16 January
2005
Family Slain
in New Jersey had ties to Internet Chat site.
Hossam Armanious,
47, his 37-year-old wife, Amal Garas, and their daughters, Sylvia, 15,
and Monica, 8 were found slain in their Jersey City home on Friday, 14
January 2005. All were found bound and stabbed, with Sylvia suffering
mutilation of a Coptic cross tattoo on her arm.
Hossam was a frequent
participant in a Paltalk.com chat room, entering into heated debates regarding
religion. One posted message in the chat room was reported to be:
"You'd better stop this bull, or we are going to track you down like a
chicken and kill you.”
At this time,
police are investigating the murders, and are not ruling out revenge for
chat room postings as a possible motive. As more evidence is gathered,
the FBI may be called in, if it appears that Federal laws were broken.
28
February 2005 Update on this story by Molly Bloom of The Jersey Journal.