The case moved from a 2023 lake discovery to a 2026 guilty plea.

PITTSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina man will spend decades in prison after admitting he killed his wife, dumped her body in Jordan Lake and tried to hide her death after a late-night meal following her Walmart shift.

Omar Matthew Ibrahim Drabick, 37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and concealing a death in the killing of Hadeel Ghadhanfer Hikmat, 34. The plea closed a case that began Aug. 29, 2023, when a boater found Hikmat’s body in shallow water near the Farrington Point area of Jordan Lake. Drabick had first faced a first-degree murder charge, but the case ended with a plea agreement and consecutive prison terms.

The court sentenced Drabick to 25 to 31 years for second-degree murder and another six to nine years for concealment of death. Prosecutors said the sentences will run one after the other. The plea included an admission that Drabick had a close personal relationship with Hikmat, an aggravating factor in the case. In court, prosecutor Marci Trageser said the marriage had spiraled into a deadly act that left Hikmat’s family with a loss that could not be repaired. Drabick, asked whether he wanted to speak before sentencing, gave a short apology. “From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry,” he said.

The killing followed an ordinary work night that investigators later rebuilt through records, witness statements and physical evidence. Hikmat worked at Walmart, and authorities said Drabick picked her up after her shift. The couple went to a Denny’s restaurant, then left during the early morning hours. Investigators said Drabick later drove Hikmat toward Jordan Lake, where they believe she was shot on or near a bridge shortly after 2:30 a.m. Prosecutors said her body was then thrown into the lake below. The next morning, a boater spotted a body near the Farrington Point Boat Ramp and called the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities identified Hikmat through fingerprint analysis. Early in the case, officials said her death was not accidental and was not self-inflicted, but they did not immediately release a cause. An autopsy later found that Hikmat had a gunshot wound in the middle of her upper back. The medical examiner said the wound was severe enough that she likely died before being submerged. The report also noted bruises on her arm and ankle and a cut on her back. A toxicology report was negative for alcohol. Investigators found blood, shell casings and jewelry on a nearby bridge, details that helped place the violence away from the shoreline where the body was found.

Drabick’s account to another person became part of the case. According to investigators, he told a friend that after dinner, he and Hikmat went to a park around 2 a.m. and met an Iraqi man in a van. Drabick claimed the man kissed Hikmat and told her she should be with someone who had money, not with a man who had nothing. He said Hikmat then left with the man. The friend told investigators the story did not make sense and appeared false. Authorities later said phone records, forensic evidence and the scene near the bridge led them away from that account and toward Drabick.

The case also exposed strain inside a marriage that family members had helped arrange. Hikmat had moved to the United States from Iraq about a year before her death. Prosecutors said Drabick became unhappy in the relationship and looked for ways to end it. A warrant reviewed during the case said he had wished Hikmat would leave him for a rich man. Investigators also found that he had recently bought the gun used in the killing. They said searches on his phone related to getting away with murder became part of the evidence. Hikmat’s blood was found on Drabick’s shoes and inside the trunk of his vehicle, according to accounts of the investigation.

Hikmat’s brother, Firas Hikmat, who lived in Turkey, had told reporters after the arrest that his family wanted justice. He said his sister had many relatives in Iraq who loved her. After learning of the charges, he described the arrest as some justice for Hadeel and said the family was still grieving. Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson also addressed the case after the arrest, saying his office’s thoughts and efforts were with Hikmat’s family. He described the death as part of the larger tragedy of domestic violence and said the pain spread beyond one household.

Before Drabick was arrested, deputies searched two Wake County properties connected to the couple and places Hikmat was known to frequent. Drabick was arrested Sept. 19, 2023, and held without bond after being charged with first-degree murder and concealment of an unnatural death. The plea in May 2026 avoided a trial on the original murder charge. At sentencing, defense attorneys said Drabick struggled with autism and lacked the social skills needed to end the marriage peacefully. The judge also heard from Drabick’s mother, who expressed guilt because she had helped arrange the marriage. The judge told her she should not blame herself for the killing.

The legal outcome leaves Drabick facing decades in state prison, with the concealment sentence set to begin only after the murder sentence ends. Hikmat’s death remains recorded as a homicide from a gunshot wound, and the case now stands in court records as a guilty plea rather than a pending first-degree murder prosecution.

Author note: Last updated June 18, 2026.