Holly Ratcheford, the manager of the Parkwood apartment complex in San Diego, California, has spoken publicly for the first time about her interactions with Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, two of the hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar rented an apartment at the complex before taking part in the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon. The attack killed 184 people at the site.
According to Ratcheford, she was introduced to the two men through Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who had moved into the apartment complex in 1999 and owned a neighboring home near the swimming pool.
Ratcheford said al-Bayoumi frequently attended social gatherings she hosted around the pool and that she trusted the information he provided about himself and the two men. She said she believed he was a student and had no reason at the time to suspect the nature of his relationship with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar.
The two men initially attempted to rent a one-bedroom apartment and paid the rent in cash. Al-Bayoumi acted as a reference for them, telling Ratcheford that he knew the pair from a mosque they attended.
Ratcheford said she noticed nothing unusual about the two men during their stay. She described them as friendly and respectful and recalled occasionally sitting with them for tea and cookies.
Al-Bayoumi later told investigators that he had met al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar by chance at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Los Angeles.
He was never criminally charged over his relationship with the two men and left the United States for Saudi Arabia in 2002.
Ratcheford’s account sheds further light on the lives and relationships of two of the 9/11 hijackers during their time in the United States in the months leading up to the attacks.
