Israeli who murdered mother and aunt in Argentina dies in prison
Psychiatric facility where Gil Pereg was serving life sentence will conduct autopsy to determine exact cause of death
An Israeli who was convicted of murdering his mother and aunt in Argentina in 2019 died on Sunday after being found unconscious in his cell at the psychiatric facility where he was serving a life sentence in the South American country.
According to Hebrew media reports, Gil Pereg, 42, had complained of stomach pains and thrown up earlier in the day.
Channel 12 news reported that in the last few years, Pereg had suffered many physical and mental health issues. Channel 13 reported that Pereg would undergo an autopsy to determine the exact cause of his death.
In 2019 Pereg’s Israeli mother, Pyrhia Sarusi, 63, and her sister, Dr. Lily Pereg, 54, were found buried in Pereg’s garden, two weeks after they went missing while visiting him in Argentina. Autopsies determined that one of the women was shot dead and the other was beaten to death.
Gil was subsequently sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for the two murders.
During his murder trial, Gil was nicknamed the “cat man” by local media after he was repeatedly removed from court for meowing and yowling in response to prosecutors’ questions. He also urinated in court at one point and in another incident identified himself as Floda Reltih (Adolf Hitler backwards).
Gil’s uncle, Moshe Pereg, said at the time that he was mentally ill, in financial dire straits, and lived in squalor with dozens of cats.
“He owns lots of cats and is very preoccupied with them. He cares about them more than himself,” Moshe said.
Gil was considered a “scientific genius” by his friends and family, according to Channel 12. He graduated from the Technion in 1999 with a degree in physics and electrical engineering.
Moshe said everything changed after Pereg suffered a mental breakdown in Israel in 2006 after which he turned to gambling and found himself in mounting debt. He left Israel for Argentina a short time later to escape his mounting financial problems.
