Robbery Gone Wrong, or Hate Crime?

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," January 18, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

Watch "On the Record" every weeknight at 10 p.m. ET

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tensions are running high in New Jersey after a family is found massacred in their home. Some fear the family was targeted after the father posted inflammatory remarks about religion in an Internet chatroom. The bodies were bound and gagged, their throats punctured and heads stabbed repeatedly. No arrests have been made. But authorities say robbery may about motive because money was not found on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOSAM WILLIM: It's a religious war, and America should know this.

JERRAMIAH T. HEALY, MAYOR OF JERSEY CITY, N.J.: You know, that's all being investigated. Certainly, we hope that's not what's behind all of this, but you know, they're not ruling anything out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAN SUSTEREN: Joining us with details is Leonard Greene, who is covering the story for The New York Post. Welcome, Leonard.

LEONARD GREENE, NEW YORK POST: Welcome. Thank you. Thank you very much.

VAN SUSTEREN: You're welcome. Leonard, any idea in terms of the investigation? Do police think this is a random crime, or was this family particularly targeted?

GREENE: They seem to be stuck in the middle. The law enforcement involved here has a very fine line to walk. They have to make an arrest. They have to solve this crime. But at the same time, they have to keep the lid on Jersey City and be prepared in case some kind of holy war does break out there. Even if they do make an arrest, it's not clear that people there are going to be satisfied unless they get the right answers.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was there forced entry at this home?

GREENE: No forced entry. That seems to suggest that there was some knowledge of who killed them. And some of the new details that are coming out are that there was more than one killer. The law enforcement now are giving new details in this, and some of these new details are that each of the four bodies that were found in the house were found in separate rooms. That indicates that whoever did this needed help.

VAN SUSTEREN: Hossam Armanious, the father in the family that was murdered, what was his occupation?

GREENE: He worked as a banquet manager at a New Jersey hotel.

VAN SUSTEREN: And any jewelry left behind in the house or any other valuables that might suggest that this was not a burglary, robbery?

GREENE: My understanding is that there was some jewelry missing but some still there.

VAN SUSTEREN: And in terms of his activity on the Internet room in which he posted remarks, had he ever been threatened?

GREENE: His family says that he was threatened in the weeks before the killing.

VAN SUSTEREN: Did they say anything more about the threats? I mean, did they seem, you know, real, like they could be carried out, or did they seem simply...

GREENE: Early on, the family suggested that this might be a motive, but the family is backing off a little bit because I think they understand that they need to back off just a little bit to let the investigation continue at its pace.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was this a rich family, middle class, lower middle class?

GREENE: My understanding is that it wasn't a rich family. They were having some financial difficulties because even though he had worked as a banquet manager, he had been laid off in recent months.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Leonard, thank you.

Let's bring back former LAPD homicide cop Mark Fuhrman and forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden. Dr. Baden, would the nature of the injuries give you any hint? I realize we can never know for sure without these people being alive and telling us, but a hint?

DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Surely. The fact that they're bound and gagged, from what the reports are, and stabbed, kind of indicates that it wasn't just an ordinary robbery. There was more to it. A robbery, they might kill a lot of people but they don't bind and gag them. Also, the fact that they are in different rooms and there are four family members would suggest that there's more than one person.

We've had a number of those in New York City. In the '70s, we had a family of 10 killed, children and women and men, by Colombian drug addicts, it turned out, warning others not to get into their turf. And another family of 11 in the Bronx was killed. So sometimes, these could be warnings that people shouldn't get in their way, shouldn't mess with them.

VAN SUSTEREN: And Mark, killing a family and killing two children, I imagine, as a homicide detective, coming onto that scene is, I mean, unbelievable. What does it tell you? Where do you go with this?

MARK FUHRMAN, FORMER LAPD HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: Well, I don't think it's robbery. Robbery's an anonymous act. You don't rob people you know. That's the first thing. The second thing is you can wear a mask, and most probably, that person wouldn't be able to identify you, even if they recognized something about you. And the children never would.

Separate rooms means control. Control, bound and gagging, people in four separate rooms — they were executed. The robbery could be a cover-up. Most people think robbery is an anonymous act of people that don't know each other, and this act, combined with missing jewelry and money, would mean robbery. You know, it's the way criminals, in a very naive way, try to stage a crime scene to fool the police and the detectives and it almost never works. It's very obvious.

But the access to the house — why was there no forced entry? You know, certainly, the detectives are going to find out, didn't they lock their doors? Well, I probably say, of course, they did. Who has keys? Did anybody have keys? Did they recently change their locks? You know, all these things play into control, access, knowledge. They were all there.

And they had time. It took some time to bind and gag four people. And it was personal. They stabbed them in the throat. This was personal.

VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, the fact that they had money problems, the police will chase that down and see if that means anything at all. They'll check all of their friends and acquaintances. And it's a big project, but hopefully, this one will be solved, as well. Gentlemen, thank you both very much.

Content and Programming Copyright 2005 FOX News Network, L.L.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2005 eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.), which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, L.L.C.'s and eMediaMillWorks, Inc.'s copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.