After 20 years, police say they solved Eilat murder and rape cold case

A man is to be charged on suspicion of raping and murdering a young woman in Eilat twenty years ago, after a forensic breakthrough in the cold case led police to the suspect.

Israel Police announced Thursday that prosecutors had notified suspect Sami Abu Al-Asal, 51, a resident of Jaffa, that they intend to charge him with the murder of Margarita Levy.

Levy’s battered body was found in a public park in the resort city of Eilat in June 2003.

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.

In 2003 Levy, at the time 21, arrived in Eilat from Ashdod with the intention of working as a waitress following her release from military service and before starting university studies in Jerusalem.

She was killed four days later.

Her lifeless body was found in a public park, wrapped in a blanket with her arms tied and her head wrapped in a bloodied towel. Her body showed signs of a violent assault. The location of her death was never identified.

At the time, Al-Asal was working in a bar in the tourist area of Eilat. A suspect — not Al-Asal — was detained after Levy’s body was found, but he was later released.

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 the original suspect of suspicion of involvement in the case. Levy’s family was kept updated on all the developments.

Channel 12 news reported that Al-Asal denies the homicide and rape allegations, claiming he never met Levy and he doesn’t know how his DNA came to be at the crime scene.