Posted on 02/15/2005 8:14:54 AM PST by killthedonkey
More questions than answers remain, but officials in New Jersey sound as if they're ready to wrap up this case. "Officials zero in on answers in family's killing," from NorthJersey.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
"We're getting somewhere that hopefully is going to give us a clear indication as to what the motive is," said Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio. "And once you have motive, that helps lead you to the people involved." DeFazio still won't discuss the intricate details of the case or explain why investigators are leaning toward a financial motive for the killings. But he did provide a glimpse into the probe, which has included assistance from an FBI profiler.
"The FBI does not think that, based on the information gleaned from the scene, it's based on religious extremism," the prosecutor said, without elaborating.
Yet have all significant leads been given adequate consideration? Can the Hudson County Prosecutors Office really maintain this?
The reasoning of the prosecutors' office itself raises obvious questions:
One is that the killers didn't bring the murder weapons to the house, killing the family instead with knives they found there, DeFazio said. That doesn't indicate a planned assassination, the prosecutor said. The family was bound and silenced with duct tape that may or may not have been inside the house, he said.
They were killed with knives from the house, so it wasn't a planned assassination? It doesn't seem hard to imagine a killer who planned to use knives he found in the house -- particularly if he had been there before.
Other questions are in this article itself:
One theory holds that the victims were significantly wealthier than their modest home indicated and the killers were trying to gain access to the hidden money. Although there was evidence of robbery, a large amount of jewelry remained untouched, authorities said. Several religious symbols - including cross tattoos on each family member's wrist - weren't damaged. "Do you think if it was financial they would not take the gold and a ring from my sister's finger?" said Ayman Garas, the dead woman's brother. "Do you think if Hossam had a lot of money he would have complained about his job not giving him enough hours?
"I mean, he never complained about money, but he wasn't rich."
'Savage attack'
One investigator familiar with the case said it is likely that the killers spent a "considerable amount of time" inside the house.
The extent of Hossam Armanious' injuries also suggests a substantial effort was expended, possibly to get financial information from him, the source said.
Armanious clearly suffered the worst of the injuries, including numerous stab wounds, said an official with knowledge of the investigation.
All of the victims appeared to suffer "ritualistic" injuries, including holes bored under each family member's neck, said the source, who saw photos taken of the bodies after they were released to a funeral home. The face of each victim was obscured with a bag, he said.
Iscandar said he was told about such injuries by a Garas family member shortly after the murders.
DeFazio conceded: "This was a savage, savage attack. Whoever did this are not humans."
However, he insisted the injuries aren't consistent with those in ritualistic homicide.
Others have come to just the opposite conclusion. Note also that this bears out what I first reported here about the holes in the victims' necks.
Iscandar's own theory - which has no supportive evidence - is that a "sleeper cell from overseas" used a middleman in the United States to commit the crime. The killings, he said, are similar to those carried out by terrorists throughout the world, something he said Americans aren't used to seeing. "Americans are stupid and naïve," Iscandar said. "They don't understand the Middle East."
The Armaniouses were like any other middle-class American family, Iscandar said.
"I'm trying to think why they picked this guy," he said.
Longtime friends
Iscandar and "Sam" Armanious became friends in Egypt in 1982. Born in the historic city of Luxor, Armanious owned a small tourist motel before coming to the United States in February 1996. Iscandar gave him a job in his Summit Avenue bodega, where Armanious worked for about eight months before landing a job catering for hotels.
Armanious was laid off from the catering job about six months ago, Iscandar said. Amal Garas had recently gotten a job with the U.S. Postal Service, he said.
Iscandar said he fears complicity by the Coptic community in the murders and points fingers at leaders of the church, who say he is trying to push a political agenda and escalating the tension between Muslims and Christians in Jersey City.
Iscandar claims a "collaboration" between the Coptic Church and the Egyptian government is stifling public discussion about the killings.
"The church and government interfered and people have stopped talking [publicly]," Iscandar said. "They want us to shut up."
But the family is not shutting up; their press conference is scheduled for 3PM today.
Officials zero in on answers in family's killing (Prosecutor: Jersey murders not extremism)
Send in Inspector Clouseau.
they have got to be kidding; right?
These are NJ cops and like all big city/urban cops they have the attention span of a 2 year old and couldnt find thier collective butts with both hands, a detailed set of instructions, and a anatomy picture book witht he pages marked...
Cover-up in progress. Attention span of Joe Average has
run out for this case. On to more current events (so they
don't have to dig any deeper and alarm people)
Prosecutor Edward DeFazio was see at Home Depot recently. He puchased a large quantity of whitewash and some 4" brushes.
bump
Cover-up, cover-up, cover-up. Plain and simple whitewash in progress. Pols and police are afraid of the truth.
Islam, The Cult of Murder™.
Even the talk show hosts are too chicken to deal with this horrible event.
You're right; I haven't heard any who I listen to, even report on it.
I agree. Another story that disappeared was the Kaiser story, the couple that was murdered in Florida on Jan 15. Greta, in reporting it the day it happened, clearly stated that the cause of death was stab wounds to the neck, then that was changed to "upper body trauma" in all of the news reports. If you read the news reports about how deeply religious these people were and how they ran a business on the internet, there are creepy similarities.
It was a White NRA member in a white van, right?
Send in Chief Moose!!!!!!!!!
This case is (not suspiciously - obviously) analagous to the DC Sniper case: "There is no reason to believe that these murders are religiously motivated and we have no reason to believe that the perpetrators are Muslims; Williams just liked the name 'Mohammed' better than Williams." (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...)
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