6 suspects arrested, freed in teen murder probe

A gag order on the murder investigation of Shelley Dadon last month was partially lifted Tuesday, revealing that six Israeli-Arab suspects — some of them minors — were arrested in connection with the case and later released. While the interrogations yielded no developments, the investigation then found a separate lead, but information about it remained under a court order Tuesday.

The six detainees denied their involvement in the May 1 killing. Barred by Shin Bet security service and police officers from seeing a lawyer during their detention, they were held from May 4. One of the minors was released on May 15; two days later the remaining suspects were freed, Haaretz reported.

Dadon, 19, was found stabbed to death in a parking lot in the northern town of Migdal HaEmek. The teenager, an Afula resident, was on her way to a job interview.

Police officials said at the time the attack may have been nationalistically motivated, but Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on May 12 that the motive remained unclear.

“All avenues of investigation are being checked and the investigation is progressing,” Aharanovitch said then. “It is still not possible to determine with certainty that the murder was nationalistic.”