Prior to his daughter's murder, Zein made telephone calls stating that Tina had damaged the honor of his family and needed to die. On the day of her death, she worked her first day at a Wendy's fast food restaurant; the family also opposed the idea of her not working for the family's grocery business. Ellen Harris, author of Guarding the Secrets, wrote that "The problem was that Tina thought of herself as American or hyphenated-American, not as Arab."
