State indicts man from Nazareth for allegedly murdering pregnant wife

The couple had a troubled history with Ahalam having filed complaints against Auni in the past for rough treatment or threats.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: DECEMBER 5, 2016 00:11
Nazareth (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Nazareth
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
An Upper Nazareth man was indicted on Sunday in the Nazareth District Court for murdering his pregnant wife and concealing her body so meticulously that police have been unable to find her remains.
The Northern District Attorney’s Office charged Auni Aamar Ziadat, 23, with strangling Ahalam Ziadat on October 24 while they were at a bed-and-breakfast in Upper Nazareth.
According to the indictment, the two arrived at the bed-and-breakfast at around 8:15 p.m., their entrance being captured on a security camera. At around 10:20 p.m., the husband can be seen checking the area for observers, and then carrying his wife’s body to his car. He then drives off.
According to the indictment, Ziadat went to his sister’s home and asked her and her spouse for help before driving away to hide the body. He returned to his sister’s home a few hours later, confessing to her that he had strangled his wife and hidden her body where no one would find it.
At around 8 the next evening, he went to mother-in-law’s home and told her and his wife’s sister that he and Ahalam had been stopped near Tzipori while driving between Haifa and Nazareth, and that she had been kidnapped by the people who stopped them, according to the indictment.
Further, he went to the police and told them the same story.
The police did not believe Ziadat and arrested him. Later, they learned that he and his wife had been at the bed-andbreakfast.
They retrieved the security camera footage showing the two entering, and Ziadat exiting with the body.
The couple had a troubled history, with Ahalam having filed complaints against Ziadat for physical abuse and threats.
Investigators believe that he murdered his wife because he suspected that she was going to leave him and bar him from seeing their child.
Media reports have indicated that Ziadat also suspected his wife of being unfaithful to him while he spent several months in prison on a separate conviction.


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