Woman, her son found dead in Zarqa apartment

AMMAN — Officials on Wednesday ruled out foul play in the death of a 25-year-old woman and her child, who were found in their apartment in Zarqa on Tuesday night.

The woman and her seven-year-old were found dead by her husband and in-laws on Tuesday night after breaking into the house located in a building in Prince Mohammad neighbourhood in Zarqa, some 23km northeast of Amman, Public Security Department Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The husband kept calling his wife while at work, but she did not answer, so he rushed to the house and, with the help of his family, broke part of the door. A young girl managed to enter the house through a small hole in the door and opened it from the inside,” Sartawi said.

The woman was found hanging by a swing that was in her son’s room with his body next to hers, a second source told The Jordan Times.

Investigators also found food in the kitchen that was half prepared, the second source said, adding that “there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment, located on the second floor”.

“Our initial investigations indicate that the woman was most probably cooking in the kitchen while her son was playing with the swing in his room, and his neck was tangled in the rope and he suffocated,” Sartawi said.

The police official added that investigators believe that “when the mother went to check on the boy and found him dead, she killed herself as well, because she could not bear seeing her son dead”.

Sartawi told The Jordan Times that “investigators are almost certain that the woman killed herself, and surely there was no foul play regarding this incident”.

Investigators questioned the husband, who was at work at the time of the alleged incident, and he informed them that “they had a normal life and that his wife was not suffering from any kind of mental illness”.

Zarqa Prosecutor Yehia Maharmeh ordered that blood and tissue samples be sent to the crime lab for analysis, a second source told The Jordan Times.

Meanwhile, an autopsy conducted at the Zarqa National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Wednesday by pathologists Ibrahim Obeidat, Adnan Abbas and Mohammad Odeh indicated that the woman and her child died of asphyxiation, a senior medical source said.

“The pathologists did not detect any signs of struggle or bruises on their bodies and ruled that both died of hanging,” the medical source told The Jordan Times.

Sartawi said that an investigation is ongoing in the case, and investigators are awaiting the crime lab results to help them with their conclusion.