Two Irbid residents detained in murder of 20-year-old woman

AMMAN — Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of two Irbid residents, including a woman, in connection with the murder of woman whose body was found dumped in a well in a farm in Ajloun last week, official sources said.

The 28-year-old male suspect, in the presence of the victim’s sister, the second suspect, reportedly “tied the victim, beat her up until she was dead then threw her body into a well in Ajloun to conceal the murder”, a senior judicial source said.

“The suspects engaged in a heated argument with the 20-year-old victim over alleged misconduct and ended up beating her up and murdering her,” the judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The victim was found on August 5 by passers-by, who smelled something rotten near the 10-metre well in Ajloun, some 70km northwest of Amman.

Coroners detected ligature marks on the victim’s hands and feet, concluding that it was a homicide.

Police were able to identify the victim on Tuesday, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Maj. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

A second source said police were able to identify the victim after her neighbours “reported her missing to Criminal Investigation Department officers in Irbid”.

“The neighbours did not see the woman for several days and decided to notify police, who summoned her family for questioning,” the second source told The Jordan Times.

A post-mortem examination conducted by a team of pathologists in Irbid, headed by Ali Shotar last Thursday, concluded that the victim died of multiple bruises to the head and different parts of the body that were caused by both sharp and blunt objects, a medical source said.

“The pathologists estimated that the woman has been dead for at least one-to-three days,” the medical source told The Jordan Times.  

There were defence wounds on the victim’s hands and strangulation marks on her neck, the medical source added.

Criminal Court Prosecutor Afif Khawaldeh, who is handling the case, will continue cross-examining the suspects and was expected to level charges against them late Wednesday night, the judicial source said.

The suspects were ordered detained by the criminal prosecutor pending further investigations into the incident, according to a statement by the PSD.