Police: Teen hired schoolmate to kill mom

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HOUSTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A Texas teenager has been charged with hiring a high school classmate to kill his mother, whose body was found stabbed 17 times in her apartment.

Danish Moazzam Minhas, 17, was arrested Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reported. Nur Mohamed, who was charged with the killing, told investigators Minhas offered him $4,000 and served as a lookout, police said.

Tabassum Khan, 43, was killed Nov. 26. The apartment was in ruins from a violent struggle, Houston Sgt. Brian Harris said, describing Khan as a "fighter."

"She fought for her life. She fought and fought and fought," Harris said. "That's why the scene was as gruesome as it was."

While investigators were suspicious of Minhas's story that he was out all night and returned home to find his mother dead, the break in the case came weeks later when Mohamed was arrested on the campus of Lee High School because he allegedly had drugs. His fingerprints matched one at the murder scene, police said.

Minhas allegedly told investigators his mother was too strict with him. But a cousin said Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan who was raising her son on her own, bought him nice clothes and gave him a nice car, driving an older one herself.

"We fed him with a spoon made out of gold," Atif Iqbal said. "She worked 14 hours a day to support him."