Israel police say they have detained a woman from the northern city of Karmiel and her partner on suspicion that they buried her 93-year-old Holocaust survivor mother in the backyard after she died in a bid to keep getting her survivor and social security benefits.
“After an investigation of several weeks, the northern district police managed to find the body of the deceased in a 3-meter deep pit in the yard of the house in Karmiel,” police say in a statement.
Police say they began investigating after relatives of the woman expressed concern about her welfare after receiving conflicting accounts from the daughter.
The two were detained after giving police conflicting reports about the fate of the woman, including that she had passed away in April 2024 and had been buried in a different city due to the ongoing war.
The partner later took his own life while in detention after realizing that police had discovered that he was the one who had hidden the body, police say.
The woman faces charges of fraud and interfering in a police investigation, along with failing to report the death.
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From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 20, 2025
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