Sigal Yana Itzkovits is the suspect in her son’s murder in Herzliya

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court today (Wednesday) extended the detention of Siegel Yana Itzkovits, 33 years old from Herzliya, who is suspected of murdering her 6-year-old son Liam, by nine more days. During the investigation, Itzkovits had a hard time explaining her actions and the investigators had a hard time getting an orderly testimony from her regarding what happened last night. The hearing in Itzkovitz’s case was held in her absence, due to her medical condition.

The murder, which happened on Khalil Street in the Galil Yam neighborhood in Herzliya, caused an uproar among the residents of the neighborhood. “It doesn’t make sense that a woman walks around for hours with an ax in her hand and no one stopped her, where are the police?” one of the residents raged, “She might have killed more children, how come she wasn’t caught long before she got to the mall? This is really lawlessness, a danger to lives.”

Itzkovits’ neighbors told the police investigators that she was a nice and quiet woman who lived with her little son. “There were shouts here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary that isn’t present in every home with children,” said one of the neighbors, “She was very worried regarding the child. Lately she had less communication with the environment, gathered in herself, hardly left the house. We thought she was going through a difficult time because of the war , we didn’t believe she would kill her child.”

In the videos circulated on social networks, the mother is recorded, apparently following her son’s murder, walking around the streets of Herzliya, barefoot, covered in blood and with an ax in her hand. Only when she arrived at the Seven Stars Mall, attacked the security guard and slightly wounded him, was she arrested.

Documentation of Itzkowitz’s arrest in the mall where the murder took place in Herzliya

Liam’s grandmother is the one who found him with severe signs of violence, next to the family dog ​​who was also stabbed to death. People who were at the scene said: “It is a very difficult scene, police officers who were there burst into tears when they saw the difficult scenes.”

Sen. Adi Berkovitch, an officer of the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the Yarkon Region Police who is in charge of the investigation, told the “Morning News” regarding the investigation of Itzkovitz: “She is currently under investigation, all directions are being investigated. At this point she speaks to the matter, understands what she did. She is cooperative at this point, but won’t tell the motive or what caused it. This is one of the duties of the investigation team.”

The ax that is in the ring

The suspect’s mother is not known to the welfare authorities, but the police stated that in the past there were incidents of violence in the family and this was dealt with on a case-by-case basis. A person who knew Itzkovits said that she had recently suffered from mental distress, and refused to share what she was going through. “She said she hears all kinds of voices in her head and strange things,” he noted. According to him, recently she connected to the spiritual world and started doing yoga and meditations.

The open questions that require examination

Why didn’t welfare officials know the family? “There were incidents of domestic violence in the past, but they were dealt with point by point by the police,” the police claimed today. But the welfare department in the municipality stated that the family was not known to them. Why were the welfare officials not informed regarding those events that require their investigation? The police claimed that the incidents of violence were not at a high level, but nevertheless there is an obligation to inform the welfare authorities in order for them to monitor what is happening.

Was the day of the murder preceded by suspicious behavior on the part of the mother? The investigators collected testimonies from neighbors and relatives in an attempt to decipher the issue, and to understand whether there were preliminary signs of the murder.

Has the child reported incidents of violence at home or the mother’s behavior recently? The police intend to question education officials regarding the child’s condition in the months leading up to the horrific incident.

How does a woman walk around with an ax in the middle of the city without being arrested? Itzkovits walked the streets of Herzliya for hours with an ax in her hand, without passing a single policeman on the street who might have stopped her.

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