Ronnie Ron
Ronnie RonFlash 90

 

The murder of 4-year-old Rose Pizem, which shocked Israel in 2008, has garnered international attention.

In September 2008 Israeli authorities found Rose's body stuffed in a suitcase in the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, where authorities say it had been for weeks.

On Thursday a three judge panel headed by Avraham Tal at the Petach Tikvah District Court convicted her grandfather of first degree murder -- and her mother of soliciting the murder.

Ronnie Ron admitted killing his granddaughter -- police transcripts of his interrogation quote him as saying he "finished her" and threw the suitcase into the river.

The police investigation also unearthed a shocking family love-triangle. Renault-Pizem and Ron -- her former father-in-law -- had two daughters together.

Marie Renault-Pizem, a French immigrant to Israel, married Ron's son, Benjamin Pizem. The couple had one daughter, Rose. When the marriage ended, the couple had a custody battle over Rose and Renault-Pizem moved to Israel with the little girl.

Renault-Pizem reportedly fell in love with Ron, her former father-in-law, and began a relationship with him.

Renault-Pizem and Rose were living with Vivienne Yaakov, Rose's great-grandmother, who reported her missing in July 2008 saying she had not seen Rose for about two months.

Renault-Pizem denied any role in her daughter's disappearance. She told police she thought Ron sent Rose to an institution in France. But police, without elaborating, said they had a telephone conversation that shows she knew the child's fate.

The judges said in the 342-page verdict that Ron’s decision to murder Rose was not a spontaneous decision and that he had done so after repeated requests by his daughter-in-law, who was also his lover.

The Judges said of Renault-Pizen, “The shock expressed by the accused, when the investigators told her that Rose was dead, indicates her manipulative nature and the fact that she didn’t hesitate to present a façade when it suited her purposes, spicing her words with crocodile tears.”

Attorney Anna Avidov of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office demanded that both Ron and Pizem be sentence to life imprisonment as required by law.

Roni Ron and Marie-Charlotte Renault-Pizem will be sentenced later this month.