No leads in hunt for missing yeshiva student

As police and volunteer search parties continue to comb the Jerusalem forest for traces of 23-year-old Aaron Sofer, a US-born yeshiva student who disappeared Friday, ZAKA head of operations Haim Weingarten says a number of possible scenarios are being investigated, including kidnapping or a hit-and-run.

“We are checking whether he could have exited one of the paths, and a car hit him and fled,” he tells the ultra-Orthodox Kikar Hahabbat website.

“The police and Shin Bet are investigating whether he was kidnapped. He had no cellphone and there are no clues. Even if he was kidnapped, it’s possible we would have found glasses or clothing, but even that could not be found,” he says.

Weingarten adds that “we are not entering areas we searched in the past days because we want to let the area settle, and allow the animals to go there so they can give us an indication of whether there is a body in the area.”

While a nationalistic motive has not been ruled out, police have no evidence that Sofer was the victim of a terror attack, it reports.

The ultra-Orthodox website indicates that searches are now primarily concentrated near Ein Kerem.