NJ Coptic Family Slaughtered -- Police Finally Have a Lead on Suspect

Story dated 02 March 2005

The head of the family, Hossam Armanious, received death threats form Muslims preceding his murder. His daughter received extra mutilation (in excess of what the rest of the family received) in the form of stab wounds through her Coptic cross tattoo. The investigators claim there is no evidence that the killings were religiously motivated (I wonder if they would feel the same way if he had received death threats from the KKK?). The major theory is that it was a robbery, but there are conflicting reports on whether anything of value was taken from the house. Now, in what police claim supports the robbery theory, ATM records show that Armanious' debit card was used at several ATM machines after the murders. "Someone using Hossam Armanious' debit card removed thousands of dollars from several of his accounts during a string of ATM visits in the days following the murders of Armanious, his wife and their two young daughters. The suspect used the Bank of America card at ATMs in Jersey City and midtown Manhattan starting on Jan. 15, the morning after the four were found stabbed to death inside their home, and continued for five days, DeFazio said. The prosecutor said Tuesday investigators were able to identify the make and model of a car that drove up to an ATM in Jersey City, and were working on reading the license plate number from the ATM video." Well, this is good news. Maybe we'll be able to bring the killer to justice.

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 8:40 AM

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