Suspicion: Stole deceased friend's phone during shiva, erased photos
Two weeks before graduation, Noy Cohen collapses, dies. Her parents discover her phone, including latest photos, is missing during shiva. Fellow schoolmate is suspected of stealing phone, deleting pictures
Noy Cohen was two weeks away from graduating high school, when a day at a Kibbutz pool turned horribly tragic. After getting out of the pool, Cohen started feeling ill. She was rushed to Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva and hospitalized while unconscious in the intensive care unit.
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The doctors told family members that the girl suffers from severe hemorrhage in the brain, and Yedioth Ahronoth reported that her parents decided to not hold on to the slim hopes and keep her alive, but to donate her organs.
During the shiva, many came to comfort the family, among them Noy's schoolmates. While still sitting shiva, Cohen's parents realized her phone, an iPhone 5, was stolen from her room. The parents filed a complaint with the Rosh Ha'ayin police, which launched an investigation that revealed that the phone had personal materials, including recent photos of Noy prior to her death.
Noy Cohen. All photos from her phone were deleted
After filing the complaint, the family turned to the public for help, and an article about Noy Cohen's death and her mobile phone theft was published in Yedioth Ahronoth. During the investigation, the suspect's name came up - a fellow student of Cohen's who came to the shiva to console the family.
The investigators came to the suspect's house, where they found the stolen phone. In addition, they seized additional property suspected to be stolen. Police have also decided to investigate the girl's parents, after it became clear they were aware of their daughter's actions and did not report them. The daughter and her parents were detained.
When the phone was found, it became clear that all the personal data on it, including photos of the deceased before her death, was erased by the suspect. Police are making a great effort to restore the deleted material. At the end of the investigation it will be decided whether to arrest the young girl and bring her to court for a remand hearing.
A police source told Ynet: "It is a difficult investigation, but eventually we managed to figure out who stole the phone. Needless to say we were shocked to discover the suspect was friends with the deceased, and took advantage of her visit to the family's house to steal the phone. It is more shocking to us that the suspect, without any emotion, deleted images and other materials from the phone."
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