As suspected murder of daughters probed, few warning signs in mother uncovered
Jerusalem municipality says woman, believed to have killed her 4 children before taking her own life, was unknown to welfare authorities, but had reportedly received psychiatric treatment
A woman who is suspected of killing her four daughters and herself in a Jerusalem apartment Sunday was reportedly receiving psychiatric treatment, but was not known to local social service authorities, officials said Sunday night, as police tried to piece together what led to the tragedy.
The woman and her four children were found in the apartment when rescuers responded to a fire that broke out in their fifth-story apartment in the capital, late Sunday afternoon.
Police reportedly suspect the woman killed her children before hanging herself, but investigators had yet to officially announce the circumstances of the incident Sunday night.
The bodies of the children were sent to the Abu Kabir forensic institute amid suspicions the mother may have strangled them to death before setting fire to the room.
The names of the woman, 36, and the children, two aged 12, a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old, were not released to the public.
Hebrew language media reported that the woman had been receiving psychiatric treatment, but there was no confirmation of the reports.
In a statement, the Jerusalem municipality said the family was not known to social services and were never attended to by welfare workers.
The municipality noted that the mother had telephoned her local social welfare center three months ago, asking for information about babysitting services.
Workers told the woman that the municipality does not provide babysitters, but, sensing that perhaps there was an underlying issue with the children, suggested that the mother come into the center to learn about services available to her. However, the woman did not come in and there was further contact from her, the city said in a statement.
According to media reports, the family immigrated to Israel 10 years ago. The reports did not detail where they were from.
Neighbors told media that there was nothing about the family that raised their suspicions. One man said he had seen the mother and daughters playing in an adjacent park the day before and everything seemed normal.
The municipality said in a statement that as news of the deaths came through, it dispatched social workers to the building to help neighbors cope with the tragedy.
Moshe Tur-Paz, the head of the Jerusalem municipality education department, said there were no warning signs ahead of the tragedy.
“As far as is known, the girls did not show any signs of distress,” he said, according to the Ynet news website.
The education administration said it planned to provide psychological services for students who attended the same classes as the deceased girls.
In preparation, a meeting was held with school officials to plan for the following day and social workers planned to hold talks with students and friends of the girls during the school day on Monday.
A police spokesperson said the five were found in critical condition by emergency personnel responding to the fire on Hebron Road in southern Jerusalem. Rescuers pronounced them dead at the scene.
Fire officials said the blaze was contained to a single locked room where the bodies of the four children were found.
The husband arrived at the scene about half an hour after the emergency services.
A spokesperson for the United Hatzalah rescue organization said the father was being treated by a psychotrauma team. It was not clear where he was at the time of the fire.
Rescuers said the woman’s body was found on a balcony outside the apartment. Neighbors who saw her body hanging on the balcony called the emergency services and were advised by them to access the balcony and cut her down. They were not able to enter the apartment, which was locked from the inside, and waited until firefighters reached the scene and broke open the door.
Jerusalem firefighter Arik Abuluf described the scene when rescuers first arrived.
“We found her lying on the floor. The room that the children were in was completely burned and because it was close, the flames used up the oxygen.”
“It was the most difficult thing I have seen in all my years in the fire service,” he added.
An initial investigation indicated that the mother had left the children in the closed, burning room before apparently taking her own life. The contained fire had produced little smoke outside of the room.
Shalom Klein, a volunteer with the Zaka search and rescue organization, called the scene “shocking.”
“I arrived at the scene of the fire and the neighbors brought me to the apartment balcony. The mother was dead. Her four children were burned to death. ZAKA Jerusalem volunteers are dealing with the bodies and collecting the remains,” Klein said.