Suspect confesses to killing friend 20 years ago

AMMAN – The Criminal Court prosecutor on Tuesday began questioning a man who allegedly murdered his friend almost 20 years ago in Maan, official sources said.

A team tasked with investigating cold cases decided to revisit a case of a missing person in Petra District who went missing in 2004, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

Cold case investigators dug through the old case file of the missing person and examined new evidence and information, Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

“The investigation team concluded that the missing person was a victim of foul play and zeroed in on one of his friends,” according to the police official.

The suspect was summoned and he confessed to allegedly murdering the victim by striking him with a blunt object following a heated argument, Sartawi stated.

The suspect reportedly ushered investigators to a deserted location where he claimed he had buried his friend “to conceal the murder,” the police official added.

Forensic experts exhumed some bone remains that belonged to a human being, the police official said.

A second senior source told The Jordan Times that forensic experts “are still combing the area to look for additional bones”.

The senior source told The Jordan Times that “samples taken from the bone were sent to the Forensic and Laboratories Department for DNA analysis”.

“We will conduct a thorough investigation to determine if the bones actually belong to the reported missing man,” the senior official source said.

Investigations are ongoing in the case, Sartawi added.