Security forces' original suspicion that Samaria resident Esther Horgan, who was killed while out running near her home in Tal Menashe on Sunday, was the victim of terrorist attack is gaining traction, security officials told Israel Hayom on Monday after an investigation into Horgan's death had been underway for nearly half a day.
Early Monday morning, the police reported that the body of a woman who had been reported missing by her family has been discovered in the Reichan Forest in Samaria.
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Security officials suspect that Horgan's killer was an Israeli Arab, rather than a Palestinian.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday that security forces were "operating to capture the loathsome murderer."
In a tweet on his personal account, Gantz expressed his condolences to the Horgan family and said, "We will never accept a reality in which a person's life is forfeit."
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said that Horgan had left her home at about 1 p.m. Sunday for a run in the forest. A few hours later, when she had not returned, her husband alerted security forces.
By the evening, volunteers from the Samaria-Jordan Valley search and rescue squad in the Judea Samaria Police, along with IDF and Border Police personnel, a K9 unit, and civilian volunteers, had begun searching for her. After several hours, at around 1 a.m. Monday, the search and rescue team discovered her body. Magen David Adom paramedics scrambled to the scene declared her dead.
Video: Telegram
Paramedic Assaf Tapuchi said, "When we arrived, we were led to the place where a woman about 52 years old was lying, unconscious. We examined her, but she wasn't breathing, she had no pulse or any other signs of life, and shortly thereafter we were forced to declare her dead."
Police and forensics experts were combing the site where Horgan's body was discovered, hoping to find evidence.
Dagan said Horgan was "so goodhearted and helped people. How can a woman go out or a workout a minute away from her house and be murdered by scum in such a brutal way? What kind of evil are we facing? You will never break us, Samaria settlement will flourish and grow and be built up along with the State of Israel."
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