Man arrested on suspicion of killing wife in ‘murder-suicide’ attempt

Police have arrested a 65-year-old man on suspicion of killing his wife in what initially appeared to be a double suicide attempt but is now being considered a failed murder-suicide.

The couple was found unconscious Tuesday morning in a room at Renaissance Hotel in Tel Aviv alongside an apparent suicide note. The woman, 63, was declared dead at the scene, while the man was taken to Ichilov Hospital in serious condition for critical surgery.

A spokesperson for the hospital later told The Times of Israel that the surgery was successful and the man was in “serious but stable condition.”

Police immediately opened an investigation into the cause of death claiming “the circumstances of the incident have not yet been clarified,” but initially said there was no reason to suspect murder. A spokesperson declined to comment on the cause of death.

Announcing the arrest, a police spokesperson said that although the man was still recovering in hospital, they would request Wednesday to extend his remand as the investigation continued.

The incident came just three days after a couple in their twenties were found dead under similar circumstances in a hotel room in Eilat. Staff in the southern city’s Herod’s Hotel on Sunday found the bodies of Baruch Indig and Odelia Bachar lying on the bed in their room alongside a suicide note in their names.

On Tuesday, the High Court delayed a police autopsy of Indig and Bachar, accepting the petition of their ultra-Orthodox families against the move and giving police just 24 hours to prove they have a living person suspected in their deaths.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told The Times of Israel that the Eilat and Tel Aviv cases were being treated as separate, isolated incidents and there was nothing that pointed to a connection. “That being said,” he added, “we have seen past cases of copycat incidents and that may well be a factor here.”