Three brothers, ages 20, 23 and 28, were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of murdering their mother and hiding her body in a mountainous region in the Jordan Valley, the Israel Police reported Sunday.
The suspects and an accomplice, their relative, are residents of Zarzir, an Arab local council near Nazareth, the police said.
In the late-morning hours of Friday, a private vehicle broke through a police checkpoint in the Jordan Valley and suspicion arose that it had been involved in a criminal incident.
Police began searching for the vehicle and identifying the occupants of the vehicle. During the investigation, it was suspected that a missing 46-year-old woman from Zarzir was connected to the case since one of her sons was suspected of being in the car that breached the checkpoint.
Suspicion grew that the woman had been murdered. Police detectives tried to track down the suspect, who went into hiding and disappeared for hours, while searching for the missing woman.
Around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, the suspect tried to break through a police checkpoint. Police apprehended the suspect after a foot chase near the town of Nahalal.
The three sons of the deceased woman were arrested along with another relative who is suspected of being their accomplice and whose detention was extended in court until Thursday.
Many policemen, accompanied by a helicopter, dogs, cavalry and the Police’s Reconnaissance Unit, continued to search for the missing woman. Following 26 hours of searching, the woman’s body was found in a mountainous area near the Jordan River.
“The rapid activity of the Central Unit’s investigators in locating the suspect, combined with the suspicion that it was a murder, led to the launch of all the Northern District forces for a quick and extensive operation to locate the victim’s body and prevent its disappearance, once again proving our full commitment to solving crimes in Arab society using all available means: in the air, on the ground and special forces together,” Police Northern District Supt. Shimon Lavi said.
A court extended the detention of the three brothers until August 16. All details of the investigation are under a gag order until an indictment is filed, the police said.