New details were released on Monday about the shocking murder of Yair Haddad and the burning of his body in the Jordan Valley: the suspect, a mentally ill 25-year-old man from Tel Aviv, seemingly spent the night before the murder with Haddad (51), a father of three from Rehovot, in Tiberius, after which the two traveled to the Jordan Valley.
The investigation found that during the day, the suspect stabbed Haddad to death and then torched the body to hide the evidence.
The investigation also found that after he allegedly carried out the murder, the suspect failed to start his vehicle and had to call a tow truck to a garage in Tel Aviv. In his vehicle, police found several knives.
At the time of publishing, the suspect has yet to cooperate with the investigators and claims that he saw Haddad stab himself. When asked how the body burned after that, he did not explain. It would appear that the police have video evidence to establish their suspicions that document them traveling together.
At this point, the police are unsure of the motive for the alleged murder, but it would appear as if the two knew each other beforehand, and they would even occasionally visit the graves of sages together.
Haddad's body was found about two weeks ago by Palestinian Arabs in a date grove and was transferred to Israeli police by the PA police.
During the first days following the incident, many rumors were spread regarding the murder, and conspiracy theories claimed it was a terror attack. Therefore, the court decided to reveal details of the incident "to prevent public panic."