Months after Bahsid McLean from the Bronx br*utally murd*ered and beheaded his mother, Tanya Byrd, the mother of his child, Zarah Coombs, mur*dered their 4-year-old son, Zamair.
The Mur-der of Tanya Byrd
In February 2013, Zamair was three months old when his father, Bahsid McLean, repeatedly stabbed his mother, Tonya Byrd, in the neck. He then cut her body up with a saw, took a picture of himself holding her headless body and posted it on Facebook. He then put the pieces of her body in three plastic trash bags.
After that, he put each bag of body parts into a duffel bag and spread them out in different places in the Bronx. A dog walker found the first duffel bag, which had a head that had been cut up. The second bag held parts of her shoulders and torso, and the third bag held parts of an arm and a leg.
Bahsid did not act alone. Police were told that his friend William Harris, 26, had stabbed the 45-year-old home health aide while he was cutting her body up. He said he was “obligated” to cut up the body.
“If you can k*ill somebody, you should be able to cut them up too,” McLean said on tape. “If you can’t do that if you don’t have the stomach to cut them up, then you’re a coward,” Bahsid said.
Bahsid’s Troubled Life
Before she changed her name to Zarah Coombs, Zamair’s mother, Vera McLean, lived with Bashid after they broke up. He was on probation for beating up two police officers in 2010.
Bashid had a hard life before the horrible mur*der. He was mad at his mother, and the things he did often scared her. It was common for Bashid to start fires, damage property, and lash out. Tanya thought Bahsid was hitting his Down’s syndrome brother Nasyr, who was 7 years old. As a child, he lived in several mental hospitals and was required to take medicine every day to treat his mental illness, which included schizophrenia.
A Missing Person Report, Body Parts, and an Arrest
Once the scene was clean, Bahsid called the Bronx precinct of the NYPD to report his mother missing. Police went to the Bronx flat to look into the report. They smelled bleach right away, which made them think Bahsid knew more than he told them.
When the police told Bahsid they had found his mother’s body, he admitted to the crime in full. He was arrested by police, and William Harris was also arrested on mur*der charges.
Bahsid said William kil*led his mother and threatened to ki*ll him and his younger brother if he didn’t help take the body apart and throw it away. He said he helped William because he was scared, and he admitted that he drained his mother’s blood in the bathtub before cutting her body up.
Police searched the house and found a saw, latex gloves, and a shopping cart that they think Bahsid used to move his mother’s body parts to different places in the Bronx. The flat smelled strongly of bleach and had been scrubbed very well. The bathroom didn’t have the shower curtain.
Assistant District Attorney Aaron Kaplan said that Bahsid stabbed his mother after a fight when she told him he was a bad dad and that he should leave the house. He left the flat they shared, bought a power saw, and then k*illed her in a horrible way.
He told the judge during Bahsid’s trial that he had heard voices since he was a child. Bahsid was found guilty of second-degree mu*rder, unlawful dissection of a human body, and second-degree assault, even though his lawyers had hoped for a “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict. He was given a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. He is currently serving his time at the Clinton Correctional Facility. In 2039, he will be able to get out on parole.
Bahsid’s Son Mur*dered
Bahsid and Zarah Coombs were together for a short time but had major problems. There was a breakup after she got pregnant, and Zarah fell in love with Jamar Richardson. These two people had two children of their own.
When he got home in January 2017, he found Zamair unconscious in a plastic bag full of water. He called the police.
Zanaur was knocked out when Zarah hit him with a broomstick. The plastic bag was full of water, and she put him inside it while she took care of her 1-year-old and fed her baby.
When paramedics arrived, Zamair was barely alive and his head was underwater in the bag. They did everything they could to save Zamair’s life. Sadly, he died the next day from his injuries.
Doctors and nurses found many cuts and bruises on Zamair’s body, which showed that he had been abused for a long time.
Zarah told the police that she had kil*led Jamair by hitting him with a broomstick. Her words were clear: she put his body in the bag with water for “a long time.” Zarah said that she hit Zamair because she was having money problems.
Zarah got 17 years in prison, and she is now inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
