Evidence of a robbery, despite the spin in this story, does not at all mean that there was no religious motive. DeFazio himself, you’ll notice, acknowledges that. This should be obvious to everyone in light of the recent revelation that the Saudi government’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs has distributed a tract in American mosques stipulating in regard to a Muslim sexual offender that “it would be lawful for Muslims to spill his blood and to take his money.” This would also apply to non-Muslims who committed another capital offense: proselytizing among Muslims.
Meanwhile, there are numerous questions in this case that remain unanswered. I hope more details will be revealed soon, or that I myself will be in a position to reveal them.
From The Newark Star-Ledger, with thanks to Miira, who also comments: “Those accounts should have been frozen within hours of the first claim the police had of robbery as a motive! And why aren’t the banks providing the ATM surveillance photos to America’s Most Wanted, as well as to other media outlets, to help law enforcement and concerned citizens identify the criminals? Something stinks to the high heaven on this!”
Indeed it does.
For nearly a week after he, his wife and two daughters were killed in their Jersey City home last month, someone withdrew “thousands” of dollars from Hossam Armanious’ bank account using his ATM card and secret password, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said yesterday.
The ATM card was used on “a number of different occasions” at banks in the Heights section of Jersey City, where the family lived, and in Midtown Manhattan, DeFazio said. The withdrawals continued for several days after news of the slayings was broadcast and splashed across front pages throughout the region, he said.
The ATM withdrawals further corroborate the likelihood of robbery as the motive in a crime many in Jersey City’s tight-knit Egyptian Coptic community believe may have been religiously motivated. The Armaniouses were devout Coptic Christians.
“When we take this, in conjunction with the fact that no money whatsoever was found in the home, it’s corroborative of the robbery, greed motive,” DeFazio said. “We’re still not discounting other aspects, but it is corroborative.”…
“Thousands” of dollars were withdrawn from his account, though DeFazio would not disclose the exact total, the number of transactions, nor the banks involved. He also would not comment on whether investigators believe the person using the card was the same person, or people, who killed the family.
The last withdrawal was made “a shade less than a week” after the killings took place, he said.
Many ATMs are equipped with video cameras, but DeFazio declined to say whether investigators had obtained photos or video of the person, or people, who used Armanious’ card….
At a press conference in Washington, D.C., two weeks ago, relatives of the victims said they are convinced robbery was not the motive because the family’s modest means would make them unlikely targets.
Church leaders and others in the Coptic community have speculated about a religious motive, saying they believe Armanious was targeted by Muslim extremists for criticizing Islam in Internet chat rooms.
“We have not been able to corroborate this Internet … speculation,” DeFazio said. “So I’m not going to say for sure that that is not involved, but I am going to say that we haven’t been able to corroborate it and we have corroborated this monetary motive.”
Asked specifically about possible religious motive, DeFazio said, “It could still be. It could be a hybrid.”