A Tajik national accused of killing his landlord in Fairfax County, Virginia, fled to his homeland last month after being granted a 48-hour pass from a Virginia psychiatric facility.
Fairfax County officials also gave the alleged killer, Abdulloi Doniyor Toshpulodzoda, access to an apartment, helped him get a Tajik passport and the mental hospital allowed him unsupervised leave even after a judge blocked his permanent release.
Virginia Democrats are once again in the hot seat after another illegal immigrant scandal is hitting the news, following a long list of murders, machete attacks and sex crimes against women and children in the state.
Toshpulodzoda used escorted day-passes from the Northern Virginia state facility to obtain a passport in 2024 before fleeing the United States to Tajikistan July 6, Fox News reported.
In addition, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office waited a month to ask a judge to issue an arrest warrant for the absconder.
🚨🚨New from a @DHSgov spokesperson:
“Abdulloi Doniyor Toshpulodzoda is a criminal illegal alien from Tajikistan previously charged with second degree murder. He lawfully entered the United States on December 15, 2009 under the Obama administration, and violated the terms of his… https://t.co/HQgzis6BTj
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) August 18, 2026
Toshpulodzoda entered the U.S. on Dec. 15, 2009 under the Obama administration, but he violated his terms of admission, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
“Against our nation’s laws, he failed to depart when he no longer had permission to remain in the country,” a DHS spokesperson said.
According to DHS, on June 24, an immigration judge ordered Toshpulodzoda removed from the United States, with DHS telling a Virginia reporter “he self-departed back to his home country of Tajikistan, in ultimate compliance of his final removal order.”
However, the fact Toshpulodzoda essentially escaped from a psychiatric facility highlights Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s failures when it comes to prosecuting criminal illegal immigrants and keeping them locked up.
Toshpulodzoda was arrested and charged in 2019 for fatally stabbing his landlord, Mohammad Hemmatian, inside his Vienna, Va., home.
Responding police found Toshpulodzoda covered in blood, and he reportedly confessed to the crime. A jury later found him not guilty by reason of insanity and he was committed to a state psychiatric facility in 2022.
Under Virginia state law, some psychiatric patients committed to a facility — including those accused of violent crimes — can receive temporary day or weekend passes.
However, as recently as June, a judge determined that Toshpulodzoda “shall not be released from custody and inpatient hospitalization without further order of this court.”
Despite the ruling, officials granted Toshpulodzoda permission to leave the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute for up to 48 hours to stay at an Alexandria, Va., apartment made available through the Fairfax Permanent Supportive Housing Program, court records state.
On July 6, Toshpulodzoda boarded a flight at Washington Dulles International Airport and traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, then continued to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, while on unsupervised release.
He was supposed to return to NVMHI on July 8 but did not show up. NVMHl placed him on escape status, revoked his pass and issued a facility warrant pursuant to Virginia law, according to court documents.
In May 2024, Toshpulodzoda was allowed an escorted visit to the Tajikistan Embassy in Washington, D.C., to obtain a passport, Fox News reported.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, blasted Descano’s lenient policies and “unconscionable level of incompetence.”
He put much of the blame on Descano, starting with approving his request to get a passport.
“A judge said no, Virginia authorities said yes anyway,” Miyares wrote in a post on X. “The passport request should have been the five-alarm fire, but instead it was ignored and he was allowed to walk out of a mental facility and flee the country.”
A judge said no, Virginia authorities said yes anyway. Fairfax’s Steve Descano supported a violent, committed man accused of killing his landlord to obtain a passport. The passport request should have been the five-alarm fire, but instead it ignored and he was allowed to walk… https://t.co/rDXJBYxa0T
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) August 18, 2026
Descano’s office didn’t asked a judge to issue an arrest warrant for Toshpulodzoda until Aug. 5 — a month after he fled the country, Fox News reported.
The office said a bench warrant was issued immediately after it had learned he had escaped custody. Tajikistan is a country with no extradition treaty with the United States.
Virginia State Police and federal authorities, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, were also notified. If he tries to reenter to the United States, he will be arrested and extradited to Virginia.
Several Virginia Democrats also admitted to failures with policies and procedures regarding Toshpulodzoda’s ability to obtain an airline ticket, board an international flight and flee the country without being detected.
“There’s a failure in the system somewhere along the way,” Rep. Donald Beyer, D-Va., told Fox News Digital in a follow-up report.
Beyer’s district includes Alexandria, Arlington, and part of Fairfax County, including the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute, where Toshpulodzoda was housed in Falls Church, Va.
Despite his escape, Beyer still favored Toshpulodzoda’s commitment to a psychiatric facility over deportation. Beyer told Fox News that violent offenders should face consequences in the U.S. before being sent home.
“I don’t know about investigation, but certainly it’s a bad thing that he’s not in our custody, not being subject to the laws of the United States,” Beyer said, adding “we don’t want bad guys on the loose.”
