Tel Aviv police discover body of decapitated woman
Body was in suitcase found near Haganah train station; police discover corpse while investigating bomb scare.
By BEN HARTMANDecapitation crime scene 370 1(photo credit: Ben Hartman)
Police initially responding to a bomb scare discovered the decapitated and partially dismembered body of a woman stuffed into a suitcase in south Tel Aviv on Saturday afternoon.The suitcase was found near the Haganah train station by a passerby who was riding on his bicycle just after midday on Saturday. The man, named Igor, told reporters that he noticed the suitcase blocking his path, and tried to move it aside, at which time he noticed it was unusually heavy.Police at scene where decapitated body found in Tel Aviv, August 3, 2013 (Ben Hartman)He said he then notified police, who dispatched bomb sappers. The bomb squad unit arrived on the scene only to discover the body of the woman, stuffed in a black garbage bag inside the suitcase.Police at the scene were reluctant to give out details of the murder, as officers were in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court at the same time securing a gag order on the case. They did say that the woman is in her 30s, but that other identifying details are covered under the gag order.Police at scene where decapitated body found in Tel Aviv, August 3, 2013 (Ben Hartman)They did say however that the woman was not only decapitated but that "other parts of her body are also missing".By mid-afternoon, a handful of soldiers from an IDF canine unit were at the scene, searching in the bushes and underneath the Hagana bridge in an attempt to find the head or other parts of the woman's body.Police at scene where decapitated body found in Tel Aviv, August 3, 2013 (Ben Hartman)Detectives and investigators including all of the top officers from Tel Aviv branch of the YAMAR investigative unit were on the scene, as was Tel Aviv District Commander Bentzi Sau.
Police said they are now working to determine the woman's identity, if she matched any missing persons reports, and if there are surveillance cameras that caught anything. The site where the suitcase was found is next to a staircase underneath the Hagana bridge, a couple blocks from the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station.
