Three murders in 18 months in Ma'alot leaves residents scared
The small northern city has been rocked by the death of two men and one woman, all of them emigrated from the former Soviet Union, all of them living in the same area, and all of them found brutally murdered in their apartments.
Only about 20,000 people live in Ma'alot, yet on Tuesday another violent murder shook the small northern city for the third time in just 18 months.
Much like the other two murder victims, Tuesday's victim an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and just like in those two cases, he was found dead in his apartment.
The victim, 51-years-old Alexander Rijov, who was a disabled person, immigrated to Israel in 1999. Police estimated that he was murdered during the night between Monday and Tuesday. His body was found in the morning by his ex-wife.
Rijov's ex-wife arrived at his apartment on Monday night, but since it was locked and no one answered, she left. When she returned in the morning, the door was no longer locked, and when she let herself in she saw the body, mutilated by severe violence, while the walls of the apartment were covered in blood.
Meir Zohar, a neighbor of the deceased as well as of Luba Cagnova—one of the other victims who was murdered last June—said that the neighbors are scared for their lives. "Most of the bars you see on the windows here were added after the murders," he said, pointing to the nearby buildings' prison-like windows. "People are scared, and it's not stopping."
Cagnova, 68, who immigrated to Israel in 1992 and lived alone in her apartment, was also found brutally murdered in her apartment.
In a nearby street, 92-year-old Semyon Violen, who emigrated from Ukraine and lived in Ma'alot since the 90s, was found murdered in his apartment in October of 2015.
"I took my dog out for a walk and I saw (bloody) footprints on the stairs. My dog also stated acting agitated," said Luba Kibirev, Violen's neighbor. "I spoke to another neighbor who said he heard at night what sounded like a violent struggle."
Kibirev tried to call for Violen and knocked on his door, but he didn't answer. She decided to call the police, who found him dead in his apartment; his head was bashed multiple times by a sharp object.
The police have yet to solve any of these murders. At the request of the police, the court has issued a gag order on the details of the investigation.
Due to the proximity in the location of the murder and the similarities of the time of their deaths, their ages, their countries of origin, the places where their bodies were found and, above all, the violent nature of the murders, the police is now searching for a link between the cases.
