Lang
12/5/25
A former University of Iowa student has been convicted on charges that he tried to strangle a fellow student during a robbery attempt outside the Iowa Memorial Union.
On Friday, Judge Kevin McKeever found 22-year-old Ali Younes guilty on counts of 1st Degree Robbery, 1st Degree Theft, and Attempted Murder.
Prosecutors had argued that Younes intended to kill Anne Rizzo, a woman he allegedly knocked to the ground and strangled unconscious on the IMU footbridge on the night of April 25, 2022. He then stole her earrings, valued at $25,000.
Investigators later found the earrings in a floss box in Younes’ girlfriend’s bathroom, where Younes said they would be.
Younes’ sentencing is set for February 27th. He could face up to 60 years in prison.
Younes also pleaded guilty to an Escape From Custody charge on Friday after he allegedly fled the country with help from his parents before his original trial was set to begin. Details of that plea deal are not listed in online records.