
Yochai Avni (40), a dog handler from the Israel Prisons Service, is the correctional officer who was found dead in his apartment that was set on fire Monday in Giv'on Hahadasha. The police are investigating a suspicion of murder.
Avni was found unconscious with stab marks in the house where the fire broke out, and the rescue forces that were called to the house pronounced him dead at the scene.
Avni had not contacted his family since Saturday, did not show up for his shift, and did not answer the phone, so IPS comrades went to his house. They found a closed house smelling of smoke and called police and firefighters. The firefighters broke into the house and found a house filled with smoke, and the Prisons Service officer with stab wounds on his neck and stomach.
Aaron Steinmetz, an emergency paramedic from MDA's motorcycle unit, said: "When we arrived at the scene, we saw smoke coming out of the apartment. The firefighters brought us a man around 40 years old without signs of life. We attempted treatment but unfortunately had to pronounce him dead at the scene."
The Israel Police reported that "Large police forces were called towards noon to the settlement of Giv'on Hahadasha, following the discovery of a body in his apartment, after a fire occurred inside the apartment. During initial investigative actions, strong suspicions developed that it was a criminal incident, after several penetrating injuries were found on his body."
Yochai was born in the moshav Sha'ar Yishuv in the north of the country, son of Yiftach and Orly and brother to three siblings.