Partner arrested after woman’s body found in Tel Aviv suburb apartment

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The body of a 27-year-old woman was found in her partner’s apartment in Ramat Gan on Monday, leading to the arrest of a man on suspicion of murdering her, even though no signs of violence were found on the body.

A magistrate’s court judge extended the man’s detention through Thursday, but also issued a gag order forbidding the publication of his identity, saying “the investigation is still preliminary and the findings are still not clear.”

The woman was found dead in the bathroom, and the initial report from the autopsy found poisonous materials that could point to a possible cause of death. The police said the suspect’s version of the events was “full of contradictions compared to the findings at the scene,” and “the scene did not look like a normal death.”

The suspect, 32, has been the woman’s partner for the last few months, and has no criminal record. The woman lived in his apartment for the past three weeks.

The initial investigation found that the man called the Magen David Adom rescue service and received instructions over the phone on how to provide medical treatment to the woman, and he also called to neighbors in the building to come and help him. A neighbor of the suspect was also present at the scene, but the police have not yet questioned him.

A police representative told the court that the suspect wanted the woman to leave the apartment because she exceeded the amount of time that they had agreed she would stay. Even though no signs of violence were found on the body, the police said the preliminary findings of the autopsy strengthened the suspicions against him. The autopsy will be completed in the next few days.

The suspect’s lawyer, Itamar Barkai, said the cause of death was a “medical complication” or that she had “used substances,” and the full autopsy report would prove this. The lawyer said the man wanted the woman to leave the apartment so that she would not meet his daughter, who was supposed to visit him for the next few days – and he had even ordered a hotel room for the woman.

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“There is no need to turn this tragic story into a double tragedy. The police are unable to establish a basis for a suspicion of murder, and not even a reasonable suspicion,” Barkai told the court at the detention hearing, adding that his client was cooperating with investigators and that the police had refused to let him to speak with a lawyer. The police representative told the court he did not know if that was true.