Police have begun searching for the remains of a teenage boy who disappeared in the 1980s, saying at a remand hearing for suspects in the case that investigators believe they know who killed Nissim Shitrit.
The developments provide confirmation that Shitrit’s disappearance, which is tied to Hasidic cult leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland, a convicted sex offender and fraudster who has also been arrested, is a murder case.
The searches for Shitrit’s remains are reportedly being carried out in a Jerusalem area.
At a remand hearing for two suspects in the case, a police representative told the court that investigators know who participated in the abduction of Shitrit and who committed the homicide on February 2, 1986, three days before he was eventually reported as missing.
In this handout image released by the police, a suspect reportedly a member of the Shuvu Bonim sect is arrested in Jerusalem, October 17, 2021. Insert: Nissim Shitrin in an undated photo. (Israel Police; Courtesy)
A number of people have been detained recently over the murder of Shitrit and the unsolved murder of a man. The investigation into the disappearance and murder of 17-year-old Shitrit and the murder of 41-year-old Avi Edri is tied to the Shuvu Bonim sect, run by Berland.
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Wednesday, November 3, 2021
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