Illustration
IllustrationBasel Awidat/Flash 90

A 27-year old Arab Christian resident of northern Israel was indicted Wednesday morning for the murder of his girlfriend, Tehilla Nagar.

Raad Roshrosh, from the village of Marar, is suspected in the murder of Nagar last month, and linked himself to the crime during interrogation. While Roshrosh was arrested hours after the discovery of Nagar’s body, his identity had been concealed by a gag order until Wednesday’s indictment.

Nagar, 31, was a resident of Kibbutz Ginosar, and had been in a romantic relationship with Roshrosh for over a year and a half, despite pleas by her family to break up with him.

According to her family, Roshrosh had physically abused Nagar during their relationship, and was reported to the police by relatives just two weeks prior to her murder. Roshrosh was arrested and held in custody for five days during the investigation.

But after Nagar refused to press charges, police were forced to free Roshrosh, who according to the indictment, then resolved to take ‘revenge’ on Nagar for his arrest.

Investigators say Roshrosh reached out to Nagar after he was freed, and on December 19th she agreed to see him. The suspect picked up Nagar from her Kibbutz and drove to Tiberias, where she purchased a new SIM card for her phone, in order to conceal her renewed relationship with Roshrosh from her family.

After dining in a local café, the two left in the suspect’s car, driving down Route 90. At one point, Roshrosh pulled off the road. There he attacked Nagar, beating and strangling her. According to the indictment, Roshrosh tortured Nagar during her final moments, ripping out her finger nails and dragging her around on the ground while continuing to beat her.

Finally, Roshrosh killed Nagar, crushing her head with a large rock.

“He completely smashed her head to pieces, then left her wallowing in her own blood and went back to his home in the village [of Marar],” said lead investigator Ofer Austa.

Her remains were found the next day.

"When we came to the place we found a young woman in her 20's with violent wounds inflicted on the upper part of her body. She was lying next to the road," said Meir Ashraf, an MDA paramedic who arrived on the scene. 'She was not breathing and after a few moments we determined that she had died."