After new findings emerged in the 1982 murder of Nava Elimelech, who was 12 at the time of her death, the Israel Police have reopened the investigation.
As part of the new casework, a court ruled that the police may exhume Elimelech's body at the request of the Lahav 433 Major Crimes Unit, which reviewed the latest material in the case. Her body was exhumed on Sunday and transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.
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The renewed investigation is being carried out in conjunction with the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's office.
The details of the new information in the case are currently still under a gag order.
Elimelech was last seen alive leaving her parents' house on March 20, 1982. She never returned. Ten days later, her body parts were found on the Herzliya beach and at Tel Baruch beach at the north end of Tel Aviv.
On her way to a friend's house, who lived 300 meters (330 yards) away, Elimelech had left her parents a note that read: "Mom, Dad, and all the rest of the family. I'm going out. Don't worry, I'll come home. I love you all very much." Her older sister, 19, was the last person who saw her before her death.
When it turned out that Elimelech had never shown up at her friend's home, her family began looking for her. By that evening, the police were involved. On the 10th day of organized searches, people exercising on the Herzliya beach discovered the girl's head inside of a plastic bag. More of her body parts were discovered at Tel Baruch and were also wrapped in plastic bags.
A pathologist determined that she had been murdered on the same day she left her home.
After the murder, which horrified the nation, the Israel Police set up a special investigative team that included 40 police officers and detectives, but the team returned empty-handed. Dozens of suspects were questioned, but the murder was never solved.
During the investigation, K9 units led police to the home of a resident of Bat Yam named David Levy. In his home, police discovered that he had taken pictures of Elimelech and her friends. It transpired that Levy had taken nude photos of female students at the Gordon Elementary School. He was convicted of pedophilia and served time in prison.
In January 1983, police arrested another man from the Gaza Strip who they suspected of committing the murder, but he was eventually released due to a lack of evidence. Shortly thereafter, then-IDF Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan decided that a would-be terrorist had killed Elimelech as an initiation rite in order to join a terrorist organization. Senior police officers expressed doubts about Eitan's conclusion.
In 2001, Yitzhak Gattegno, a police officer who had been part of the original investigative team, said in an interview that after Eitan's remarks about the possible terrorist-like nature of the murder, the Shin Bet security agency had found evidence to support that theory. An Arab prisoner who was cooperating with the Shin Bet gave his handlers information about the murder. According to the prisoner, a terrorist who had shared his cell told him he had killed Elimelech. However, that terrorist was released and fled to Jordan.
Investigators who followed up on the lead found that the suspect had worked at a small market in Elimelech's neighborhood and had been in the vicinity on the day she disappeared. However, the suspect was never questioned and died in Jordan.
