Police reveal murder suspect burned victim’s body, then dumped it; found 2 weeks ago
Gag order still bars publication of name of Tel Aviv resident, 25, who’s been remanded until August 3 for allegedly stabbing Rehovot resident Yair Haddad to death in Jordan Valley
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A gag order was partially lifted Monday on details of a gruesome suspected murder of a man whose body was found almost two weeks ago, with the Israel Police revealing that the suspect allegedly burned the body of his victim and dumped it in the Jordan Valley.
The victim was named as Yair Haddad, a 51-year-old resident of Rehovot. Many other details of the case were still barred from publication, including the identity of the suspect, a 25-year-old resident of Tel Aviv whose remand was extended by 10 days.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court extended the suspect’s remand until August 3 while also maintaining the gag order over further details, including when exactly the killing took place.
Police said the investigation of the incident so far indicates the suspect and the victim apparently stayed together in Tiberias the night before the homicide. The next morning, they drove in the suspect’s vehicle toward the Jordan Valley and during this time, the victim was allegedly stabbed to death by the suspect.
The suspect then allegedly set the body on fire in order to cover up evidence, the statement said.
Police said they received a report that the body was found on July 12, and arrested the suspect 48 hours later at his home in Tel Aviv. He has been in custody ever since.
רצח בדקירות את יאיר חדד אחרי לילה בטבריה, והצית את גופתו | פרטים חדשים על איתור הגופה בבקעת הירדן pic.twitter.com/ywLOpNKdfv
— ynet עדכוני (@ynetalerts) July 24, 2023
Last week, police cleared for publication that the suspect had been arrested.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court at the time clarified publicly that both the suspect and the alleged victim were Jewish and that the police believed it was a criminal case rather than terror, as initially speculated.
“In order to prevent public panic, as detailed in the request, I am making an exception to the publication ban because this is a case of the murder of a Jewish man by a Jewish suspect,” the judge said at the time.
The body was found by local Palestinian residents on July 12 in a palm grove in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank.
They informed Palestinian Authority police, who handed the body over to their Israeli counterparts.
The Times of Israel Community.