The Cairo Fire Murders: How a Lost Pigeon Trick Unmasked a "Predator of the Elderly"

Professor Hassan, a retired handicapped teacher living alone in Cairo, was initially thought to have died in a fire. Police soon suspected foul play after noticing unnatural elements at the scene, including a gas cylinder in the bedroom and deliberate electrical modifications. A child’s report of seeing a youth carrying the professor’s brown bag led investigators to Mohamed Salah, a drug-addicted electrician with a criminal history. Salah confessed to murdering the professor for robbery and revealed this was his second killing, admitting he targeted elderly people living alone to satisfy a morbid urge, burn the bodies, and cover up theft. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death in 2020.