Egyptian authorities arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of a family of four in New Cairo’s Fifth Settlement on Monday 10 August, as the Public Prosecution continues investigating the circumstances surrounding the murders.
The victims were 43-year-old Amal Saad Riyad, her husband Osama Nassif, and their two daughters, Helen, 14, and Lilian, 16. The family members were found dead at separate locations in the Fifth Settlement, according to preliminary investigations.
Authorities said the incident did not occur in a single location. The body of the father was found separately, while the mother and her two daughters were found inside the family’s car in one of the area’s streets.
Preliminary police investigations cited by local media identified the suspect as a 61-year-old retired man who had previously been the father’s business partner in a printing company. Investigators said the two had been involved in a financial dispute.
According to the investigations, the suspect was experiencing financial difficulties and had allegedly gathered information about the family’s assets, including gold jewellery reportedly kept in a safe at their home in the Fifth Settlement.
Investigators said the suspect invited the father to meet at a café on the day of the incident. While they were travelling along a desert road toward the New Administrative Capital, he allegedly stopped in an uninhabited area.
The suspect allegedly then shot the father and concealed his body before taking the keys to the family’s home and safe, according to the preliminary findings.
He later allegedly contacted the victim’s wife and told her that her husband had been involved in a traffic accident, directing her to the location where he claimed the incident had occurred.
The woman travelled there with Helen and Lilian. According to preliminary investigations, the suspect then opened fire on the three, killing them. Their bodies were later found inside the family’s car.
The sisters’ school, British Ramses School, Katameya, later mourned their deaths in a statement, saying they would remain a “cherished part of the school community” and that their deaths had left their classmates and teachers in “deep sadness and grief.”
The Public Prosecution is now working to reconstruct the sequence of events across the different locations. Authorities are inspecting the relevant crime scenes, collecting physical evidence, and reviewing surveillance-camera footage to trace the movements of the family’s car.
Investigators are also questioning witnesses and people close to the family while awaiting forensic and criminal evidence reports to determine the timing and circumstances of the deaths.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the Public Prosecution has not yet announced a final motive or details of the charges against the suspect.
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