Neighbor, Other Man Charged In Family's Slaying

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- The upstairs neighbor of an Egyptian Christian family found slain in their home in January was charged Friday, along with another man, in the murders.
Edward McDonald, 25, who rented a second-floor apartment above Hossam Armanious and his family, pleaded not guilty to four counts of felony murder. Hamilton Sanchez, 30, faces the same charges and also pleaded not guilty.

Sanchez during a court hearing began ing as he stood before a judge, his hands cuffed behind his back.

"I didn't kill nobody. I didn't kill nobody, man. I didn't kill nobody, people," Sanchez said, as he was led from the courtroom. McDonald stared at the floor during the hearing.

Both men, who were on parole for different drug offenses, were ordered held on $10 million cash bail.

Authorities said Armanious, 47; his wife, Amal Garas, 37, and their children -- Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8 -- were slain three days before their bodies were found Jan. 14.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said the killings took place in the course of a robbery by the two men, who owed a large sum of money to a person whom DeFazio would not identify.

Police went to the Armanious home after relatives were unable to contact the family for several days. All four victims were found bound and gagged with puncture wounds to their throats.

DeFazio said that during the robbery Monica Armanious had managed to loosen the bonds with which she was bound and gagged and recognized McDonald as the upstairs tenant. McDonald killed her out of fear of being identified and Sanchez killed the other three people, DeFazio said.

McDonald was taken into custody Thursday and charged later that night. Sanchez was arrested Thursday night and charged Friday.

Developments in the slayings had intensified in recent days as authorities revealed that thousands of dollars had been withdrawn from Armanious' bank account using his ATM card in the days after the slayings.

McDonald's aunt, who would only identify herself by her first name, Marie, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that he was not involved in the slayings.

"He's innocent," she said in Friday's newspapers. "He's not that kind of person."

The slayings created tension between Christians and Muslims here and in northern New Jersey. The Armaniouses were Coptic Christians, and Hossam Armanious frequented Internet chat rooms, posting opinions under the user name "I Love Jesus."

Friends of the family speculated that he might have angered Muslims with those online posts, and many Coptics in New Jersey and elsewhere blamed Islamic extremists for the killings.

"I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear: The motive for these murders was robbery. This was a crime based on greed, the desperate need of money," DeFazio said.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/4252691/detail.html