Police make arrest after child’s body found in Baqaa

AMMAN — Police on Saturday said they have arrested a minor in connection with the alleged murder of a 15-year-old child at the Baqaa refugee camp over the weekend, official sources said.

The child’s decomposing body was found buried in a shallow grave at a farm inside the camp, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“Investigators were called to the scene to collect evidence and to try to determine the identity of the child,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The police official added that a special team was tasked with investigating the incident and “in less than 24 hours they managed to solve the case and arrest a suspect”.

Investigators reviewed missing persons’ files and determined that the body found at the farm belonged to a boy who was reported missing by his family on June 15, according to the police official.

In his initial testimony to police, the suspect stated that he “murdered the child following an argument”.

Investigators also retrieved a knife “that was with the suspect and sent it to the criminal lab for further examination”, according to a statement from the Public Security Department.

A senior judicial source told The Jordan Times that forensic experts obtained DNA samples from the victim’s body “to determine his identity and compare it with family members who had reported their sons missing in recent weeks”.

A post-mortem conducted at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine indicated that the child had been dead for at least one week, according to the judicial source. 

Sartawi said the suspect will be referred to the juvenile prosecutor for further questioning and indictment.