Father, son charged with murder in 22-year disappearance case

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor has charged a father and his son with the premeditated murder of their female family member, 22 years after she was killed in Amman, official sources said.

The case was uncovered last week by police, who decided to reopen an investigation into the disappearance of a young woman based on information shared by the Sharia Court, Public Security Department (PSD) Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The family of the victim visited the Sharia Court to obtain official documents to prove their daughter has been missing since 1997,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times

However, the police official said, the Sharia Court notified police who became suspicious that the victim might have been murdered and began questioning family members over her alleged disappearance.

Investigators reviewed the missing report that was filed by the family in 1997 and summoned the father and son for questioning, Sartawi said.

“The two gave conflicting testimonies and eventually the brother confessed to shooting his sister by accident during an argument about her repeated absence from home,” the police official added.

In his initial confession in front of the Criminal Court prosecutor, the brother claimed that “he engaged in a heated argument with his sister and that he was waving a gun and a bullet was accidentally discharged which resulted in her death,” according to a senior source close to the investigations.

The suspect stated that he informed his father about the incident and the “two decided to bury her in Sahab without their family’s knowledge”, according to the source.

The two suspects then informed their family members that the woman left to an unknown neighbouring country without notifying anyone, the source added. 

The two suspects reportedly ushered authorities to where they “hid the gun and where they buried the victim”, according to a statement by the PSD.

Criminal lab experts took samples from the alleged burial site for further examination and DNA analysis, the PSD statement said. 

The suspects were ordered to be detained for 15 days at a correctional and rehabilitation centre pending further investigations into the incident.