CLEVELAND, Ohio — Four years after a group kidnapped, tortured and killed 18-year-old Alishah Pointer in East Cleveland, the final suspect and mastermind of the ransom scheme has been convicted.

Hakeem-Ali Shomo, 34, conspired with five others to kidnap Pointer and use her to lure her boyfriend out of hiding. The group believed Pointer’s boyfriend was involved in the Nov. 2, 2021, killing of Shomo’s nephew, although prosecutors say the boyfriend was never a suspect.

A Cuyahoga County jury on Tuesday found Shomo guilty of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, kidnapping and conspiracy. Seven men and five women deliberated for about a day following the week-and-a-half-long trial.

Shomo, of Shaker Heights, showed no reaction in court as Common Pleas Judge Mollie Ann Murphy read the

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