May is believed to have died of physical abuse at the hands of one of the father’s relatives at some point in the past. May’s body was put in a cart that was left in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque after the father had taken the girl to the hospital after the beating; hospital officials returned the body to the father after determining she was dead. Police didn’t say exactly when the body was dumped, except to say it occurred a number of years ago.

The mother’s lawyer is now demanding to know why the private hospital — which was not named in the report — returned the body of a girl to the father without informing police of the incident.

Rumaisa is currently in protective custody as police work out what happened in a story that goes back nine years.

The childrens’ mother, Khalidiah district resident Meetra, an Iranian woman, claims her ex-husband kidnapped May in 2001. Initially she feared going to police because her husband — whose name was not disclosed in the report — had not yet divorced her. After they divorced, the father denied to Meetra any involvement in the girl’s disappearance. It is not clear why Meetra did not then go to police.

Then last year Rumaisa vanished. This time Meetra went to authorities saying her ex-husband had both girls. When questioned the father denied having children by Meetra.

Police then investigated hospital records to learn that Meetra had given birth to two girls. The father was questioned again, and he claimed no knowledge of these births.

In a twist to the story that could have come from an epic tale, Meetra produced portions of the girls’ umbilical cords. A DNA test was then conducted comparing a hair sample from the father taken by the police to the umbilical cords, proving that the man was the girls’ father. This led police to investigate further. Rumaisa was then found at the house of a relative of the father and was taken into protective custody after the father confessed to kidnapping the girl and entrusting her to one of his relatives to hide her from Meetra.

Further interrogations produce a confession that May, the other girl, was allegedly accidentally killed when the father’s relative physically abused her. The father confessed that he accepted the body of the girl from the hospital and abandoned the body in the mosque’s plaza. Police records confirmed that the body of a girl was found at the Prophet’s Mosque. A DNA sample collected off the girl’s body proved a blood relationship with the father. The investigation continues.