Brother charged with murder following woman's mysterious disappearance

AMMAN — The Criminal Court prosecutor on Monday charged a 36-year-old man with the premeditated murder of his younger married sister four years after he allegedly choked her to death for reasons related to so-called "family honour" in Madaba in 2016, official sources said.

The 25-year-old victim, mother to a six-year-old boy, was reported missing by her husband and family in 2016 "until recently, when police received a tip-off that the woman was most probably murdered by one of her family members", a senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

On Sunday, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi announced that a special Preventive Security Department team tasked with opening cold cases’ files had succeeded in solving the mystery behind the woman's disappearance.

"The investigation team reexamined the new evidence as well as the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the victim and decided to summon her brother for questioning," Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

The suspect reportedly confessed to "murdering his sister following a heated argument and burying her body in a secluded area in Madaba", Sartawi added.

The suspect reportedly took the authorities to the area "where he had buried his sister", according to a statement by the Public Security Department.  

The senior judicial source said that Criminal Court Prosecutor Abdul Illah Assaf travelled to Madaba from Amman on Sunday to investigate the incident and question the suspect and the victim's family members.

"The suspect told Assaf that he had murdered his sister to cleanse his family's honour because she would often leave her husband and family's home," the senior judicial source said.

The senior judicial source added that on the day of the murder, "the suspect lured his sister to his house to kill her because she had left her husband's house for a short period and then returned to him, and her husband had accepted her".

"The minute she walked into her brother's house, he choked her with his hands until he made sure she was dead," the senior judicial source said.

The suspect then took his sister's body and "buried her in a remote and secluded area, then reported her missing", the senior judicial source added.

Sartawi and the judicial source said investigations are ongoing in the case.

Meanwhile, Assaf ordered that the suspect be detained at a correctional and rehabilitation centre for 25 days pending further investigations, according to the judicial source.