she says now is the time for the suspect who attacked her to surrender.
"If I'm already tormenting myself because I don't know who did this to me... imagine what the person that did this to me is going through suffering," Ikram said.
Ikram, now 26 years old, is hoping the power of that guilty conscience will somehow bring closure in this case - one that's been both horrifying and baffling to her for four years now.
"It's the anniversary but if I allow myself to sulk, I'm not giving this person power over me anymore," Ikram said.
The attack happened on March 17, 2021, in Elmont, Long Island.
In grainy surveillance video, Ikram can be seen coming home, when someone runs up behind her in her own driveway and throws acid on her face.
Back in 2021, the Nassau County police commissioner at the time, Patrick Ryder, said, "My advice is surrender yourself now because we're coming for you."
But that never happened.
There were flyers in both English and Arabic, with pictures of a red Nissan from the crime scene. But now, four years later, Ikram says police have only grilled her and her own father about the case, even unexpectedly bringing him to FBI headquarters for a lie detector test a few months ago.
"That was not a pleasant situation at all," said Ikram's mother Sherina Mohamed. "And he was surprised. He was very surprised that he had to go through that."
"They're trying to make it seem like he's not telling them all of what happened, and that's what they were doing to me the first year that this happened," Ikram said.
On Tuesday, the Nassau County police commissioner insisted the department has "devoted tremendous investigative resources towards this horrific attack," and that "we will not rest until the person or persons responsible are apprehended."
Ikram is still struggling with poor vision in her right eye and the scarring on her face, but she mostly fears that without an arrest, the emotional scars will take far longer than the physical ones to heal.
Anyone with info on this case is urged to call Crimestoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS.
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