A 21-year-old Omaha man accused of killing an 18-year-old during what police describe as a planned robbery was bound over to district court for trial at a hearing on Tuesday. Dheal Duany faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the May 13 shooting death of Joseph Baha, whose body was found inside a car near North 48th and Seward Streets.
According to KETV, officers responded that day to a report of a person down in a vehicle, where they found Baha, 18, declared dead at the scene. Duany was not arrested until July 31, 2026, when Omaha police stopped a vehicle near 46th and Redman Avenue and took him into custody as a passenger, booking him on the first-degree murder charge before Tuesday's hearing sent his case to district court.
Other local outlets have filled in more of the alleged circumstances behind the shooting. 3 News Now reports that Duaney, listed in that account as 21, is one of three people Omaha police say conspired to rob Baha of vape cartridges — a robbery investigators allege went fatally wrong. Officers found Baha shot to death in a car at 48th and Seward, the station reported, and the arrest came nearly three months later during that traffic stop at 46th and Redman Avenue.
Sealed Affidavit Leaves Key Details Unclear
The arrest affidavit in the case is sealed, per the same account from 3 News Now, limiting what the public can learn about how investigators built their case against Duany. A judge ordered him held without bond, the station noted, a detail that underscores how seriously prosecutors are treating the allegations even as much of the underlying evidence remains out of public view.
Court proceedings earlier this year filled in another piece of the puzzle. WOWT reported that Duany, 21, was formally charged in court with first-degree murder, and that a 14-year-old was separately arrested in May in connection with the shooting on charges of robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
Testimony Points to a Third Alleged Participant
At Tuesday's bind-over hearing, an Omaha police detective testified that a 22-year-old man helped plan the May robbery that ended in Baha's death near Dundee, according to the Omaha World-Herald. That account identifies the alleged planner as 22, while other reporting has described Duany as 21; the ages refer to different men.
The World-Herald separately reported that investigators found Baha's body with multiple gunshot wounds in the driver's seat of a Toyota Camry, and that a judge denied bail to the man accused of setting up the robbery. The events leading up to the gunfire that killed Baha remain unclear following Tuesday's bind-over.
