Eight months after begging the public for any information that could lead to finding his wife's killers, Kassim Alhimidi himself was arrested and charged with the homicide.Police arrested Alhimidi, 48, of El Cajon, Calif., Thursday for the murder of his 32-year-old wife, Shaima Alawadi, according to ABC News affiliate KGO. Alawadi's family called her death a hate crime after she was found beaten with a tire iron in her living room with a note calling her 'a terrorist.'

He is charged with first degree murder.

The death of the mother of five sent shockwaves through El Cajon, which is home to one of the nation's largest concentrations of Iraqi immigrants.

Shortly after the homicide, Alhimidi was in court making emotional pleas to his wife's 'killer' and begging for information.

This past March as his 15-year-old son Mohammed translated from Arabic, Alhimidi said: 'The main question we would like to ask is what are you getting out of this and why did you do it?'

He was addressing reporters at a mosque east of San Diego after her memorial service.

She was found unconscious by her teenage daughter in the dining room of the family home in El Cajon, one of the nation's largest enclaves of Iraqi immigrants.

Fatima Al Himidi,  17, told a television station that the note said: 'Go back to your country, you terrorist.'

At the time, Alhidi claimed he was out of the house at the time of the attack.

El Cajon police said the note found next to her body initially led investigators to regard the killing as a possible hate crime.