Search under way for suspects in murder of Irbid octogenarian

AMMAN — Police in Irbid are searching for assailants in connection with the murder of an 80-year-old man at his home in the early hours of Wednesday, official sources said.

The victim’s neighbours found him stabbed to death at around 1am and alerted authorities, a senior official source said.

“The knife was still in the victim’s body when investigators arrived at his house in Nayemeh town,” the source added.

The victim’s wife was in Amman for heart surgery, the source told The Jordan Times.

“Robbery is not ruled out because the house was in a mess and drawers were turned upside down,” the source said.

Police are currently questioning the victim’s wife, who returned from Amman after being informed of her husband’s death, to learn more about the circumstances that led to his murder, according to the official source.

A team of government pathologists headed by Ali Shotar performed an autopsy on the victim and determined that he “died of a fatal stab wound to the chest that caused heavy bleeding and he also died of  strangulation”, a medical source told The Jordan Times.

“Pathologists found strangulation marks on the victim’s neck and established that he had been dead for at least three hours,” the medical source said.

The pathologists sent the knife to the crime lab for possible DNA and fingerprint traces, according to the medical source.

Blood and tissue samples were also taken from the victim and sent to the crime lab, the medical source added.