Police announced Monday that searchers had located the body of Dana Bennet of Tiberias who went missing almost six years ago at the age of 17. Investigators are now looking into the circumstances of her death.
Police did not say where the body was found. A Nazareth court has imposed a gag order on all other details of the case.
Bennet was last seen walking to a relative's house in Tiberias late at night on July 31, 2003. Police and volunteers began searching for her less than 24 hours after her disappearance, but without success.
Dana Bennet was born in the United States and lived there until her teenage years. Due to her American citizenship, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) assisted in the Israel-based search as well.
Over the years, an Israel-Arab terrorist group calling itself the Free Galilee Brigades repeatedly claimed credit for the disappearance, saying its members had kidnapped Dana and were holding her hostage. The group demanded that Israel release 1,000 terrorist prisoners in exchange for information on Bennet's whereabouts.
The group has falsely claimed credit for several attacks, and its claims were viewed with skepticism.
Tiberias Mayor Zohar Oved expressed his sorrow for Dana's death, saying, “We tried to help with the search in any way we could, and we hoped for a different ending. Unfortunately, the search ended in tragedy.”