Man Arrested in Babylon for Strangling Wife, Staging Suicide

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Police in Babylon arrested a man who confessed to strangling his wife and staging her death as a suicide, according to a statement from the Babylon Police Directorate. The killing initially was recorded as a suicide and the body was buried, but authorities reopened the investigation after the family objected. Officers exhumed the body and sent it to the Baghdad Forensic Medicine Institution, where examiners found no marks consistent with hanging. The finding prompted a new line of inquiry that led to the suspect's confession. Police said the man admitted to assaulting his wife during a domestic argument at their home and then arranging the scene to appear as though she had taken her own life. In a separate case, Baghdad's Karkh Police Directorate announced the arrest of a suspect nicknamed "Ceydar Cevker." Investigators found that the man used specially made "Cevker" keys to break into vehicles and steal their contents, carrying out three thefts in the Karkh district. No further details were immediately available.