Cold Case: Body of Israeli Teen Murdered and Dismembered 37 Years Ago Exhumed
In 1982, 11-year-old Nava Elimelech, younger daughter of parents Makhlouf and Mazal Elimelech, left her parents’ home in Bat-Yam, Israel, to visit a friend’s home, which was about 300 meters away. The last person to see her as she called back to her family to let them know, was her 19-year-old sister. It was soon discovered that she never reached her friend’s house.
The Investigation:
Nava’s family immediately reported her missing to the police, who began investigations that evening. Over the following days, police, along with thousands of volunteers, searched the entire region of Gush Dan. Police distributed her photos and used dogs to track her scent on nearby dunes, and questioned the neighborhood’s residents. On the tenth day of the search, Nava’s head was discovered wrapped in a plastic bag by exercising beach-goers in Herzliya. Other body parts, likewise wrapped in plastic bags, were found at the Tel Baruch beach in Tel Aviv. A pathologist examining the body parts determined that Nava had been killed on the day of her disappearance.
Following the murder, the police formed a team of 40 investigators and detectives who operated on the case for a few months. The operation came to be defined as “the biggest in the history of the Israeli Police”. The investigation proved difficult due to a lack of weapons or evidence at the crime scene. The team questioned dozens of people on various levels, and even sent some of the severed body parts to a London lab in order to determine a likely murder weapon, but were ultimately unsuccessful in solving the case, and declared the case a dead-end in 1983.
Cadaver dogs were able to trace the smell of Elimelech’s clothes to the home of Bat Yam resident David Levy, who lived near the Elimelech house and previously worked with the father. Authorities found pictures of Elimelech and her friends, but no evidence linking him to the murder. They did however find out that Levy had been taking nude photos of female students at Gordon Elementary School. He was, as a result, arrested and convicted of pedophilia and jailed. Lifeguards, regular visitors, and boat owners were questioned for eyewitness testimonies, but none recalled seeing a man carrying suspicious bags on the beach.
In 1998, police arrested brothers Amos and Yehuda Shelef as suspects in the killing after the latter’s ex-wife claimed he had confessed to committing the murder on her. His apartment was searched and the yard excavated, and the two brothers were released due to lack of evidence. Yehuda claimed that the incident shamed the brothers considerably, and demanded that their names be cleared.
Theories:
Criminologist and Former Israeli police Commander Avi Davidowicz concluded that Elimelech was more than likely the victim of a serial killer. According to him, 10 children went missing from Tel Aviv-Jaffa between 1974 and 1994. Of those ten, only two of the bodies were ever found (Nava included), and all were likely murdered by the same individual. He claimed that police would have had a better chance if they’d made the connection to the other occurrences at the time, but also said they shouldn’t be faulted because police then didn’t have the level of expertise that today’s police do.
In January 1983, an Arab resident of Gaza was arrested on suspicion of committing the murder, but he was released soon after due to a lack of evidence. The Commander in Chief of the IDF at the time, Rafael Eitan, claimed shortly after that the operation was undertaken by a nationalist terrorist organization, though many police officers expressed hesitation regarding the validity of the claim. On Dec. 31, 2001, Yitzhak Gatnio, one of the officers on the original investigation team, was interviewed on the Galatz news network. He revealed, following remarks on the murder, that the Israeli Security Agency did in fact find some evidence supporting the theory. The intel regarding this came from a jailed Arab criminal who cooperated with the agency, claiming that a cellmate of his admitted to killing Nava Elimelech. This cellmate has since been released and fled to Jordan. Investigators revealed that testing done confirmed that the man, a terrorist collaborator, was indeed in the neighborhood when Elimelech disappeared. He wasn’t investigated at the time, and to the knowledge of the informant, the man had died in Jordan.
The Investigation Continues:
In 2019, police, with court approval, exhumed Elimelech’s body in order to perform additional testing at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute. Investigators compiled a profile of the killer, implying that he is still alive, in his 70s, had a prior criminal background, and is living in central Israel. 100 detectives in total were assigned to the case, following its reopening due to advances in DNA identification technology. The investigation is being treated as highly classified. On Aug. 29, former suspect Amos Shelef was asked to appear for questioning on the crime. However, the reason for this is unclear as he is not considered a suspect. The case is still open, and no new information has been revealed.