20 years on, man charged with sexual assault and murder of woman in Eilat

A man was charged Sunday with the sexual assault and murder of a woman whose body was found in a public park in a case that remained unsolved for two decades.

Sami Abu Al-Asal, 51, a resident of Jaffa, was charged with premeditated murder and sexual assault.

The Israel Police announced last week that it had finally cracked the homicide of Margarita Levy, who was 21 at the time of her death in June 2003.

Levy had traveled to the resort city of Eilat to work as a waitress before beginning university studies in Jerusalem.

According to the the indictment, she became acquainted with Abu Al-Asal, who was working at a fast food stand.

Four days after she arrived in Eilat the two met and Al-Asal sexually assaulted her, beat her on the head, face and upper body, and then stabbed her six times in the chest, prosecutor say.

Al-Asal then wrapped Levy’s head in a towel, her body in a blanket, and then wrapped electric cable around the blanket to bundle the body. According to the charge sheet, he dumped the body in a local park and fled.

In asking that the suspect be held until the end of proceedings, prosecutors said, “The actions of the respondent are the most cruel acts that a human being can commit.”

Evidence presented by prosecutors included DNA matching Al-Asal to sperm that was found during the investigation and samples that were extracted from the towel that covered Levy’s head when she was found. Prosecutors also presented a complaint from another woman that Abu Al Assal had sexually assaulted her 10 days after the murder, and testimony from a woman who was acquainted with the defendant and who identified the blanket as having been taken from her home. They were also able to determine that Levy had been near the place where he was working.

Al-Asal had previously been jailed for 13 years for assaulting another woman. He was arrested in that case just weeks after Levy’s body had been found.

He is now a married father of two, the Kan public broadcaster reported last week.

The case remained unsolved until new forensic methods were applied last year to samples taken from the site where Levy’s body was found, and the DNA evidence was linked to Al-Asal.

An undercover investigation was opened and in May this year Al-Asal was arrested. He has been in custody ever since.

The new developments were also used to clear a person who had originally been suspcted of involvement in the case. Levy’s family was kept updated on all the developments.