Taif police are currently continuing the investigations into the murder in order to officially close the case, according to a report in Friday's edition of Al-Madinah newspaper.

The report said the mother of the victim had filed a complaint demanding custody of the child. The mother believed that she was entitled to custody because her child was quite young.

Sources in the family said the mother tried through her family members to settle the custody dispute but when this failed, she officially complained to the police.

According to the police report, the stepmother took the young boy inside the bathroom and slammed his head repeatedly on the floor before hiding his body in an abandoned building nearby.

The board also received the case file of the maid who witnessed the murder and did not report the crime for nine days despite the ongoing police investigation.

Investigators pressed on until the maid confessed seeing the stepmother carrying the body wrapped in a sheet with blood stains.

The crime that shocked Taif brought to memory a similar crime that happened in the city two years earlier where a father murdered his three children to retaliate against his wife. A local court sentenced the father to execution despite the fact that he had spent time in a mental hospital. The court believed that the father was sane when he committed the crime and therefore responsible for his action.

The governmental Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Taif had been closely following Ahmad's case. An HRC source said once the case is concluded a complete report will be filed to the head of the HRC.

He said that the HRC is following all cases of child abuse in the area with the help of local authorities.

Taif Civil Defense was also involved in the search of the missing boy. For nine days before the mystery of the crime was resolved, diving teams and swimmers scoured all underground water tanks surrounding the home fearing that he might have fallen into one of them.