Saudi Gazette report DAMMAM — A court will issue a verdict next month in the trial of an American expatriate accused of murdering his Sri Lankan wife four years ago and hiding her dead body in an oil pipe. Al-Hayat newspaper did not identify the American citizen but said the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP) has gathered enough incriminating evidence against the suspect, especially regarding his failed attempt to conceal his dead wife's body in an oil and natural gas pipe at his job site. The BIP alleged the man exploited his work as a digging supervisor at an oil company and ordered workers to seal the pipe from one side and put it in front of his home. The bureau called eyewitnesses who testified that the suspect had ordered them to wield the pipe from one side and put it in front of his home. After some time, the suspect then asked them to wield the pipe from the other end which he had already sealed. The crime dates back to early 2011 when Al-Kharj police received information from an Aramco representative in the city near Riyadh that a dead body had been found in a pipe which had been dumped in an oil well belonging to the company in a remote desert area. Police also recovered a plastic bag containing a red uniform worn by Saudi Aramco workers and a cylinder with Chinese characters on it. Police said DNA tests proved the badly-decomposed body belonged to the man's wife. Furthermore, she had been missing for six months but the suspect failed to report her absence. When shown the body, the man urinated on himself and started vomiting. He first claimed that the body belonged to an animal but when presented with evidence, broke down and said “the DNA evidence has let me down,” while choking back tears. The American has been in prison since 2011. His lawyer, however, said the evidence only proves the death of his wife and does not implicate him. The lawyer asked the BIP to investigate workers at the company, especially those from China as the dead woman was a Buddhist like them and they had issues with the suspect.
