Experts: Serial murder is rare in Israel - but could rise

Two criminologists asked to comment on the murder of Dana Benett say the kind of attack presented by police is rare in Israel, but one believes the incidence is likely to rise.

The former head of forensic psychology at the Israel Police, clinical criminologist Gabi Orgal, said Tuesday that if the description of murder suspect Adwan Farhan is correct, he is a disturbed personality that does not conform to any pattern observed in Israel in the past.

Orgal said that Farhan's sexual relationship with his ex-girlfriend, which appears deviant, might indicate that the killings involve an element of sexual stimulation. According to reports, Farhan sometimes physically or sexually abused his victims, including rape, but no rapes occurred when the girlfriend was presents.

"In the United States, such attacks are more common against hitchhikers, but in Israel this has not yet been seen," Orgal said.

One of the hallmarks of serial killers, he said, is that their acts are not necessarily frequent, but are a "complex, planned process." These perpetrators tend to keep items belonging to the victims, Orgal said.

"Murderers who succeed the first time can't go back," Orgal said. "The first murder is committed in order to satisfy a need and if it does, the need will arise again and again and the individual will have to meet it."

With time, he explained, they may make their methods more sophisticated as they watch the media and the police.

Orgal said that Farhan's alleged murder of Bennett "somewhat recalls the murder of Assaf Stierman - murder for the sake of murder," referring to the murder in 1996 by two teens of another teen.

There, too, Orgal said, others were present at the time of the crime who did nothing to prevent it.

Police division

The division of the Israel Police into districts is an obstacle when it comes to identifying a serial pattern because it makes it difficult for investigators to connect cases to each other, Orgal added.

"There have not been many cases of serial killing in Israel," said Arnon Edelstein, a criminologist who specializes in the subject, "but I fear that [the phenomenon] will soon hit us, too. It's a matter of time, but to my regret ultimately we will see more and more cases like this."

Among the few recent cases of serial murder is that of Nikolai Bonner of Haifa, who had been called the "homeless murderer", after killing three homeless people from the city in 2005 and burning their bodies. The police were only able to link the cases after the third murder, when they found similarities in how the victims were killed. Bonner was sentenced to four consecutive life terms.

More recently, Rostislav Bogoslavski of Petah Tikva was arrested for two recent murders and one attempted murder in that city. Investigators also found several dead cats in his home. Detectives said that he caught and ate street cats.

Last year, Adam Ital, a 26-year-old resident of Tel Sheva in the south, was indicted for killing two people in return for NIS 150,000, as well as carrying out two additional murders. Police also suspect his involvement in a fifth murder case.

Plea bargain

In 2004, a plea arrangement was reached over murders for hire by David Attias, who was convicted of three murders and sentenced to life in prison. In 1991, he was sentenced to life in prison in connection with another case, and allegedly committed the additional killings while on furloughs from prison.

According to criminologist Arnon Edelstein, who is on the faculty of Kaye College in Be'er Sheva, until recently serial killings were thought to be motivated by traumatic events in the perpetrators' childhoods, but Edelstein believes that it is also motivated by cultural influences in society at large.

"We are talking about a person who, as a result of abuse, for example, feels the need to take revenge on others," Edelstein said. "People with weak personalities who were harmed in childhood are more vulnerable to societal influences that affect all of us, such as lack of personal safety and financial crises. They blame the victim based on society's view that some segments of society are not as valued."

In the United States, there have been serial killings with dozens of victims. "[The perpetrators] are people with an inferior self-image," Edelstein said, "and the only way they can earn fame is to commit murders like this. They also try to copy previous notorious murders."

He anticipates that there will be additional serial murders in Israel.

"There are young people who feel that society has not given them the chance to fulfill their hopes for fame and success that contemporary society promises people. You can't live the American dream, and then if the person has undergone trauma, he is at risk of trying to achieve fame by committing murder."