Guy Shapiro shot himself to avoid police capture, whilst attempting to flee indictment for the murder of his wife, Rachel. He is suspected to have killed his wife last month, after trying to pass off the murder as suicide. He has been brought in on murder charges, for falsifying evidence and obstruction of justice.
Shapiro, former IDF soldier, was seriously injured when he shot himself in the head whilst resisting arrest, but has recovered enough to confess to the crime and reenact it for the court.
The indictment states that Shapiro (48) killed his wife Rachel (55) because she had told him she was leaving him and wanted a divorce.
Rachel Shapiro worked for the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. She had six children from a previous marriage.
He strangled her to death and then moved her body to the bathtub at their home in Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and slit her wrists in an effort to make it look like suicide. After then taking a Zoom call for work, the indictment says, he called the Magen David Adom ambulance service, claiming he had returned home after taking their son, 14, to school, and found his wife dead in the bathtub, according to the prosecutor's report.
Rachel was later given a funeral, attended by Shapiro, who read out a farewell letter over the grave.
MDA paramedics first reported the incident as suicide. Rachel’s body was sent to the Abu Khabir institute for an autopsy while officers and forensic teams examined the home. The autopsy results showed that the cause of death was strangulation and police began a covert investigation.
When police summoned Shapiro for questioning two days after the killing, he fled to the south. He was tracked via cellphone and police gave chase when he refused to stop his car. The vehicle was eventually brought to a halt by spikes in the road at a roadblock.
Shapiro exited the vehicle carrying a licensed pistol, and as officers approached, he shot himself in the mouth, causing serious injuries as the bullet passed through the neck.
He was taken to the hospital and gained consciousness a week later. Shapiro then confessed to killing his wife and reenacted the incident for police.